Jesus the Redeemer

If you have not received Jesus before, this is a good time to do that. Someone said; you may be able to live your life without Him, but can you die without Him?


I personally found it very hard to live without Him. The years before I got saved were very dark and I was desperately seeking for meaning. Now I can’t even imagine living without inner peace and inner spiritual life.


Jesus is the only way to God. You may know about God but the only way to KNOW Him and be part of His family is to receive Jesus in your heart and confess Him as Lord. Give up all your own self life and He will give you a new abundant overflowing life.


There’s power in the name of Jesus. Sickness has to leave, demonic influences and powers have to leave when we speak the name of Jesus with authority.


Start saying His name today. Just say: “Jesus, Jesus I want you in my life. Forgive me for all of my sins. Cleanse me in your blood. I want to be born again and become a child of God. Help me , lead me into Your Kingdom. I am yours. I want to follow you Jesus for the rest of my life and for eternity. Amen”



Watch this video that I made and put on You tube. It’s the wonderful song “Redeemer”. Just let the words and the music minister to your heart. Jesus is wonderful. He loves you and He wants to bless your life and give you everything that He is.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GD-qDuPXDw



Merry Christmas! (And receive the best gift of all.)

God's Healing Power

I promised to write about the baptism in the Holy Spirit before, but first I want to write about healing. I’m not an expert on anything, but I am a believer and I do believe in what the word says. It’s so easy to base our faith on our experiences especially when it comes to healing. I hear a lot of teaching here in America that says that God has everything in His hand and that nothing bad will happen to us unless God permits it. That may have been true in the Old Testament and people refer to Job as an example of that.

When you bring this issue up in a discussion, a lot of people will tell you that you cannot understand God’s mysterious ways etc, etc and it sounds very wise, but it’s just human reasoning based on what they have seen in life. And they may have been around for quite some time! When you say that God wants to heal everybody it seems so radical and unwise.
If you are saved, born again and has received Jesus in your heart, health and healing is part of salvation. Our bodies will not be completely redeemed till we get our new glorified bodies in heaven, but the healing powers of Jesus is ours.
“And by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
God is now our Father through Jesus Christ and He wants only the best for us.
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”.
James 1:16-17
In my Swedish translation it says that God is light and that there is no darkness in Him.
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
Luke 11:11
I would like to add, which one of you parents would want your child to have cancer?
That seems absurd to ask, still we find it easy to believe that our heavenly Father would want that for us.
I have given my testimony here on my blog before, how I got saved when I was thirty. I didn’t have any physical health problems as far as I know, but God healed me from so many issues in my mind and my soul. He also delivered me from smoking which probably would have turned into a health problem eventually. He didn’t just save me and let me deal with my issues on my own to teach me something. He totally delivered me and set me free. In my church in Stockholm they would lay hands on people all the time and I would run up front and be prayed for so many times.
Here’s one example how the Word of God itself just healed me when I read it. I was very introvert when I came to the Lord. I had done a lot of eastern meditations and those kind of things which had led to that my soul was in bondage. One day I read the word below, about letting your eyes look straight ahead, and it was like something popped in me and around the area of my eyes and I was loosened.
“Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.” Proverbs 4:25
He has not changed. My God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He does for me, He will do for you. He will heal our minds as well as our bodies. He is altogether good.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
God has through Jesus Christ given us authority over evil. We are to cast out demons, lay hands on the sick and command sickness to leave.
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19
He has given us authority over demonic powers. Many times when Jesus came upon a sick person, He would cast out the demon that caused the disease.
We are not to be passive bystanders. Jesus tells us to do what He did. We don’t pray a prayer and hope that something will happen. We tell sickness to go because in Jesus name we have the power.
We don’t live in a perfect world and I believe that there are things that can bring on disease. Bitterness and unforgiveness for example can open the door and give the enemy access to our bodies. The most important thing is that God doesn’t make us sick to teach us something. He is chastising and correcting us through His word first and foremost, and only if we refuse to listen or take heed we can bring disease upon ourselves. Satan is also out to destroy us and he is more than happy if we don’t understand that we are in a spiritual warfare and we start to question God’s goodness. How can you pray for somebody’s healing if you in the back of your mind think that it may be God’s will for this person to be sick?
You can also ask yourself, if you believe it’s God’s will, why pray at all? Why go to the doctor if it’s God’s will that you be sick.
I think we’ve been fed human theology and not God’s theology and it seems kind of holy and humble to have those beliefs. But it’s not. True humility says what God says. We also have to look at the whole Bible and not just find one scripture that seem to back up our theory.
“The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”
Psalms 119:160
Maybe you prayed for somebody and the person died. OK, so that’s your experience. Like I said before, we don’t base our faith on our experiences. Just because that person didn’t get healed doesn’t mean that God didn’t want to heal. We don’t have the whole picture and there may be obstacles that we didn’t see or didn’t understand.
The Bible is full of words about healing. We have to find those promises and pray them over ourselves to stay in health but also pray them out for ourselves and others when sickness attacks.
“He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
Psalm 107:20
Here is also an interesting word that reads a little different in the Swedish version where it says that the righteous are snatched away by the power of evil whereas in the English the righteous is taken away from evil.
"The righteous perishes,
And no man takes it to heart;
Merciful men are taken away,
While no one considers
That the righteous is taken away from evil."
Isaiah 57:1-2
If you look up evil it always talks about how the righteous will be protected from evil and the wicked. Reading the Swedish translation here tells me there are times when the evil one actually snatches somebody away before his time. Like young people dying in car accidents for example. I don’t know what the original translation says so I’ll just leave it at that.
I can recommend BibleGateway if you don’t already use that website, for easy access to God’s Word.


