Rules Of the Road

 “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.” – Exodus 20:13-15

Of the 10 Commandments, these three are the most recognizable or quotable.  Why, you might ask?  Simple – there are immediate consequences, established by the law of the governing body overseeing your community.  If you murder, you go to jail; If you commit adultery, you end up in divorce court; if you steal, you go to jail.  So, because mankind has placed punishment and consequence behind these commandments, but not the others, are they more important?

We look at the other 7 commandments and cannot trace them to an immediate consequence or legal limitation on our lives.  Yet, I propose that they hold equally as much importance as these three because all 10 impact your eternal life.  What is it in mankind, then, that would incorporate these 3 into our legal system and not the others?  Did early governing bodies believe that they came up with the laws against murder, adultery, and stealing on their own?  Is there somehow a belief that these laws did not stem from the recorded scriptures in Exodus?

Imagine a society where these were not the law.  What value does a life have?  What value do love, marriage, or a family have?  What stops me from taking whatever I want from whomever I want?  You can see how these specifically address how we must interact with others around us and establish the universality of righteousness.  If one were to abandon these 3 commandments as if they never existed, one would have the self-centered freedom to take the life of another whenever one felt the need.  Life would be centered around the individual and whatever makes them happy, rather than the goodness of the body of mankind.  Can you imagine a society of selfish, arrogant, and lawless existence? 

In that society, by what power and authority does one governing body have over another to say that it is unlawful to kill someone, or to steal, or to rape, or to commit adultery?  If there is no absolute truth and righteousness, no single authority over all things, then we are free to each determine what is right or wrong based on our own choices.  Who assigns authority of one over another?  I walk down the street in this fictitious world and choose of my own volition that I don’t like someone, so I take their life, without remorse, consequence, or guilt.  It’s simply my choice to reign in authority over them at any given moment.  But, in that society, the opposite is also true, and someone could take my life just as easily.  Without a single ultimate authority, chaos ensues.

The hierarchy of authority must have a single highest endpoint.  That end point is God Almighty, and the laws He established have lasted throughout all time, as the backbone of our moral character, our hope, and our guiding principles for right and wrong.  Governments are put in place to uphold what has been deemed as righteous, but they were not the originators of the code.  If you can accept these 3 as morally and ethically just and righteous, why do we struggle with the other 7?  The 10 Commandments are all of equal importance and significance. When you accept that they are directly spoken from God, the Creator and ultimate Truth in life.  Just because you see the immediate consequence of these 3 and not the others, does not minimize the importance of following God’s word.

11.      Have no other God

22.      Do not make or worship idols

33.      Do not take the Lord’s name in vain

44.      Keep the Sabbath holy

55.      Honor your Father and Mother

66.      Do not murder

77.      Do not commit adultery

88.      Do not steal

99.      Do not lie or give false testimony

11.      Do not covet your neighbor's possessions or wife

Keep them all, and live by His word, for He is our ultimate authority and knows what righteousness is.  Mankind does not.

Do You Trust God?

“May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise; then I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I trust in your word.”  
                                                                                                     – Psalm 119:41-42

 

They will always challenge your faith.  There will be no end to the ridicule and taunting, because you have demonstrated something others refuse to accept.  Live your life in full representation of the love instilled in you by God the Father.  I was 15 the first time someone actually told me that there was no God and I was foolish for believing in something I couldn’t see or touch.  This person’s premise was that he could not believe in something that wasn’t visible.  His impression was that Christianity was nothing more than a crutch for those who were weak, and struggling with their own independence.  He did not need anyone or anything else to make him feel good, it was completely his own wisdom and strength that would get him through this life.  I responded simply that he was right, I am weak and I can’t do it alone.  I pointed out to him that there is no way for me to experience eternal life without Christ Jesus death on the cross, and resurrection.  He challenged the existence of eternity as fodder.  There is no proof that eternity exists, this life is all there is and then we die; was his postulation.  To which I replied, then why are you here bothering me, if I’m going to die and you’re going to die and that’s it, why do you care how I live my life?  For that matter, why are we even alive? 

