Tag: Love

A couple weeks ago on Twitter, there was a Christian asking a serious question.  He wanted to know if Christians (meaning born again believers in Jesus Christ) would go to hell if they committed suicide.  The question really bothered me because Christians should know the answer to that based on our core belief in Jesus.  This will be a longer post (1,700 words) due to the seriousness of the question, so get ready to dig into God’s Word on this one.

First off, the answer to that question is NO, they would NOT go to hell.  People most likely think they would go to hell because of Catholic lies they’ve been told regarding salvation.  People who base their salvation on works are never assured of their salvation.  People who base their salvation 100% on God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ are 100% assured of their salvation!  The only reason a person loses Heaven is by rejecting Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son.  A believer in Jesus Christ has not rejected Him and suicide cannot separate us from Him.  Nothing can!

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16-18

Works based false preachers are still living in fear of death.  Jesus set us free from that slavery!  It is the evil one who holds the power of death and that is why people are afraid of death.  Jesus destroyed the devil’s work!  There is no fear of death for the born again believer in Jesus Christ!  Someone who trusts in their own works for salvation will always fear death and they will always worry that something they do wrong will send them to hell.  That is not the Way of faith in Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and because of Him I have no fear of death!  He was right there with me when I stopped breathing in 2012 and there was absolutely no fear!  There was no pain either. Just perfect peace, and it was more beautiful than I can explain.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Hebrews 2:14-15

“…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

1 John 3:8 (2nd sentence)

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:18

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9

If you believe in Jesus Christ, then stop living in fear of death!  If you believe in Jesus Christ, then you will never be condemned!  If you believe in Jesus Christ, then you are NOT appointed to suffer wrath!  You are appointed to receive salvation through Jesus!!!  Praise God and rejoice in your salvation!!!  Give Jesus the praise and glory He deserves!!!

If someone has accepted Jesus Christ by faith, then they are saved and nothing can snatch that person out of His hand.  The Holy Spirit resides in the born again believer and the Holy Spirit is God’s seal on us that proves we belong to Him and proves our salvation is guaranteed!  No matter how the believer in Jesus dies, the believer will be in Heaven with Jesus forever.  We are redeemed by His Blood shed on the cross for us and nothing can change that or take that away.  Once you are His, you are His forever.

Our salvation is not dependent on human effort, but only on the finished work of Jesus Christ!  When will people understand this?!  Jesus saves us!  We cannot save ourselves!  That is the whole reason Jesus died for us!  It is terribly sad if the tragedy of suicide happens, but if the person believed in Jesus, then they are saved.  His blood covers all of our sins; past, present, and future.  Suicide does not change God’s promises or His faithfulness to a person who believes in His one and only Son.  You cannot snatch yourself out of His hand once you have given your life to Jesus Christ by faith.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hebrews 10:19-23

Depression is a major problem in every society because depression exists everywhere on earth.  It is an unfortunate reality of living in a sinful fallen world.  Nobody is immune to it.  I struggled through a very dark depression for several years while fighting Celiac and it’s by God’s grace that I’m still alive.

A few months before I published my testimony and started this blog, I went to see our Pastor at our old church.  The disease had really taken its toll and beat me down.  When I walked into the church that day, I had pretty much given up hope and I just wanted to die.  I just wanted to be home with Jesus and be free from the pain.  I actually cried out many times for the Lord to take me.

I talked with the Pastor about the disease and all the suffering.  I told him about the crushing sadness and hopelessness and I broke down in tears.  He listened and prayed for me and gave me some words of encouragement and it helped give me a better perspective on things.  He also introduced me to a Christian counselor and I talked with him a couple times too.  It’s okay to talk to somebody.  We need that fellowship, so please get help if you need it.  Don’t suffer alone.  God loves you and you are not alone!

Sometimes life can knock us down so hard that it seems impossible to get back up, but suicide is never the answer.  We go to Heaven through our faith in Jesus alone, but we should go home when He calls us home.  Just make sure you don’t condemn the brother or sister who was suffering depression.  Those believers that have fallen to suicide for whatever reason are safe in the arms of Jesus.  They don’t lose their salvation and there is not a single verse in the Bible that says they would lose it.  Our salvation is secure and finished through Jesus!  We are justified, redeemed, forgiven, and saved by His blood alone!