http://www.biblegateway.com/


God Bless You!

Open letter to Björn Ulvaeus

First an introduction. Björn Ulvaeus is one of Sweden's most well known cultural figures and is mainly known as one of the four members of the super-group ABBA. Together with his fellow ABBA member Benny Andersson, he wrote the musicals Chess and Kristina. Now he is involved with the hit musical "Mamma Mia!" which has been seen by 25 million people around the world.

He is also a member of the Swedish Humanist Association and here are some of his thoughts on faith based education that can be read on the Guardians website that I want to respond to.

http://http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/30/bjorn-ulvaeus-religion-schools?commentpage=1

I used to know Björn Ulvaeus back in the seventies when we were both at the same record company and shared the same manager, Mr Stig Andersson. Björn and Benny produced some of my records and even wrote some of the songs I sang.

Björn Ulveaus, who I know to be a very intelligent, smart individual is using his name and influence to come against faith based schools in Sweden. He questions why tax payer’s money should be used. I’m a Christian and can only speak for Christians; first of all, Christians are tax payers like everybody else and are great contributors to our society. They are hard working with ethics way beyond average. They should have the same right to give their children an education where they feel true values are taught. I also know that in most cases the tax funded part is not sufficient to run Christian schools, and parents are paying extra money to keep their children there. They are also dedicated to volunteer to take care of the facilities, doing all the cleaning and general maintenance when needed.

I quote Björn Ulveaus : -“ Freedom from indoctrination ought to be a basic human right for all children.”

One of the reasons Christian parents don’t want their children in public schools is that they don’t want them to be indoctrinated by an atheistic, humanistic, God denying society. I don’t think it’s a human right to be taught that there is no God.

There is no neutral ground, even if that’s a very popular “Swedish” thought. You are either for or against something. Jesus says in Matthew 12:30: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

Christian children are mocked and ridiculed by both teachers and their peers in Swedish schools today. You can’t speak up against for example evolution or the homosexual lifestyle without repercussions. Evolution is taught as being proven facts when in reality it is just a theory and a belief. The homosexual lifestyle is said to be just as natural as being heterosexual. This is completely contradictory to what the Bible says. (Homosexual groups are welcomed into our schools today encouraging children at a very sensitive age to try and see if they are homosexual.)

We still have freedom of faith in Sweden. This means that you are allowed to have your faith, to live in accordance to your faith and to act and speak in accordance to your faith.

As adults and parents we are called to teach and guide children and show them what is right from wrong. We are not here to present a smorgasbord where we show everything there is in this world and then ask them to choose. No, we are showing them the right way so they will have the best life they can have and thrive and prosper. What parent would want their child to try heroin just because it’s out there? In the same way there’s “poison” in the spiritual realm and in the intellectual realm with thought systems that lead directly to hell.

Children don’t belong to the government. It’s the parent’s responsibility to give them what they need for this life.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:3

Someone once said, for to know a false $100 bill from an authentic $100 bill you don’t study all the false ones, you study the authentic one till you know it so well you can’t be fooled.

