JCPenny's Musings
I'm a King James Bible believing sinner saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! I was raised by a good mother and I went to a KJV church growing up. I am a mother of 5 lovely children and am married to a crazy Cajun for 20 years now! I think bow ties are cool, and grey hairs are like tinsle for your head. I admire those who do right no matter the cost, and wish to avoid those who would compromise the truth.
Sometimes the devil doesn't tempt us with evil; sometimes he allures us with good, distracts us with obligations, confuses us with compromise, or hinders us with business to keep us from that which is best- service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Remember, the devil always offers his best, before Christ will offer His will for your life.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Life Is But A Weaving (poem)
My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.
Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.
–Corrie ten Boom
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Monday, April 1, 2024
Where Did It All Come From?
Where did it all come from? This is the question that everyone asks. The answer has to have this basic element- 1) something has always existed (it's eternal), and 2) it is powerful enough to create everything. Since none of us can recreate the beginning of the universe, we have to accept the answer by faith.
The Bible defines this something as God, an eternal being that is powerful enough to create the universe.
Genesis 1:1- In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Some people have a problem with this, so they come up with different answers. It began when nothing collided and caused a bang that generated matter and energy. This really is a silly one because first you have to believe that matter and energy (which can only be transferred from one thing to another according to the laws of science) came about from absolutely nada- spontaneous generation! And second, you have to accept by faith that this accidental stuff created and abides by scientific laws.
Like the ever so popular multiverse theory. Movies and tv shows are really capitalizing on this one. But there's still a problem, where did they all come from? You not only have to believe in an infinite number of universes that you have never seen, but have faith that something or someone created all of them without knowing who or what that is or where it came from.
Let's forget the universe and focus on just a small piece, a single cell.
All cells come from pre-existing cells. So, where did the first cell come from? And, we're back to the problem of an eternal being powerful enough to create life.
Colossians 1:16- For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
The hope of every scientist, though they may not out rightly admit it, is to explain the supernatural through scientific experimentation and processes. Thoughts are just impulses in the brain and attraction is just the release of hormones, etc.
For many millennia, people believed there was a higher being who oversaw the world. This God gave them direction in their life, a reason for existence, and an answer to what comes after death.
Micah 6:8- He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Different cultures began to associate different attributes with different deities. Instead of one all powerful God who knows all and sees all, it became many gods. And instead of an unchanging, infallible God, they imagined gods who were volatile and controlled by their emotions just like humans were. Religion was the end result.
It became a list of do this and don't do that or there will be dire consequences. Then, the rise of zealots took the place of these gods as judges and dealt out the ramifications for the transgressions of the rules.
People became disillusioned with the idea that a being would judge their every action and started to look for a new ideology that wouldn't be so opinionated.
Darwin's original theory of natural selection was that the world would reject that which is bad and preserve all that was good for the benefit of each being. That sounds nice, doesn't it? This is the basic premise of evolution. We no longer have to deal with faith, we can know by the absolute certainty of science.
The problem is that not everything can be researched in a chemistry lab. Historical documents, for example, are not something that can be tested to ascertain whether or not the information is factual. For this, we must rely on a different source- like, how many different documents contain the exact same information?
There was a lot people could learn from evolution, however, the problem was that evolution did not distinguish between what was observed and what was assumed or postulated. And, it still was not good enough to explain how something could jump from simple to complex, or nonliving to living.
To get around this, they inserted philosophy, nature is capable of doing this all on its own or nature finds a way. This is still assumption and not based on any scientific observation- it can't be tested and have consistent results.
This, too, failed as time saw theories change and factions formed, and "science" became dogmatic and just as divisive as religion.
Social Darwinism taught that different races of people were at various stages of evolution, and this thought justified evils like eugenics and mass genocide to study a specific evolutionary "stage".
Once people realized the terror that ensued, they began to view truth as an illusion. Reasonable certainty was then accepted and people began to insert their opinion as fact and forced everyone to acknowledge "their truth" as the standard by which they should live their life.
The inevitable end of evolution is that there is no right or wrong. Morality is based on your preferences and no one has the authority to judge you except yourself.
But, the problem comes in when their lifestyle puts your life in jeopardy. Their truth is they like to hurt, they enjoy dealing out destruction, your pain pleases them.