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

Romans 5:9

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Ephesians 1:7-8

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:21

Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian preacher who was imprisoned and tortured by the Soviets during World War 2.  In his book, “Tortured for Christ,” he talks about a day when he and his fellow brothers were being tortured by the prison guards.  The beatings were so bad during the torture session that one of the brothers in Christ couldn’t take it anymore and he jumped out of a window to his death.  Richard talked about the love and compassion of Christ and how his brother in Christ was forgiven.  The brother is not in hell.  He is in Heaven because He overcame by the Blood of Jesus through his faith in Jesus!  Is it your right to judge the man’s pain and how he reacted?  Is it your right to judge his devotion to Jesus and doubt his salvation?  No, it is not.

The true heart of the question regarding Christian suicide and hell comes down to whether you trust Jesus for your salvation or you trust yourself and your own effort to save you.  Legalistic false preachers who preach a works based salvation are never secure in their salvation because they are not saved.  Your works will never save you!  I have said it before and I will say it again, you either believe in Jesus or you don’t.  If you believe in Jesus, then trust in Him 100% with all your heart and take Him at His Word when He tells you nothing can snatch you out of His hand!

Nothing can separate us from Jesus once we believe.  Nothing can snatch us out of His hand once we believe.  Not even death.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life and He will raise us up at the last day just as He promised!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

Hello and God bless you all from sunny blue sky Colorado!  It is 59 degrees today and I’ll take that in December any day!  I have been suffering terribly today, but I don’t want to focus on that.  I am in pain almost every day.  It’s okay to talk about it and sometimes I do, but today I want to share the blessing God gave me through the pain.  I pray this is a blessing and an encouragement to you all!

Every now and then I do posts like this.  I am here to preach the Gospel and a big part of that is forming friendships along the way.  I always enjoy seeing all of your pictures from around the world.  It gives me an inside glimpse at what your lives are like and it helps me understand you better.  Hopefully these posts help you get to know me better too.

So, to the blessing!  After fighting pain all morning, I decided to sit on the deck just before lunch.  The sunshine out there is phenomenal!  The backyard faces south, so the back deck becomes a very hot sun deck very quickly.  I have one little chair out there and it is amazingly therapeutic to sit there and soak in the sun after battling pain that literally put me on my knees all morning.

We live in a big gulch, almost like a small valley, and our house sits on a sloping ridge on the northern side.  This whole area used to be a Native American hunting ground for bison, deer, and elk.  People have even found arrow heads and pottery out here.  We don’t see bison or elk around here in our time, but we have plenty of deer along with bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and all the little critters too.  Our town has a rich Wild West history, as does the entire state of Colorado.  I have lived in this beautiful state for about 34 years now, and there is no place on earth I’d rather be than right here a mile high.

There is a steep main road that leads up the giant hill to our neighborhood at the top.  During the founding of the town in the 1800s, the road was a train track.  It was so steep for the train that they had to use a second special train to push it up the hill.  It is so calm and peaceful in our little valley.  I love watching the cars drive by while I listen to the birds play.  It is very quiet and it’s like the cars drive by in slow motion at times.  I love it when the big rigs drive down the hill.  Some of them have the older brakes that make the cool semi truck sound, and I have always liked that.

I haven’t shaved for a few days because of the pain, so here is me enjoying God’s blessings despite the pain.  My daughter always says, “Daddy, shave your scruffies.”  That always makes me laugh.  My bony face is the face of Celiac.  I only weigh around 135 pounds and I stand 6 foot 1 inch tall.  I need to gain a good 30 pounds to be back at my normal weight, but I can’t because of my damaged small intestine.  Nothing is impossible for God, so I pray and trust Him with the outcome.

For my Chi-town homies, you will notice I’m sportin’ the Cubbies World Series shirt today.  I’m a Colorado mountain man with a bit of Chicago in me too.  I went to High School in St. Charles.  That is where we lived during the 4 years in the haunted house.  Our neighborhood was right off the Fox River.

My parents and most of my relatives live in Illinois.  I have been to Chicago many times and have been to many Cubs games.  I even met Harry Caray at Wrigley Field once.  We also went to many Blackhawks games at the old stadium (back in the 90s).  Many times we would take the Metra train into the city, which was fun.  I was at the playoff game, which became the last game they played at the stadium before they tore it down.  Listening to the National Anthem in that place was awesome!  Good memories!

We back up to a big open space.  The picture above is the little rock park our kids grew up playing at.  We would just jump the fence and walk over to it.  They loved jumping around on the rocks and they still do.  In the summer they love riding their bikes through the open space.  There is a long system of trails throughout the whole neighborhood and they connect with the town.

