Tag Archives: gospel

Watch Who You Walk With

People are made in the image of God. All life has value because of that. Animals are NOT made in the image of God, but people are. I heard a young woman the other day say that she wished all women had abortions, as many as they could, to exercise their rights as women. Other women have had abortions and celebrated it on social media platforms.

When human life becomes cheap, and we have more value for animal life, then civilization begins a fall that it cannot recover from.

When the first murder was committed by Cain against Abel, God did not require that Cain die for his sin, but marked him instead and gave him a life long curse. God told Cain:

Genesis 4:10-15 (NKJV) “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” 13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

When innocent blood is spilled on the land, God hears it. When Cain destroyed his brother, he also destroyed the “image of God”. To do this without just cause is to commit treason against God. God is the Giver of life. The Prophet Job (33:4) said, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life”. The Apostle Paul declared, “God Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else”. When people begin to hold life as cheap, it destroys civilization. When Cain killed Abel, God took away Cain’s livelihood. A farmer brings life from the ground. A murderer cannot prosper, nor bring life. Cain also became a “fugitive and a vagabond on the earth”. All would know the evil that he did. He would have no acquaintances unless God protected him. God put a mark on Cain that identified him as a murderer, but also noted he was under God’s protection. Later in the Scripture God would mandate death for the murderer, but with Cain, God did not order him dead. Why? Continue reading

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Better To Walk With God

This proverb is not telling us that riches are necessarily evil. There were well off people – like Joanna the wife of Chufa, the household manager of King Herod of Galilee. We are told in Luke 8:1-3 that she helped Jesus and his ministry financially. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich member of the Sanhedrin. Matthew 27:57-60 tells us that he gave his tomb to Jesus (temporarily anyway). Nicodemus, also a high ranking member of the Sanhedrin, helped prepare Jesus for burial by donating 75 pounds of expensive spices (John 19:39-40). When the Bible talks about those who are chosen to salvation, the Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 1:26 (KJV) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, NOT MANY NOBLE, [are called]:

We are told “NOT MANY Noble”. It doesn’t say “NOT ANY”. God does call noble or well off people. It’s not a sin to have riches. However, it is a sin to love your riches MORE than you love Jesus. Those who prioritize their riches over their walk with God will find themselves wallowing in perversity. I am certain that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t start out trafficking underaged girls to Little Saint James Island. But as he amassed power and fortune, the darkness grew, and he enticed others into his web of evil. … Continue reading

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Ephesians 6:15 The Gospel of Peace

When the Roman soldier went into battle, he went with the Belt, the Breastplate, and the Boots. The Belt was a wide swath of leather tightly bound around your lower stomach, and though not a part of the armor, it was what all the armor attached to. The Breastplate was a bronze or iron piece that covered your upper torso, protecting your heart, lungs, and bowels from damage by sword, spear, or arrow. The Boots that the soldier wore were called CALIGAE. The sole of the Caliga (single boot) had multiple layers of leather, built up to ¾ to 1 inch thick. Iron studs were driven through the outsole, so that the boot was cleated for stability. The inner sole was from a single piece of leather that protected the foot from the studs, and it extended upward into long straps that made a lattice that surrounded the calf of the leg. The Caliga, when laced up, fit snug to the leg and foot, preventing the soldier from forming blisters on long marches. The open lattice of the Caliga meant that water and sand easily drained away from the feet, and gave good ventilation.

One of the earliest defensive weapons employed against soldiers was sharpened sticks, hidden in the grass or in sand. The sticks were poisoned, and if a soldier stepped on them it would drive into the foot, crippling and maybe killing. The Caligae were so thick they could not be penetrated, making the Roman Army nearly invincible.

As the Apostle compares the weaponry that we as Christians are to employ against our enemy the devil, he ties the:

Roman BELT = The Biblical TRUTH
Roman BREASTPLATE = Imputed RIGHTEOUSNESS from Christ
Roman BOOT = PREPARATION of the GOSPEL

The Boot Is The PREPARATION Of The Gospel Continue reading

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Suiting Up For Battle

Ephesians 6:12 For we WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Our enemy is an ancient foe, one who manifested himself in the Garden of Eden as a crafty beast of the field, a serpent. Again, our battle is not against flesh and blood. The serpent was not a serpent, though it looked like a serpent to Adam and Eve. The serpent was a possessed creature, possessed of an angelic being named Lucifer, Satan, the Devil (Revelation 12:9). In the end God will imprison that old serpent (Revelation 20:2), and will ultimately cast it into hell. Our Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 25:41 (LSB) {God} will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS

There will come a day when Satan and the fallen angels will be cast into a Lake of Fire forever, a day when God will re-create the earth without sin and sinners. But until that day, Satan “our Adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We have no ability within ourselves to do battle with a spiritual being like a fallen angel. We cannot, within our own abilities, wrestle with satanic forces and win. It is impossible. But our Lord Jesus said: Continue reading

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Right Place, Right Time

Proverbs 27:8 As a bird that WANDERETH {nāḏaḏ} from her nest, so is a man that WANDERETH {nāḏaḏ} from his place.

