I AM: THAT I AM

   Some years ago, a young man said to me, "I am my experiences."
   That young man is correct, for I, too, am my experiences, and therefore---I am:  that I am.
   My experiences have aided me in becoming the person I am today, no matter if those experiences have been good, bad, or ugly. 
   My experiences were also choices---some refused, some accepted---but even those choices I rejected  were still part of my experiences, or the I am:  that I am.  For even those rejected choices I had to replace with other choices.
   Obviously, it is a combination of all three---the good, the bad, and the ugly---that have helped to shape me into the person I am today.
   Across the years, however, my choices changed, and those changing choices also contributed to the person I am today because choices keep changing the I am:  that I am.
   No matter if people perceive me as being good, bad, or ugly, that choice belongs to them, even though this does not excuse me in their perception of me---unless, of course, I have chosen to present a false image, which will distort their perception of me. 
   Either way, no matter if I choose to be good, to be bad, or to be ugly, I am therefore responsible  for my behaviors, as I am also responsible for my influence in the lives of others.  While I can say that what I do doesn't hurt anybody, it certainly can, however, because of my influence---especially in the lives of others who look up to me!
   It is therefore impossible  for us to escape the person that we are, just as it is impossible for us to escape the person we will become:  because change will continue and changes will produce the new me, or the new you, or the I am:  that I am.
   While I may not look much different from day to day, it could be easy to believe that I am the same me since yesterday because looks can be deceiving.  Internally, I can be different from yesterday because you will not see a change inside of me---unless I tell you about it.  I can wear the same face and you can perceive that I am the same me.  I can put on a happy face and you may not perceive me as different from fifty years ago, when I also wore a happy face, or today, when I can also put on a happy face.  For my happy face could also be fake.
   Looking forward, however, choices will be in front of us from which we can either accept, or refuse, because change will always happen, and these changes in choices will also reflect the I am:  that I am.
   Children, on the other hand, have choices made for them and those choices (made for them) will enable them to remain the person they are as a child.  Later on, they will make their own choices as they will also become, in their own way, the I am:  that I am.
   While I can say that I am always the same, or that I have been this way all of my life, that is only a deception I have of myself:  or a belief I want others to believe about me. 
   Your experiences are not mine and my experiences are not yours.  All of us see things differently and all of us perceive things differently.  No two people will ever have the same experiences.
   I am the I am that I am, and you are the I am that you are.
   While it is important to consider how we look in the eyes of others, but how do we look in the eyes of God? 
   For God sees us as we were, as we are, and as we will yet become.
   We cannot change the way we were, but we do have the power to change the way we want to be, and the way we want to become---if we want to. 
  

Ho-Hum!

   One of the biggest problems in being human is found in the fact that we do not like to see or admit to the problems or mistakes in our own lives, for it is easier to point our fingers at others.
   It is easier to see the negatives in ourselves and in others than the positives.
   It is also easier to remember the lies we tell than the times we told the truth.
   When things are routine, we rarely notice anything different and we are likely to never remember anything at all.
   When our days are routine, that entire day can be a day that is lost in the dead pool of our minds.
   For something to be different, or that causes us to remember, then something must happen that grabs our attention and holds our minds captive on that event.
   If even going to church is routine, there may not be any difference in that day from other days, and therefore there will be nothing to recall because nothing was new or different, or something never happened that grabbed our attention. 
   Routines can also mean:  Ho-hum:  boredom or resignation
   Maybe going to church is just a habit---a habit we have acquired along with a multitude of other habits.  Ho-hum!
   If there is nothing new or different about your golf game, then perhaps your golf game has become nothing more than a habit, or just another routine day on the links.  Ho-hum!
   If a marriage has grown stale, it could be because the routine is the same with nothing new or different to spice the romance.  Ho-hum!
   Maybe going to church has become boring.
   Maybe playing golf has become boring.
   Maybe marriage has become boring.
   If everything is boring, then what a boring life to live.  Ho-hum!
   For even boring people can be boring.
   If our lives are no more than Ho-Hum, will anything be different tomorrow?
   If we never think of anything new today, will anything be new tomorrow?
   If we are not looking  for anything new or different today, will we be looking for anything new or different tomorrow?
   Did God give us minds to be nothing more than trash bins of past events and old ways?
   Would we have telephones today had Thomas Edison not been thinking about something new?
   Jesus, of course, did something that was new and different:  He changed  the way we look at ourselves and look at God, which no person before had never done and never could.
   You and I will never change the whole world, but we have the power to change ourselves; and we will never change ourselves until we change our minds.
   But if our lives are no more than Ho-Hum, then we should not expect to see tomorrow any different than today.
   And how boring is that!

