THE WAY OF BLESSING

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Why should we speak good words to people? “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Proverbs 18:21. Also, God tells us to “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” Romans 12:14

From the very beginning, God blessed. In the opening verses of Genesis, we hear the voice of the Creator speaking light, life, and love into being. Then we read: ‘God blessed them…’ Genesis 1:28.

Before striving, there was blessing. Before mission, there was communion. Blessing is not an afterthought—it is the first word spoken over creation, covenant, and community.

Throughout Scripture, blessing flows not as a formula but as a way of life. Isaac blessed Jacob, Jacob blessed his sons, Moses blessed the tribes, David blessed the assembly, and Solomon blessed the nations gathered at the temple. The prophets cried out with blessing and promised more to come.

And then, one day, blessing walked among us.

Jesus… blessed children, the poor, the persecuted, the peacemakers. He blessed bread and fish. He blessed the hands of the humble. He lived as a blessing and gave Himself as the ultimate blessing – poured out at the cross, risen in glory.

And now, through His Spirit, through us, that blessing needs to continue.

ELON MUSK SPEAKING GOOD SENSE

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I was surprised positively by Elon’s views on birthrate, wokeness, climate change, and even AI. Sadly, he is an evolutionist, and the fact he does not fear God is a major problem. Nevertheless, I think there is much wisdom in this video hence its inclusion on my site.

DNA DESTROYS EVOLUTION

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DNA must have been created. It is impossible it evolved. It is the instruction code for all living things.

Science continues to reveal more complexity at the smallest levels of life. As a result, the evolutionary account of life’s origins is rapidly trending toward mythology. May God receive the glory for His incredible creation!

Moreover, Jesus Christ changed history from BC to AD. No other person in history has impacted the world as this God/man did. Jesus confirmed the Torah as God’s Word revealed to man by His prophets.

“Jesus said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” Luke 16:31

The Bible gives us an accurate history of this world. Creation by God in six days was a real event. The Fall of man was a real event that brought death into this world. The worldwide flood of Noah’s day that killed all mankind except eight people (God’s judgement on a world in rebellion against Him) was a real event. It buried millions of dead things all over the world, fossils and produced all the fossil fuels not billions of years. The world is just 6000 years old. God created the nations when He confused the languages at the Tower of Babel. Jesus entered history to provide a way back into a right relationship with our Heavenly Father. He paid the price for our rebellion, He died that we might live. The Bible also tells us that Jesus is returning soon to rule and reign for the last 1000 years before God destroys this Earth and creates a new Earth where only the righteous dwell.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

What a loving God (but also Holy God) that we have that He would send His ony Son to redeem us. And how good is Jesus, God’s Son that He would come to die in our place. God requires us to repent of our rebellion against Him and His commandments and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour to come back into His family. It’s an offer of eternal life. It is beyond me why people do not want to get back into a right relationship with their Creator and experience this new eternal life in Christ. What about you?

Related articles: The four-dimensional human genome defies naturalistic explanations (https://creation.com/four-dimensional…) Splicing and dicing the human genome (https://creation.com/splicing-and-dic…) Life’s irreducible structure—Part 1: autopoiesis (https://creation.com/lifes-irreducibl…) Related resources: The High-Tech Cell (https://creation.com/s/35-6-624)

BEING OUT OF TOUCH WITH ETERNAL REALITIES

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What Makes Someone a Fool?

In Christ’s story of the rich fool, a man decides to hoard his fortune and then “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (see Luke 12:13-21). The word translated “fool” literally means “unthinking one.” Mindless. Senseless. The rich fool was out of touch with eternal realities. Despite death’s inevitability, he failed to prepare for it—and failed to remember that he would give an account to God.

“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:10-12

The rich fool stored up treasures for himself on Earth as if he were the center of the universe and as if this world was where he’d live forever. The man was a fool to imagine his silver, gold, crops, land, and barns were actually his. He was a fool to ignore God’s claims on him and his possessions:

A wise person will regularly ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do with all you have put in my hands?” God’s Word tells us exactly how to prepare now for the afterlife. Though our culture and even some of our Christian friends may encourage us to do so, we don’t have to live like fools!

