Reincarnation or Decpetion?

Reincarnation or Deception?

I was watching Fox News a while back when Jerry was getting ready for work, and there was a man interviewed who had just published a book on reincarnation. I don’t remember his name – sorry. Anyway, he does ‘reincarnation regression’ which is taking people back to meet themselves in their past lives. He says if they find out they were drowned in another life the regressions will help them overcome their current life fear of water. Or, learning they died by falling off a castle wall, they will overcome their fear or heights. Or, if they died by hanging they will get rid of that neck pain. And so on. I think the poll said 26% of people in the USA believe in it. He also said that the Catholic church and Judaism allow that belief, and rejecting reincarnation began with Constantine who thought people would be easier to control if they had a fear of judgment. Or, he said something like that. It wasn’t anything new. I have heard it before. I have read it before. I have talked to people who believe it.

The important question is really not what percent of the world’s population believe in reincarnation.

The real question is, ‘What is the truth?’

The Bible clearly answers that question when it says, ‘It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.’ Hebrews 9:27

Something very sad about the entire situation, besides the fact that reincarnation will lead people to hell, is that this man was ‘proving his theory’ by stating how many people accept it as true. A lot of people believing something doesn’t make it true, it just makes it acceptable. I believe that is the same way Charles Darwin ‘proved’ his theory. Other people took him seriously, so that proved to him that he was correct.

What the victims of this false teacher meet in their regressions is not they themselves in another life. What they meet are lying spirits. The spirits, or fallen angles, or demons, or whatever you want to all them, are not human. However, they are very real beings. They are liars and deceivers like their master.

Years ago I had a conversation with my art teacher about this. He was a fine Christian man, but he had read a book on reincarnation. He said the people whose stories were written in the book seemed to have credibility. He was struggling with how to put that into his Christian faith without making a grave error.

We went over what the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27
We also went over the story in Luke chapter 16.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, neither was able to return to earth. It is interesting that the rich man was not repentant. And, he was still trying to set himself above Lazarus by asking Abraham to order Lazarus to do his bidding. If he had been allowed out of hell, he would have gone on to live another life without seeking reconciliation with God.

I personally believe people are not given a second chance in another life simply because they would not take it. They would not take God’s offer even if they had already experienced hell. Notice that Satan will be bound 1000 years during what we call the Millennium Kingdom. At the end of that age, Satan is let out of hell. And, what does he do? Does he fall on his knees and plead for mercy? No. He comes out just as rebellious as when he went in. (Another thing we learn from the kingdom years is that mankind will sin even without the influence of Satan and his followers

It would be pretty much impossible to go over all the things that are not acceptable within the teachings of the Bible, with reincarnation definitely being one of the false teachings that is popular today. Seeking contact with the spirit world in any form is another.

Christians need to know and teach just a few things that will keep younger Christians and even non-believers from many false paths.

First, God made it all – all of everything.
Any being in existence is a being created by God.

Any ‘being’ or ‘feeling’ or ‘vision’ or anything else that teaches something contrary to what the Bible teaches is coming from a created being. That being is a fallen angel, a being you can also call a lying spirit or demon.

Reincarnation rejects the atonement for sin made by Jesus Christ, believing instead that souls eventually work out their own salvation/enlightenment/path-to-god through many lives. It is just another form of salvation by works, but it takes many lives instead of one.

That’s it. For those who believe God is telling the truth in His book, then anything that calls God a liar is not of God. It is from the king of hell – which is Satan.

When reincarnation is mentioned, or contact with the spirit world, or contact with the dead, or aliens, Christians need to boldly state that there has been no real contact with anything except with a deceiving being created by God, and fallen from heaven. You can truthfully say ‘lying spirit’, but that may not be the best way to begin the conversation. If you get their attention, bring on the point about Christ’s atonement for sin. People don’t have to work for their salvation, they just have to accept Christ’s sacrifice. After salvation, then work for Jesus because you want others to know the true path to God.