THE DEVIL'S PLAN

   God has a plan for people, but so does the Devil.
   Once the Devil has deceived people to believe in religion, instead of believing in Christ, the Devil will work through the religion to keep the people chained to their religion.
   Moreover, when parents are deceived to believe in religion, the Devil works to influence parents to train their children to believe in their religion while turning their faces against Christ.
   The Devil also works to keep people believing that the god of their religion is God while the god of their religion is the Devil---or, as they say today with political correctness:  "the God of many names".
       Therefore if any man believe in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (2nd Corinthians 5: 17)
   But in religion, old things never pass away, and all things never become new.
   Religion is always the same. 
   From the day that religion was created, nothing new has been added, and nothing old has been taken away. 
  Changes would only confuse  people, and the Devil wants people to keep believing in simple things that never change, and therefore to remain as little children who never become spiritual adults---while the people, being deceived, do not know that the Devil is the god of their religion, operating from behind the curtain.

DWELLERS OF DARKNESS

   If people are unable to separate God from religion and religion from God, this is because they are still dwelling in religion, which is a spiritual world without windows and doors. 
   As such, they are dwellers of darkness because the Light of Christ has not shined upon them, and there they remain:  still believing in those things they have believed since early childhood, and still believing that it is their religion  that will save them from their sins and not Christ the Lord. 
  After all, this is what people have told  them.  Their parents told them this is true, and they have believed in their parents.  Their ministers and priests told them this is true, and they have believed in their ministers and priests.  Since they believe these men of the cloth are not liars, why should they not believe them?  Therefore, they have a strong case not to believe in Christ, nor to believe in the Bible.  And this belief is deeply embedded in their own minds.
  In some Christian churches or Christian religions, moreover, people have been told that the story of Adam and Eve is only a myth, yet these same institutions will offer an Old Testament reading as well as a New Testament reading during their worship services. 
  Why do they do this, however? 
   If they have been told the story of Adam and Eve is a myth, why should they not believe that the whole Bible is a myth?  Such a belief borders on hypocrisy, for how do they separate that which is real and true from that which is a myth?  Do they leave the answer is the hands of their ministers and priests, whom they have been told not to question, or are they simply unwilling to face the truth of the Word of the Lord?  For if the Bible is good enough for worship services, as well as for baptisms and weddings, why would it not be just as good for their everyday believing?
   In institutions such as these, members do not bring their Bibles to church with them, nor do they have or participate in Bible study classes.
   Knowing that all of these things are true, why should they have faith in the Bible?  Obviously, they do not.
   Again, it is their religion that has dictated  those things they believe, and, for them, that is all they know, and, to them, that is all they need to know.  Therefore, end the subject and turn the page, for they have no interest in the Word of the Lord.
   But!---these same people are infatuated  with the seasons of Christmas and Easter!
  While they participate in repeating those parts of Christ that pertain to the Lord's life, death, and resurrection, do they truly believe that Christ is alive and living now in heaven?  Or are these words no more than words that they have repeated a thousand times as part of their religious rituals?  After all, these are the words they have been taught  to repeat and they can repeat them now without a parent or minister feeding them the words.
   Dwellers of darkness dwell in religion.  While they will gladly talk about their religion, they will never speak a word on behalf of Christ, just as they will never speak a positive word about the Bible.  It is obviously clear that both Christ and the Bible are not really important to them:  for it is their religion  they cling to, and not Christ or the Bible.
   To dwellers of darkness, their religion is their ace card in the deck and this is the card they play all the days of their lives---unless, of course, they come out, and come out to Christ, who will save them from their sins.
   As Jesus said,
       "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  (John 3: 3)

