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There are  many today who are teaching that Jesus was rich.
Among those who teach Jesus and the apostles are rich are Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Hagin.  John Avanzini attacks and mocks theologians for teaching that Jesus was poor.

Was Jesus Rich? Lets look at the clear biblical evidence.

Jesus gave up all the riches that are his in heaven to become a man and was born to a poor family (not homeless and destitute). His stepfather was a carpenter. If they had money from the gold given at his birth (as some claim) he would not of had to work.

Archeological excavations of Nazareth from the 1950’s show the village of Jesus' day were occupied by poor agricultural people.  As Jesus grew up he worked in the trade of a carpenter, not a trade known for its wealth. How did Jesus become rich with a step-dad who was only a carpenter?  There is absolutely no indication anywhere that he was wealthy from his family or from traveling with His disciples.

Neither John the messenger or Jesus dressed as those who show God's blessings today with thousand dollar suits and shoes.
Avanzini says "Jesus had a big house" but it was Peters mothers house in Capernaum that was often used as a base, it was not His.

Matt. 8:19-20: "Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Jesus himself he had no place to lay his head, no permanent home, he constantly traveled. He dressed like everyone else, he even said to forsake this world to inherit his kingdom.  His kingdom is not of this world and he made it perfectly clear in His teachings.

Jesus became poor in becoming a servant in position and also in his social life. Zech. 9:9 " Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." Even his fulfilling prophecy as a king was in humility of his position. He came as a servant, not a king, but today we have those who want to have crowns recognized for their positions now. Quite the opposite in the Scripture, he who is exalted will be humbled.

We are to follow Jesus' pattern, yet some actually think if Jesus came today he’d have the best clothes, drive a Roll’s and eat steak every night. We better look carefully at the Bible before we choke on what is being dished out.

He was buried in another mans tomb, a rich mans. If he was rich or his family, they would have buried him in his own family tomb. But this again proves that He had no money for this.  Neither did his family nor the apostles have the money to by such a burial, it was borrowed, actually donated to be exact. After all it would not be permanent.

Jesus in his ministry had borrowed many things. A manger, He borrowed boats, He borrowed a colt; He borrowed a house for Passover and He was  buried in a borrowed tomb.
Jesus sent the disciples out without money ( Mt. 10:9-12) “ Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts,  nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.  Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.”  They did not rent a room but depended on others hospitality and the Lord for their provision. The money belt was a small purse that would carry very little coins, they did not have dollar bills then but coins.

(Continued in Comment)

Miracles are a hot topic. Many doubt or flat out reject them. Some will go to great length in trying to discredit them,or find another explanation that does not involve the supernatural. Yet miracles can and do happen to regular people every day. This blog IS NOT to debate or argue about it. It is simply an open invitation to anyone who has received a miraculous answer to prayer,or witnessed a miracle to briefly share their story in a factual manner. Blessings and peace!

What awaits on the other side
After death takes one's breath away
Billions have taken that last ride
Yet what awaits no one can say

A belief is just a belief
It may provide some with solace
And give a measure of relief
But it's not a proof in this case

All persons will know the answer
When death comes knocking on their door
That's all that can be said thus far
And how it may be evermore

John 4:43-54

43-45 After the two days he left for Galilee. Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to.

46-48 Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king’s court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: “Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.”

49 But the court official wouldn’t be put off. “Come down! It’s life or death for my son.”

50-51 Jesus simply replied, “Go home. Your son lives.”

The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, “Your son lives!”

52-53 He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, “The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o’clock.” The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son lives.”

53-54 That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee.

Try as I might, I just can’t come up with a quick and easy way of conjuring up an entity from the underworld. A simple method that doesn’t require loads of paraphernalia and hours of chanting nonsense. That’s all I ask.

It’s not like I want to evoke Satan himself. Some minor, lower ranking demon is all I need for the little job I have in mind. I mean, it costs a fortune just for the candles. Those ordinary thin candles that you get from the supermarket won’t do. No, they have to be great fat red things that look like they’re bleeding as they melt.

Then you have to find a suitable building to perform the ritual, which has to look at least a little bit gothic. There can be Hell to pay if you get that wrong. I remember summoning up something really ugly at home one time, and it was absolutely furious when it realised that I had forced it to materialise in my garden shed. I won’t be doing that again.

Anyway, I’m sorry for using my first post here for letting of steam like this, but I had to get it out of my system.

I find this article to be very interesting, for those who may feel God has forgotten them in finding a date or husband/wife.

Christian Intermingle: Can We Date Outside the Faith?

Sometimes, it feels like God doesn’t have a match for you.
Type the word "dating" into your Bible search tool, and what comes up? Nothing.
I remember wishing there was an entire book of the Bible dedicated to the topic when I was single, or at least a chapter. Now, I get emails from singles across the country looking for guidance on who and how to date.

