The Womb of Water (Poem, Part 1)

Introduction

Ahhhh, water. For any and all life, a necessity!

Of life, some say it’s the very source.

To that I say, what an incredible naivety,

One that The Bible does not endorse. ¹

For physical life, water is required.

Since to this life, spiritual life is its kin,

For that, spiritual water’s desired,

God’s Spirit, represented by water and wind. ²

To us, His Book conveys, from many a perspective,

His multi-millennial, strategic plan,

To account for sins through Grace and Justice, corrective,

All sins committed by both devils and man.

One often missed perspective on His plan,

Is His story of water.

After all, that’s where our story began.

Of that, come, let’s get wiser.

In the beginning, all waters were one,

Covering the expanse below The Almighty.

He then created the second heaven,

With waters above and below, adroitly. ³

To every body of water, three things are a must:

A bed or bottom, a flow, and a starting source.

Waters below the expanse, embedded in Earth’s crust,

Each with waterheads and a unique flowing course.

Waters above the expanse, pose a faith challenge.

We focus our search extra-terrestrially,

As The Bible’s wise insight we seek to expunge,

Thinking it’s …‘just about spirituality’.

God’s Book reveals His plan for Heaven on Earth.

Though by sin, His plan has been protracted,

One day for sure, it will finally be birthed.

From His Word, it has not been redacted.

In His plan, water features distinctively,

He has revealed this to us sequentially.

Yet we seem to miss it instinctively,

Failing to perceive His analogy.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – The Sequence

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¹ The Bible iteratively affirms God alone is the source of all life. (See: Isaiah 42:5)

² Wind, as in breath

³ Earth’s atmosphere and the expanse of space are the first and second heavens, respectively. God’s Throne is currently in the third heaven, or possibly on the bran new Earth The Lord told Isaiah He was creating, nearly 700 years before His virgin birth. (See: 2 Corinthians 12:2 and Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, and also Earth's Next Versions (Series))

Did Jesus Teach Self-defense? (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

Q: In encouraging His disciples to buy swords, was Jesus essentially teaching us in our day to prepare for self-defense?

A: The scenario to which this question refers is during the hours just after the last supper, but prior to Jesus’ nighttime arrest in a dark garden area. He had earlier instructed His disciples to go on a ministry journey after having spent considerable time learn from and observing Him, akin to an internship and practicum experience. At that time, He instructed them to only carry the bare minimum, but no money or other normal essentials. Their lesson was to learn reliance on God’s personal directions and provisions. But now, before His arrest and pending death, He mentioned the need for them each to have a knife or sword, even selling their clothing, if necessary, to purchase one. One disciple pointed out there were 2 knives or swords within the group of twelve. Jesus responded, ‘It is enough.’ Yet when one disciple later used his knife or sword to cut off the ear of a member of the arresting party, Jesus sternly rebuked him, saying, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.’ This is the basis for the adage, ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword!’

God’s message to us in Scripture must be carefully perceived by a heart full of and inclined to His Spirit and wisdom, in context of His overarching strategic plan for humans. Our proclivity to focus on any Scripture passage out of this context is un-wise, and may easily lead to error, given our sinful, prideful, selfish human nature. Could a wide swarth of the worldwide church possibly have made this particular error when considering the above passage? I believe so, and here’s why.

It should be totally obvious that human beings do not need to be ‘taught’ to defend self, per se. This is clearly instinctive and, while observing toddlers, we see it is innate. So why would Jesus, God-in-human flesh, waste any time in His strategic mission on Earth to ‘teach us’ to defend self?! He didn’t. In all things strategic that He did, He was governed by John 5:19, namely only doing and saying what He saw/heard in His spirit The Father doing or saying. That said, it is obvious that every word Jesus said during His earthly life was not necessarily ‘strategic and mission-specific’. Our natural proclivity to treat non-strategic sayings as strategic opens the door for our prideful human nature to take charge and run amok, even developing erroneous doctrines by which we shape our lives and those of on-lookers. For example, the above passage is the clear ‘go-to’ basis and justification for so many Christians to justify their deep-seated, high-regard for gun and rifle ownership across America, even of military grade weapons in domestic, urban settings, whether for recreational use, hunting or, more likely, assuaging their growing fears (e.g., of increasing lawlessness, potential foreign invasion, the browning of America as a result of complex, long un-enforced immigration laws, etc.). Of course the US Constitution (Second Amendment) gives Americans the right to bear arms. This amendment was approved when the young nation had only a relatively small footing in a yet-unexplored, unknown, wild continent, was fraught with conflicts with indigenous Americans, and the system of laws and enforcement mechanisms were very nascent. America today is literally on the opposite end of this spectrum, yet some still revere the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, news reports steadily stream the disheartening results.