There is no real purpose for this life, why not end it now?  You see (I continued) if our lives mean nothing, than there is no hope for justice or reason for love or compassion or helping others.  Life has no value.  Your life, my life, the hungry child in Africa, the senile person in the nursing home – none of it matters.  In your position we are nothing but a waste of matter, breathing air and watching the clock tick/tock until we die.  The God I believe in has instilled in me a promise that there is more than this life.  There is more than what we see with our eyes and through a belief, faith and trust in His Son, we can experience that one day.  I have something to wake for each day, the ability to share His love with another in hopes that they will one day experience it as well.  When you wake up each morning, it’s just another day of breathing air.  I’ll keep believing in God, you can choose what you want to do tomorrow when you wake up.  With that he called me foolish and walked away.

God’s promises are our strength.  We trust that He will follow through, just as He has every time in the past.  Is there proof that Christ walked the earth?  No; there is no tomb, no pictures, no videos or DVD.  There are no eye witnesses that CNN can interview who can testify to His life.  There are countless promises from God the Father though, and every one of them are more credible than the trials and reports that have been published trying to prove His non-existence.  I trust in God’s promises for salvation, for grace and for eternal life.  Do you?

© Sondove Enterprises, 2019
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Evil Exists – So What (There is a God- Pt 6 of 7)

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”  – John 14:15

My Thoughts:
All of you must be able to see that we live in a fallen world.  The violence, bloodshed, abuse and anger that so many are experiencing today is far greater than any other time in our history.  A day doesn’t go by when we are not hearing another story of someone being shot, or multi-person murder, or violent protesting in the streets and casting insults upon one another.  Daily there are drive by shootings in neighborhoods around major metropolitan cities across America.  It’s not all gun-violence, but certainly we hear about these more so than other violent crimes.  Horror stories of sex-trafficking, child-pornography, suicides and school shootings grace the crevice of our ears almost weekly now.  Mankind has fallen and it’s almost becoming blasé and less of a shock to the average person.

What causes individuals to believe that they have the right to walk into an establishment, wave a pistol and begin shooting?  What makes a person think he is justified in kidnapping a 14 year old girl while she waits for a school bus, drug her, take her away to a foreign country and sell her for unthinkable purpose?  What differentiates their thought process from mine or yours (as you read this)? 

God created this world, mankind, and all that is in it.  The evil in this world has perverted it.  God’s word tells us of His character as perfect, righteous and holy.  When someone chooses to live outside of God’s character it is expected that they are living outside of these traits as well.  But, those of us living within God’s character, it is expected that we abide by His laws and the teaching of His Son Jesus Christ.  (John 14:21)

I’ve spoken to and listened to several atheists on this topic.  Their entire premise is that Christians need God as a crutch and Satan to blame, to avoid dealing with these difficult issues in life.  Their statements were ground in the belief that there is no supreme being, we are here for a period of time and then we are gone.  Often times they’ve read the bible cover to cover, even multiple times, and have a very thorough understanding of the message that we, “Christians”, believe.  They simply choose not to, as is their prerogative.  To them the bible is a compilation of fantasy stories told from generation to generation to appease mankind’s fear of the unknown.  At the basis, though, is a predominant feeling of self-righteousness.  Without a supreme being, a higher power, there is no one for them to answer too.  They answer only to themselves and their opinion of right vs. wrong as their guideline for life.

To this I wonder though; where does the foundation of this right and wrong come from?  Where did they learn that it is wrong to kill, to steal, or to bring harm upon another?  Where did this internal judgment complex come from?  There must be a foundation of right and wrong for them to compare their opinion against in order for them to claim that someone is doing something wrong.  What they will not admit to you is that they don’t know.  Certainly man’s laws are crafted in a manner to keep the peace between individuals, and could be claimed as the foundation of their choices and decisions. We are all obligated to uphold and live by these laws.  Dig a little deeper and ask the basic questions of where those laws were founded?  What is the premise of the laws that govern your country, county and city?  After peeling back layer after layer of the onion, most will fall back to early manuscripts which quote the 10 Commandments as a basis.

God has ingrained in every single human born an innate knowledge and sense of right vs. wrong.  Because we are made in His image, we are filled with His presence and love as our foundation during the development stages before birth.  Once born, the world begins influencing decisions and laying the second, third and fourth layer upon an individual’s character.  Life’s situations, environment and culture have much to do with an individual’s outlook on right vs wrong when we become adults.  The inability to recognize God is a learned trait, something that was taught and accepted rather than something that is believed through faith.  The most fundamental difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is our faith in something we have never seen and cannot be proven. 

