COME TO 'PAPA'

But he did not go to church!!! Those words described by grandfather who died when I was only four years old. My grandmother was a dear Christian woman who was in attendance every time the Methodist church doors were open. Papa, my grandfather, owned a country wholesale grocery store in a small town in Mississippi. Before the depression of '29 and the stock market crash he would regularly give groceries to needy families on "credit" never asking or receiving payment for the goods. I remember in the evenings when he came home from the store we would ride on the running boards of his old Olds up the steep drive to the carport, then we would go in and play with what seemed to be to be thousands of silver dollars as we built 'castles' on the living room floor and he would roll around with us and play. Then often when it was dark we would go out back and shoot fire crackers under tin cans and blow them up sky high and laugh and have such a wonderful time with my non church going Papa. He smoked good cigars, drank good liqueur and was known to be the best husband and grandfather anyone could ask for. He was a delightful man, humble, faithful, and fun. He and my grandmother raised a wonderful daughter--my mom. As I look back on his life, he died when I was only four years old, I see the light of Jesus and the love of Jesus written all over the life of that man. I know now that he was adopted from before the foundation of the world in Jesus ( Eph.1:3-14) and included into the life of the great Triune God, as we all are, and that is the reason for the joy, love, patience, and goodness he exemplified in his short life of 54 years. I so much look forward to reconnecting with him one day in the heavenly realm. I know no church could have done for him what Jesus did. I thank God for the truth that is in Jesus and that he is not lost or being tortured some place, but he is with his loving Father in Heaven now and for eternity. Praise God. Hang on Papa, I will see you soon. I love you.

Paul Kurts
www.newlifewcg.org

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"NEW AGE" IS OLD AGE BULL CACA

.WHAT'S NEW ABOUT NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY??? Modern pundits would have you to believe that believing in new age thought is something 'new' when in fact it is not new at all, it only now is being called by new and different names.

Mankind has ALWAYS sought to explain life, creation and existence in terms of relativity and conceptions devoid of any respect to and for a Creator God. Existential metaphysical evolutionary concepts of explanation leaving a Creator God out of the picture have been around for thousands of years. Different names have defined these ideas forever. Atheism, gnosticism, pantheism, and the like are not new.

There is nothing new about reincarnation, past lives, contact with past life individuals, astrological predictions for ones present life based on the movement of the planets and stars and whether Saturn's Moons are sitting on the axis of Paraguay!

There is no end to the speculations conjured up by seers, soothsayers, and Gypsies in plying their trade. The amazing thing is that many educated people actually buy into this Bull Shi_t ( Shirt) as if it were the Truth to end all Truths.

When one understands the real Gospel of Jesus Christ one realizes that he or she was chosen before the foundation of the COSMOS to be adopted and included into the very life of the Triune God to live forever with Him--all made possible by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. ( Ephesians 1:3-14). There simply is NO room for any falderall of reincarnaton and new age Bull Shi_t ( Shirt) to be considered.

You and all other humans are and have been the childeren God always loved and wanted to be with Him in His life forever. That is the Gospel. Jesus Christ made it happen for evryone. You are included in that wonderful truth and fact. How good is that?

New Age 'stuff' will come and go, but none of it will ever take the place of the Truth of all Truths who is Jesus Christ.

Paul

www.newlifewcg.org
www.pastorpaulsinteractiveblog.blogspot.com

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BLUE CHEESE AND HELL FIRE

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The moon is NOT made out of 'blue cheese'! But, if one were told this long enough from an early age, they would believe it. So it is with the concept of an ever burning, fiery, torturing, suffering, damnable 'hell fire' for recalcitrant "unsaved" and "lost" sinners. Does that sound bad, or what?

Did you know that for the first nearly 500 years of the early New Testament Christian Church that concept was NOT preached? Why not? Well, because the early church leaders knew better. They knew the truth of the Good News. The truth of Jesus' Adopting of all humanity into His life and the Father's and the Holy Spirit's life.( See, Irenaus, Athanasius, and others) They knew that the concept of a "punishing" hell was an invention of the Greek mind, especially that of Plato. They knew that the kind of love the Father had for his children would not allow that kind of retribution against His children who simply did not know or did not believe their position in Jesus.

In the 5th century A.D. along comes a tremendously influential individual by the name of Augustine of Hippo in the Catholic Church who was the "BLUE CHEESE" man of all time. He especially liked Plato and other Greek philosophers. He liked the concept of "hell" so much that he introduced it into the church as a true doctrine in order, (in his own words) " to keep church goers in line in the straight and narrow."

Fear. Fear worked so well that it remained in the church until this day in the promotion of a torturing hell as doctrine. The problem came in when certain scriptures had to now be interpreted to be consistent with that 'hot' topic. Lazarus and the Rich Man, Worms that die not, smoke ascending up forever, lakes of fire, and other verses now had to be reinterpreted in order to support Plato's Hell.
And they were. Blue Cheese reigned supreme now. Truth had been overcome by a fable.
But the truth shall set one free. And that Truth of all Truths is that God is love,
Jesus lived and died to connect us all to the Triune God and He has redeemed, reconciled, saved, and seated all of humanity with the Father--Eph.2:6.