Christian parents want their children to know who God is, how God fits into history and our society today, and to know that Jesus died for them, loves them and wants the very best for them. They will never get that in a public school today. I’m old enough to remember morning prayer in my public school and we had Christendom on the schedule my first years before the government took that away. That was back in the 50’s and early 60’s. It was a different time very much because of the still domineering Christian influence.

I read another article with Björn Ulveaus where he seems to think that there is a contradiction between Christianity and science. The scientific thinking in itself with cause and effect, trial and error stems from Christian thinking. You don’t have that in for example Hindu thinking. I’m over my head here but I will refer to a friend of mine, Krister Renard. He was an atheist physicist and came to faith when he saw the mathematical equations in the universe and how exactly everything is working.

http://www.welcome.to/renard

The Swedish Humanist Association had this advertising campaign in Sweden, (and I’ve seen a similar one here in the US), saying: "God probably doesn't exist: but still he affects you. Less than 20 percent of Swedes are religious. Yet God is holy in our country. We in the humanist movement think it is worth considering. There are many examples of how religion affects our lives - not only for believers but also for the seven million other people in Sweden. How religious are you? Do our web test!"

This is so funny to me. “God probably doesn't exist” So you’re not quite sure, are you? Well, let me tell you. The Christian faith is a living faith. It’s not a dead religion. It’s a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Every person that has ever received Jesus in his or her heart, knows that He is alive and real. We don’t believe in a dead thing. The word of God, the Bible has transformed us. Ever heard of metamorphous? This is it. This is a transformation that if you have not experienced it, there’s no way you can understand it. It’s spiritual and not intellectual. It doesn’t mean that you leave everything intellectual behind. It means that there are spiritual realities that cannot be comprehended by the intellect. Why? Because God is spirit and we can only receive His knowledge with our spirits. It will bear fruit in our intellect as well, but it doesn’t begin there. And it is for everybody to receive. Christian faith is not exclusive. Salvation is available for everybody. It cleanses our hearts and our minds.

To want to take away God from the schools which has already happened in Sweden, and is happening in the US, is to take away everything good. Thank God for Christian schools. Here is what Christian faith stands for, and you want to take that away?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, righteousness and wisdom.

What is wrong with you people?!

The Basics of Christianity 4

The bible teaches that what separates us from God is sin. The reason we don’t know Him personally is sin. God cannot have relationship with sin and there for we need to be cleansed from our sin.
If you have not received Jesus in your heart yet, I’m sure there have been times when you have wondered, is there a God. And you want to believe there is a God, but you don’t KNOW.

This is the difference between people that have received Jesus and people who have not. Once you say yes to Jesus as your personal Savior, you will KNOW without a doubt that He is real.

Sometimes we as Christians are trying to convince the world by historical evidence etc. I think no matter how much proof we present, if a person doesn’t receive Jesus in faith it’s all futile. It’s a matter of faith and that’s the way God has made it. You can only come to Him by faith and faith alone.
In Romans it talks about how the righteous shall live by faith. Romans 9:9-10 says:

..” if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

And in verse 13:

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Jesus says in John 3:3:

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

And in verse 5-8:

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

All believers that are born again are one in Jesus. The bible says that we are one body and that Jesus is the head.

There is also the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I wish that all believers would embrace that. The disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They needed that to be bold followers of Jesus Christ and they were instantly transformed. I don’t understand why not all Christians realize that we also need the power of the Holy Spirit today and maybe even more today than ever.
The sad thing is that a lot of believers think they already have it when they don’t, and I think that is a great deception in the body of Christ. We need everything that the bible talks about.
We need the spiritual gifts, which is NOT hospitality like some try to make it.

This is what 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 tells us the spiritual gifts are:

“it’s the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, the gift of prophecy, the gift of healing, the gift of faith, the gift of miraculous powers, the gift of distinguishing between spirits, the gift of speaking in different kinds of tongues, and the gift of the interpretation of tongues.”

These gifts are all supernatural. You can be hospitable with the help of the Holy Spirit, He is there to help us with anything God has called us to do, but the gifts of the spirit are truly something we could never produce in our own power. I would say that most churches do not operate in these gifts. Still they consider themselves a Christian Church. I’m sure that people in most places are born again, but we are not doing what God has called us to do and we are not helping this world to be delivered from the power of Satan. We give the world a picture of a social club when we should be a power station and refuge for a world in dire need.