We trust in the scriptures as God’s holy word and the single point of truth in the world today.  This lighthouse keeps us focused on right vs wrong in the eyes of the Lord.  When we are living by His standard of goodness, there is nothing in this world that can declare it as wrongdoing.  

Be Blessed,

Rich

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It's Not Your Choice

“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.” – Acts 9:26

Let’s face it, at the root of our being, most people don’t like change.  We become comfortable with our lives and routines because it decreases the stress and creates an environment of control.  When change does come upon us have you noticed how quick others are to be critical and challenge the newness?  I believe it is in our human nature to be skeptical and cautious around others that demonstrate a significant change in life.  Depending on the significance of the change, it may take years to once again gain the confidence and strength of some relationships.  I think of the great author C.S. Lewis.  At a young age, he was known atheist and debater against the belief in God.  He had described himself as “being angry with God for not existing.”   In his later 20’s and early 30’s he encountered God through debates with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien; while at Oxford University.  As he described his own conversion, “..was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, kicking, struggling, resentful and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape.”  Since his conversion, he has become one of the most influential Christian authors of the 20^th century. 

Picture in your mind someone in the 21^st century with a known and professed hatred of Christians.  Think of someone who has devoted their life to destroying the Christian church, even to the point of arresting and murdering Christians in honor of their belief in God.  Now, imagine that this person showed up in your city tonight and was holding a Christ centered revival.  What is your immediate thought?  I can tell you mine would be very skeptical, very cautious and there is a strong likelihood that my biasness’ and understanding of the person’s past would get in the way of my accepting him/her as a new follower of Jesus Christ.  I am so confident in my understanding of this person’s past, that I would find it very difficult to accept that God could or would want to use them for His future.  That’s exactly what happened to Paul.

As Paul returned to Jerusalem after his conversion and time spent in Arabia, he was not accepted by the followers of Jesus Christ.  They knew his past and could not fathom that he could have been converted.  To them I’m sure it seemed like he was plotting, scheming to get them all together just so he could capture them all at one time.  Gaining the trust of the disciples would take years for Paul.  Eventually though, by his actions, his testimony and his demonstration of the love of Jesus Christ they came around to accept him for who God had called him to be.

We will be challenged in our faith.  People will question the authenticity of what we are saying because they know our past.  The important thing to do, is stay focused on the One who called you and spreading His truth to any and all.  Just as some will challenge your faith, we must be cautious of challenging other’s faith and profession of Jesus Christ as Lord.  Jesus Christ blood can redeem even the most vicious and evil men we can think of.  If that is not true, then He did not die for all of our sins.  His death on that cross and resurrection was not for a select group of individuals, and not for others.  No, it was for all of mankind’s sins.  It is not our prerogative to decide who has and who has not received the salvation of Jesus Christ.  Only God knows the condition of a man’s heart.  We must remain focused on the act of forgiveness and allow God to focus on the act of justice.  Consider this scripture of Paul’s acceptance as you look at those around you.  There may come a day when you are face to face with the next great missionary for God’s kingdom.  Be careful not to judge them on their past, but on what God can do with their future.

 

Prayer:
Lord,
Today let us see through Your eyes.  Let us accept the grace of Your salvation in it’s completeness.  Help us to be non-judgmental against our brothers and sisters in Your grace, and give us the discernment to realize when others are using Your name as a deceptive tool.  We acknowledge that You are sovereign and can use any person You choose for Your kingdom.  Help us to see Your love, mercy and kindness expressed through other’s actions.  In Your name we pray - Amen

Everything from Nothing

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”  Ephesians 6:11

 

Those of you who have followed me for some time know that I am involved in a ministry called RDOF (Rational Defence of Faith) with an awesome man, Daryl Youngblood.  In this ministry Daryl provides very practical information for the debate between Atheism and Christianity from a scientific point of view.  His father was a scientist, and Daryl is steep in knowledge and wisdom in the scientific field. 

Today, I’d like to share an excerpt from one of Daryl’s RDOF events, title “Fine Tuning from Nothing”.
   (the following is a transcript from his event © RDOF, 2017 )

Nothing: A Pronoun denoting the absence of anything

In my many years of doing this, I have found that many people who say that scientific evidence disproves the existence of God, don’t actually know the evidence.  … Many times they don’t know the deep scientific evidence which makes up the basis for their belief, (yet they still believe it) and so it’s more of an emotional foundation rather than a logical foundation.  This happens all the time in conversations that I have with people.  So, what we’re going to do is look at some of the evidence here.  We’re going to look at the fundamental forces of the universe.