HAD JESUS NOT ARISEN

   To begin, the New Testament of the Bible would have never been written.
   The Catholic Church of Rome would have never been invented.
   The Protestant Reformation would have never been needed.
   There would have never been any Christian ministers, pastors, preachers, or priests.
   Drinking green beer on Saint Patrick's Day would have never been mentioned because Saint Patrick would have never been a Baptist preacher.
   The forty days of Lent and eating fish Fridays would have remained pagan rituals.
   There would have never been a question as to whether Jesus was crucified on Friday, or crucified on Wednesday; or whether He arose from death on Sunday, or whether it was Saturday;  or whether He was born in December, or was it in September.
   Had Jesus not arisen, He would have been a liar; but people would have never known of His lies since Jesus would have been just another dead man, killed by the Romans.
   And what about water baptism for the remission of sins?  Or absolution?  These rites and rituals could have been without Jesus' name.
   What would we do, then, without Christmas and Easter? 
   What would parents tell kids without Santa Claus and Easter Bunny?
   What would families do without green trees in living rooms?
   What would people do without presents to give and presents to get?
   What would we do without a Christmas Vacation or a Spring Break?
   What would people do without a Wake:  a time to get drunk after the death of a friend?
   The popes of Rome would have never stood up, nor the television ministers and such.
   Then there is the question of all that money that has been collected in Jesus' name for more than two thousand years.  Where would people have deposited their funds, or spent their money?
   What would have happened to retail stores without Christmas and Easter sales events over the past one hundred years?
   It is therefore impossible for us to know what would have happened had Jesus not arisen because we know that that is not true.  We know that Christ is alive.  The whole world, in fact, knows that Christ has arisen---even for those still living in a state of denial, or hiding in the cloak of religion.
  Most of all, we know Christ has arisen because the Bible tells us so:
      "Why seek ye the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen;"  (Luke 24: 6,7)
  

UNLEASH THE DRAGON

   Knowing then that our sins are forgiven through Christ Jesus, we are free---free at last---and free from the bondage of sin and iniquity, but also free to worship God, anywhere and anytime, even on the outside of buildings!
   Christ enables us therefore to unleash the dragon---that old serpent, the Devil---beginning in our minds where the devil has built a wall to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
   But more than this, Christ enables us to unleash the dragon of religion, casting it aside, for no longer do we need a shell in which to hide from the face of God, or dragging it with us from place to place.
   Even more than this, Christ enables us to believe in the Bible, the Word of the Lord, where it is written,
      "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."  (Isaiah 55: 8-9)
   Christ enables us to engraft the Word of the Lord, and in so doing we will begin to think in the mind of God, which is also the knowledge of God!
   For there is no knowledge greater than the knowledge of God.

A STATE OF DENIAL

   Even after coming to know that God is the living God of heaven, some people can, however, continue to turn their faces against God while continuing to believe in their religion, or in their gods and goddesses (that do not exist), but also in the images of their gods and goddesses in the form of statues, portraits, and paintings.
   At the same time, they can continue to believe in the words of their ministers and priests instead of believing in the words of Christ, who said,
      "I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh to the Father, but through me."  (John 14: 6)
   Moreover, and from ignoring God, they can continue to believe that hell is not the place for them.  Since they believe their ministers and priests have scrubbed them of their sins through water baptism, or from absolution, and from obedience in their participation of rites and rituals, they can continue to believe they are on their way to heaven.  Instead of kneeling to God, whom they cannot see with their eyes, they will keep their faith in their religious idols, which they can see with their eyes, instead of placing their faith in the unseen Christ.  Because of pride, they will not confess their sins to the unseen and living God of heaven, choosing instead to keep their faith in gods and goddesses that are embedded in their minds, which they believe are real because of the power that abides in imagination.
   Religion is therefore an institution for the minds of people and not for their hearts:  for in their minds they are being kept captive by the power of deception and lies instead of the reality of truth:  for truth comes from God and not from man.
   As Christians, we are living in the world, yes, but we are also living for a world that is not made by human hands; nor is it a world that has been manufactured from the imaginations of men.  Knowing that people have no power after death, we also know that humans have no power over other humans after they are dead.  Our state of denial ended when we knelt to Christ:  at which time we came out of religion and left it behind us.
   Even I, when I was a religious person, was good at it, for all of my beliefs were in my head and that is all I needed to know.  Others around me saw me from the outside, but not from the inside.  Not only had I tricked myself to believe in my own beliefs, but I had also tricked others to believe that I was a righteous person and on my way to heaven simply because of how I was able to present myself in the presence of others.  But when Christ came for me, I believed in Him and stopped believing in me.  At that time, too, my religious cloak dropped by the wayside and I have never re-entered that arena in my head:  choosing instead to distance myself from religion as far as I can get away from it.
   As humans, we have souls, and the soul is us.  Our bodies are where our souls abide.  At death, our bodies die, but our souls (or us) live on:  some to everlasting life in the presence of God in heaven, or some to eternal torment in a place called hell. 
  These are our two choices:  heaven or hell. We can choose Christ and enter the gates of heaven, or we can continue to live in a state of denial and enter the gates of hell.
  Therefore,
      "Choose you this day whom you will serve.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  (Joshua 24: 15)