Even blue cheese will stink if it is left out in the open long enough to spoil.

There is a fresh wind blowing in the world right now and you are reading about it here.

Love,

Pastor Paul
www.newlifewcg.org
Madison, Alabama

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QUESTIONS-WITH NO ANSWERS- FOR BIG BANGERS

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BANG! BANG! BANG! My last blog addressed the topic of the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the cosmos. In this one I just want to ask a few questions which need answers that are generated from fair questions. The scientists who accept the Big Bang theory ( and of course not all do) are stumped when these and other questions arise over the dynamics of the Big Bang theory. So let's ask a few. Here goes.

1. Where did the SPACE come from in which the Big Bang occurred?

2. Why didn't the explosion of the tiny "mass" which caused the Big Bang happen before it did?

3. After the "bang", where did all the LAWS come from in which the cosmos operates?
( Fission, Fusion, Gravity, Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Inertia, Thermodynamics, nuclear reactions, etc. )

4. What caused the vast differences in the cosmos of Black holes, white holes, Galaxy webs, gravity, bright stars, dim stars , etc. ?

5. Why do all of the elements in the Periodic chart relate to each other NUMERICALLY?

6. Why is the speed of light constant at 186,000 mps.?

7. Where did all of the known elements in the cosmos come from? Were they all inside the tiny atom like mass that exploded causing the "big bang"? If not, what caused them all to "form" after the explosion?

8. How did the big bang explosion fill the universe with such precision and order, even being a giant clock accurate to the nano second?

9. Why is there "dark matter" throughout the universe?

10. Is there another explanation for the existence of the universe?

11. Where did life on planet earth come from?

12. Why is the life/eco system so balanced?

13. Why is the micro and the macro universe so mathematically organized. And opposite of each other?


You get the point. When you study the Big Bang Theory in depth, you find that there are a lot of questions which simply go unaddressed. " We do not know." " We can not say." " No one knows." We ASSUME. These are the answers one gets.

One can argue, " In the beginning, God CREATED....IT ALL."

I'll go with that one.

Paul

www.newlifewcg.org
www.pastorpaulsinteractiveblog.blogspot.com

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THE BIG BANG...DOES IT MAKE SENSE?

BANG! THE BIG BANG. The heavens declare the glory of God. Not some random disconnected explosion of a tiny particle 12.9 billion years ago somewhere out in space. ( The fartherst star has been measured at 12.9 billion LIGHT years from earth.)

The Milky Way Galaxy in which we live in our Solar System on Earth is some 100 Thousand light years across. ( Or, 6 trillion miles X 100,000 miles !!!). We think this amazing. Yet in space there are giant galaxies, Space Blobs, Galaxy webs--like three dimensional spider webs--which are truly amazing. Astrophysicists have accounted for over 100 Billion galaxies at present with more being discovered every few weeks. Some are over 40 million light years across compared to our 100,000 of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is one of the smallest known.

There are approximately 10 times as many stars in the known universe as there are grains of sand on the earth. Some Giant Red stars would contain millions of our solar System's Sun. Some stars are million/s of times brighter than our own sun.

Wind speeds on some planets in outer space reach upwards of 6000 miles per hour. The mass of some stars, black holes, planets is so great that a penny would weigh TONS on those planets. Black holes are so dense that their gravity pulls light within them not allowing it to escape the black hole.

Some Galaxies are cannibals in their nature and when approaching another galaxy due to Gravity they simply engulf the weaker galaxy and ingest it into itself becoming now much larger.

Now astrophysicists speak of "parallel" Universes like a loaf of bread, with this COSMOS being incredulously HUMONGOUS. Astrophysisists speak in terms of 12 to 14 dimensions and 'string' dimensions. Not just the 4 we live in. ( I think I just lost us)

This entire existing universe in is perfect harmony, balance and design with the proper amounts of gravity and expansion forces to keep it expanding, not collapsing due to the gravitational pull of all of the masses in it. And all the while it remains in the same configuration which is a GIANT CLOCK which is perfect in its time keeping. How cool is that??? And only earth has been recognized to have a balanced ecological system to support life.

The dynamic effects of the universe are amazing in themselves. Heat, cold, radiation, nuclear reactions, fission, fusion, mass, light, elements, speeds of movement, and other things we can come up with are off the charts when we look at them from 'cosmic proportions'.

When David wrote in Psalm 19:1, " The heavens declare the Glory of God", he only had reference to the heavens in our own Milky Way Galaxy. How much more do they declare the Glory of God when considered on the scale of the COSMOS.

To all BIG BANGERS, I propose to all of you that all of this CREATION did not come from a small mass the size of an atom. Besides, where did the 'empty universe' or space come from for it to explode into. Remember, Space and time are created elements also. DEAL WITH IT.