The end of the above-noted Scripture passage (i.e., put away and don’t ‘live by’ or trust wholly in your knife/sword….!) is clearly strategic, on-mission, and very much in context of the broader message of Scripture from Genesis-to-Revelation. That resounding message is summed up in these points:

  - turn the other cheek

  - trust deeply and only in God as our spiritual Father

  - develop maturing faith in His promises (e.g., Psalm 91)

  - obey Psalm 118:8 (referred to as the middle verse in the 

    entire Bible): ‘It is better to trust in The Lord than to put

    trust in man’

  -Etc., etc.

  

America has been very much a waring nation, and has excelled in not only developing ever more awesome weapons of warfare, but also in helping to arm other nations ‘to the teeth’, motivated by political machinations and our lauded and lofty profit motive. All things war-related are highly profitable …for a few. We also see the clear boomerang effects from our nation’s proclivity to wars and international arms dealing. This is manifested in (a) skyrocketing numbers of veterans who return home with battle-hardened appreciation for weapons use, and (b) the proliferation of weapons in our homeland, including weapons of war in domestic settings. The resulting mounting tolls on our citizens, and the steep deterioration in overall quality of life in our nation is increasingly unbearable. (See: America’s Spiritual Boomerang)

In conclusion, Moses and Israel sang a song after God destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. It includes this statement: God is a man of war: The Lord is His name. (Exodus 15:3) Centuries later, God forbade David from building a temple because David had ‘shed much blood on the Earth in My sight’. (1 Chronicles 22:7-8) Yet David accredited God, Himself, for having ‘taught my hands for war, and my fingers for battle’. (Psalm 144:1) So we see that complexity abounds and is paraded across the ages and the pages of The Bible as God unfolds His amazing strategic plan for humans. In response to the pivotal question above, the most pertinent point to ponder is, ‘What is God doing, and is most concerned about now, in our time, this portion of His multi-millennial plan, and how can/should that shape my life …today?’ Each person should answer this question for him/herself. Since we are not conquering Canaan lands as Joshua et al once did, nor subjecting neighboring nations to pay us tribute as David once did, nor defending Jerusalem from Babylonian invasion, etc., this is what I see is God’s greatest self-defense strategic objective for us Christ-believers today:

To stand against the wiles of the devil… take up the whole armor of God, gird your waist with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, take the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit - The Word of God, pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and be watchful with perseverance and supplication for all the saints…

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This question was triggered when I recently shared with friends a disturbing news article reporting on a decision by a panel of judges to strike down a California law that bands large or high capacity rifle magazines.

What If? (Anti-semitism, Poem)

What if in lieu of Abraham,

it was one of your ancestors God chose?

What if…, through your ancestral seed, Jesus had come,

And to God’s great strategic plan you were not dumb?

What if your ancestors had, but then lost faith in God,

And for their many vile trespasses, you were outlawed?

What if…, though you tried to explain things, strategically,

How God’s choice was based on that man’s faith, spiritually, ¹

And that it could’ve been someone else, if he believed,

And that God’s plan through him would then

have been achieved?

What if… your explanations upon deaf ears fell,

And on their jealousies less strategic minds dwell,

But not on persecutions their ancestors would have endured,

Or on oppression they, today, would certainly be assured?

What if… from a 25,000-foot perspective,

All could perceive God’s strategic plan, love proactive,

Rather than ‘seeing’ as through eyes of an ant,

With a strategic mind that, at best, is scant? ²

What if… we understood, no matter the seed God selected,

By demons and devils, his progeny would be tormented,

Because God’s plan, which is so much higher than

just one people,

Would predict, plot, prepare, and produce demons’ demise,

eternal?!

What if…, through all the petty differences we gage this life,

Those that cause such deep divisions of racism’s hate and strife,

We could see life as if riding on clouds,

And see God’s plan that pettiness enshrouds?

In many ways and times, Jesus came to Earth, pre-incarnate, ³

But God required a people whom He could train and isolate,

To prep Earth and us for the human birth of our Creator,

And to launch God’s plan for the destruction of our corruptor. ⁴

Only in His coming through a people, obdurate, ⁵

Would He have a physical body, appropriate,

In which He could live a holy, human life, pleasing to God,

Then be condemned to an awful death His people

would applaud.

