Holy Spirit – 153 Fishes and Me

The Trendy Gratitude Movement

You can hardly go a day without hearing a celebrity speak about how much gratitude they have. It’s the buzzword of the 2020’s. They go on and on about accepting all people, being inclusive and having gratitude. But this begs the question “to whom or what are they so grateful?”. They never seem to answer this question.

It’s safe to say that most of the people using these buzzwords are not truly grateful at all. They just see it as a way to virtue-signal to other folks in their buzzword club.

People can be grateful for a myriad of reasons and show their appreciation by stating to whom or what they are grateful. They can be grateful to their parents for giving them a good upbringing or to their school for providing them a sound education, for example. But some people claim that they are grateful to “the universe”. If only there were another name for the being or power which powers the universe, right?! Lol.

Are they grateful to the many billions of hydrogen-powered stars burning at millions of degrees? Are they grateful to the black holes? Are they grateful to “dark matter”? No. That would be silly and no different than pledging your gratitude to the dirt you are standing on or the big rock at the end of the street.

Numbers 6:24-26

24 “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’

The ultimate gratitude should only be shown to he who created you. Only God is deserving of this ultimate compliment. Without him, there is no life. Without him there is no consciousness allowing us to reflect upon these things and to have the feeling of gratitude. Continue reading The Trendy Gratitude Movement

Visions of Heaven While Falling Asleep

Religious experiences can be very personal and maybe they are intended to be that by the almighty. But I have this blog so I figured I would share a recent experience. Also, people often search the internet for such experiences as proof that people are having them.

A few nights ago I was finally starting to fall asleep after being awake for 24 hours. I had a terrible spell of insomnia, something I’ve dealt with most of my life. The feeling is awful. You are completely exhausted both mentally and physically but your brain will simply not shut off. Even when you are finally able to start drifting off to sleep there is a real uneasiness.

Right when I started drifting off on this night I had a very vivid series of images pop into my head. They were very clear. The first image was of an outline of the face of Jesus. It sort of looked like the imprint on the Shroud of Torin but the etching was just slightly light blue against a dark background, like the sky at night. Continue reading Visions of Heaven While Falling Asleep

A Dream in Which God Showed Me Something

This dream occurred a few nights ago and for some reason I didn’t write it down until now. Usually I like to record dreams that I find to be powerful or significant right away so that I don’t lose any detail.

In this dream, God permitted me to see what it was like for him to have to condemn sinners to hell. He made me see it through his eyes and see how very sad he was that he had to condemn these people, because he had created them and knew them all personally. He wanted nothing but the best for them but they chose a life of sin. They were given chance and chance again to turn their lives around but they chose not to. Free will is real.

It really hurt him to see them go to a place of everlasting suffering. I felt his immense power and strength but I also felt the overwhelming sadness when one of his children was condemned. And there were many.

I awoke from the dream with a new perspective, of course. We have always heard that he knows us all individually and that he cares for us as well (see this link for Scriptural references) but I got to witness it and feel it first hand (you know how real dreams can feel).

Are these dreams from God? I believe so. The Scriptures tell us that dreams are one of the most common ways he speaks (Numbers 12:6) and that they are made accessible to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:16-17).

I always feel blessed when I have dreams that involve the Lord or Jesus. I often will pray at bedtime that he reveal something to me as I sleep.

~ Brad

Why Have Jewish People Not Accepted Christ as Their Saviour?

I was laying in bed last night and this question occurred to me, as it has many times before. As a Christian I have always respected Jews as “The Chosen People” and have respect for their culture. I am not angry at them for “killing Jesus”, like some people are, because that was the prophecy. That was what was supposed to happen according to the good book. Just like Israel falling, being scattered and then reforming, it has all come true.

I ended up Googling my query and came upon some forums where people discussed the topic. I then ended up with two videos. The first is a Jewish man explaining why Christ is not accepted as the Messiah.

His reasoning seems pretty flawed to me and subject to argument. I searched further and found a different video that shows why they are having a hard time connecting Jesus with their Bible. It’s because Isiah 53 is a chapter that has purposely been withheld from them. The video below is made by a Jewish fella and really does a fantastic job of walking a handful of people through this fact. It’s a powerful video that I highly suggest watching. Continue reading Why Have Jewish People Not Accepted Christ as Their Saviour?

A Thought Occurred Me Today – What Earth Actually Is

I was laying in bed this morning and thanking God for another day on his beautiful planet, something I try to do every morning, and this morning I felt the power of Lord moreso than most mornings.