The photo below is where I’ve been writing most of my posts lately.  I have an office downstairs, but I like looking out the window in the kitchen.  You’ll notice I never blog without the Sword of the Spirit (to the left of my laptop).  It might be a little handheld Bible, but that is one big sharp Sword!  The kids like it when I make the “sword being unsheathed” sound effect when I pick it up.  I always tell them, “keep your Sword sharp kids.”

Trusting in Jesus is how I live my life.  It is a life lived by faith one step at a time and I praise God for all He has done for me and my family.  Through all the suffering, He has always proven Himself to be faithful and loving.  The Lord really comforted me out in the sun today.  There is nothing like a good 30 minutes of high altitude Rocky Mountain sun to do the body good!  Thank You Lord!

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“We live by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinthians 5:7

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:2-3

I am choosing to fix my eyes on Jesus.  He is the One that carries me through the pain and He will see me through to the very end!  May His will be done!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

Good morning everyone and God bless you all as we begin December 2019!  I have been up since 5 a.m. reading blogs and chatting with friends here on WordPress.  One of the blogs I read this morning is written by an atheist.  She talked about atheist “nontracts” that she said were similar to the Gospel tracts Christians use to evangelize at times.  She discussed the contents of the atheist informational tracts and one of them was called, “Dear Christian.”  It is a tract that is supposed to challenge the Christian’s beliefs and “open” the Christian’s mind to “free thinking.”  I found it very interesting, but there is just one thing, man’s philosophy cannot answer the truth of the spiritual realm that is found in God’s Word.  No amount of philosophy will ever change what I have lived through!

I have posted comments to the atheist’s blog in the past, but she never approves my comments or responds.  I am assuming that is because she has no answer and my testimony really freaks her out.  What do you do when you are an atheist who encounters a guy who used to be an atheist, but he isn’t anymore because of the intense spiritual events he lived through?  What do you do when that guy preaches the Gospel to you and tells you all about the spiritual events he lived through?  What happens is you are confronted with the truth and you have a choice to make.  You can dismiss what I tell you and think I’m crazy and ignore me, but the fact remains that these events happened to me and my family whether you believe it or not.  What is crazy is fighting God with your mind as you try to act more intelligent than God with your human philosophy.  Man’s philosophy leads to spiritual bondage, not freedom.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 5:1

Man’s philosophy is slave thinking, not free thinking.  Here is the comment I left under the atheist blogger’s post.  She did not post my comment on her blog and she did not respond.  This could be called, “Dear Atheist.”

Interesting.  I used to hate God and I hated Christians.  Let me ask you this, what happens when all your philosophy gets blown away when God opens your eyes to the spiritual realm?  When I was in 8th grade (back in 1991), we moved into a house that we soon found out was possessed by a demon.  We suffered poltergeist torment the entire 4 years I was in High School and it changed our lives forever.  Lights going on and off at random, our dog getting kicked out of thin air, my sister waking up one night to a dark figure standing in the corner of her room, it made a breathing noise in my left ear, took clothes out of my parent’s closet and laid them over my Dad while he slept, crayon marks all over the walls and high ceilings, it knocked framed art off the walls, it lit a candle in my sister’s room, and many other terrifying things it did to us…for the entire 4 years.

I ended up coming to Jesus my freshman year in college at the age of 18 (1996) and I went home that Christmas break and rebuked the demon out of our house in the Name of Jesus.  I have been following Jesus and preaching the Gospel ever since. Philosophy is an endless circle of dialogue that never gets anywhere and won’t save your soul.  We all need a Savior and His Name is Jesus.  I didn’t want to believe it either and I used to get real mad whenever Christians would preach to me.  Living in a haunted house and being terrorized night and day for 4 years changed all that.

My life continued to be supernatural after I accepted Christ and in the summer of 1998 I had two encounters with angels in Denver.  14 years later in 2012 I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  I ate a sandwich on oat bread on 4-28-2012 and went into anaphylaxis for the first time in my life.  The torturous pain lasted all day and that night I went into anaphylactic shock and stopped breathing.  I died for a short time, left my body, and I was with Jesus.  I did not see Him, but He walked over to me and said, “It’s okay.”  I was at perfect peace and there was absolutely no pain.  I came back in my body in the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit and my wife witnessed the entire miraculous event as she was praying over my body.