Recently, scientists have found that the fundamental forces of the universe are perfectly set, or fine tuned to allow human life.  They are tuned to an exactness that defies comprehension.  Scientists call this, rightly, fine tuning of the universe.  The values of these forces are tuned so precisely, that if you change them by even an infinitesimal amount, you would not exist.  There are many of these (forces).

One example is gravity, or the gravitational constant.  If the value of gravity changed by even 1 part in 10 sextillion quintillion human life would be impossible.  Folks, that’s 1 with 40 zero’s after it [10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000].  To explain how incredibly small 1 part in sextillion-quintillion is, imagine all the grains of sand on a beach, now imagine all the grains of sand in all the beaches in all the world.  Ok, that’s about a quintillion grains of sand.  Now, take that number and multiply it by 10 sextillion.  Now, wrap your head around that amount of grains of sand. 

In this analogy, if all of these grains of sand represented the value of gravity, how many grains of sand would you have to add or subtract in order for human life to be impossible? {dramatic pause}  ONE.  That’s how precisely gravity alone has to be set in order for you to exist and be here tonight.  The chance, obviously, the chance that gravity would be set this precisely by accident or by chance alone would be less of a chance of you winning the lottery every second in human history.  And, it’s not just gravity.

There are many other forces that have to be fine tuned in just this way.  When you add them all up, the chances of this happening randomly or accidentally are so logically impossible that it just makes your mind boggle.  They are so astronomical that it really does make it logically impossible. … So the question is how could the forces of the universe be this fine tuned by just chance.  This demands an explanation, it demands an explanation. 

Well, atheist scientists have an explanation for this.  They have an explanation that they say has ruled out God.  Do you know what it is?  The multiverse, anybody heard of that?  Let me explain a multiverse to you.  They say that instead of a creator being responsible for the fine tuning of the universe, that instead our universe is just one in an infinite number of parallel universes going on right now just as real as ours.  And, in these universes every possible event of any kind is being played out, every possible event of any kind has occurred.  That means there’s one where I’m a wrestler named Dominant; there’s one where Pastor Reggie is a metal rock star {laughter}… Every possible of any kind has been played out in one of these universes. 

This is the logic, so they say that, by chance somewhere in one of these vast number of universes, our finely tuned universe just popped into existence.  That is the current explanation for the fine tuning of the universe.   If you’re here tonight and you believe that scientific evidence disproves a designer of the fine tuning of the universe, here’s your evidence.  This is the current presiding explanation.  Atheist theoretical physicist, Sean Carroll, believes “An infinite number of universes is more plausible than God.”  “…each potential state does not cease to exist…each potential state creates a new universe and is real in that new universe.”  “Carroll states that he believes that the number of alternate universes actually existing is actually infinite.”  (Evolution News, Aug 2, 2017)  That is how they explain away the fine tuning of gravity and all the other constants.  That’s the way they explain it.  There are an infinite number of universes where every possible event has occurred, we just happen to live in the one where this series of events occurred.  Is that enough for you?

There is a philosophical problem though that rears it’s ugly head here.  If anything is possible in these universes, than it’s quite possible that we’re in a universe where God exists.  So the logic shoots itself in the foot.

I am so blessed to be a part of Daryl’s ministry and teaching.  I learn from him every time I get the opportunity to meet.  I hope you don’t mind my sharing this one excerpt from his teaching, because I find it so valuable and practical in my daily walk.  The bible tells us to put on the armor of God and prepare for the battles each and every day.  This is just one of the many battles we are fighting in today’s world, and I am using RDOF as one of my many weapons.  I believe it could provide value in your walk as well.  If you’d like to look into Daryl’s latest, follow RDOF on Facebook or find his videos on WWW.VIMEO.COM .  I hope you have the opportunity to check out his teachings.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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The Apathetic World Around Us

Apathy – lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting

Would you say that there is a feeling of apathy toward God in the world today?  I have seen an increasing feeling of ambivalence and apathy regarding the deep spiritual meaning of life.  “I don’t care if there is heaven and hell.”, “I’m living for today and what’s in it for me.”, “This is all there is, if there is something after this life, I don’t have any control of that, so it is what it is.”  These are all statements from individuals when posed with the simple question, “Do you believe in Heaven?” 

