TWO BEGINNINGS

TWO BEGINNINGS

 

A few years ago I put together an article called "In the Beginning", since then I have reason to believe that there could be two beginnings, so to speak, mentioned in scripture. The first is in (Gen 1:1) which happened sometime in the prehistoric past, know only to God. (Deut 29:29). The second time it is mentioned is in (John 1:1-5), and I believe this could be considered as the beginning of time as we have come to know it as described from (Gen 1:2) through to (Rev 22:21). It would seem that this period of time started with the reconstruction of planet earth, to make it suitable to sustain life, after it became "without form and void" (NKJV), approximately 6000 years ago as we humans reckon time. I believe our Creator God is perfect, and couldn't have created our planet as it is described in verse two. This would leave a period of undetermined length between verses (Gen 1:1 and 2). I realize there has been much speculation about this apparent  gap between the original beginning, and what I'm suggesting might be considered a second beginning.

 

The facts pertaining to fossils, and the evidence of so-called prehistoric creatures, and the evidence of science that our universe is much older than 6000 years, has always bothered me since becoming a follower of Jesus. I consider myself to be a seeker after truth, since coming to accept Jesus, who is the Truth! (John 14:6). I have recently read a series of articles by a respected Christian leader, in which he attempted to prove that everything mentioned in the Bible has happened in this 6000 year period. Then shortly after reading these articles, and not understanding why he thought he needed to prove the universe could not be older, I read another article by a Christian brother who holds a completely different view. I tend to agree with the later view, and see no reason why we cannot leave room in our scriptural view for more proven scientific discoveries. I certainly don't believe in the theory of evolution, nor in the belief that there could be life on some other plant, which I consider is simply man's attempt to discredit the Bible. But since the discovery of the Hubble telescope, much more is being revealed about the size and age of God's creation. In (Ps 115:16) NLT we read "The heavens belong to the Lord, but He has given the earth to all humanity." I take from that statement that the earth as we know it, was given as the only perfect environment in the universe to sustain human life! Why should we be looking for some other place?

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

Does God Have Grandchildren/

DOES GOD HAVE GRANDCHILDREN?

 

This term is used to identify children of children. In other words, when a couple get married and have children, and their children marry and have children of their own, their offspring are referred to as grandchildren. However in a spiritual sense we cannot use this term to describe anyone, because everyone must come to a relationship with God on their own! When a person receives conviction from the Holy Spirit that they are a sinner separated from God, and repents of their sin and accepts Jesus as their Savior, the Father then adopts them into His family. Then, and only then, are they a child of God! I believe our church traditions might leave room for some people to believe that it is possible to become God's grandchild. Certain churches believe in christening a baby and refer to that as their baptism. They seem to believe that this makes the child a member of the family of God. I believe that "baptism" is the wrong term to use for this christening, and it should be considered a "dedication" of both the child and the parents. The word baptism in scripture usually refers to a believer in Jesus, who has made a decision in their heart to accept what He accomplished on the cross, and desires to make a public declaration of this decision. We often refer to it as "believer's baptism", and it always follows a person's salvation experience. If parents who are followers of Jesus have their baby christened, and are told that they are now a child in God's family, I can see where this idea could have started. But I say no, God definitely has no grandchildren!

 

This is only one of many false beliefs that are circulating in certain church circles. Common sense should tell us that a baby cannot repent of their sins, and realize that the death of Christ on the cross paid the debt for those sins. And the scriptures are clear that baptism in water always follows a profession of faith in Christ. (Acts 2:38) Many of these church traditions that are not based on scripture, could be avoided if people were encouraged to search the scriptures for themselves. Unfortunately, many people depend completely on what they are told by their pastor or priest, and never check things out for themselves, like the believers in Berea. (Acts 17:11). If more people did this, I'm sure we would have less confusion in our churches!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

THE DEADLIEST DISCESE

THE DEADLIEST DISEASE

 

Do you remember the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) pandemic back in 2003? The source was traced back to Vietnam, but before it was brought under control it caused many deaths. We could call that a deadly disease, but the Bible mentions a more deadly one that I would call the "Deadliest disease"! The Bible identifies it as "sin", and it has affected every human being since Adam. (Rom 5:12) The Bible further traces sin back to an event that took place in heaven long before Adam was created. We can read about it in (Isaiah 14:12-17), where Lucifer was evicted from heaven because of his pride, resulting in rebellion! This was the first time that a will, that was opposed the the perfect will of God, was ever mentioned in scripture. I believe that this "original sin" of Lucifer, who became Satan or the devil, passed this sin of rebellion against God to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