Barbara

http://tobarbara.blogspot.com

Daddy Always Prayed Help Us Not to Sin

Daddy Always Prayed, ‘Help Us Not to Sin’

My dad was a ‘oner’, meaning the Lord only made one like him. Mom is a oner as well. It was very obvious to anyone that a man as peculiar as dad needed a wife equally peculiar. I could tell you stories about daddy for a solid two weeks without even having to repeat myself one time. He carefully shielded his children from knowing the stories related to his time in the Navy during WWII, so I don’t know any really bad stories. Most of the stories involve mom. Together they were able to ‘make it’. To ‘make it’ is an old fashioned phrase meaning to get through whatever happened. Their goal was to actually live the life of a committed Christian. They knew a great deal about what the Bible teaches, and they worked to apply Bible teaching to personal actions. Now, you can’t get any better than that.

At family gatherings, dad was normally the one who would ask the blessing on the meal. Sometimes he was asked to pray in church. Sometimes dad would get to pray over a new baby in the family. In fact, family members with a new baby were nervous until dad was able to pray over the baby. He didn’t do some sort of highbrow prayer. He just asked the Lord to mark the baby’s heart for his own and to bless the little one and his parents.

Whatever the occasion for prayer, dad always ended a prayer like this. He said, ‘And help us not to sin. In Jesus name Amen.’

Now, our youngest grandson prays like that, although he was not around dad enough to have learned to pray that way from dad. He is just very well aware that even though you set out to do right, you often do wrong. This little one is ten, and likely to burst out in prayer at the drop of a hat. He prays about everything, including indigestion and nightmares. He has no problem with taking all his problems and trials directly to God.

So, I see from the elder, my dad, to the younger, my grandson, sin is recognized as something that we do, but something that we ought not to do – but we do it anyway. It isn’t that strange. Paul, the greatest mortal to the Gentiles, had the same problem. What he wanted to do, he didn’t do. And, what he didn’t want to do, he did. That is all too familiar to me.

If you look around at the world today, you will see sin everywhere. I suppose it isn’t that shocking that sin is everywhere. After all, every human being is born with that sin nature. There is no escaping it in this life. People born into loving and wealthy families still sin. People born in poverty and sorrow still sin. Sin is in every economic and social level. Sin is inescapable, both in our own lives and in the world around us.

Sin is so common that people begin to take it for granted. Something as life changing and important as sin is trivialized to the point that it doesn’t mean anything really bad unless it is a sin that will get you jail time. Adultery and sex outside marriage are considered so trivial it isn’t even news. The teenagers and single adults NOT having sex are the odd ones. The consequences of sex in general like pregnancies and STD’s are even further trivialized. Pregnant? Just get rid of it. Pick up an STD? There’s an antibiotic or a shot for that most of the time. And that is just one area. There are many more.

Christians see the big or bigger sins all around us. They are easy to spot if you can even recite half of the ten commandments. It is so easy to say, ‘That is worse than what I do’. And, it probably really is worse than what you/I/we do.

If I had to pick two sins that cause the most trouble, the first one would be lying. That is not telling the truth. When we think of that sin we think of big lies. But, the truth is that most big lies start with little lies.
And, we think of lying to other people.
But the first person we have to lie to is ourselves.
We lie about stuff that doesn’t seem important, but it really is very important.

We lie about things like:
That TV show won’t hurt me to watch, but I don’t want the kids to watch it.
I have had a very bad day, so that gives me the right to vent my frustration on family.
I had a bad day and the cure for my frustration is a relaxing hour drinking fattening coffee and eating rich desserts.
I don’t have to be nice to that person because they are not nice to me.
I don’t have to do a good job because I am under-paid and under-appreciated.

These are all lies, and they all hurt.
Whatever the truth may be, it matters. We don’t need to lie to ourselves by making things worse than they are, or better than they are, or more important than they are, or more trivial than they are.