In the world’s eyes, the rich fool was a great success. Today he would be admired, and he might even be placed on a church or ministry board. But in the end, all his success counted for nothing.

Had the rich fool acknowledged God as his Creator and Redeemer, and as the ultimate owner of everything he possessed, he would have been rich toward God and stored up treasures in Heaven. Instead, he stored up for himself treasures on Earth and was suddenly and eternally parted from them at death.

The most troubling aspect of this parable is that if we met this man, most of us would commend him for his foresight. Notice he isn’t called the rich sinner, but the rich fool.

If you have been raised to believe in the Big Bang and evolution then death is then end of life period. There is no life after death.

Materialists Are Self-Destructive Keepers

Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson observed this about those who fail to live generous lives:

By holding onto what we possess, we diminish its long-term value to us. In protecting only ourselves against future uncertainties and misfortunes, we become more anxious about uncertainties and vulnerable to future misfortunes. In short, by failing to care well for others, we actually do not properly take care of ourselves.

Christ-followers are self-enriching givers. Why? Because giving inevitably enlarges our hearts, lives, and capacity for joy.

Don’t misunderstand. The true good life doesn’t say no to wealth or pleasures. Rather, it says yes to greater and lasting wealth and pleasures that are found when we cheerfully part with God’s money and possessions for others’ good and God’s glory.

God graciously gives us money and possessions to meet real needs, both our own needs and the needs of others. He wants us to enjoy life, but He doesn’t entrust excess to us so we can indulge excessive wants. Money and possessions are not life-giving. They are utterly incapable of imparting to us the identity, purpose, significance, and security we crave.

I recently heard someone talk about the rampant unhappiness, disease, and disillusionment he and his friends experienced while, he said, they were “living the good life.” Though I put that phrase in quotation marks, this person didn’t use air quotes or note the irony that what he called the “good life” was in fact devastatingly bad. In his case, the “good life” included drugs and sexual immorality, which led to the loss of his wife and children, and ultimately left him utterly empty.

Even when this so-called good life brought times of enjoyment, it was only “the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). Such pleasures don’t even last in this world, and they certainly won’t outlive this life. The rich man in Christ’s story learned the hard way that his prosperity was short-lived. It came to a dramatic and eternal end at his death, when God proclaimed, “You fool!”

Our Source of Life

To understand what constitutes the good life, we need to understand what life really is, where it comes from, and where it’s going.

God is the eternal source of life. He gave human beings “the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7), and He designed the first people to experience communion with Himself, the living God. In the presence of Eden’s tree of life (Genesis 2:9), He walked with Adam and Eve as they enjoyed a life-giving and delightful relationship (Genesis 3:8). God warned them, though, that if they ate of the fruit of one particular tree, this beautiful life would tragically end in death (Genesis 2:17).

They disobeyed, and as promised, sin brought death. While Adam and Eve’s physical death came gradually, the end of their life-giving spiritual relationship with God was immediate. The Holy Spirit departed their spirit.

Ever since, people have lived in a state of spiritual death, with dying bodies, decaying relationships, and failed dreams. Death is the new normal. But that’s not the end of the story. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus’ sacrifice conquers sin and death on our behalf.

John’s Gospel tells us that God created the world through Jesus, bringing life and light to His creation (John 1:1-5). He raised Lazarus from the dead to display His power to make dead people alive again (John 11:42-44). Then He, too, rose from the grave, ensuring the ultimate death of sin and the defeat of death itself. His resurrection gives us life (Romans 4:25). His coming back to life is the basis of God’s moving us from death to life (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Jesus calls Himself life in these four passages: the bread of life (John 6:48), the light of life (John 8:12), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

There’s no way to overestimate the importance of life in John’s Gospel. John tells readers his Gospel was written: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NIV).

Jesus is not just a signpost or a compass to life; He is life. He’s not merely a map leading to water or an X that marks the spot where treasure is buried. Rather, He is the wellspring. He is the treasure.

The living God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). He offers us true life and, with it, blessing. But He warns us against sin and the curse that always comes with it. Just as He did in the Garden, God offers us the quality of life that comes from obeying Him. God says, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:4).

The Good Life Is Available to Everyone Who Knows Jesus

After establishing a restaurant chain, two banks, a ranch, a farm, and real estate ventures, Jerry Caven says the real fun started when his career was coming to an end:

At age 59 I was headed into retirement, looking for a nice lake home. Then God changed our plans and led Muriel and me to put our money and time overseas. It’s been exciting. Before, we gave token amounts, now we put substantial money into missions. Our hearts are in another country now. We visit and minister there often.

The Cavens say, “After seeing the way poor Christians in other countries trust him, we’ve asked God if he wants us to give away all of ‘our’ money. He hasn’t led us to do that yet. But we’ve meant it when we asked.”

When we live the good life, people quickly notice. The Cavens added this story: “A non-Christian couple saw us giving, and saw how much it excited and changed us. Then they started giving too, even before knowing Christ. They saw the joy and they wanted in on it!”

The simplest statement made in Scripture about the life that Jesus brings His people is perhaps also the most profound: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

The giving life is not about obligation or guilt or drudgery or merely surviving. It’s about life in abundance.

Adapted from Randy Alcorn’s book Giving Is the Good Life.

CHOOSE LIFE THAT YOU AND YOUR OFFSPRING MAY LIVE

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Just as Moses told the people of Israel to choose life by loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him.

“Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Jesus has told us that only He is the way the truth and the life.

“Jesus said to him (Thomas), I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” John 14:6-7

What do you choose, life eternal, by accepting what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf or death? Jesus paid the price for our rebellion against God, how good is our God? Do not be like the Israelites who turned away from God and suffered the consequences of being cast out of the land God gave them.

“But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.” Deuteronomy 30:17-18 2

If you choose Jesus you will not perish, nor will you be left like orphans. Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity to indwell our Spirit to be our helper, our counsellor, our teacher, and our comforter.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:18, 26

You can have all you need to live righteously in this life and begin to live in the knowledge that you have eternal life in Jesus through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Start living eternal now ready for Jesus soon coming return. My book is available on Amazon as an ebook or trade paperback edition. I hope you will get a copy and put it into circulation.

GOD IS YOUR SOURCE OF EVERY GOOD THING

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Unless you truly get this basic truth you are missing out on all but what you can generate on your own for the short time God allows you to live on the planet He created. Above all, you are missing out on eternal life.

Happiness can’t be bigger than its source. God is primary; all other forms of happiness—relationships, created things, and material pleasures—are secondary. If we don’t consciously see God as our source, these secondary things intended for enjoyment can master us.

Only God can satisfy the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Psalm 107:9). We are finite and fallen, and we lack what’s required for true happiness. All those who look within themselves for pleasures and delight are doomed to misery. We just aren’t big enough and good enough to supply the happiness we crave!

When the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, being deceived by the already fallen angelic being Satan, God withdrew the Holy Spirit from Adam and Eve’s spirit. They died spiritually then and physically some 900 years later.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27

Our spirit, as the lamp of the Lord, was always meant to house the Holy Spirit. What an amazing truth, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is the oil that allows us to function as God intended.

The wonderful news for all who accept God’s solution for our rebellion (JESUS paying the price, dying that we might live) is that Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to once again indwell our spirit, enabling us to live as He intended.

Christ-followers enjoy what God provides first and foremost because they enjoy the God who made them and provides for them. Unlike us, God is infinite and without flaws. Secondary things bring some joy, but God alone is our “exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4). Scottish theologian Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) wrote, “It is the infinite Godhead that must allay the sharpness of your hunger after happiness, otherwise there shall still be a want of satisfaction to your desires.”

Secondary things are not incidental or unimportant— they’re God’s gifts to draw us to Him—so we should never disdain the created world. But by putting God first and His creation second, the world and its beauties become instruments of joy and worship. We love them better when we love God more than them.

In the mid-1600s, Puritan John Gibbon said, “God alone is enough, but without him, nothing [is enough] for thy happiness.” Whether or not we’re conscious of it, since God is the fountainhead of happiness, the search for happiness is always the search for God.

The only place you will find out the truth about this Cosmos and the meaning of life is in God’s Word, in which He gives us the entire story of the Cosmos we inhabit from its beginning to its fiery end. My recommendation would be either The Open Bible Expanded Edition (New King James Version), Thomas Nelson Publishers, or the ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version) published by Crossway.

LIFE HAS MEANING AND PURPOSE

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Life has meaning and purpose because there are solid, logical reasons why Super-Intelligence (God) is essential for building cell parts and us, and why evolution cannot do it. It is time to teach the true science of life. Atomic Biology is an emerging science that looks at the molecular world today. Ministries with Ph.D. scientists that address this foundational issue are Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis. Check out their websites.

The Atomic Biology Institute presents the following video as a descriptive introduction to the book, “How We Are Amazingly Made” – by Dr. Jerry Bergman, Thomas W. Rogers, and Dr. Graham McClennan. Also as an introduction to the observable science of Atomic Biology featured in the book.

Evolution, by definition, having no intelligence, should now be officially out of the running as the taught cause of life.   In fact, those who are forced to continue teaching that evolution explains the origin and cause of life, are being forced to teach a lie.   This will become a growing problem for honest teachers, professors, and education leaders who do not want “Fallacy” to be their “Legacy.“

Another major factor is that because atoms have perpetual, controlled energy supplied, but not ‘Life,’ this has to be added in order for cells to live and function. Without the “breath of life,” cells could not live. Our forefathers understood by common sense, logic, and intuition that supernatural work is performed in creating humans and the food we eat.  This is why they gave credit to our Creator for His provision of food and His enormous careful works for each of us every day.

If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. If we are just products of chance and matter, then there is no purpose in history and nothing after death. This robs life of meaning and purpose beyond survival. British evolutionary biologist, and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins (b. 1941) writes: Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of life, has no purpose in mind … It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of a watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

No wonder we are seeing lawlessness on the increase. Jesus told us that prior to His second coming to earth to restore righteousness that lawlessness will abound and Christians would be persecuted.

“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14

Paul also tells us that we need to watch for the coming Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

WHAT IS YOUR WORLDVIEW BASED ON?

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Armand Nicholi, the Harvard psychiatrist and the author of The Question of God says that our worldview informs our personal, social, and political lives. It helps us understand our purpose. Further, he said that our worldview determines our ethics, our values, and our capacity for happiness. It helps us answer the big questions of life: How did I get here? How am I to live? Where do I find meaning in life? What is my ultimate destiny? Basically, Nicholi is telling us that our worldview is more telling than perhaps any other
aspect of our lives.

Another way to understand our worldview is to see it as a map, a mental map that helps us navigate life effectively. As author Nancy Pearcey says, “…we need some creed to live by; some map by which we chart our course.” This is a worldview. In forming our worldviews, Dr. Nicholi says that we make one of two assumptions about life. The first is that we live in a godless universe; we are a product of nature that has evolved over time. This is a secular worldview that emphasizes scientific knowledge and its motto is “What do science and nature have to say?”
The second assumption is that there is a supernatural intelligence (God). He gives the universe order and life meaning. This is a spiritual worldview that is rooted in Biblical revelations. It places emphasis on spiritual truth and wisdom and its motto is: “What does God have to say about this?”

I have concluded that every person has an opinion on God and spiritual reality, even if it is a belief that He is non-existent. We all have a faith view of reality and it trickles down into our lives and influences the choices we make.