Somewhere there needs to be a line between good and evil. There needs to be rules and laws so that one person's freedom to swing their fists doesn't infringe on the other person's freedom to walk around. And these regulations need to be accessible to all and observed by all for there to be true freedom and peace in all aspects of our lives- physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
The only way you can truly answer all of these questions satisfactorily is if there is a God who has always been and is powerful enough to create you. If He has given you life, then He has a purpose for your life and will judge you according to how you live that life.
Acts 17:30-31- And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
The Rapture Of The Church
If you have ever spoken to a Christian, especially a Protestant Baptist, you will have likely heard them reference the Rapture. The word rapture isn't in the King James Bible. In fact, that word would only be found in an early AD 400 edition of Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Though the word itself is not in the Bible, the teaching or doctrine of it is.
There are three main passages that teach the Rapture.
John 14:1-3- Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
In this passage, it's not exceptionally clear that Christ is referencing taking both the dead and the living. Some people read this as if Jesus was speaking of our eternal dwelling place in heaven after our soul departs from our body at death.
The concept of the rapture was a mystery until Paul. It is in his letters to the churches that we find the Scriptures that detail exactly what it is.
I Corinthians 15:50-57- Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this passage, Paul is telling us a mystery that has been revealed to him. There a few mysteries in the Bible that Paul has the privilege of sharing with the world. The mystery is that not all of us will die (sleep). When the Bible mentions "sleep" in reference to death it has to do with the soul's relationship with the body. If the soul is still in the body, or will once again be in the body, the person is considered asleep.
John 11:11-13- These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Lazarus died, but Christ was going to call his soul back into his body and raise him from the dead. So, when Paul talks about someone being "asleep in the Lord" what he means is they are dead, but they won't stay that way forever. At some point in time their soul and their body will be brought back together.
In I Corinthians 15, Paul is saying that those that are dead will be raised. Their bodies will be brought forth out of the ground, all the atoms reassembled in a way that it will be the same body, but it will be an eternal, perfect, undying one. The people who are still alive won't die. Their atoms will be changed from mortal to immortal and they will raise in an eternal, perfect body.
I Thessalonians 4:13-18- But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This passage gives us more of the protocol of the rapture. There will be a shout from heaven, where Christ is at the right hand of God. It will be accompanied with the voice of the archangel (Michael- Jude 1:9) though we don't know what it is that he is saying. And the trump of God (the sound a trumpet makes). When God speaks it can sound like rushing might waters, loud thundering, or a trumpet blasting out a note.
Many people believe that God will say "Come up hither" because that is what He said to John in Revelation 4:1, and John describes that hearing this sounded like a trumpet speaking to him.
After the loud noise, the dead will be reanimated and raised from their burial spots, and the living will be taken up from wherever they may be at the time to come together as a great host in the atmosphere. There we will meet the Lord Jesus Christ in person and be escorted into the spiritual realm of the Lord God Almighty.
There are types, or pictures of this in the Old Testament, however no one understood what they were or what they meant at the time. Enoch was a human that was translated from the earth to live with God in heaven before God sent the flood of waters to destroy the earth in Noah's time. Lot was a Gentile living in a wicked city that was taken with his wife and two daughters out of the area before God rained fire and brimstone on the place to destroy it for the evil that was prevalent in it. Rahab was a Gentile who lived in Jericho that had gone against the orders of her people and saved the two Jewish spies lives; she and her family were safely taken out of Jericho before the Israelite army slaughtered the town.
Those are just a few in the first part of the Bible. I'm certain if you know any Bible stories that you could come up with more examples. But the important part is this- they were taken out before God's wrath fell. What does that mean? The rapture will happen before the Tribulation.
I Thessalonians 1:10- And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
I Thessalonians 5:9-10- For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
There are a few other verses scattered throughout the New Testament that allude to the rapture: Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 3:4, II Timothy 4:8, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 9:28, I Peter 5:4, and I John 3:2.
What do all these verses have in common? They reference Christ's coming and that we will get a reward if we are looking for Him. If you are saved, you should not only be living like a Christian and working to tell others about the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, but you should also be anticipating and hoping for the time when He calls your name and takes you to live with Him for all eternity in Heaven.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Believer’s Heritage- Bob Murphy
The only time you can get safely off the roller coaster after it starts moving is at the end of the ride. If you quit the ride before then, it will cause pain or death.