 

We read in Paul's letter to the church in Rome that this sin affected everyone (Rom 3:23) "For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard". And then in (Rom 6:23) Paul declares "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"! These two verses from the pen of probably the most important apostle that ever lived, presents the very core of the good news of the gospel. Yes, we have all sinned, and yes it is the deadliest of all sins because it affects all of us humans, resulting in death, but our loving Creator God has provided a "sure cure"! God allowed His only begotten Son to become incarnated in human flesh, in order to pay the price of our redemption, by dying on the cross and shedding His precious blood. (Heb 2:14-15), and (Phil 2:6-11). Jesus became the second Adam (1 Cor 15:45-50) in order to "reverse the curse", and make provision for the entire creation to be liberated from the bondage brought on by Adam's sin. (Rom 8:18-25) God's ultimate intention was always to have a family of humans on earth that would properly represent His Kingdom. Adam and Eve were meant to be the start of a family that would become this "colony of heaven", but Satan interrupted this plan. However through Jesus, this colony that Howard Snyder calls "The Community of The King", is being established of "born again" followers of Jesus who will yet accomplish this task!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

HEAVENLY PROTOCOL

HEAVENLY PROTOCOL

 

For those of us who never lived in a culture that contains masters and slaves, we have a hard time understanding the idea of "protocol". It means there is a proper way to address people, and an improper way. As I understand it, you must never speak to, or give orders to a slave! You always speak to the master, and he in turn gives the orders to the slave to carry out your request. This sounds logical when it comes to earthly situations, but how can we understand it when we consider events in heaven?  Here we face the mystery of the Godhead, which we call the "Holy Trinity", Or "Three in One". God is certainly only One, Who has chosen to reveal Himself in three ways, for us to better understand Him. With our finite minds it is near impossible to understand the "Infinite"! As near as I can understand it, they are all equal in essence, but different in function. The Father as the Source of all things is Spirit, and is invisible. (John 4:24) The Son is the visible image of the invisible God! (Col 1:16, 2:9). The Holy Spirit is of course invisible too, but His role seems to that of a servant or  "Slave", to the Father/Son who we can consider the "Master". This may not be a proper analogy, but when I read scriptures like (John 16:13-15), that is the picture I come up with.

 

With that in mind, and the limited knowledge I have about the relationship of a slave to his master, it seems to me that a heavenly protocol would demand that we never speak directly to either the Holy Spirit, or angels! Yet I'm aware of many Charismatic believers who do both! You read testimonies of people being transported to heaven and talking to angels, and even giving them commands. I have often heard well meaning believers commanding the Holy Spirit to do things, like "come" or to pour out "more" of the Spirit on certain people. This sort of thing opens the door to spirits of darkness, in my opinion. Read (2 Cor 11:12-15) carefully and consider the warning given by Paul. Derek Prince declares that any spirit you can give orders to is not the Holy Spirit, but must be a counterfeit spirit, or demon operating under orders from Satan! We are warned many times in scripture to be aware that many false prophets will be sent by our enemy in these last days to deceive many! For example hear what Jesus said in (Matt 24:4, 5, 11, 24), and we should believe Jesus because "He is the truth"! Right? So let us beware of the danger of deception, and heed scriptures like ( 1 John 4:1) or (1 Thess 5:21-22) because we are certainly in the last days!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

THE PHARISEES

THE PHARISEES

 

I have often wondered why Jesus was so hard on the group of Jews known as the Pharisees. (see Matt 23:1-36). Recently I read some of the history that explained how this religious group got started. They were the descendants of a Godly family of priests named Maccabees, who for over 200 years before Jesus came to earth fought for the scriptural standards against the paganism of the day. The word Pharisee actually means "the separate", representing their stand for righteousness against the onslaught of paganism. Apparently this concept of separation eventually made then aloof and self-righteous toward their fellow man. They were experts at interpreting the Law of Moses, yet when Jesus came in fulfillment of OT scriptures, they were unable to realize who He was because of their spiritual pride.