While many start off with intentions of finding a godly partner, with each passing year the waiting feels longer and the hoping gets harder. Slowly, we can find ourselves starting to second-guess our original standards, wondering if we've been too extreme or unrealistic. Within that struggle, inevitably the question comes up: Can a Christian date a non-Christian?

The Bible addresses the hardships that come with marrying a nonbeliever, so that's rather clear. But single Christians may be tempted to say, "Well, it doesn't talk about dating. Can't we just date?"
To answer, it's important to take a step back and look at some principles found in Scripture. In Corinthians, Paul writes to a new group of Christians, who've asked him what's okay and not okay for them to partake in as believers in Christ. Paul then challenges the church not to simply ask, "Is it okay?" but instead to ask, "Is it beneficial?" (1 Cor. 10:23).

When a topic isn't directly addressed in the Bible, this can be a helpful guide for us. Because yes, it's okay for us to date someone who doesn't profess Christ. But to ask Paul's question, does it benefit our walk? Does it push us closer to Jesus? God doesn't call us to simply go after the acceptable in life, but the best, most enriching, most God-glorifying. Dating a nonbeliever may not be a sin, but we can do ourselves an injustice when okay gets in the way of what is best for us.

Again, God's Word doesn't talk about dating in particular, though many of its principles can guide our relationships. 2 Corinthians 6:14 reminds us of the importance of being bound together with believers. Genesis 2:24 tells us there is no greater binding experience than the commingling of two people into one, in this thing we call marriage. God knows the difficulty that comes with making two into one, and he encourages his children to be yoked together with someone with whom they can become fully one—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are holistic beings, and in order to truly connect, we must find someone with whom we can connect on every level.

Many Christian singles, even those considering pursuing relationships with people outside of the church, know this deep down. But waiting for love can be trying. It's easy to grow weary in waiting and attempt to jump into a relationship with someone that you may connect with physically and emotionally, but not spiritually—believing that this is as good as it gets and settling for less than best. For people who find themselves in this situation, it's important to remember the reason for the waiting.

Source:Christianity Today by Debra K. Fileta, guest writer

http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/

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What say you?...

(Recently, two interesting blogs were posted on ESP and After-Death experience. The following is from one of my previous blogs on those subjects. I prefer to post it as a separate blog rather than a comment due to its length.)

The electromagnetic spectrum is the distribution of electromagnetic radiation according to frequency or wavelength, and energy.
Frequency is defined as the number of cycles per second (Hertz)
Wavelength is the length of a single wave or cycle.

The energy of a frequency is proportional to its magnitude, i.e.,
low frequencies have low energies and high frequencies have high energies.

All these frequencies can be present together and occupy the same space simultaneously. This is demonstrated by the presence of frequencies from the various radio and television stations being present in space. We can select a particular station by tuning in our radio or television receiver to its frequency which enables us to receive its broadcast only.

A band of frequencies constitute a dimension.
There are a multiple number of dimensions.

Your consciousness is tuned to the 3D wavelength, which determines what you physically see and how you interact with objects. The 4th dimension has a different set of properties, hence you cannot see anything from the 4D reality, unless you change the frequency of your body to correspond to the frequency of the 4th dimension. Each dimension has its own specific frequencies and wavelengths. Life in the universe is not limited to the 3rd dimension; it is just that we cannot see the other realities that exist, because those realities have different frequencies and wavelengths that do not correspond to our 3D senses. Therefore, our physical existence on Earth is simply one of many infinite realities in the “Multidimensional Universe.”

I believe that when we die, our consciousness, soul, spirit or whatever, enters into a different dimension with a different frequency or vibration from that which we can normally feel or sense in ordinary day-to-day life. If someone is able to tune in to that frequency range, they may receive messages or signals from that dimension. This is similar to the reception of broadcasts from various radio stations or television channels, where we need to tune in to the operating frequency of a particular station or channel.

Signals from these different dimensions or frequencies are always present around us. I think that certain people like a “medium” in a séance, or a shaman, may be able to tune in to those other frequencies or dimensions and to communicate with others who exist in those dimensions. However, I prefer to confine such interactions with those dimensions to different frequencies, within the electromagnetic spectrum, which can be experienced right here on Earth. I cannot quite grasp the idea of an individual, or part of an individual actually travelling in outer space to some distant planet, star or galaxy as some persons claim.

However, I can see how the idea could have originated. Shamanism was first practised thousands of years ago among aboriginal or indigenous peoples, who had no knowledge of science regarding frequencies and dimensions. In fact, such science was not even developed at that time in the Western world where it originated,(I think). Such an experience certainly must have felt like an "out of this world" experience, (which, in fact, it is, if one considers it involved a frequency dimension that is different from that of ordinary day-to-day experience). It seems natural to me that those shamans would have associated those experiences with the distant planets, stars and galaxies that are literally out of this world, i.e., planet Earth.

Paranormal experiences, such as ESP, probably occur when there is an interaction of the reality of some other dimension with that of our ordinary day-to-day world.