I hear Christians say when it comes to the issue of speaking in tongues that the bible says that it should be done in order etc. Well, that was said to people who were speaking in tongues already and (obviously so much they needed to be admonished), not to people who don’t want to have anything to do with the spiritual gifts altogether. The bible never says not to speak in tongues.

Paul says in Corinthians 14:5: “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues” and in
verse 39: “Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

A large part of Christianity think that they can just skip these chapters in the book of Corinthians about the spiritual gifts and just create their own version of Christian faith.

I also believe that we just as the disciples in their day need all the five ministry gifts. Ephesians 4:11-13 talks about this:

“It was he, (Christ), who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

If the Bible says we need this to fulfill our calling as believers, why do so many churches think we can manage without this? And why do they think we no longer need apostles?

An Apostle lays a spiritual foundation for the house of God. It can be a new church being started out in the mission field or anywhere. Wherever God is starting up something new, there needs to be a foundation in the spirit. The teaching of an apostle has a whole different depth and is much more profound than the teaching of a teacher. The teacher gift goes into detail but the teaching of the apostle creates something in the spirit that keeps on working for a long, long time.

We desperately need the fullness of Christ, we need the full gospel. We can’t just pick and choose what we think is acceptable. We have to be willing to be fools for Christ. The gospel is foolishness in the world’s eyes.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:25

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-16


“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise.”
1 Corinthians 3:18


If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your personal savior pray right now:

- “Jesus I come to you now. I receive you in my heart. I believe that you died on the Cross for me. I believe that you rose on the third day. Forgive me for all of my sin, cleanse me with your blood. Thank you Jesus that I now belong to you, that I am now a child of God, and thank you that I am now born again. I want to follow you for the rest of my life. Amen.”

If you have not yet received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I will show what the bible teaches about that and how to receive it in my next post. God bless you!

Basics of Christianity 3

God sends Jesus.

Jesus was sent to Earth for a mission. He was in the glory with His Father, but He chose to come down to us to save us for eternity.
In Revelation 22:13 Jesus says:
" I am the Alfa and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, The First and the Last”

In Colossians 1:15-17 it says;

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist ".

To understand the significance of what Jesus did on the cross it's important to also understand his altogether divine origin. The Crucifixion was no accident but a, from eternity, thoroughly thought out plan, to once and for all crush the power of darkness and buy mankind back to it's Creator.
When Jesus died on the cross he took the sin of all mankind upon himself. He took the punishment for our sins. He went down to the kingdom of death and made an amendment for our sins. On the third day he was risen from the dead.
It says that,

" He died so that we would live"and so : “that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone". Hebrews 2:9b

Salvation.

When a person receives Jesus as his own personal Savior he is born again. (John 3:3).
The spirit in him gets new life, the spirit of God,the life of God starts to reside inside of him.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new".

Jesus’ act of redemption is complete. What Jesus did on the cross, does not just cover our sins, it totally wipes them out. They become obliterated.

Every man, every woman is personally responsible before God and must answer to Him for their life and their relationship to Jesus Christ. There's nothing or nobody to blame for us not coming to Jesus. All of Creation bears witness that there is a God.

In Romans 1:20 we read:

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Here we see how strict God can be. He doesn't see through his fingers when it comes to sin and rebellion against the truth. We can never fool or hide from God.

But most of all He is a loving God. The Bible tells us that He IS love. This love can be summarized with the words in John 3:16-21.
God gave the most precious that he had, his own beloved son, so that you and I wouldn't be lost forever but have eternal life. That is the greatest and the best gift you can receive here on earth, salvation through Jesus Christ. He is true light and eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God”.

The Basics of Christianity 2

The temptation

As you may very well know, the snake came to visit in the garden, (Satan that is), and questioned what God had said. He stated that they wouldn't die if they ate of the fruit. On the contrary he said, God was just trying to withhold from them the possibility of being as wise as God himself and be able to discern between good and evil.
The snake so fooled them both, and they ate from the fruit.

How could this happen?

God created us human beings with a free will. He didn't create meaningless robots that can't do anything but obey. It's quite the opposite. When we come to him, He wants us to come because we ourselves have chosen it and because we love Him. Adam and Eve choose to listen to the snake rather than obey what God had said.

In the moment they ate, they died spiritually. God's glory over their lives disappeared and they were aware they were naked. They even ran and hid. They could no longer come boldly before God and they felt both shame and guilt. Feelings that earlier were completely foreign to them.
God came by in the evening and called out for Adam:

"Where are you"? (1 Genesis 3:9).