This was God’s requirement and plan all along,

When in Abram He found that faith was strong.

Strong faith was the trigger, a prerequisite,

To receive God’s Word promise, pen-ultimate. ⁶

That promise was of Whom God spoke in Genesis 3:15,

Of Jesus, Jewish Messiah and the world’s Savior, foreseen.

To play this role, His people would pay an awful

price …unique.

So please, allow this insight in God’s plan, your interest

…to pique.

May this poem help to change your heart and mind,

To see God’s strategy that lies behind,

Choosing Abram and his descendants,

And not live life through the eyes of …mere ants.

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¹ Abram, whom God renamed Abraham

² Scant, barely sufficient or inadequate

³ The Old Testament is full of His pre-incarnate Earth visits. A few I love are in The Books of Daniel and Ezekiel. Hope you’ll check them out!

⁴ satan and his entire corrupting kingdom on Earth

⁵ Obdurate, stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action

⁶ Penultimate, just before the last or final. God’s penultimate set of promises was the second coming of Jesus as global King. His ultimate, final set of promises was the eternal demise of satan’s entire evil kingdom, paving the way for Heaven on a new Earth, eternally.

Positive Thinking Prayer (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

See the Prayer and Praying Series here

Q: What role does positive thinking prayer play in a person’s life and relationship with God?

A: There are many philosophies in life that essentially extract God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit out of Bible concepts, and apply them in a humanistic manner. Positive thinking is just one of them, and though it has some helpful aspects, it is yet another deception to accomplish satan’s ultimate objective on Earth – to extract ‘The Life’ from concepts expounded in Scripture, and thus get us to believe what effectively is a lie.

The so-called gospel of positive thinking was popularized by Norman Vincent Peale, childhood pastor of Trump, who reportedly preached positive thinking and belief in, and love of self. I see absolutely nothing in God’s Word, The Bible, that is even minimally supportive of this approach to life, and especially prayer. Rather, this is directly contrary to just about every Biblical concept I am aware of.

satan’s objective is to present to us a variety of counterfeits that include just enough Truth to get us to bite his bait. Folks who do not know the Truth of Scripture, are thus easily deceived, and so they bite his bait. he keeps ‘the wool over their eyes’ long enough for them to die, not having a personal, intimate relationship with God through Jesus and Christ, Who died a cruel death to pay the price for our sinfulness. Voila! They lose, and he wins their company in the lake of fire …forever. Their choice is based on ignorance or flat out denial of Who God is, and what He has said, repeatedly, in so many ways and voices. He encourages and warns us, in love, then He respects our choices and responses, eternally.

Prayer from God’s perspective is effectively returning the essence of His Word (His desires, promises, etc.) back to Him, in faith, based on having an intimate relationship with Him through Christ. Apart from this, He effectively does not hear so-called prayers, especially from those He calls ‘spiritually dead’, i.e., having no relationship with Him through Jesus as Savior and Lord. The only prayer He is committed to hear from spiritually dead folks is their prayer of repentance and salvation. Otherwise, their prayers are essentially ‘return-to-sender’ prayers. To Him, prayer is not our positive thoughts, no matter how honorable we think they may be. He knows our thoughts well before we think them! Prayer is a form of worship of, and honor to Him, in the Name of His Son, Jesus, as The Almighty Sovereign, Creator, and Judge Potentate, and high respect for what He has said in His Word concerning creation, life, and especially the life of His born-again saints. While ‘praying in the Spirit’ is indeed designed to ‘build up ourselves in our most holy faith’, i.e., our faith in God, His Word, His love and His will (Jude 20), it certainly is not designed simply to build up our carnal confidence so we can succeed in our worldly desires, apart from being grounded and rooted in Him. Apart from a relationship with God through Christ, and with Christ through His Word, and by His Spirit, positive thinking prayers are a deceptive counterfeits, designed to get our eye off of the Truth of Scripture. On this, I must be unapologetically clear.

Here is a handy way to think of prayer from God’s perspective laid out in The Bible:

P --> Personal relationship with God through Jesus as Savior and Lord

R --> Return God’s Word to Him, putting Him in remembrance, and activating your faith

A --> Always and only pray in the Name of Jesus, and follow-up with persistent praise and thanksgiving

Y --> Yield the results to Him, in faith, trusting His will is done in ALL things pertaining to the lives of His believer saints

From or Unto Evil? (Poem)

See the Prayer and Praying Series here

‘From evil, deliver us’, The Lord taught us to pray,

Thus many of us do, but like me, have you noticed,

Evil is increasing, and …it ain’t going away?!