 

Before we level too much criticism against them, we better give some thought to the body of believers in the church today. There are some people today that have been labeled as "Fighting Fundies" because of their stand for what they consider the fundamentals of the faith. They can be compared to the Pharisees in certain ways. Because of their stand against what they consider "Liberalism", they tend to become aloof, and proud of their position, so they often miss the new things God could be doing. When the Magi from the East came to Jerusalem asking about where the new king was to be born, they told them that Bethlehem was the place. Because of their knowledge of OT scriptures they knew the Messiah was to be born there, but never bothered to check it out for them selves although Bethlehem was only 6 miles from Jerusalem. This is so typical of church members today, they may hear of some new thing God has been revealing to His people, but fail to check it out. They believe they already have the final word from God based on their understanding of scripture. A brief study of church history will reveal many cases of this very thing happening in the past. So as followers of Jesus today, we need to check out carefully any reports of new things, but heed (1 Thess 5:21). Jesus warned us about the danger of being deceived (Matt 24:4, 5, 11, 24). We need spiritual discernment as well as knowledge of scripture. The Pharisees had a knowledge of the OT scriptures, but were blinded by their pride, and missed the coming of the greatest gift ever given to mankind, that tiny babe in the manger, Emmanuel, Jesus the only begotten Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

INCARNATIONAL CHRISTIANITY

INCARNATIONAL CHRISTIANITY

This is a relatively new term to me, but coming just after we have celebrated the incarnation of Jesus for another year, I think I know what it means. When Jesus left His place in heaven to become the babe in Mary's womb, this to me was the greatest miracle that ever could be! Our Creator God becoming flesh and blood, in order to put a face on God, so to speak, that we might see what our invisible [to the human eye] God is really like, we call the "incarnation". And after Jesus had completed the work of redemption, by dying for our sins on the cross, he made provision for us to be the physical "body" to take His place on this planet. He said He would send the Holy Spirit to be with us and "in us" (John 14:17). Thus as I see it, when we receive salvation by the act of recognizing we are sinners, confessing our sin. and receiving Jesus as our personal Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into our life. He is the one who never leaves us, and therefore wherever we go and whatever we do, we are the incarnation of Christ. When we read the book of Ephesians where Paul describes the Church that Jesus said He would build, we should see that we are the body of Christ on planet earth. Our head is Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and we are His body. This is a tremendous privilege and responsibility, to be His "ambassadors", or representatives on planet earth!

I recently read a book by Jerry Cook called "The Monday Morning Church", in which he stresses this point that we are the Church not only on Sunday morning when we "go to church", but every day of the week! When are we ever going to wake up and realize that what we have seen and experienced as "church" in our Western society is nothing like what Paul describes in his NT letters? I recently read an article by Wolfgang Simson in which he made the following statement "Church as we know it is preventing Church as God wants it". I don't know brother Simson personally but I sure agree with this statement. I think Jerry Cook would also agree with it as he describes the changes that will be necessary to become the Monday morning church. In the introduction to his book Jerry uses a term "strategic placement", by which he means God has placed each one of us in certain places "to be the presence of Christ that opens the door for His revelation as Savior to an unbelieving world". Isn't that what this being a follower of Jesus is all about?  Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

THE INCARNATION

THE INCARNATION

At this time of year when we celebrate the coming to earth of Jesus Christ, in a time we call "Christmas", our minds are drawn to the miracle of what we call "the incarnation". In the writings of the apostle Paul, we find several passages that pertain to this event. (Phil 2:5-11) is one of my favorite scriptures pertaining to the first coming of Jesus to our planet, and (Gal 4:4-7) is another. But first we should look at (Luke 1:26-38), where we read of the coming to Mary of the Archangel Gabriel, with the news that she had been favored by God for the task of being the human instrument through whom the Savior of the world would take on human form! Most of us learn quite early in life how the human reproduction system works. It requires a female to produce an egg at a certain point in her monthly cycle, which must then be fertilized by a male at the right time in order to achieve conception. In Mary's case, at the correct time in her monthly cycle, she was "overshadowed" by the Holy Spirit, and the child conceived in her womb was truly the Son of God. This was one of the greatest miracles of all time!

The way Paul described this miracle event in (Phil 2:5-11) is "awesome!" The first part of the chapter describes how we should relate to other members in the body of Christ by putting others ahead of ourselves. He uses Jesus as our example of humility. Let me quote verses 5-7 from the Amp version "Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus—let Him be your example in humility—who although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being."

That is what Christmas is all about!! Is it any wonder that the world system and other world religions, do not want us to celebrate Christmas as the birthday of the Savior Jesus Christ? They do not believe in Jesus, and don't want to be reminded of His coming in the "fullness of time", born of a virgin, so that He could fulfill all the scriptures from the Old Testament prophets, who told about His supernatural birth. Let's do all we can do to keep this true message of Christ in Christmas this year, and every year until He comes again for His second appearance!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer