Long time no write! In view of last week's news item on the new book "Proof of Heaven" by neurosurgeon Dr Eben Alexander, I have decided I have something new to share.
Its a first hand account of an atheist neurosurgeon's experience in a 7 day coma of going to heaven and realising our souls are eternal. Thought provoking, given he met and spoke with his half sister he did not know who had passed away years before. When later shown the photo of his half sister, he recognised her immediately.
If you use Youtube.com.au and search for 'Proof of Heaven' you find not only his story but also other people's experience not of heaven but of hell. This is a scary journey into the truth that hell exists and how terrible it really is.
In particular, there is a video post called 'Placebo' warning Christians that many of us are actually deceived into thinking all we need to do is believe in Jesus Christ, go to church once a week and live generally good lives. No, no no! We must make God number 1! Although I have heard such a message before, hearing the descriptions of first hand accounts and seeing pictures drawn of hell is very convincing, especially if you take God's word, the bible as it is, truly as God's word.
There is no name under heaven by which we can be saved except that of His Son: Jesus Christ. But God is a jeolous God, he wants us heart and soul and mind 100%. What a challenge! We can't just 'do the right thing' we must take up our cross and deny ourselves.
Mark 8:34-36
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
I dare you to watch and hear the entire placebo video on youtube - it will shake you up no matter how strong your walk!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A new paradigm of wealth
We would all like to be wealthy, would we not? That is, wealthy in life, in love, in family, in friendships, in having abundance in every way so we are lacking in nothing. True wealth is much more than money. This is common sense........Is it not?....... Or is it? Look around the people you know and ask yourself, who is living without limits? And I don't mean breaking the law!
We know much more than we apply to our own lives. Imagine how our lives would be if we simply applied what we already know?!
Eg We know health is more than the health of our bodies. What if you are 'healthy' physically, but have mental issues? or spiritual issues from past wounds? Are you really healthy? Of course not.
We know to be truly healthy, we have to have healthy minds, bodies and spirit. Each is inter-related and cannot be divorced from the other. Each aspect is an integral part of who we are. So why then does modern medicine continue to ignore this common sense? And to treat only the body? Or only the mind, and not also the spirit?
Its a matter of training, one assumes. Doctors are trained to heal the body, but not the mind or spirit. Phychiastrists are trained to see the brain as a combination of chemical reactions, so they apply drugs to balance the chemicals produced in their patients' brains. Pastors are trained to deal with spiritual disease, so have a tendency so see everything from a spiritual point of view.
Or to be blunt, if you are only taught how to use a hammer, you tend to see all problems as nails sticking out! Slowly other forms of treatment which were previously dismissed are becoming increasingly accepted as credible treatments. Acupuncture, naturopathy, herbal medicines abound.
Here's an blinding thought...
Physical illness (as opposed to physical trauma caused by accidents, injury or physical assaults) is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental physical input. In other words, garbage in garbage out! So be careful what you habitually eat! And be careful how you habitually move!
Mental illness is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental mental input. Again garbage in, garbage out! So be careful what you habitually think!
Spiritual illness is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental spiritual input. Again garage in, garbage out! So be careful what you believe!
And what are the common sense implications of the above? Why, they are common sense of course and you already know the answers!
To heal the body, eat and move right,...... always.
To heal the mind, think right, ....... always.
To heal the spirit, believe right, ....... always.
We all do some of these things, some of the time. The key to lasting health, is making these behaviors into our habits so they become our chosen lifestyle and not something we do just when we are feeling sick in the body, worried in the mind or stressed in the spirit.
Obvious again, you say? So why don't you apply it? If you did, you wouldn't be reading this! Ha Ha Ha....got you there, didn't I?
So why don't we do what we know? What's stopping us from living life to our full potential? Or settling for something less then we were meant to be? From living life out of a sens of abundance?
Here are some possible clues:
- Conflicting beliefs: take us one step forward and two steps back
- Wrong beliefs: take us down the wrong path
- Inadequate beliefs: take us only part way
- laziness: make us sluggish
- fear of failure: freezes us
- fear of success!: freezes us!
