Tag: creeds

Scripture for Monday, August 1 (8/1)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, August 1, is Romans 8:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

There are a lot of religious groups out there in the world who control their people with fear. If you don’t do such and such, it proves you aren’t spiritual enough. If you do such and such one second before you die, you’re going to hell.

They put burdens on you that just are not in the New Testament. By making you feel guilty, they make you depend on them for your salvation and that boosts their ego. The Apostle Paul wrote to the congregations in Galatia (today’s Turkey) and warned them with tears:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel ~ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached [past tense] to you, let him be eternally condemned!

“As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? ” (Galatians 1:6-10).

Are you sure you are IN Christ Jesus? Do your church leaders dance around scriptures they wish weren’t in the Bible and tell you they don’t really mean what they say? Or add things that the scriptures say nothing about?

Are you sure they aren’t people pleasers instead of God pleasers? What do they do with Romans 6:3-4? Look it up and compare.

Oh to be sure we are indeed IN Christ Jesus. This is our longing. Our hope. Our reason for being.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: WERE YOU EVER TOLD SOMETHING BY YOUR RELIGIOUS LEADER THAT TURNED OUT NOT TO BE TRUE?

Scripture for Sunday, July 24 (7/24)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 24, is Matthew 7:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The problem we have with putting into practice the Words of God is that we sometimes read blindly. We don’t see the significance of something. We may read it over and over for years and never see its significance.

Take, for example, the story of Jesus’ birth. We sometimes see pictures of baby Jesus in a stable with the shepherds and three wise men all gathered around him. But Matthew 2:11 says by the time the wise men arrived, Jesus and his parents were living in a house. Further, the Bible does not say how many wise men there were; it just says they gave three kinds of gifts ~ gold, incense and myrrh.

How about 1st Timothy 3:2? “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” This word “overseer” is sometimes translated bishop, sometimes elder, and sometimes pastor. It’s all the same office. We might think at first glance that we believe all this. But do we glaze over the fact that he must have a wife? Hmmm….

Here’s another one. At funerals we often quote Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” But for the Christian, there are no shadows in the valley of death. Jesus

was born “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79).

Oh, so many things we overlook ~ meaningful things. Let us continue to study God’s Word daily with our mind and heart open to new things we never realized before so that we can build the house of our lives “on the rock.”

Scripture for Thursday, July 21 (7/21)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

Our scripture for today, July 21, is Matthew 7:21ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ “

There are hundreds of denominations/sects out there all contradicting each other. It’s impossible for them all to be right. We can never rely on what someone else says just because they look and act holy and say all the right holy words and phrases and pray such holy-sounding prayers. We must never rely on our religious leaders to tell us what to believe. Shall we take their opinion or God’s opinion?

Romans 10:1 in the Bible mentions some people who had a lot of zeal for God, but were lost because it was not according to the proper knowledge.

Well, how do you get God’s opinion? Read the Bible for yourself! Use a concordance (lists every word in the Bible and every scripture with that word) and look up your chosen subject.  Then, having found the truth, why not go back to the religious leaders in love and try to teach your teachers? Some just might listen to you.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: HAVE YOU EVER BELIEVED IN SOMETHING THAT YOU LATER FOUND OUT WAS WRONG?  WHAT WAS IT, AND HOW DID YOU FIND OUT?

Scripture for Friday, July 15 (7/15)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 15, is Matthew 7:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Jesus said this. Maybe sometimes the “false prophet” is within ourselves. We have a pet theory that we want very much for God to agree with us on. So we read through the Scriptures trying to prove our point correct.

Of course, taking a verse here and a verse there, you can “prove” anything you want.
So how do we find out if we are being our own “false prophet”? When we see a verse that contradicts our pet theory, look for other scriptures similar to this one. Use a concordance ~ a book that lists alphabetically every word in the Bible and every verse it appears in.

Or, if we believe in a different holy book of a different world religion, we can read it, then honestly search for built-in proofs it is truly holy. Thereby we can decide if we’ve been listening to a false prophet.

And as you honestly struggle, pray about it. Yes, it is humiliating to believe we just might have been wrong, and then actually admit we were wrong. But it is also liberating.