Word Study: The word translated “WANDERETH” is the Greek nāḏaḏ, which means to “stray, retreat from the safety of, to be chased from”. The safest place for a bird to be is in its nest. It is when the bird leaves its nest to seek food or freedom that it is subject to being attacked by a bird of prey. God even gave a special provision in the Law:

Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (LSB) If A BIRD’S NEST happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you SHALL NOT TAKE THE MOTHER WITH THE YOUNG; 7 you shall surely LET THE MOTHER GO, and TAKE THE YOUNG FOR YOURSELF, that it may be well with you and that YOU MAY PROLONG YOUR DAYS.

If you came upon a bird sitting on her eggs, it was acceptable to take the eggs for food – but not to kill the mother. The nest was a place of safety. How does this relate to the man? In the Bible, there are times when the relationship we have with our God is poetically expressed, as if God is a Mother Bird and we are the chicks. This is particularly found in the Psalms: Continue reading

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Respect Is Right

As Paul comes to the end of his letter to the Church at Ephesus, he addresses the children first. There are only TWO TIMES in the New Testament that children are DIRECTLY ADDRESSED. It is here,

Ephesians 6:1 CHILDREN, OBEY {hypakouō} your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

And in …

Colossians 3:20 CHILDREN, OBEY {hypakouō} your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

In the ancient world children were seen as incomplete persons, and in many cases were regarded as not fully human. In the Roman world, the father had the right to EXPOSE children to the elements, often unto death. Children were often sold as slaves. Disobedient children were executed.

The early Church would often rescue children that were cast out of their Roman homes because they were illegitimate or disabled. An early Christian teaching called the Didache stated:

“You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill what is begotten.”

God’s people are to value children. Though children had no rights while in the home, God commanded His people:… Continue reading

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Steps To Peace With God

It’s all about mind control. Social Media is big business. In 2025 Social Media brought in $307-341 billion in annual revenue. The Facebook and Instagram platforms made $160 billion. The YouTube platform generated $36 billion. Those “free” services that you use are not free. They sell advertising – but they also sell your information. Do you know why you get scammers calling you, trying to get you to get the “New” Medicare Card, or telling you “This is Transunion Credit, and you owe $$$$ for tolls on the New Jersey turnpike”? It’s because these Social Media platforms have sold your information (name, address, likes, dislikes, etc) to bad actors who will rob you if they can.

I recently enlisted the aid of a company called Cloaked because I was being covered up by scammers and salespeople. Cloaked found 1340 records with my information on the Internet – and removed them. They’re still looking, and still finding data breaches.

If the fallen world can control your mind, they can control your wealth, your health, your political sympathies, even your religious persuasion.

The devil is into mind control – and he’s found a great tool in media. The devil blinds our minds the the Gospel of Christ:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Continue reading

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Stand Fast In The Lord

Satan is a master at mind control.

As the Apostle Paul writes this letter we are studying, he is in prison. Not a prison like we think of today, but a miserable, rat infested, dark, with the smell of death in the air prison. Paul was imprisoned, and there wasn’t one single thing he could do to get out of that prison.

Christianity does not guarantee we will have sunny days every day, and steak dinners every night. In fact, Christians are more challenged than unbelievers in this fallen world. Satan our enemy will do two things over and over, because he has discovered these two things work. The Bible says that, number 1, … Continue reading

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The Righteous Fall But Rise

Proverbs 24:15-16 Lay not wait, O WICKED {rāšāʿ} man, against the dwelling of the RIGHTEOUS {ṣadîq}; spoil {šāḏaḏ} not his resting place: 16 For a JUST {ṣadîq} man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the WICKED {rāšāʿ} shall fall into mischief.

Word Study: God addresses the wicked here with a warning. The warning is that God Himself looks after the RIGHTEOUS or the JUST person, but the WICKED will fall and stay fallen. Let’s look at a few of these words in their original text. Let’s start with the words RIGHTEOUS and JUST. This is the same word in the Hebrew, the word ṣadîq (pro. tsad-deek’) which means “the lawful or right walking, the one justified and vindicated by God”.

The Righteous or Just Are Declared So By God Based On Faith In Christ

When a person repents and receives God as Lord and Savior, as Abraham did, the Bible says:

Genesis 15:6 {Abraham} believed in the LORD; and He COUNTED IT {ḥāšaḇ} to him FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

This scripture is quoted numerous times throughout the Bible. In … Continue reading

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Crucified With Christ, A New Creature

When Paul – guided by the Holy Spirit – started his letter to the Galatians – he was shocked that the Galatians had departed from the Gospel of salvation in Christ (Galatians 1:6-10). Pharisees – many saved by Grace – came into the Church that Jesus died for, and had begun to teach that unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians around 48 AD while in Antioch, Syria, following his first missionary journey. Paul would travel to Jerusalem in 49 AD and meet with the first Church to discuss circumcision and the Gentiles.

Paul and Barnabas came to the Apostles at the first Church in Jerusalem, and the Church on that day had the most important Business Meeting it would ever have. The Bible says:

Acts 15:5 (ESV) But some BELIEVERS WHO BELONGED TO THE PARTY OF THE PHARISEES rose up and said, “It is necessary to CIRCUMCISE {THE GENTILES} and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Now these Pharisees were sincere believers in Christ. They were not hostile Pharisees, trying to destroy the Gospel. But sincere believers can be in error. This is why God calls us TOGETHER to be His Church.

These Pharisees had received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. As Jewish citizens of Israel, they had been circumcised – most of them on the eighth day following birth. These people were SINCERE. They were not trying to cause divisions in the Church, but were trying to honor God the Son in all that they did. The Apostle Peter stood up and said, … Continue reading

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