I am 41 now and I have been following Jesus and preaching the Gospel for 23 years now.  All I can tell you is Heaven and hell are real and people better make the right choice.  God and His angels are very real and so are Satan and his demons. Your philosophy does not hold up to the Truth of God’s Word and it never will.  Maybe someday He will have to show you the spiritual realm and prove it to you like He did for me.

I published my testimony on Amazon.  It’s called, “One Man’s Very Strange Supernatural Life.”  If you would like a free copy of my eBook, please contact me and I will send you one directly from Amazon.

God bless you,

Ryan Callahan

You could be an atheist philosopher and talk in circles until you are blue in the face, and nothing you say would ever change the Truth God has revealed to me!  I hated God, Christians, and the Bible, until God showed me it was all true.  I am a living testimony and witness that God exists, Jesus exists, the Holy Spirit exists, and so do angels, demons, Heaven, and hell, and no amount of atheist questioning is ever going to change that Truth!  I am free in Jesus and I give Him praise for saving my soul!

We are all sinful and we all need a Savior.  You can try and fight it and hate God, but you will lose in the end.  I often wonder if I would have accepted Jesus had I never lived in that house in High School.  I don’t know, but it definitely sent me running to Him much faster!

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:23-24

The philosophy of man is just an endless circle of questions that are never answered.  It goes on and on with no definitive answers because it is man’s attempt to understand himself without our Creator and it will fail every time.  It is man’s attempt to define right and wrong without addressing the problem of sin, and it will fail every time.  It is man’s attempt to find meaning in life without believing in and loving God, and it will fail miserably every time.  We were created to be known and loved by God, but sin corrupted our flesh.  We cannot understand ourselves, what is right or wrong, or find true meaning in life without God!  Without God we are lost, poor, weak, naked, and blind.  Every atheist will find that out when they take their last breath.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

Jesus speaking in Revelation 3:17

Jesus Christ is alive and I am a living testimony of that Great Truth!  He has rebuked a demon through me, He has shown me His mighty angels, He was right there with me when I died in 2012, and He put me back in my body and brought me back to life by the power of the Holy Spirit!  We receive His salvation by faith and I pray in His Holy Name that everyone would accept Jesus before it is too late!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

Jesus loves you!  Jesus died for you to forgive your sins and set you free from sin and death!  I am warning you that without faith in Jesus, you will die in your sins and pay for them yourself in eternity!  Receive Jesus by faith and you will be forgiven and receive eternal life!

Grace and peace to you all!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16-18

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus speaking in John 5:24

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jesus speaking in John 6:40

 

Many of you know that I took a long break in October that carried over into the first part of November.  Before I turned off comments for the break, I received a comment that left me shaking my head.  I did not approve the comment nor did I respond to the man who wrote it.  I will not name him.  He does not follow my blog and I have only seen him on my blog that one time.  I have been wanting to write this since the first week of October, so please bear with me.  It will be a bit long, but I will be posting long sections of Scripture to speak truth to his accusation (just in case he visits my blog again).  There is only one Gospel of Jesus Christ and I will preach it and defend it with all my heart!

The man left the comment after reading my post “One Year Blogging For Jesus!” that I wrote back on my anniversary of August 10th.  He started out nice, introduced himself as a brother in Christ, and congratulated me, then his comment got weird.  He told me that I sounded like the Apostle Paul in how I preached the Gospel and he told me I was “Paulinian.”  Yes, he said, “Paulinian.”  “Okay then,” I thought.  He then told me that the Apostle Paul was arrogant and he preached a different Gospel that was false.  Then he took it a step further and told me that I needed to repent for preaching the Gospel like Paul.  At the end of the comment I discovered the heart of the matter as he tried very poorly to explain to me that we are saved by works and we need to work our way to Heaven.  He is so wrong on everything he said I actually felt bad for him.  Now you know why I didn’t post the man’s comment.  I did not want to embarrass him.  He is not a Christian and he does not know what he is talking about.  He definitely doesn’t understand the Bible.