"Only a fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

I will write more on this subject at a later time.

God Bless,

Paul

GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ is no figment of Greek Mythology nor is He a creation from the mind of Plato. BUT, the way we often view Jesus and God the Father, we might as well have gotten our theology from Greek Philosophy!

Greek Mythology dates back to nearly the Bronze Age! Various kings, rulers and people of importance in the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Asian world, over time, became deified as gods and goddesses and immortalized in epic poems such and the Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer. We are talking 1000 years before Jesus.

The Greek netherworld, or place of the dead, along with Plato's invention of the concept of "hell" in the 4th Century B.C. have become the mainstay of Christian thought in the West and prevail to this day teaching an ever burning, torturing fire for the unrepentant. God the Father is distant, disconnected, aloof, "holy" and "hell bent" on sending those who do not fall down and worship Him to these flames of torture. Where do you think this kind of thinking comes from? Answer: The Greeks, their mythology, Plato, Platonism, and other Greek philosophers who continued these teachings and myths in their day. Then when St. Augustine of Hippo came along in the 5th Century A.D., who was an avid student of Plato's philosophy--including "hell" and fire and torture forever--he injected this unloving fear tactic into the Christian Church to keep converts "in line" and walking the straight and narrow.

What we have today is a man made theology from scripture and Greek philosophy which is anything but Good News. God is not portrayed and giving Unconditional Love to all of His children, Adopting all children before the foundation of the world ( Eph.1), and fulfilling His one and only plan for humanity completed in Jesus Christ.

Religion is a contest. Christianity is a contest. If YOU win, you get saved. But it all boils down to you and your accepting Jesus into your life. But what Jesus did for all of us and TO all of us happened before we were ever born!

Jesus is not some capricious God like so many of the Greek gods of Greek mythology. He is not narcissistic needing the adulation of His subjects to sustain His worth.
Jesus is no figment of Greek Mythology.

He is God. He is man. He is the Word Who from 'the beginning' was with the Father and the Holy Spirit as very God. He is love. He is Savior. He is our elder Brother. He is GOOD. And, He is GOOD ALL the time.

He loves us all with a love that is beyond description. You have always been the child He always wanted in His family to be with Him FOREVER. There is NO contest. There is NO possibility for failure. We are saved and secure in Jesus--Forever!

Jesus lives IN us and we IN Him. ( John 14:20). We are connected and included INSIDE of the Triune Life of God NOW and FOREVER. This is what Trinitarian and Adoption Theology is all about. And, it has nothing to do with Greek Mythology and Greek Philosophy whatsoever.

Amen

BETWEEN THE TWO BOOKENDS THEOLOGY

( SPEAKING TOUR: May 17, 2009, I will be speaking at Crosswinds Church in Jackson,Ms. Contact Mr. John Novick for information and location. Call 601-573-0045 for information. )



BOOKEND THEOLOGY!!! The Plan of God is not really all that difficult to understand if we view it from the perspective of bookends on a shelf. Large marble or quartz or statue bookends on either side of a row of books. The bookends hold everything in between them on the shelf. God's plan is much like this. Let's see.

First bookend. In Gen.1:26-27, The Great Triune God said, "Let's make man in our image." Let's make man in our existence. Let's make man in ourselves. Let's live with man forever. Paul further states in Ephesians 1:3-14, that humans were adopted in Christ before the world was ever created. Man was to be perfect in Jesus originally. We have the declaration of perfection for humanity originally.

Now let's look at the bookend at the other end of the book shelf. This bookend says " it is done". "All things are reconciled in Christ." Col.1:19-20. All things are reconciled in Christ. All things are redeemed in Christ. All things are saved in Christ. Can you see the two book ends here? The first and the last of God's plan. Sort of the Alpha and the Omega of everything.

Now we have two bookends of man's history for the age of man. From the first Adam all the way to the last human who will ever live on this earth. All reconciled, redeemed, adopted, included in the life of God, all saved. No exceptions. All done in between the two bookends.

Everything that happens in the age of man, between the two bookends, if you will, happens in the fallenness of Adam. All the sin, hurt, misery, suffering, angst, unassurance, and death happens between the two bookends. The good news is that what happens between the two bookends has NO bearing on the original plan and purpose of God and Jesus' MAKING IT HAPPEN for God.

God is just simply bigger than all the fallen history of man and He has dealt with all the sin and problems of the age of man in Jesus. Jesus simply has saved the COSMOS. Man and you included. NOTHING that happens between the two bookends has any bearing on what God has done in Jesus. What Jesus came to do , He did. He sought and saved the lost--the creation, man, and everything else. He finished His work.

Nothing in the age of man between the two bookends has any lasting or eternal impact on what God purposed to do and DID in Jesus. Can you see that. Our God is THAT BIG.

Jesus is the two bookends. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The first and the last. Everything happens in and on His watch. He knows, He is in charge ultimately and He has made it all good in Himself for everyone. The question for all is, "Will you believe it ?"

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Paul Kurts