What is happening to cause individuals to disregard their eternal presence as the most important decision they have to make?  The world view has a tendency to discredit anything that cannot be proven within the infinitely small perspective that we as humans have of what is really happening around us.  According to an Albert Einstein quote, we humans use less than 10% of our brain’s capacity.  Hollywood made a movie last year called “Lucy”, which expanded on this very topic.  I am not promoting this movie, nor condoning it’s message, but simply stating that we are led to believe that we are brilliant, genius and scientifically advanced enough to answer life’s most complex questions.  When actually, we are extremely shallow in our knowledge and wisdom of what is really happening around us, by our inability to use the fullness of “grey matter” provided by our Creator.

If indeed we are incapable of using the fullness of our brain’s power, than how can we even begin to believe we can interpret the true complexities of this world.  Where does water originate from?  Who formed the first grain of sand?  What force began the world spinning endlessly upon it’s axis and holds it perfectly in place in the vast universe?  Who taught the ant to reproduce?  These are just a few of the questions that mankind has no intelligent, defendable answers for.  Therefore we say it just happened during a massive energy explosion billions of years ago.  By stating this, they have determined themselves that it is beyond our limited knowledge, so it must have been a random chaotic event that started it all.

Doesn’t it take an enormous amount of faith in the unknown to believe this tale?  Part of the world’s apathy toward God and eternal things is their inability to know, without complete evidence, that it is truthful. Because it takes significant faith to trust that God is real and that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, so we may join Him in Heaven one day; when there is no physical evidence one can see with our eyes.  Many need that 100% confirmation before they can believe, and without it have chosen to believe in something so extraordinary and unexplainable as the Big Bang and theory of evolution from primordial soup. 

Do you not see that it requires extreme faith to believe the human body, muscle structure, bones, nervous system, senses, hair follicles, brain matter, organs, etc are all by chance and evolved from organisms in the slime following the so-called Big Bang.  Seriously.  Where did that original super-organism that could evolve into life come from?  Did it evolve from something else?  If so, where did that come from? And so on and so on.  There must have been an originating intelligent life form or an explanation on how a living organism came from nothing.  Who is really stretching the faith spectrum farther – the person who believes in a single Creator of all things (albeit an unseen Creator); or the randomness of a living organism coming from nothing and then evolving into an extremely complex system of neurons, muscle, bone, tissue and emotions.  The world will say there is fact for the latter and therefore it is believable, and will avoid the essential question of how it actually came into being.

Much of the world has an apathetic opinion toward God today, because they do not like being told to conform to the set of rules and guidelines as prescribed in the scriptures.  They choose to reject the God of the Universe in the hope that the Scriptures aren’t truth.  Many people no longer fear the God of the Bible, but try to conform God to meet their choice of lifestyle and sinful actions.  They accept the worldly view of origin and evolution because it requires nothing from them to live righteously.  It says in Romans 3:14-18:
¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The scriptures tell us to repent from our sins and turn toward the way of Jesus Christ and be redeemed for our unrighteousness.  There will be a judgement day and we all will stand before the Lord to defend our actions.  Please stop believing in what the world tells you is okay, and read for yourselves the truth that is found in His Word.  I care for each of you and ask that you take this as your number one priority in life.  

Love them All

Make 2014 a year for sharing

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism” – James 2:1

I have noticed in my 49 years that most people have some sort of biasness towards certain types of people (race, culture, sexual orientation, age, addictions or financial position) and a particular disdain against others. We look at some and see their differences and it causes something to rise within, not because we are particularly evil, but because we have a hard time understanding their circumstance, history or choices.  We are naturally drawn to those that think like us, act like us and believe like we do; but is this a service or disservice to our faith?

If you are completely honest with yourself and your thoughts on life, you will realize that it is much easier for you to have discussions and interaction with others that have similar position and interests as yourself.  If you are a Christian, it is much safer and easier for you to have a discussion about faith and beliefs with other Christians than it is to sit down and have that same discussion with a Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness or Atheist.  If you are homophobic or repulsed by drug addicts, are you doing a service or disservice by withdrawing from them?  What is to be gained in that?  How is the Kingdom of God expanded if we are unwilling to reach out to those who believe differently? 