After lying to ourselves for a while, we don’t see the problem with a few small lies to others..

It does matter.

And, the second sin I see is that Christians seem to be sadly lacking in charitable love. Even Christians are predisposed to love ourselves more than we love others. That is a sin. We are to love others the way Christ loved us. That was charitable love, love that was not earned or deserved.

Loving ourselves more than we love others leads to what I call the ‘disconnect syndrome’. People are just going through he motions. Even in the middle of Christian families the family leaders are busy doing whatever they think they need to do above what actually needs to be done. They need to love family members more than they love themselves. You can work out the family dynamics yourself, but usually every family member could be more charitable to other family members. Everyone could give more time and attention to building a strong family.

I really miss my dad. I wish I could hear him pray again, ‘Help us not to sin’. We could all add a couple of lines to dad’s ending for prayer. We could say,
‘Help us not to sin,
Help us to tell the truth
Help us to love each other like Jesus loved us with charitable love,
In Jesus name,
Amen.

It Is Time to Put God in His Place

If you were enrolled in a Christianity 101 class, some of the questions asked might be:

Who is God and what is His proper place?
What should His proper and rightful position be in the scheme of things?
How relevant is He to me personally?
Now that I’m a Christian and I have Jesus in my heart, where else is He supposed to be?
And, how important is it that I get Him put in the right place?

A few answers are:

He is:
Omnipotent - Almighty, All-powerful, Supreme
Omnipresent – Universally ever present
Omniscient – All knowing
Creator of everything
Purveyor of salvation through Jesus Christ
Master of all.

Seeing as God, the God of the Bible, is all of these things and more, in what position should His children place Him? More importantly, more personally, what position does God hold in the life of the individual Christian. In what place have you put Him in your life?

God Himself has instructed us to have ‘No other gods before Me’. Christians should put God in His proper place. His place is above all others – including ourselves. God’s will and plan is supposed to be above our own plans and will.

God is our Father. He is the Father of all humankind in that He is the creator of all people. Unfortunately, mankind is separated from God by the fall from grace that occurred in the garden east of Eden.
Fortunately, God in his mercy, made a way for mankind to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

Christians should put God in His place as our Heavenly Father by adoption. That is His proper place. As our Father, He is in a position of authority over His children. His proper place is a place of honor. This honor to God is demonstrated by obedience to Him..

We should view our Father as loving us more than we can comprehend, for He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. Above all earthly parents, God is still like earthly parents. He loves His children. He wants good things for them. Unlike earthly parents, He knows exactly what is good for His children, and what is harmful to His children. Therefore, Christians should place God in a place of supreme trust. He is worthy. He will not let us down.

Our Father is also in a place of approachability. He has time for the individual Christian. He is never too busy for fellowship with one of His children. However, respect and awe of who He is is not to be set aside as we approach Him. Some people approach God with a sense that they are approaching an elderly man who will be easily swayed in His judgments. Perhaps some even believe they are able to manipulate God through some sort of cuteness, or pertness, or ritual, or some other such silliness. In approaching God, it must be with a constant awareness of His place as the Righteous Judge as well as the loving and merciful Father.

Within the boundaries of reverence and awe, we can approach Him boldly and expectantly.

Our God is the God of resources. He has what we need, and is willing to give it to us according to His purpose and His timeframe. It is highly likely that we do not need exactly the things for which we ask; or, the things we want; or the things we think we need. Never the less, God Almighty has the resources to fill our needs. Christians should put God in the place of the ultimate supplier.

To know the things the Lord says to do, and then to actually incorporate His teachings into our daily lives is to acknowledge Him as Lord, and glorify His name. God’s place is in charge of the life of each one of His children. When God is acknowledged as being the leader then a Christian can expect to be directed in the right paths.

Proverbs 3:6
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-7 (in Context) Proverbs 3 (Whole Chapter)

God has given His children a model prayer, also called ‘The Disciples Prayer’, and ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. This prayer directs Christians not only in how to pray, but also in how to put God in His proper place.

