Saturday, October 24, 2015

I AM THAT I AM

   As Christians, why do we pray in the name of Jesus?
   "God" can be a generic title for a supreme being in all religions and in all nations.  All religions have a God or Gods, and some religions have female Gods and male Gods.  Some religions teach that the souls of dead people become Gods and people pray to them.
   As Christians, we believe in God of the Bible.  We believe that God created the universe and the earth.  We also believe that God created humans, animals, fish, birds, plants, and creeping things.  We further believe that God created all things visible as well as all things invisible such as the spiritual realm that we cannot see with our eyes, including heaven and hell.
   Moses was born in Egypt.  He was raised and educated in the palace of Pharoah.  There, he was exposed to the religion of the Egyptians, which was primarily Sun Worship, even though the Egyptians believed in many deities, or gods. 
   On Mount Horeb, however, Moses came face to face with God for the first time; and, to Moses, God was a stranger.  And God introduced Himself to Moses by saying:
      I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (Exodus 3: 6)
   Thereafter, God proceeded to reveal His plan for Moses:  that Moses should return to Egypt and deliver the Israelites out of bondage, out of the hand of Pharoah, and lead them to the land that God had prepared for them.
   And Moses said unto God:
      Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? (Exodus 3: 13)
   To which God replied:
      I AM THAT I AM:  and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3: 14)
   In Hebrew, I AM is translated from the word ehyehI AM is the name by which God is known to Himself.  Therefore I AM is God's personal name.
   And Moses returned to Egypt and did as the Lord had commanded him to do as he led the children of Israel out of slavery, out of the hand of Pharoah, and out of the Sun Worship religion of the Egyptians.
   As a footnote, Moses also wrote the first five books of the Bible:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 
   Like Moses, people of religion are insolated and insulated from the knowledge of God, for they are like the Egyptians; and, to them, God is a stranger.  And just as Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, Christ came to deliver the souls of people out of the hand of Satan, or out of Egypt, and from the darkness and unto light.
   In the Gospel of John, Jesus said I AM eight times:
      6: 34   I am the bread of life.
      8: 12   I am the light of the world.
      8: 58   Before Abraham was, I am.
     10: 9    I am the door.
     10: 11  I am the good shepherd.
     11: 25  I am the resurrection and the life.
     14: 6    I am the way, the truth, and the life.
     15: 1    I am the true vine.
   Moses was eighty years old when God called him out of Egypt and to become a servant of the living God.  Like Moses, God has called and continues to call people to salvation in Christ and to become servants of the living God.  And, like Moses, perhaps this call from God will come to some people in their latter years instead of in the days of their youth.
   But to return to the original question, Why do Christians pray in the name of Jesus?
   The answer is clear:  Christ is the living God.  Christ is I AM.
   Therefore to pray in the name of other gods or goddesses, or to the souls of dead people, is the same as praying to nothing.  For idols have no eyes, no ears, and they have no voices.  For they only exist in the imaginations of people, having been created from the imaginations of other people, such as ministers and priests, who are agents of darkness.
   As Christians, we believe:
      That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 10-11)
   In conclusion, if you believe you have written your retirement years in stone, be prepared to use an eraser, for your retirement may not be all about you:  for you could encounter a new beginning!
  

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