- fear of rocking the boat so we do nothing and become observers of life
- because no-one expects us too! ....so we don't even try beyond a certain level
- because it seems like too much work! to go against the trend and forces of everything around us
- apathy: not caring one way or the other
The good news is there are tools and ideas that can address each one of these blockages. And because we are body, mind and spirit, the tools must also be tools and ideas for the body, for the mind and for the spirit.
But are you ready to change? ........Are you ready to give up beliefs that are holding you back and replace them with beliefs that will spur you on to achieve what you never thought possible?
Do you know, that even as I write these words, I am asking myself the same questions?
I am daring myself to go where I have not gone before. And if I can take the challenge, why not you as well?
What is a value system, but a strongly held belief, passed down through the generations? Everything can be changed..... by a renewing of the mind.
We know much more than we apply to our own lives. Imagine how our lives would be if we simply applied what we already know?!
Eg We know health is more than the health of our bodies. What if you are 'healthy' physically, but have mental issues? or spiritual issues from past wounds? Are you really healthy? Of course not.
We know to be truly healthy, we have to have healthy minds, bodies and spirit. Each is inter-related and cannot be divorced from the other. Each aspect is an integral part of who we are. So why then does modern medicine continue to ignore this common sense? And to treat only the body? Or only the mind, and not also the spirit?
Its a matter of training, one assumes. Doctors are trained to heal the body, but not the mind or spirit. Phychiastrists are trained to see the brain as a combination of chemical reactions, so they apply drugs to balance the chemicals produced in their patients' brains. Pastors are trained to deal with spiritual disease, so have a tendency so see everything from a spiritual point of view.
Or to be blunt, if you are only taught how to use a hammer, you tend to see all problems as nails sticking out! Slowly other forms of treatment which were previously dismissed are becoming increasingly accepted as credible treatments. Acupuncture, naturopathy, herbal medicines abound.
Here's an blinding thought...
Physical illness (as opposed to physical trauma caused by accidents, injury or physical assaults) is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental physical input. In other words, garbage in garbage out! So be careful what you habitually eat! And be careful how you habitually move!
Mental illness is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental mental input. Again garbage in, garbage out! So be careful what you habitually think!
Spiritual illness is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental spiritual input. Again garage in, garbage out! So be careful what you believe!
And what are the common sense implications of the above? Why, they are common sense of course and you already know the answers!
To heal the body, eat and move right,...... always.
To heal the mind, think right, ....... always.
To heal the spirit, believe right, ....... always.
We all do some of these things, some of the time. The key to lasting health, is making these behaviors into our habits so they become our chosen lifestyle and not something we do just when we are feeling sick in the body, worried in the mind or stressed in the spirit.
Obvious again, you say? So why don't you apply it? If you did, you wouldn't be reading this! Ha Ha Ha....got you there, didn't I?
So why don't we do what we know? What's stopping us from living life to our full potential? Or settling for something less then we were meant to be? From living life out of a sens of abundance?
Here are some possible clues:
- Conflicting beliefs: take us one step forward and two steps back
- Wrong beliefs: take us down the wrong path
- Inadequate beliefs: take us only part way
- laziness: make us sluggish
- fear of failure: freezes us
- fear of success!: freezes us!
- fear of rocking the boat so we do nothing and become observers of life
- because no-one expects us too! ....so we don't even try beyond a certain level
- because it seems like too much work! to go against the trend and forces of everything around us
- apathy: not caring one way or the other
The good news is there are tools and ideas that can address each one of these blockages. And because we are body, mind and spirit, the tools must also be tools and ideas for the body, for the mind and for the spirit.
But are you ready to change? ........Are you ready to give up beliefs that are holding you back and replace them with beliefs that will spur you on to achieve what you never thought possible?
Do you know, that even as I write these words, I am asking myself the same questions?
I am daring myself to go where I have not gone before. And if I can take the challenge, why not you as well?
What is a value system, but a strongly held belief, passed down through the generations? Everything can be changed..... by a renewing of the mind.
Does money equal success?