As I lay there I could feel the warmth wash over me and I was unable to continue with my morning prayer. The power of the Holy Spirit made clear formulation of words hard to accomplish. That got me thinking about the seraphim (illustrated above) which constantly fly around the Lord in heaven. They are only able to repeat “Holy, Holy, Holy” over and over again. Perhaps they are so overwhelmed by the power of the Lord this is the only thought that gushes from them. I found myself only able to repeat those same words when the power of the Lord washed over me this morning as well.

This also got me thinking about life on Earth. Maybe it is a gift to be in a sort of outpost from heaven. This space allows us to have free will and to choose our path. If we were simply born into existence near the Lord our God we would be heavily influenced by his sheer power. Here, you are in as neutral an environment as you can get. You can choose good or bad. You can prove to the Lord that you want to be with him.

‘Earth is a middle-ground’ or ‘a testing-ground’ is a concept most all Christians are familiar with. The cynical may try to look at God through human eyes and assigning him human thoughts, so they think there is some self-entertainment motive there. To look at the God, who is almighty and all good, in that sort of way is blasphemous. We will never be able to understand the mind of the almighty. The best we can do is worship him and pray.

Near Death Experiences from Very Credible Scientific People

Some of the better near death experiences (NDE’s) or after-life experiences you will ever hear are from people who were either skeptics or are trained and practicing scientists. They have solid reputations and there is no angle to be had by confabulating a story.

Today, I want to share two of those stories here on this blog. Both are profound. Both occurred to Doctors. One Doctor was a witness and the other experienced it first hand.

It can be said that since these guys went on to write about their experience and sold books and that this was their angle the entire time. But I assure you that that they were making great money already and did not want to invite the inevitable ridicule from their colleagues.

Hippie Girl Finds Jesus in Most Unconventional Way

One of the Youtube channels to which I am subscribed belongs to a documentary filmmaker who was very active from the 1960’s until the 2000’s. He often posts interviews he conducted of people who were young adults in the tumultuous 1960’s.

Recently, he created a mashup of people giving their interviews and released it on Youtube. One woman in particular really stuck out to people, so much so that they contacted the filmmaker and asked him to post her entire interview. He obliged.

From the moment you hear and see this person speak you will be able to tell how intelligent, bright and well-spoken she is. Her path to finding the Lord Jesus Christ is so very interesting. She basically had to take the long way around but she had one experience that is truly fascinating and was powerful enough to make her a follower of Jesus for the rest of this life. Please enjoy.

Listening to the Word on Your Mobile Device

One Place really Does Live Up to Its Name – This is not a paid endorsement

Two of my preset stations in my automobile are set for local Christian stations. They rotate modern Christian music in with sermons from nationally renown (and sometimes local) preachers.

As far as streaming to your mobile device goes, there is one app that really does a fantastic job. Its called OnePlace. They also have their website OnePlace.com from which you can stream. Its totally free and you can play in the background while your screen is off. I usually do exactly this when I am walking in the trails to get my daily physical exercise.

Two preachers in particular that I love listening to are Adrian Rogers and Dr. Charles Stanley. What I love about these two gentlemen’s message is that it is not sugarcoated. They specifically rail against softening the message in order to attract as many followers – like other famed personalities do. Mr. Rogers specifically will get very excited at times and his voice will become powerful and really drive home the point he is making.

I hop this information helps you find the message you are looking for and helps you deepen your devotion to Christ.

Fearing God – What Does it Mean?

I was going for my nightly walk through the wooded and sandy trails of nature while listening to a video on Youtube. Sometimes, you don’t have to actually watch the videos as they are great for listening while doing other activities at the same time. Anyhow, this particular video is from a preacher named Francis Chan. He is on my radar because I watched some of his videos on Right Now Media, a free Christian media service.

Anyway, my opinion on Francis is this: He is empowered by the Holy Spirit. He speaks with such conviction and certainty he must be. I also think that he isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. I think the way he is able to speak to young people, in their own cadence, is a gift. Continue reading Fearing God – What Does it Mean?

Prayer Book from 1915

Now that we are all stuck at home, I have had plenty of time to go over items in my folders and steamer trunk. It is fun going through old pictures that felt like they were taken yesterday but are actually from 25 years ago.

I came across a very important keepsake of mine. My great grandfather’s prayer book from the year 1915. My grandmother gave it to me and she has held on to it all these years so I was honored when she let me have it.

It is pretty well weathered but is still in OK shape considering he carried it around so much. I have included some photos of it below.

The folded marked page has “Prayers to be Used in Families: Morning Prayer” and is followed by what many of us now refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Continue reading Prayer Book from 1915