This is where sin starts to reign in humanity. God had to drive them out of the garden because now they are mortal and marred with sin. He puts cherubs and a flaming sword to guard the road to the tree of life. In their present condition they cannot have eternal life. God pronounces a curse over the snake and gives a promise that somebody is going to come and crush his head.

" I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (1 Genesis 3:15).

God already had a plan of action prepared and this is His spoken promise of a coming Messiah.

All evil got access in the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience. Death, sickness, murder, envy, evil desires, lust.
Adam and Eve got two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain murdered his brother because of envy. The consequences of sin were fully at work.

Abraham

God's first step in his plan to save humanity back to himself, is to make a covenant with one man, Abram. He received the promise that he would become; "a Father of many nations". He was the first Jew.
God wanted to bring up a people who would know God and his ways. This was essential for God to be able to send Jesus to Earth. The Bible says that He needed " a well prepared people". God gives the law to Moses; the ten commandments written in stone. The law was to be "an up bringer to Christ".

In the book of Romans 7:7-8 we read;

"I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet”.

Without the law there's no sin. If we didn't have the command, "You shall not steal", nothing would stop people from grab a hold of other people's property.

Now God sent his word and revealed mans true condition.* She received something to measure herself with. By that she was to understand that she needed a savior since it was impossible for her to keep the law by her own strength. God had planned a new and living way where His law no longer is an outward constraint but as is written in Jeremiah 31:33;

" I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.".

How can this be true? Through the new birth in Jesus Christ.

* And this is how the word is still working today in people's lives. When you read the word of the Bible you will understand that you are truly in need of a Saviour, and there's no way you can save yourself, or meet God's standards in your own strength.

The Basics of Christianity 1

I will publish some articles going through the basics of Christianity. Our roots, where it started, and why we need Jesus. I live in America, a country very much “under the gun” right now both financially and spiritually. It is very likely connected. We as individuals or nations are either blessed by God or in the hands of the enemy, which is Satan. There are so many things going on in this country right now; threats that will take away freedom of speech for one, with laws that will criminalize speaking the truth from the Bible. We live in very serious times my friend and it’s more important than ever that people get to hear the gospel so they can take a stand for or against Jesus. There’s no middle road. I pray that the Lord will show me what to do. How I can best reach people.
Lord, where do you want me to go, and what do you want me to do?


Why Jesus only ?

You may not have asked this question, but it's a fact that Christians all over the world with no exception, claim that there's only one way to God, and that way is Jesus Christ. The answer to the question is, that Jesus is the only one who deals with the basic problem of mankind, which is sin. No doctrine, no religion can cure this. All you can hope to get is some polish, some nice behavior maybe, but man's nature persists.

What is sin?

Sin is to turn away from God and wanting to go your own way, and thereby miss the purpose for one's life. And to miss the very meaning with why we were created.
The Bible does say that God created us; even created us in His image. God created man out of love because he wanted to have fellowship. What we see in the world today are consequences of sin;hatred, violence, murder, selfishness, sexual promiscuity. All of this is sin in God's eyes and a fruit of man going his own way, turning away from God.


The Garden of Eden.

God created man out of love and put him in a wonderful place where everything was good and good only, the Garden of Eden, and God gave man authority over His creation.
He blessed Adam and Eve and said:
“ Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

There was no death; life was eternal. Both man and creatures were to eat from everything that the earth would bring, all kinds of fruits and herbs.
Eden was full of trees of every kind that were "pleasant to the sight and good for food."

In the center of the garden God put the "Tree of Life" and also the"Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil”.
God gave Adam the command that he could freely eat from any of the trees in the garden, except for the"Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil”, for if he did that he would surely die.

What is Easter?

Now is Easter, or more appropriate, Passover. Right before the Israelites were taken out of Egypt, God told them to take a lamb, unblemished and spotless, and eat it for their last supper in Egypt.

They were to take the blood from the lamb and “put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.” Exodus 12

The blood was a sign for the angel of death to pass their doors when all the firstborn of Egypt were killed. “When I see the blood I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

This was a picture of God’s lamb that was to come which is Jesus. In the same way we who have received Jesus as our personal savior and have been cleansed through his blood, have his blood on our “doorposts”, our hearts, and we too are protected from evil and eternal death.