So in our prayers, should we stop or must we persist??

Across the world many protests have raged,

Citizens aggravated by folks who’re guiding

their ‘ships of state’.

By evil policies, the masses caged,

Behind nepotism’s, cronyism’s and despotism’s gates!

Yet Paul once stated, ‘Rulers are a terror to evil,

But they’re not a terror to good works’.

They’re God’s ministers for good, avengers against evil.’ ¹

Yet today, they’re in it …for the perks!

As an authority for good, God desired government,

Lest anarchy overtakes a land.

But now, with evil, most governments are in alignment!

Thus the world sinks in evil’s quicksand.

So what happened? What made governments flip?

In each aspect of life, we now find ourselves,

On the opposite end of God’s design script,

And this is exactly what His Word foretells.

Without restraints, we’re lovers of pleasure and self,

Greedy for gain at anybody’s expense.

When empowered, we infect government itself,

Till the plot thickens, and there’s …no more pretense.

In truth and in essence, governments can only mirror,

Societies from which those who govern are drawn.

Thus, of societies, governments are …just their picture.

To expect more is simply …an oxymoron!

‘But for conscience sake,’ Paul further encouraged,

That we be subject to governing authority. ²

But when by evil our conscience is ravaged,

Why be shocked when governments act …un-conscionably?!

Dare we ask more of governments than of ourselves,

Forgetting governments are simply ‘we, the people’?!

Thus, here’s one thing the righteous and just Lord assures:

Any people will get …the government they deserve.

Friends,

In The Lord’s calculus, it’s your own personal evil,

That serves as your own personal avenue,

To much b-r-o-a-d-e-r evil whose nature is collateral.

Your evil attracts other folks' evil to you! ³

Only when you repent, and turn from your evil, personal,

Is God authorized to deliver you from evil’s ‘virus’.

His plan is to deliver you from its tight grip, powerful,

But not necessarily from its presence, ubiquitous.

Refusing to repent and turn from your evil, personal,

You cease being a citizen, and become a ‘shitizen’, ⁴

Spewing sin seeds that will grow fruits

with impacts, collateral,

Impacts that may one day touch those

to whom power is given.

With this insight, search deeply in crevices of your heart,

And find your very personal answer to these key questions:

Would it be just, righteous or smart for God to do His part,

While you continue holding onto your own evil gremlins?

How can He answer our ‘Deliver us from evil’ prayer,

When unto evil, we deliver ourselves?!

Before protesting other folks’ evil that us all ensnare,

Best we first deal with our own evil affairs!

Agree?

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¹ See: Romans 13

² For the well-being of our conscience

³ See: Why? (Q&A)

⁴ See: Shitizen. Thought I had created a new term, but was surprised to see this! ;o)

Good Works (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

Q: The Bible says faith by itself, if not accompanied by deeds/good works is dead. (James 2:14, 17)  What role do work and effort play in a person’s life, what he/she achieves, and becomes?

A: Thanks for this pivotal question, touching on areas that are critical to both our spiritual and carnal life on Earth. This question deserves a reply with no short-cuts. ;o)

There are lots of good works in the world, and folks who do such might understandably conclude they, themselves, are/must be ‘good’, and those who do not, are ‘not good, or are bad’. This is the fruit of our carnal human nature and thinking. Trust me, it has nothing at all to do with what God refers to when He says through Paul, ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ (Ephesians 2:10)

Any Bible concept must/must be interpreted and understood in context of (not outside of) God’s much broader, ultimate strategy and objectives, which are:

(a) recognition and repentance of our sins and sinful nature,

(b) acceptance of His FREE gift of eternal salvation in and through Jesus as Savior and Lord, and

(c) development of our spirit into one that walks with and pleases Him.