First of all, if you are a Christian, then you should know it is a great honor to be compared to the Apostle Paul!  I have never in my entire 23 year walk with Jesus ever heard a person that claims to be a Christian slander Paul like that.  It literally left me shaking my head.  I don’t know what faith that guy is, but he is not a Christian.  He is most likely involved with some cult that masquerades as Christian, but they are really wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The guy accused the Apostle Paul of being a false preacher, slandered Paul by calling him arrogant, slandered the Gospel Paul preached and slandered God’s Word by doing so, then proceeded to preach a false gospel to me while telling me to repent for preaching that Jesus is the only Way to Heaven.  Craziness!  I have dealt with false preachers who preach a false gospel of saved by works, but I’ve never heard anyone talk like that guy.  Paulinian?  Where did he get that phrase?  Weird.

Paul was the man who God used to write the majority of the New Testament and he was a great champion of the faith!  The man was slandering Paul and the words God wrote through him that became part of the Bible we read today!  Almost every New Testament letter was written by Paul!  He was not a false preacher and he was not arrogant either!  The Lord used him to spread the true and only Gospel, which is that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by works.  Paul was actually very humble calling himself “the worst of sinners.”

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”

1 Timothy 1:15-17

Those are not the words of an arrogant man. Those are the words of a man who has been humbled by the all consuming love of God!  Paul knew how much grace and mercy had been poured out on him and he knew that his only hope of salvation was through faith in Jesus Christ.  The only Gospel of the Bible and the only Gospel Paul preached was that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Here is how the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

Paul dealt with these same types of accusations against him in his time.  It’s crazy that there are false preachers in our time that are still accusing him!  There were all kinds of false preachers trying to taint the Gospel back then, and just like today, they always preached lies about working your way to Heaven.  Let us turn to Galatians to let Paul respond for himself.  What he wrote almost 2,000 years ago is still very much valid and relevant today!

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 1:6-12

That “revelation from Jesus Christ” happened on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9.  Paul was using his Hebrew name Saul at that time and he was a very zealous persecutor of Christians.  He was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians when he had an amazing miraculous encounter with Jesus that saved his soul and changed his life forever.  Paul was not a false preacher!  He was sent by Jesus Christ Himself!

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.  He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.  As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.  Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing.  So they led him by the hand into Damascus.  For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias.  The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.  And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.  Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord–Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here–has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again.  He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.  At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.  All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name?  And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?  Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.”

Acts 9:1-22

What an amazing and miraculous conversion the Apostle Paul had!  He was not arrogant, he was not a false preacher, and he did not preach a false Gospel!  He was a humble man of God who was commissioned by Jesus Christ Himself and he preached that a person can only be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.  That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and there is no other Gospel!

We are not saved by works or any other way.  Just as Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia and Rome:

Amen!  Jesus Christ is our redemption!  All of us have sinned and it is the Blood of Jesus Christ that forgives our sins and saves our souls, not works!  We receive the Holy Spirit by believing in Jesus, not by human effort!  Give Jesus the glory He deserves!  I most certainly will not repent for preaching the Gospel like Paul did!  That is not something we need to repent for!  That is something we need to aspire to!  I am humbled and honored that someone thinks I sound like the Apostle Paul, and I pray that God will give me the strength and endurance to faithfully honor Jesus Christ like he did!

Jesus Christ is Lord and He is the only way to Heaven.  No amount of good works will ever get you there.  We are saved through Jesus alone, Jesus said so Himself, and He is the One that sent the Apostle Paul to preach His Gospel to the world!  It is not a good idea to slander God’s Word, His Gospel, or the Apostle Paul and a real Holy Spirit filled Christian would never do that.  We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Just as Paul said in Galatians 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”  Jesus died for us to set us free from sin and death!  That is the Gospel, and I will preach it until my very last breath!  Jesus Christ is Lord!

Grace and peace to you all!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

 

Good morning everyone!  I hope you all had a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving!  We had a lot of fun here at the Callahan home!  It has been such a nice break this week and we still have today and this weekend.  I love having my wife and kids home and it’s just awesome being able to spend time together!  I have been up since 4:30 a.m. fighting physical issues and pain again.  I didn’t get angry this time, but instead kept repeating, “Praise God” and “Please help me Lord” as He led me through the pain.  I grabbed my Bible, opened it at random, and my eyes landed directly on Luke 17:19.  After reading that verse, I immediately thought of the Apostle Paul who had incredible faith in God, but his thorn was not removed.

“Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus speaking to the leper in Luke 17:19

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Why are some miraculously healed and other’s are not?  Was it that the leper’s faith was greater than the Apostle Paul’s faith?  Did Paul not have enough faith?  No, that is not the case.  It is all a matter of God’s will!