The Jews had been celebrating Passover for generations, just like God told them to, when Jesus came. Jesus knew that he was the Lamb of God that had to be sacrificed for the sin of all mankind. The last Supper with the disciples was at Passover and Jesus was crucified at Passover. It was all perfectly planned out from eternity. He was the fulfillment of the Passover.

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

By His Death and Resurrection, Jesus conquered sin and death for you and me.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil.” Hebrews 2:14

The message of the gospel is so simple a child can understand it. Just believe it and receive it.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I Corinthians 1:18

Listen to your heart today. Don’t let your mind deceive you. Believe that Jesus died and rose for you. Let this Easter be the Easter when God touches your heart from eternity. He loves you so much. In His eyes you are worth all the suffering He had to go through. When you say yes to Jesus all of heaven celebrates and sings. They are just waiting for you.

Say: - “Jesus I come to you now. I receive you in my heart. I believe that you died on the Cross for me. I believe that you rose on the third day. Forgive me for all of my sin, cleanse me with your blood. Thank you Jesus that I now belong to you, that I am now a child of God, and thank you for now being born again. I want to follow you for the rest of my life. Amen.”

Take out your Bible and start reading. The gospel of John is a good start. Just let the Holy Spirit make the word come alive. Because that’s what it is, a living word that will transform your life. You also need to find a good Bible believing church. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m so glad you took this step. You will never ever regret it!

Happy Easter!

Ted Haggard in the news again.

I haven’t been writing here for a while. Guess I‘ve been a little to wrapped up in Facebook.

One thing that did upset me recently was seeing the former New Life pastor Ted Haggard on Larry King Live.

I am a firm believer of forgiveness and restoration, and I know from my own experience that is one of God’s main goals with all of us. What I’m reacting to is that here is a man who has hurt so many people that he was entrusted with by God, some that may never fully recover and be able to believe in Christian leadership again, sitting on National TV with his family who say that they want to “tell their story”. I feel really bad for his whole family and I can’t even imagine what they are going through, but my point is, please don’t make a show case of this, don’t give the world another reason to slam Christians.

I think the proper thing to do would be to withdraw from the public arena and let God do his work. My feeling is; I don’t want to hear your story, I have heard it already and if you need to go public again, it should be in a Christian setting with pastors that can fully verify that you have been forgiven, restored and delivered. It would be very different to see Ted Haggard on TBN or the Inspiration channel. That would show that God has truly done something in his life, because I’m sure they wouldn’t put him on unless he had truly repented.

Again, I completely believe in forgiveness and the Christian community should be ready to forgive, but please don’t go to secular media, it’s none of their business.

“If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?” 1 Corinthians 6:1-2


This is the scripture I’m thinking of. It speaks about lawsuits but I think it can be applied to this case as well. This chapter goes on to talk about sexual immorality and even homosexual offenders and how they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I think that anybody that is serious would not turn to the world for help or sympathy but would go to God first and then seek counsel from godly men and women. And we as believers don’t need publicity to get by. We need the power of God and Him only. He can change any situation; He can drag us out of the pit. He can transform any circumstance when all we want is to please Him.

The whole thing just didn’t seem right to me.

Reply on "Imagine" comment

To author@ptgbook.org

Thanks for commenting on my article about John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
It’s very interesting how ungodliness take different shapes and forms over time. For example; atheism is not a new phenomena of course, but all of a sudden, it’s a movement and now walking “hand in hand” with humanism.

In the 70’s it was New Age, which was a very broad name for anything “spiritual” under the sun that was not Christian. Nobody’s talking about New Age anymore. In the Old Testament days it was worshipping of Baal. It’s all the same old, same old.

John Lennon's "Imagine"

I have mentioned John Lennon’s song “Imagine” before. John Lennon was an extremely talented musician and song writer. Unfortunately he didn’t use his talent to honor God. Instead he started to create his own “religion”, a dream world that attracts a lot of people. "Imagine" is a great song, but I am going to go through some of the verses and try to show from a biblical perspective what I think it’s really about. First of all, the Bible says that God has put eternity in our hearts which means that we all have a desire within to find truth and harmony, and to be one with God and each other. So anything that looks like that will be attractive to us.

Here’s the first verse:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

There is a heaven and there is a hell. You can try and imagine as much as you want, it will still be there. And why would you want to imagine that there’s no heaven? Nobody wants to go to hell and not even God wants anybody to go there. He has made it very clear in His word that through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ only, we can escape hell. Hell is made for Satan and his angels. Jesus paid the price with His own death so we won’t have to go there. Our souls and our spirits are eternal. We don’t go into nonexistence when we die.