Every person on the face of this earth is created by the Almighty Father in heaven for a purpose.  The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross on Calvary, and poured out His blood, was resurrected again; so that every person could be saved from eternal Hell.  God’s provision was not for a few of us, but for all of mankind, who have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Your neighbor, the teenager who lacks respect for adults, the murderer on death row, the Atheist professor teaching our children in college, your wife/husband, your children, the President and every sinful man or woman ever born is given the opportunity to repent and accept Jesus Christ.  If in that choice they have chosen to turn away and deny Him, then they should be on your prayer list, and in your path of pursuit.

For if one of the shepherd’s sheep strays away, the shepherd will leave the 99 to pursue the one.  Remember, they are just as important to the Father as you are.  His love is immeasurable for all mankind equally, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who acts as our Intercessor to the Father in heaven.  We are redeemed because of His perfection, not because of anything we have done.  You cannot do enough good acts or say enough “Hail Mary’s” to receive eternity in heaven.   There is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ, the same way that every other person in the world is accepted.  God’s love is immutable, never changing and is available to each of us equally, for there are no favorites in His eyes.

In the biblical days, the Pharisees and Sadducees would look at the non-Jewish of the world with disdain.  They would not reach out to these people with love and compassion, but with contempt and condemnation.  The Samaritans, the Lepers, the Romans, the harlots, prostitutes, tax collectors and poor were cast away from the accepting arms of their holiness.  They elevated themselves above all others, as servants of God worthy of His love and forgiveness while all others were condemned to Hell.  This is not a far stretch from many of the Christians in today’s world if you honestly stop and think about it.  Let us not be too quick to cast aspersions on those who are different, but rather reach out to them with the love of the Father and the Son, in every attempt to help them find the Savior and Lord as well. 


© Sondove Enterprises, 2014,
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God’s Not Dead

Make 2014 a year of Sharing

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 10:32-33

I saw a great movie over the weekend and came to realize that for the most part we are allowing the world to take our faith away from us little by little.  The movie is called “God’s Not Dead” from Pure Flix Films.  It opened in 787 theaters on Friday night in the US and was the number 2 grossing film per theater for the weekend, compared to movies out of Hollywood which were shown in thousands of theaters, including Divergent and the Muppets.  I won’t go into details here about the movie because I believe each of you should find it in your local area this week and go.  Take a friend if you can, it’s the best $20 you could spend.  It has me thinking though, how would I defend the faith when faced with the extreme pressure as was the young college student portrayed in the movie.

We are all called to stand up for the truth of His grace and mercy.  That doesn’t mean we have to stand on street corners with a sign and scream at people, but it does mean we have to defend the faith when it is challenged.  Most often we find ourselves giving in to the pressure from society when our beliefs are challenged rather than taking a stand.  Human emotions get in the way of speaking His truth and we often times feel pressured to “fit in” or “just get along” so as not to offend those with an alternative opinion.  How many of you have friends that do not believe there is a God, yet alone that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord?  Are you challenging their position on the truth from His word, or are you ignoring the situation?  If the later, what is it that keeps you from opening up this dialogue with them?  If you aren’t willing to take a stand for His truth in your interactions with them, then who is? 

You see, most of us don’t want to offend our friends or family, we just want to get along.  I get it, I’m the same way.  I make sure they know my position and then I leave it to them to pursue God, rather than pressing upon them my beliefs.  After all, it is the choice of every individual as to what they will do with this single question in life:  “Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?”  Those who say there is no God (Atheists), well, their answer is quite obvious, as is their destiny.  Those who say they believe there is a God, but have no faith in Jesus Christ as the single path to salvation, fits into a group that has been deceived by the devil in the world around them, very much like Adam and Eve were deceived in the Garden of Eden.  To believe in a supreme being, but not believe in His path for salvation means that the individual has bought into the lies of this world and has claimed their position against God and His plan of eternal peace.  It is that black and white, though we try to complicate it with shades of grey and soften the rules.  God has made it clear that there is one path to salvation and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ, the redeemer of mankind.  Matthew 10:32-33 tells us that our resistance to stand up for Him in this world will result in our eternal absence from Him in paradise.