A parable says that a man was returning one night from work, walking on a dark street. On his way there was a large stone that he did not see and he kicked and he was quite badly injured. The man continued on his way home, but stopped and pushed the stone into the ditch on the side of the road, thinking that no one else who might pass by would suffer the same. So his deed did good to others even though people who might have suffered the same would never have known of his deed. Like our man, God works daily for us to be well and not to hurt ourselves in countless ways. Even if we do not know and do not realize, the fact that we are ok and nothing bad happens to us does not mean that nothing bad could happen to us. It means that the Lord protects us and does this well. But we do not look up at night to go to bed to give thanks for the Lord's Work. Instead, we look up as soon as something bad happens and ask "why ... why me ... why now ... why so ... why ...? Maybe instead of looking We should look up at the past and ask why ... Maybe at some point our indifference is too great even for God to accept, maybe there are times when even He is tired of being treated with indifference. "His deeds, to be overlooked. An unseen help exists whether it is noticed or not. But we all need appreciation, to offer and to receive. Thank you for your attention."

Either the writer of Game of Thrones is a genius or he/she has a very vivid imagination mixed with a philosophical thinking that does not hold too much water. I am at a part in the series where a very profound statement has been made. I have just began to ponder it. I like thinking about things on my own first to see how valid points/philosophical statements are...but this one might take some time, time unfortunately I do not have a lot of lately. Getting some perspective here will certainly help.

The statement: "Hopes and dreams, and loves and fears will all we will ever be." Is it possible if we boil down everything in our lives into the most simplest forms, does this statement hold validity?

These four essential life characteristics do all pertain to the self. That is for sure.

The part in the series has to do with teaching a young girl to be nobody.

Is it better to be somebody or nobody?





The reason why I ask, to be somebody, carries an ego attached. From things I have seen and heard in the past, your ego is not your amigo.

This blog was written by a CS member. It is posted on her behalf.

I had a good friend who was a Tarot card reader. She was famous.
Never asking for money but people would buy her things, buy her lunch, dinner.
I loved her reading my cards I found it fascinating.
I wanted to know about a certain man. Yes he will be yours for sure.
I used a Ouija board I became so good at it I could do it alone.
II f I did it with a friend she would accuse me that I moved the pointer.
I did not even touch the pointer but hovered above it.

One day I had the idea to ask God to talk to me through the Ouija board. I didn’t know that what I was doing was really praying. Strangely it now did not work at all. What I now saw was only mumbo jumbo.The letters did not make a sentence.
So I said; “Oh you don’t want to answer and help me God, Okay!”
Later I learned that my praying had cancelled out Satan's power.

A friend asked me to go with him to see my friend the Tarot card reader.
Fortune tellers are fond of telling you how some things they said came to pass.
When I pointed out to my friend when she had been wrong, she did not like to hear it.
For some reason I did not like to go anymore, also because she had confided in me that this man’s wife was going to die in a car accident.

I let my friend talk me into going but when I saw my friend the reader and remembering what she had told me about his wife, I quietly asked her not to tell this man anything bad.
She became irritated and told us that whatever she would see In the cards, she would tell.
In panic I silently talked to God and asked that my friend would not tell him about his wife.

Never will I forget what happened next; It was mesmerizing to hear her say; ahum, ahum, ahum over and over again. Finally she looked up and told my friend; “You must be very confused today as I can not read the cards”
For the first time a little light went off in my head, what is this about praying that makes the Ouija board stop working and the Tarot cards not being able to be read?
It was the start of my asking questions and after a long time had to conclude that their was a God and that prayer worked.

The biggest question I was left with was; What did Jesus have to do with it all?
Want to read the rest of my stories, just asked me and I will send them to you...
Stay away from things like the Ouija board it is not an innocent game.

I want to tell you, never fool around with the Ouija board it is not a game. It is very demonic.
A little minister's boy saw kids at school on the playground with the Ouija board.
When he told the kids that it was wrong what they were doing, they laughed at him.
The boy then told them okay, ask the Ouija where it gets its power. The boys did and the Ouija answered; “Hitler.”
The boy knew that this was a lie, so he commanded it to tell the truth, this time the answer was; “Satan.”
A family would every night after supper, take out the Ouija board and play the game.
They had noticed that the cat liked it also, for as soon as they started to play, it would come out too watch.

One day a Christian happened to stop by at the time they were playing.
She was shocked when she saw what they were doing, and told them so.

They too, did not want to believe her, so she said to ask the Ouija what it wanted from them.
When they asked this, the answer came; “Your soul.”
They were so upset that they threw the board in the fireplace where they all saw the face of a woman appear.
The Christian said; "You must do this burning in the name of Jesus." The next day the cat was found dead.

Stay away from the Ouija it is not a game! It can bring you in spiritual darkness for years to come.
I sure wished that I had never heard about this diabolical, so-called “Game” It is dangerous, very dangerous.

Strangely it was because of these experiences that I now needed to find out who was Jesus?
What and who was behind answering prayer?