Here’s the second verse:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

The Bible says that there will come a time when there will be just ONE big country. It will be the “kingdom of Anti Christ.” But it will not be a life of peace. It will be a reign of terror. All “religion” as we know it will probably be banned during that time as well.

“And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
Revelation 13:1-4

Read the whole chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. It’s all about Anti-Christ and his kingdom that will be set up in the last days, saying for example how no one will be able to “buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”


We have reason to believe that time is near. People are ready to receive a world ruler, somebody who claims to be able to solve the world crisis. Did you see Barack Obama’s speech after he won the election? I don’t think that he’s Anti-Christ, but the way people in the audience were cheering him, crying and adoring him, tells me it can be happening very soon.


The Bible also clearly states how we can inherit the Kingdom of God, and what sins we need to be cleansed from;

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Cor 6:9-11


Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

There will also be the thousand year reign with Jesus as King when the devil will be bound for a thousand years, which will be a kingdom of peace, but I don’t think that’s what John Lennon is referring to. That’s a kingdom where the believers of Jesus Christ will rule with Him.

“They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:4b


You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

“I hope someday you'll join us”. We don’t know who the “us” are that is referred to here. John Lennon and Yoko Ono maybe? John Lennon may have been a dreamer, but he didn’t as far as we know, come to Jesus to see his dreams realized. There’s a wonderful future and a wonderful place for every believer. This world is not it. The moment you receive Jesus in your heart, your eternal life begins.


“No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him
" but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:7-10

Imagine that…

Come to me

A couple of years ago, I read about a famous female writer in a newspaper. She has been very successful over the years and very productive since her debut in the late 50’s. She is famous for her writing, but also for her lifestyle. She grew up without a father with a very strict, loveless mother and her whole life she’s been rebelling against her mother by being promiscuous and has even described her love life in some of her books.


Now when I read about her she has become old, sick and full of fear. Her life is miserable and she cries out in the article;-“Is there anybody out there that can help me?”, and - “Is there anybody that can drag me out of this?”


Those words really spoke to me, since I know there is somebody, and yes, there is help. It also reminded me of a book I read some years ago that actually has the title; -“Is there anybody out there that can help me?”. It is written by Sandy Brown who was a waitress at the Hallelujah (!) ballroom in Las Vegas. One night she got so tired of her life that she took every sleeping pill she could find in her bath room cabinet, swallowed them, got into her car and drove into the desert. She started to feel the pills working in her system and became more and more drowsy. She realized she would soon loose conscienceness and suddenly knew she didn’t want to die. She rolled down her window and called out into the night, still driving, ;-“Is there anybody out there that can help me?”. Long story short, Sandy drove into a house, somebody took her to the hospital, she survived and gave her life to Jesus.


Back to the female writer; I’m thinking this lady is in the same situation.
I wrote her a letter. I don’t know if she ever received it, I hope she did.
I know that a person like that, an intellectual and all, can be very proud and have a hard time receiving this kind of a message, but this is what I wrote, and I’m skipping the introduction part. I publish it because there are so many people in the same situation that need the same kind of help. Maybe you are that person?




“Dear xxxx

I hope you don’t take offence by me writing to you. I have been in the spot light myself and I know how hard it can be to receive letters from someone you don’t know. I read your article on-line the other day where you describe the fears of aging. Some of your words touched my heart. You wrote:”- Is there anybody out there that can help me?”, and - “Is there anybody that can drag me out of this?” I don’t remember your exact words, but you said something like:”-Please tell me that this will pass.”

I have worked with old people for many years and I have seen a lot of suffering.
I know this is a very delicate matter and what I have to tell you may be the last thing you want to hear. But the word that came to me was from Psalms 40:2,

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

In Psalms 18:4-5 it says:

“The cords of death entangled me;the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”

And in verse 16-17:

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.”

In Psalms 107:10,

” Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,…”

Verse 14 and 20:

“He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.”
“He sent forth his word and healed them;he rescued them from the grave.”