I’m working on this myself, believe me, but I am committed to stand for my Savior in all opportunities that God places before me.  Eventually, I will become stronger and will pursue those opportunities to defend my faith in the eyes of this world.  It is a journey I am pursuing and I hope you will join me in doing the same.  Step out of that comfortable box of evangelizing to other believers and start actually spreading His word to those who need to hear it.  Be bold, confident and courageous in your endeavor though, because I can assure you, the enemy will be ever present in trying to stop your pursuit.  Trust in Him who was the Creator of it all, and press on in the fight.


© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
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My Hope is in You

Make 2014 a year of Sharing

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.” – Job 7:6

The home phone rings, which is pretty rare since the era of electronic devices is upon us and most people aren’t using home phones anymore.  As he picks up the phone with a grumpy, “Hellllloo”  On the other end he hears the voice of a police office, “Joe, It’s about your daughter, Amanda.”  Suddenly his heart was beating faster and there was a lump in his throat.  It was a small town and he knew everyone, and everyone knew him.  The Police officer was a close friend of the family, and if he called the home phone, it meant official business.  Immediately, he started evaluating the tones of the officer’s voice, and feared for the worst.  “Yes, what about her? “  “There’s been an accident and she was involved.  We’re going to need you to come down here.” said the Police officer quietly.  “Is she okay?” he asked. “No Joe. No she’s not.  You and Debbie need to me at the emergency room.”

A call that a parent never wants to get.  We try to protect them, we try to teach them, and we try to hold onto them.  Letting go is hard and scary.  We know what is in the world and we know the dangers that wait around every corner.  For years we hold their hand, we walk alongside of their bike, we run to their side when the fall down or get hit by a pitch.  Countless booboos are healed with a gentle mother’s kiss.  Hundreds of times we are telling them to put on your seatbelt, wear your helmet, don’t run out into the street, look both ways, don’t jump off that, get down out of that tree, be careful it’s hot and so on and so on.  Then comes the days when they borrow the keys to run to the store.  Sitting on pins and needles for the 20 minutes it takes them to get there and back.  Then a longer trip to the mall, and then to the movies and then a friends house, and then the beach.  They become more comfortable behind the wheel and we become less stressed each time they walk out the door.  A gentle transition takes place as their confidence grows and a parents grip loosens, until one day they have left for college.  Then it hits home that our work is nearly complete.

When that call comes in though, every thought, every emotion, every memory rushes through your brain.  Your biggest fears surface and begin to haunt you with the possibilities.  Your ability to control the hysteria and anxiety go right out the window and your sense of control is suddenly vanquished.  In that moment, in the presence of the unknown and fears, who are you going to reach to?  Will you pray?  Will you plead with God for your child’s life to be spared?  Will you barter your life for theirs?  What will you do when you have no control over a desperate situation?  Many of us would reach out to God Almighty in this type of a circumstance.  We would reach out to Him because we know, deep inside, that He is there, He is sovereign and ultimately in control of life and death.

We hear stories of people who have passed over, and then came back.  A book came out just a few years ago, Heaven is for Real, about a small boy from Nebraska, Colton Burpo, and his visit to heaven during an emergency surgery,   It has been scoffed at, ridiculed and claimed to be fantasy.  Why?  Why is it so hard to accept that there is a heaven and a hell, just as the Bible states?  How can people reach out to a God on their death bed, or the death bed of a loved one, yet at the same time make statements that these books, movies and stories are completely fabricated?

God is in control, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of every life.  We reach to Him because we are hopeless without Him.  For those that do not believe in Him, where is their hope?  Where will they turn in the event of a tragedy in their life?  For that matter what value does life even represent?  It could be gone tomorrow and if there is no heaven, no hell and their assertions are correct that there is no God, then what, it’s over, it’s for naught?  Sixty, seventy, eighty years of waking, working, loving and sleeping are gone and that’s it.  What hope does that person have, how do they put a value on life and death?  If there is no value on life and death, than why live?

