May 7, 2021
Hi Everybody,
I've been wanting to write
this note to you ever sense Easter Day.
I've been so busy and I don't understand how it got this bad. The main thing I've been wanting to talk
about is what a Muslim Cleric told me about Jesus. The next thing I want to cover is my
understanding of morality in the United States.
The last is meant to be a whimsical look at celebrating the month of
May. Let's get started with the more
serious message of Islam and Jesus.
New International Version
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth.
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the
beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made. .... 10 He was in the world, and though the
world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to
that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who
did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The
Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only
Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
I was in Saudi Arabia talking
with a man who's government job was to talk to American service members and
convert them to Islam. He told me that
Jesus can't be God because God can't die.
Of course God can't die, and that is what I want to talk about. Jesus didn't stop being God when his human
body fails. His shell, or physical
vessel did die, but just because he no longer inhabit that body made from dust
doesn't mean he stopped being God. I
hate using this analogy because of all the holes, but when a snake sheds it's
skin we don't say the snake is dead. At
some point each and every one of us will be departing our failed bodies. The body that Jesus was in wasn't God. God temporarily inhabited a normal temporal
body, just like you and I are in.
New International
Version
John 3:16
16 For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It's important to understand that just because
our human body fails that we don't stop being.
The same was true for Jesus. The
temporary body he was using died, but he didn't. My God is so great he took up a temporary
body . He lived with all the limitations
that body had to offer. Then He laid it
down for you and me. Yes that body was dead, but it was not God anymore than
the truck I drive is me. He was just
using it temporarily to accomplish his mission at the time. The third day is the thing that changes
everything.
Only God can raise his own discarded body from
the dead, and he made improvements. I
don't understand all the improvements, but he took a temporary body and
supercharged it. (I think it may even be
eternal, but I can't back that up.) What
I do know is, after only three days of healing I would never tell someone to
stick their finger in the holes of my hands and side because it would hurt way
too bad. Just thinking about getting a
body that doesn't hurt when I get up in the morning makes me excited.
The bottom line is the
cleric I talked to in Saudi Arabia was right when he said God can't die, but he
was so wrong in his understanding of what actually happened at the cross, and
he totally ignored what happened on the third day.
So what about my
understanding of our morals hear in the United States. Too many Americans don't understand
Judeo-Christian values, and the morality that go with it. Our founders believed that giving people
freedom and authority over there new government was only going to work if they
were a moral people. Morality was not
determined by an individual, but by God himself as revealed in the Old and New
Testament of the Bible. That worked to
end slavery and brought about better treatment for everybody including people
who were not white, not men, and foreigners who come to settle here.
The American people have been
mislead to believe that the Government is the answer to all our problems. This is wrong, the Government has been the
cause of many of our problems, it is the God of this Bible that is the answer
to all our problems. -- Pastor John C. Hagee
Our government is made up of
normal flawed human beings. Judge's are
normal flawed human beings. Because of
that our government is not and can never be perfect. Because we took all Bible training out of our
schools we no longer have an anchor to the morality that is needed to be a free
people. Instead of laws and judgments
based on a Biblical foundation, these people are ruling us using their own moral
system. Each of us have a moral belief
that changes as we get older and as circumstances change. Because
the government and judges are doing things with their own feelings of right and
wrong, they're becoming more tyrannical, because we need to be moral in the way
they understand. Of course there forcing
their own morality on us. The Bible
tells judges to judge according to the law regardless of whether one side is
rich or poor, white or black, or even loveable or distasteful. When you force your personal morality on
others that is oppression. The
government's morals change as time goes
on and as people in the government change.
In my opinion, kicking God out of school was the beginning of our
country working its way toward a tyrannical Marxist government.
New International Version
Exodus 20
17 “You
shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs
to your neighbor.”
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form
of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote
themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public
treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal
policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's
greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed
through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to
great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From
abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to
dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
―
Now for some silliness. At the end of May last year I learned May is National
Salad Month. I also learned that May is National
Hamburger Month. I've been waiting all
year for this because my favorite salad is a hamburger salad.
Burger King has this
hamburger salad with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, and an
interesting salad dressing of mayonnaise and ketchup. The croutons are a little different. Instead of being small and crunchy, they are
large and soft. I believe they call it a
Whopper. The hamburger is flamed broiled
and has that delicious flavor. For each
of you that aren't into the flame broiled taste, and want a juicy flavor with cheese,
may I suggest the salad from Wendy's.
Wendy's has a salad that is
nearly identical to Burger King with only two differences. First, the hamburger has never been frozen
and that changes the flavor pallet. It
also comes with cheese. The cheese and the juiciness of the hamburger give this
salad more of a pleasant savory taste.
Wendy's calls its salad a Dave's Single.
Regardless how you like your
salad you can't go wrong with either these.
On the other hand I suggest you stay away from the bean salad. Who eats cold beans. Sometimes they put this stuff in it and it doesn't
even taste good when you heat it up. When
it comes to bean salad, just say no.
I've been needing to get
this out off my chest cense Easter, I've been frustrated that I haven't had
time to say what was on my heart about the death and resurrection of
Jesus. Now that it's out maybe I will be
able to go on to the next thing. I guess
this is just my way of saying happy Easter, and He has risen. He has risen
indeed.
The version found written on the
wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:
People are often unreasonable, irrational,
and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of
selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some
unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may
deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could
destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may
be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be
forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be
enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and
God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
-this version is credited to Mother Teresa
Tim McGraw sang "Live
Like You Were Dying". We shouldn't
wait until we're diagnosed with a terminal illness to do the things that are on
our heart. If you need to give
forgiveness, do it now. If you want to
ride a bull get it done. You may not get
the chance to love deeper before you die, do it now. Don't be like the man in the song, you may
wait until you've lost your chance and it will be too late.
“LIFE’S JOURNEY IS NOT TO
ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A WELL PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN
SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN OUT, SHOUTING ‘HOLY SHIT…WHAT A RIDE!’” --- Mavis
Leyrer, age 83
Love You
Jimmie
Gene