These are wonderful and true words from the Bible. I have myself experienced the salvation power of God. He pulled ME out of the slimy pit and transformed MY life completely. He took me out of anxiety and confusion. It is now over 23 years ago and it’s still working and I know it will take me all the way into eternity.
I’m convinced that God is able to transform your life in such a way that the years you have left to live on this earth, will be the most wonderful years of your life. And to give you a conviction so strong that you will know that what is even more wonderful lies ahead, that is eternity and heaven.


In Hebrews 2:14-15 it talks about Jesus: ,

“He,[Jesus], too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

I don’t know from my own experience what it means to get old, even if I’m not exactly young, I will be 54 this year, but I do know what it means to have anxiety and fear. It was among other things the anxiety that drove me to Jesus. And I can honestly say that I have not experienced anxiety, not even once since I got saved. All the dark within me disappeared and instead came a wonderful peace and joy.


It’s very easy to get saved. In Romans 10:9-10 it says;

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved”.

In verse 13 it says;
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Jesus says further; “and whoever comes to me I will never drive away”. John 6:37b

and

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life”. John 5:24

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. 1 John 4:18

God doesn’t just have love, He IS Love. To receive Jesus is to receive eternal, divine, unconditional LOVE".

The War on Israel

I watched the news last night seeing reports on what’s going on in Gaza. It makes me very angry to hear the defenders of the Palestinians. Israel does NOT want to hurt civilians. The Palestinian government is to blame because they are sacrificing their own people by harboring criminal elements like the Hamas. It’s the Palestinian government that needs to deal with Hamas and hunt them down. By not doing so they are on Hamas side. I’m so tired of hearing how horrible Israel’s actions are, and not a word about what Hamas and all the other terrorists have been doing for years and years. Israel is NOT the aggressor. And when Israel retaliates their aim is Hamas weapon depots and training camps. NOT the civilian population. When Hamas on the other hand send their bombs into Israel they deliberately target civilian population centers.
Hamas also deliberately use civilians and civilian buildings to hide their weaponry and themselves which puts innocent people at harms way. They hide in hospitals and schools for example. They have even been known to use children as shields.
One particular Israeli village just 1 mile from the Gaza border has been hit with 7500(!) Quassam rockets since 2001. The last 1500 during 2008. See interview with Israeli mayor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ska-4Eer_8&feature=email


According to Dore Gold who used to be an Israeli ambassador for the UN, Israel even make phone calls to civilians to warn them and give them a chance to get away when they know there is a military target in a civilian area.

I’m not an expert on this subject, but I know where I stand. I am clearly pro Israel because I believe that the Jews are God’s people and I believe that God has a special plan with the nation of Israel. The whole creation of the nation Israel is fulfillment of prophesy. That is the main reason why there is such a battle over that tiny piece of land.


The basic view of every Christian is that God loves all people whether they are Palestinians or of any other origin and He wants all people to be saved. God is not against the Palestinians as a people, so that’s not what this is about and that’s not what we as Christians believe. But we do know that God is for Israel and against Israel’s enemies. And the war is against the terrorists.


I also know that Israel is the only democracy in the area with western ideals which means that as all countries in the west they share an openness towards all people that wants to live in peace within their borders.

But Hamas and PLO have a completely different agenda. They want to exterminate the Jews and wipe Israel off the map. That is their plan and has always been their plan. How do you negotiate with such an adversary?


I know the propaganda in Europe where few voices are raised to defend Israel, and there is some of that propaganda even here in the US through media. If you are a Christian you need to get your information elsewhere. You need a divine revelation to understand Israel’s place in the world and in history. If you are not a Christian you are being lied to.


There’s a great teaching series with Pastor Jon Courson on this subject. You can buy the CD’s or you can hear the teaching on-line. http://www.joncourson.com/teaching/teachings-topicalindex.asp?topic=prophecy
The title is: “Middle East: War and Peace”. He is associated with Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, CA.
Except for the Bible I can recommend a book called, “The Jews; People of the future” written by Pastor Ulf Ekman. (Can be found on Amazon.com).


The Bible says that God will bless those that bless Israel. God doesn’t exclude anybody but let’s everybody be saved through Jesus Christ who came through the Jew’s to save us all. God choose the Jew’s so that the whole world could be saved. This is what God said to Abraham who is the first Jew;

"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:2-3

Here’s another word regarding Israel and its future:

"As you have been an object of cursing among the nations,
O Judah and Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing.
Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong." Zechariah 8:13

God also tells us to pray for Jerusalem;

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure.”
Psalm 122:6

We as Christians need to stand up for Israel more than ever before.