I have hit my knees so many times and pleading with God for the safety of my children and for the well-being of my loved ones.  Sometimes it doesn’t go the way I would like it to, but my faith in God is not shaken.  I realize that there are bigger purposes to life’s events than I will ever know.  A death to a loved one might indeed bring someone else to the realization that God is in control and that they are outside of His plan.  It’s painful none the less, but falling back on the hope and trust in God the Father, heaven and His eternal presence ensures me that this life is but a very short phase, and my life with Him and with my lost loved ones, that likewise believed, will last for an eternity.  My life is filled with hope and I press on to help others find the same.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
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Do Something

Read It, Learn It, Live It, Share It

“if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9

Some of the sweetest words to ever fall upon my ears are the words from a child of mine stating, “Daddy, I believe that Jesus died for me and rose again so I can go to heaven someday.”  The grace of the Lord has fallen upon my family and we are blessed to be able to serve the Lord.  I wholeheartedly believe in the Holy Word of God, written and captured by His disciples and the apostles of the early church, that salvation comes to those who profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  I rest in that truth and long for the witness and understanding of knowing that my family and friends are likewise blessed with eternal salvation. 

If you woke in the morning and Jesus Christ were standing at the foot of your bed, what would your first reaction be?  Would you fall at His feet and beg forgiveness?  Would you reach for His hand and feel His authority and power sweep through your veins?  Would you raise your hands in praise and worship?  For many people, unless this were to happen, they are unable to accept His existence.  Without the physical proof that this man, Jesus, walked the earth, died and rose again; they are incapable of coming to this point of redemption in their life.  It takes a faith beyond explanation and understanding.  There is no physical proof, no logical reasoning or guaranteed eyewitness encounter.  A follower of Jesus Christ is doing so completely based on the acceptance that there is something after death, and that something is either eternal life in the abyss of Hell, or an eternal life reunited with God the Father in heaven.

For those that deny this faith based belief, can only fall into one of 2 camps. 

1)      They have no belief that there is something after death.  They believe that we only have the here and now for as long as we are on this planet.  Once we are six feet under it is over.  This is a life without hope, without purpose or meaning.  It is a life that is focused on living today and today only, for if tomorrow they were hit by a bus it would matter not.

2)      There is a large group of individuals that refuse to believe that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to an eternal life.  This group of individuals generally believe in a supreme authority and hold onto a belief that this authority has control over the earth and all that is within.   They will believe that a person Jesus from Nazareth likely walked the earth and most believe he was a righteous and even prophetic man, but they cannot accept his deity.  They justify their beliefs by stating that this supreme authority is loving and therefore would allow for many paths to an eternal life, or even a resurrected life (as some would believe). They will deny the words of the disciples and apostles as truth and refute the entire New Testament as the Word of God, because it is too restrictive.

The reality is that they cannot accept the message of grace.  God’s plan of salvation is not complicated, and often times people try to make it so.  Salvation comes from believing and confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and believing that He indeed lived, died and rose again.  From that point of acceptance, by the grace of God, we are granted salvation from an eternity in Hell.  But, that is just the beginning.  The new birth represents a new life of living for the One who gave you that salvation.  No, it does not create a perfect human being.  We are still overflowing with a propensity to sin, because of our human nature; but we realize that our sins are covered by His act of compassion on the cross of Calvary. 

The power of following Christ comes from knowing that God’s love is available to every one of us, and is all powerful.  That only by His grace are we saved, not by anything we can do.  To dwell in heaven with God for eternity will require that we become perfect.  He demands perfection, which is impossible to achieve, and therefore He created a bridge to close the gap between His demands and our inadequacy.  This bridge was the sacrifice and death of His Son to cover our imperfections.  This single act is the foundation that differentiates Christianity from every other religion.  There is no possibility to achieve perfection through human works, for we cannot even fathom what the perfection of God looks like.  We are only capable of entering heaven because Jesus’ death and resurrection became the sacrificial offering to cover our sins before we were even born.

True salvation will open your heart for the Holy Spirit to dwell within you, and create a conviction that requires redemption, or turning away, from sinful acts.  The realization of living in sin brings one to the conversion in life that is led by the Holy Spirit, to become more Christ-like in our actions.  Becoming like Christ is an impossible task, for He was perfect in every way, but through continued study of God’s Word and communicating with the Holy Spirit within, we daily get stronger and closer to our Savior. 

This is the message to share with your children, your family and your friends.  For without this decision in life, they will be lost forever; and if you truly love them as you say you do, it should matter to you.  I’m sharing it with you in hopes that you in turn will share it with those you care about.  Don’t be afraid or embarrassed, there is nothing more important in your or their life; is there?   
 

© Sondove Enterprises, 2013
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com