Our Father who art in heaven – puts God in the position of our Father and in the place of heaven.

Hallowed be thy name – acknowledges God’s holiness – and puts Him in His proper place as the Holy One.

Thy kingdom come – is putting God in His place as the ruler of the coming kingdom.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – is praying for good and right according to God –
Examples of God’s will are:
That we love Him
That we love our families
That we do the things He tells us to do
That we remember Him at all times
That we cry out against evil and wrong and sorrow and hurt – the things that are not of
God – and plead with Him for His will to be done instead. For instance – abortion is murder. We can pray ‘thy will be done’ regarding abortion because we know that God’s will does not include killing preborn children.
That the things of God concern us more than the things of self – God’s things before our own – and let our own wants change to be in harmony with God’s wants-will
That we persist in prayer
That we not accept the world the way it is – but pray for the will of God to be done instead. Instead of corruption – righteousness, instead of hunger around the world – food for all, instead of thieving – honesty……..

Give us this day our daily bread – is putting God His place as our provider. As we need, God will provide.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil – is putting God in His place as our protector.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever – is putting God in His place as the supreme authority over all creation. Rather, I suppose, it is acknowledging His place or position as such.

Christians should be continually seeking to put and keep God in authority over every aspect of their lives.

A checkup regarding God’s place in the life of an individual Christian can be made by asking, ‘What is my vision of my stuff?’

Is my treasure in heaven or on earth? Am I laying up more earthly treasure than heavenly treasure?

Do I serve God or mammon? Is my main focus on material things and how to get and keep them, or more on God and the things He asks of me?

Is my focus on things of God or the things of earth? Do I care more for the good will of man than the good will of God?

Christians might ask themselves daily:
Did I put God in His proper place yesterday? Was He put in the place of supreme authority over my life and possessions?

Did I keep God in His proper place today?

Will I keep God in His proper place tomorrow?

It is easy to give lip service to God, call Him ‘Lord of my life’, and speak as though you keep Him in His proper place and position. It is somewhat harder to actually do it.

Do you have a picture of that new home, vehicle, body size, promotion, business success, or earthly recognition foremost in your mind?

Or is the vision at the front of your mind of a place called heaven – and a city with gates made of pearl? If you keep your vision on heaven, it is going to be much easier to keep God in His proper and rightful place.



‘Pearly White City’
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/p/w/pwhitcit.htm
There’s a holy and beautiful city
Whose Builder and Ruler is God;
John saw it descending from Heaven,
When Patmos, in exile, he trod;
Its high, massive wall is of jasper,
The city itself is pure gold;
And when my frail tent here is folded,
Mine eyes shall its glory behold.

Refrain

In that bright city, pearly white city,
I have a mansion, a harp, and a crown;
Now I am watching, waiting, and longing,
For the white city that’s soon coming down.

No sin is allowed in that city
And nothing defiling or mean;
No pain and no sickness can enter,
No crepe on the doorknob is seen;
Earth’s sorrows and cares are forgotten,
No tempter is there to annoy;
No parting words ever are spoken,
There’s nothing to hurt or destroy.

Refrain

No heartaches are known in that city,
No tears ever moisten the eyes;
There’s no disappointment in Heaven,
No envy and strife in the sky;
The saints are all sanctified wholly,
They live in sweet harmony there;
My heart is now set on that city,
And some day its blessings I’ll share.

Refrain

My loved ones are gathering yonder,
My friends too are passing away,
And soon I shall join their bright number,
And dwell in eternity’s day;
They’re safe now in glory with Jesus,
Their trials and battles are past.
They overcame sin and the tempter,
They’ve reached that fair city at last.

Refrain

Barbara Henderson
Books by Barbara Henderson
http://amazon.com/author/barbarahenderson

Oh Worship the King

The Broad Way

Christian Encouragement and Self-help 2012