Ecclesiastes 5:10-12
"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them, And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a labourer is sweet whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep"
It is not money that is evil, only the love of money.
1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them, And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a labourer is sweet whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep"
It is not money that is evil, only the love of money.
1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
God's definition of success
Genesis 39:1-2
"Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ismaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian."
Note that Joseph was brought to Egypt after he was sold as a slave by his own brothers first to a group of Midianite merchants who then sold him to Potiphar, an official of Pharoah. Genesis 37:28,36
He then became successful because the Lord was with him and prospered him by giving him wisdom which eventually led to Pharoah putting Joseph in charge of the 'whole land of Egypt' Genesis 41:41. But this was only after Joseph had been wrongly accused of attempting sexual assault on Potiphar's wife an had spent more than 2 years in Pharoah's prison. While in prison, the Lord was still with Joseph and Joseph did not lose faith or wisdom. The Lord showed he was with Joseph by granting him kindness and showed him favour in the eyes of the prison guard. The guard put the whole prison under Joseph's care.
"So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Genesis 39:22-23
Note that Joseph was still in prison! So you can have success no matter what your circumstance! No matter how lowly your position in life.
But what of worldly success, you may say. Is it only the poor who speak this way? That the Lord gives success to the lowly?
Look what Solomon says then, the richest and wisest ruler of Jerusalem who ever lived.
"I thought in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.' But that also proved to be meaningless.
'Laughter,' I said, 'is foolishness. And what does pleasure accomplish?' I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly - my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks then anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the tresure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well - the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
"Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ismaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian."
Note that Joseph was brought to Egypt after he was sold as a slave by his own brothers first to a group of Midianite merchants who then sold him to Potiphar, an official of Pharoah. Genesis 37:28,36
He then became successful because the Lord was with him and prospered him by giving him wisdom which eventually led to Pharoah putting Joseph in charge of the 'whole land of Egypt' Genesis 41:41. But this was only after Joseph had been wrongly accused of attempting sexual assault on Potiphar's wife an had spent more than 2 years in Pharoah's prison. While in prison, the Lord was still with Joseph and Joseph did not lose faith or wisdom. The Lord showed he was with Joseph by granting him kindness and showed him favour in the eyes of the prison guard. The guard put the whole prison under Joseph's care.
"So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Genesis 39:22-23
Note that Joseph was still in prison! So you can have success no matter what your circumstance! No matter how lowly your position in life.
But what of worldly success, you may say. Is it only the poor who speak this way? That the Lord gives success to the lowly?
Look what Solomon says then, the richest and wisest ruler of Jerusalem who ever lived.
"I thought in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.' But that also proved to be meaningless.
'Laughter,' I said, 'is foolishness. And what does pleasure accomplish?' I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly - my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks then anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the tresure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well - the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The plans of God
How can we know God's plan? For life..., for us..., for our children,.... for the world?
1 Corinthians 2:6-12,14
"We do however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of a 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.
the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 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."
v14
"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."
1 Corinthians 2:6-12,14
"We do however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of a 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.
the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 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."
v14
"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."
Saturday, April 18, 2009
How do I overcome temptation, sin, bad habits, wrong doing?
Act 10:43 BELIEVE in JESUS CHRIST ...
'All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives foregiveness of sins through his name.'
Acts 2:38-39
'Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Proverbs 15:6 LOVE ...
'Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.'
Mark 11:25 FORGIVE ...
'And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.'
I Corinthians 10:13 TRUST ...
'No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it.'
Hebrews 4:15 Know that you are not alone ...
'For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.
Hebrews 2:14-18 Jesus can relate to you...
'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 - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendents.
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
'All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives foregiveness of sins through his name.'
Acts 2:38-39
'Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Proverbs 15:6 LOVE ...
'Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.'
Mark 11:25 FORGIVE ...
'And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.'
I Corinthians 10:13 TRUST ...
'No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it.'
Hebrews 4:15 Know that you are not alone ...
'For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.
Hebrews 2:14-18 Jesus can relate to you...
'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 - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendents.
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
"How do I love life more?"
1 Peter 3:10
'For,
'For,
"Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
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