Author Tim Keller says, “How we relate to God is the foundation of our thinking because it determines the way we view the world. Whether you believe God exists or not, this belief is the foundation on which all of your reasoning proceeds. For instance, if you do not believe that God exists, it is a belief taken by faith and it becomes your faith view of reality. Whether you realize it or not, all your reasoning proceeds from this belief. You end up screening out all that does not fit with this view of life.”

Your worldview will ultimately explain where life originated, what life means, and what we are supposed to be doing with the years we are given. English mathematician John Lennox says: “What divides us is not science . . . but our worldviews. No one wants to base their life on a delusion, but which is the delusion? Christianity or atheism? This is what God has to say about the issue.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” Romans 1:19-23

THE FOOL SAYS IN HIS HEART, “THERE IS NO GOD”

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“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”—G.K. Chesterton

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Psalm 14:1

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:21-23

“When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.“ Proverbs 19:3

As much as atheists pretend otherwise—talking as if ‘reason’ and ‘science’ are exclusively atheistic values— it is actually the rejection of God that requires ‘leaving your brain at the door.’ And the effects of both godly and godless thinking on the world make this abundantly clear to any honest observer.

We must remember that just ten generations from Adam this is what God said about the wickedness of man and He destroyed all but eight people when He poured out His wrath upon the earth with the flood of Noah’s day.

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.” Genesis 6:5

The Bible is a true, authentic, historically accurate, reliable, and trustworthy revelation from God. It states that the way to true fulfilment, lasting peace, and joy in life is found in the person, Jesus Christ. N.B. what Jesus said to the apostle Thomas.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6-7

You too, can have a relationship with the co-creator of all that exists.

Many Bible scholars tell us that up to one-third of the Bible is predictive prophecy and all of the prophecies up to date have been accurate so we can expect the many prophecies of Jesus’ second coming will also be accurate.

Jesus tells us that God will pour out His wrath again upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements (Revelation 8 & 16). It is at the trumpet blast when the seventh seal is opened that the rapture of the Saints happens and the Trumpet judgements begin.

Will you be foolish and deny God’s existence and face the coming wrath of God, or will you repent and turn from selfishness and reckless living without God? If you do repent, you need to acknowledge and thank Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross that has paid your debt of sin and guilt in full.

If I can be of help you can contact me on ron@bakb.com.au

GREAT TO SEE A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE SUPPORTING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS

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PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES ATTEND THE ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE IN WASHINGTON ON JAN. 21, 2022

Nearly seven months since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion to the individual state legislatures, tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists will descend on Washington, D.C., for the 50th annual March for Life on Jan. 21.

Since Roe‘s overturning, 24 states have banned abortion or are likely to do so, according to a January 2023 report by the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank that supports abortion rights. Legal challenges are pending in several of those states.

On Jan. 11, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a pair of symbolic anti-abortion bills that are not expected to be acted upon in the Democratic-controlled Senate. One of the bills, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would require health care providers to care for infants born after an attempted abortion. A 2002 federal law already mandates that health care professionals provide medical care to infants born at any gestational age.

Mancini called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act “commonsense and compassionate.”

In October, she also described as “sensible and compassionate” a bill that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, sponsored to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Other antiabortion leaders supported the legislation even though congressional Republicans distanced themselves from it.

Democrats seized upon Graham’s bill to portray the GOP as extremist on the issue, a strategy that seemed to resonate with voters. The Democrats increased their majority in the U.S. Senate while Republicans underperformed in securing the House with a slim majority.

Meanwhile, voters in Michigan, California and Vermont in November chose to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions. In Kentucky and Kansas, voters rejected constitutional amendments that would have said residents in those states had no right to an abortion.

“It seems to me we’re discovering that voters are generally in the middle” on abortion, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California Davis School of Law who is a leading historian on the abortion debate in the United States. In the middle? Sadly, what our Creator says on the issue is no longer relevant and therefore not a consideration. It is another sure “end times” sign.