Thus, His perspective and concern about good works derive from this strategy and objectives, which correspond to building The Kingdom of God in our personal lives, and on Earth, in general. Good works that are not a derivative of this are, therefore, irrelevant, null and void in His calculus, as underscored in these examples:

1. Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you [through relationship], where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:24-28)

2. Not everyone who says to Me [Jesus], ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven [which starts with being re-born of His Spirit]. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not [done good works] prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders [good works] in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. (Matthew 7:21- 27)

One of His sayings is, ‘You must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’ This is the foundation of ‘knowing God’, and apart from this, we are simply DEAD to Him. (See: 21 Verses About Spiritually Dead) He says it is a foolish man who ignores this, and thinks he will inherit eternal life in Heaven because he did some so-called good works during his life. That notion nullifies the principal points in God’s multi-millennial strategy and objectives in His dealings with humans. It also nullifies Grace and insults God because it signals pride in human good works. This is one of the major deceptive tactics satan uses against us, to get us to DENY the sufficiency of God’s Grace through salvation in Christ’s sacrificial work on our behalf.

Good works from God’s perspective are those His Spirit inspires and enables us to do, that build upon the foundation of His Kingdom in Earth. Apart from the born-again experience, we are spiritually DEAD to God, and dead people can do none of His good works because God’s Spirit has not yet made them ‘spiritually alive’ to Him. He does not ‘know’ or have an intimate relationship with them through Jesus as Christ. Think of salvation through faith in Jesus’ works as the equivalent of the ‘spiritual birth canal’ to being born into God’s Kingdom. Only citizens of His Kingdom can do works of His Kingdom.

Saul (who later became Paul) was one of the brightest legal minds in Israel in his day, and he used his deep knowledge of The Torah to persecute the early church. In order to get through his ardent mind and to his spirit, God had to knock him off his ass (donkey), and onto his ass (derriere). God later changed his name to Paul, and greatly used him to build the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Today, folks all over the world still sit pridefully high on the equivalent of their ‘asses’, ignoring or denying what God has repeatedly said to them in many ways, many voices. It’s simply their devilish pride, which God HATES, that keeps them so seated. 'Asses' today on which folks sit include: their education, degrees, jobs, titles, wealth, intellect, knowledge, cars, travels, families, followers, professional and social achievements, etc., etc.

God’s will is for all people to come to the knowledge of, and embrace His gracious offer of salvation through faith in Jesus as Christ’s substitutionary death, resurrection and His current work as our Lord, Master and Intercessor. It is only through Him can we be born into His Kingdom, then allow His Spirit to inspire, lead, empower and bless what He calls ‘good works’. This is His prime objective, His Seed and Tap Root, from which derive all other things He deems as good. If good works being done in a person’s life, and across a land are not the fruits of this specific seed and root, they are of NO effective spiritual value to The Kingdom of God, because they are not spawned by Him. When we think of doing good works, keep in mind doing good works does not make us good. Jesus said no man is good. Period. Apart from the re-birth experience, our human nature is inherently sinful and evil, and we are hopelessly lost.

Here is a handy way to think of good works from God’s perspective laid out in The Bible. G-O-O-D:

G --> Godly, i.e., God-inspired and motivated in His saints, not the ain’ts

O --> Others-focused mostly, not driven by selfish, prideful, feel good motives

O --> Only works His Spirit inspires through our relationship with Jesus, and knowledge of His Word, i.e., works that build His Kingdom on Earth in the minds, hearts and lives of people, and that glorify Him, not self

D --> Delivering deeds/works that help to free people from satan’s exceedingly tight grips of ignorance and deception, from the impacts of their sin, and from their ignorance about God’s will in life, which is eternal salvation in Christ and an increasingly righteous walk with/in Him; walking in good works He empowers.

Jesus taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth. This happens when His good works are accomplished in accordance with His strategy and objectives, not outside of them. Paul told Timothy, ‘Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) God’s ‘workmen’ who perform His good works, first and foremost work at intimately learning His Word, The Bible. Only through an intimate relationship with His Word can we learn to ‘hear His voice’. With no relationship to/with His Word, we have no means by which to learn His voice, then hear and, in faith, perform His good works.

Why? (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

Q: Why does an all-powerful, omnipotent God play games with the little human microbes He created? Why bother warning and begging humans to stop doing bad things that He knows in advance they will do? Why create such a flawed creature in the first place? Instead of all the games and warnings, why not just eliminate the human flaws and behaviors that He does not like. Why does an all-powerful God allow and tolerate evil and injustice? The questions suggest perhaps God is not Who and what we think He is.