Many people have already gone through this, and can testify that changing from our viewpoint to God’s viewpoint is not only liberating, but ultimately brings peace.

Scripture for Wednesday, July 6 (7/6)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 6, is Mark 7:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“He [Jesus] replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ “

It is the trend today to say that all religions ~ even those who teach opposing things ~ are right and all are good. But Jesus did not say this. Well, then, how do we know which religious things we are taught and do today are from God and which from men?

You are smart. Read the sacred writings of all major world religions for yourself. Do they have built-in proofs they are really sacred ~ scientific, archaeological, ancient inscriptions, prophecies fulfilled? Here is a website with nearly 400 proofs the Bible is from God:

http://www.churchofchrist-cg-az.com/Bible

Then, if you conclude the Bible is true, use a concordance and do a study of everything the Bible says about any topic. That way you will have God’s opinion, not men’s.

Here is a website with an online Bible concordance and it’s easy to use:

http://bibletab.com/

You can find out for yourself, you can KNOW, whether what you were told to believe by family, friends, and leaders is what God told you to believe.

Scripture for Saturday, July 2 (7/2)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 2, is Proverbs 7:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Cover-Kindle-small“Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding your kinsman.”

It seems, everywhere we turn, we are given differing religious opinions. They cannot all be true, but everyone who says them seems to be so good. They all pray and do good deeds, and never lie, cheat or steal. But how can they all be right when they contradict each other? Preachers and creeds and elders and dogmas. When it comes down to it, only God’s opinion counts.

So how do we get God’s opinion? We look up everything in the Bible using the key word we are concerned about. We look it up for ourselves and decide for ourselves. We do not let other people decide for us.

Well, how do we find all those verses? By using a concordance which is like a large dictionary listing all the words in the Bible and what verses carry those words. It is the size of a large-city telephone book. You can also get it on the internet free here:

http://bibletab.com/

So today look up something about Christianity you have always been curious about. Then you’ll have wisdom, understanding, and God’s opinion.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 4, is 1st Peter 5:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”

Many denominations appoint someone to be the head of their religion at their world headquarters. He goes by different titles ~ bishop, high priest, father, president. Their headquarters may be a small office or an entire complex. From here the head meets regularly with others to make decisions for their denomination.

Here is a unique thought: Let us set this system aside and let Jesus be the only head, and let the world headquarters be in heaven! We do not have to rely on the decisions of men, but on the decisions of God the Son who loved us so much that he became human for awhile so he could die for us. We don’t even need a creed, because if it is less than the Bible it isn’t enough, if it is more than the Bible it is too
much, and if it is the same as the Bible why have it?

No more divisiveness. No more denominationalism. Just one united church of Christ with its divine founder as our sole leader, and his divine words as our sole creed. This will never fade away. How sublime the thought!

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational2 Comments

The scripture for today, February 28, is Jeremiah 2:28 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Campbell-Cover-KIMBLE“Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.”

Today we think the whole thing is ridiculous. How could people believe in a multitude of gods? Further, how could people make statues of them as though anyone knew what the gods looked like? On top of that, many of them looked like dumb animals. But apparently it was the popular thing to do. In fact, a person discovering yet another god would be highly esteemed. And it seemed logical that the more gods one believed in, the more holy a person was. Or the bigger the statue of a god in one’s home, the more dedicated a person was.

We today call them myths ~ things that were made up out of people’s imaginations. Yet they thrived in their time. Why? Because of “mass hypnosis” in a sense. Because we are social beings and we don’t like being ostracized. We want to be accepted.

Do we do the same thing today? There are evangelists on television who draw crowds of hundred and thousands. They seem so right and so holy. Yet they contradict each other. So it cannot be a measure of rightness and holiness that a lot of people believe something.

The measure must be the Bible. Remember, no matter how many thousands upon thousands who follow a religious leader, that leader will be judged by God just like everyone else.

Let us read the Bible for ourselves. Let us study the Bible for ourselves. Let us not search the scriptures for something to prove our opinion right, or a certain leader right, or our family right, or a particular religious idea right. Let us try to erase all our pre-conceived religious notions, and read with an open mind what God himself has to say to us. It is possible to know for sure.