A: Friend, we will always/always have truckloads of questions about God and the realm in which He dwells, questions that will never be satisfactorily answered in this life. As ants may wonder about us humans, we are incapable of comprehending all there is about Him and His strategic ways. But we can rest assured He has given us a wealth of requisite insights in His Bible. Apart from this, we cannot begin to know, let alone understand anything about Him. For anyone who is a true seeker in his/her heart, diligent study and prayer about what He has already revealed to us will result in answers to our most basic questions. In fact, He pretty much guarantees this across the pages and ages of Scripture. ¹  

In His awesome and loving wisdom, God created both angels and humans with a free will, the ability to make decisions and experience their consequences, good, bad and ugly. He also created the law or principle of ‘seed, time and harvest’. I understand this law governs everything in both the physical and spiritual worlds, possibly except miracles. This includes our thoughts, words and actions. These are effectively various forms of seeds, each encasing spiritual DNA, akin to physical DNA, i.e., strategic code that governs the conditions and timeframe for these seeds to ‘produce their fruits after their kind’. Since God expresses great concern about ‘the thoughts/imaginations of our heart (our spirit)’, I imagine our heart’s motives may be critical aspects of this spiritual DNA. ²

We humans are inherently sinful. An understatement! Yet, in His Grace and Mercy, God has repeatedly warned us that sin has built-in consequences. Expressing (pushing out) the spiritual DNA of sin seeds activates the process of developing their particular fruits, just as planting and nourishing an agricultural seed activate development of that seed’s fruits.

In addition to His warnings, God has structured life so we can escape the final, full impact of our sins, namely, eternal separation from Him in a real hell. He has also provided a way for us to minimize, and at times escape some of the impacts of sins during this life. It’s call REPENTANCE through His born-again experience, and commitment to discipleship in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Apart from this, we all are subject to experiencing the fullest impacts of our sins, both in this life, and also in the hereafter. Moreover (and this is important!), in this life, we are also subject to the collateral effects of other people’s sins. From this, we see just how critically important the sin factor is in life, yet it is something we tend to ignore and avoid talking about across every human society!

With so many unrepentant, sinful people in the world, and with sinfulness becoming increasingly gross, imagine the seeds being strewn all over the planet, each with its specific spiritual DNA (conditions under which they will develop their fruits), and the likely collateral effects. While devils add to this mix by prompting us to sin, they are not 100% responsible for all sinfulness on Earth! ³

Further, add to this mix the fact that God, as Sovereign and the ultimate Judge Potentate, reserves His prerogative to judge sin, and to dictate any punishment He deems. While His heart’s desire is that we apply our free will to seeking after, and walking in what He calls righteousness, He has the options (a) to allow us to experience built-in, natural consequences of our sins, or (b) to direct specific punishments/judgments in response, or (c) both. He’s the ultimate Boss!

Here’s the problem: When the fruits of sin seeds show up like weeds in our lives, communities, nations and all over the world, we tend to blame and ask questions about God, the loving Creator Whose advice and warnings we totally ignored for the longest time. How wise is that?! But we who are wise (who are alive to God through His born-again experience in Christ, and who have His Holy Spirit as we practice our righteous walk) react quite differently. We seek and inquire of The Lord about the SEED and ROOT - the sin infraction(s) that effectively planted spiritual DNA in the unseen world in which spiritual seeds (good or evil) are germinated, incubated and developed into consequential fruits. ⁴ Unfortunately, to this kind of response, people who are not yet alive to God through Jesus Christ are effectively blind, deaf and dumb. They typically cannot or are unwilling to see, to hear, and are thus incapable of speaking about this more appropriate response pattern.

I trust this reply to your questions will give you much to ponder, and to decide about.

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¹ ‘But if from there you seek The Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.’ (Deuteronomy 4:29)

‘I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me, find Me.’ (Proverbs 8:17)

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.’(Jeremiah 9:13)

‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’ (Matthew 7:7)

‘From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they [we] would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:24-28)

² In Genesis 1:12, God effectively establishes the law of seed, time and harvest. His concern about the imagination thoughts of our heart is revealed in Genesis 6:5 and 8:21, and Luke 1:51

³ See: Zechariah 14:16-19. Even with satan and his host of devils and demons locked away for 1,000 years, these verses hint that mortal humans who will survive the tribulation will still be able to disobey Christ’s direct commands, i.e., to sin. It is very insightful for God to take 4 verses in His Bible to signal this to us.

⁴ 2 Samuel 21:1-9 is an insightful account of David inquiring The Lord about a long famine in the land. God’s response pointed to a particularly gross sin seed. David was wise in finding a way to dig up and destroy its root. Check it out.