God is not a genie ready to grant your wishes.  We can pray in faith and tell the mountain to move…if it is in God’s will.  However, if it is God’s will that the thorn remains, then the thorn will remain.  God had a purpose and a will for the leper and He had a purpose and a will for Paul.  He has a purpose and a will for me and you too.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

Romans 8:26-27

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

1 John 5:14

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus praying in Matthew 26:39 the night before He was crucified

Even Jesus prayed in accordance with the Father’s will.  Obviously it is not God’s will to remove my thorn of suffering at this time.  Perhaps I will live with this for the rest of my life as Paul did.  What is my response to be in light of this truth?  Anger?  Throw a fit that I was not healed like the leper?  Yell at God asking Him why my faith hasn’t healed me?  Indeed, I unfortunately have reacted in that way far too often.  Pain can cause us a great deal of stress.  We don’t act the same when we are in pain.  We don’t think the same.  It can trigger the fight or flight response and drive us nuts.  Most of us don’t like pain, but sometimes it is God’s will for us to suffer, and our response should be one of faith.

Your faith has healed you.  How I long to hear Jesus say that to me, but His grace is sufficient!  Paul had great faith and he witnessed miraculous events just as I have, yet he was not healed when he cried out in faith.  What God did give him though was the strength to endure by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Paul never gave up!  He endured the pain of his ailment through persecution, torture, and imprisonment and he remained faithful to preaching the Gospel all the way to the very end when the Romans killed him.

Beware of false preachers who lie to you and tell you it is your fault you are sick or you don’t have enough faith and that is why you are sick.  News flash, Christians get sick and we get old and die just like everybody else!  We still live in this sinful fallen world that is full of disease and death.  The difference is we rely on God through our times of trouble and we are heirs to eternal life through our faith in Jesus.  The false healer preachers are a lot like the phony prosperity preachers (I call those guys money preachers), and they are the same ones who usually want to slap you in the forehead screaming “You’re healed!”  I suggest staying away from such charlatans.  A real man of God will pray in faith in submission to God’s will and faithfully accept whatever answer God gives him.  As Jesus said, “not as I will, but as you will.”  May God’s will be done!

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

John 8:3

Paul had plenty of faith and so do I.  We must submit to God’s will no matter what.  Whether the thorn is removed or not.  We must keep following the Lord and pray for strength to endure and be faithful!  Jesus is Lord and He is faithful whether His answer is yes or no.  May the work of God be displayed in our lives!

One thing I do know is that my faith in Jesus has healed my soul and that is the healing we all need by faith!  No matter what happens to my body, I will be with Jesus and He is enough for me!  His grace is sufficient!

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:18

Nothing is impossible for God and He can heal me at anytime.  That is the faith I have.  He can send angels, and I know this.  He can rebuke demons, and I know this.  He can raise people back to life after they stop breathing and die, and I know that too!  He is the God of wonders and miracles and He can do all things!  Nothing is too hard for the Lord!

Just remember to say, “Your will be done Lord.”  It’s about His will, not ours.  There is a purpose in the pain and God is using it.  May His will be done, whether I am healed or not.  My faith has already healed me and I am at peace in His glorious love and forgiveness!

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:1

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a blessed Thanksgiving eve!  I don’t usually do two posts in one day, but I need to respond to a post a Christian blogger named Introverted Evangelist did about me today.  It all centers around a conversation I had with a Christian blogger named Jon regarding Christian self defense and guns.  It also centers around a conversation I had with another Christian blogger named Agent X on Jon’s blog.  I will provide the link to Jon’s blog, so you can read the conversations for reference.  Introverted Evangelist did a post today responding to my comments that I posted to the brothers in that conversation.  This post is my response to Introverted Evangelist.

For background reference (the links will open in a separate page for your convenience):

Here is the link to the original conversation I had with Jon and Agent X on Jon’s blog Nonviolent Christians.  Jon believes that a Christian should never defend themselves or their loved ones and Christians should not be police or soldiers.  I disagree with him.  Just scroll through the comments after reading Jon’s About Page.  Jon and Agent X and I had a good conversation and we ended it in peace as brothers in Christ.

Nonviolent Christians About Page

Here is the post Introverted Evangelist did today in response to my comments on Jon’s blog:

Post by Introverted Evangelist

Here is the response I posted to Introverted Evangelist:

Wow.  That is not arguing theology.  That is pointing your finger at a brother and judging him just because you disagree with him.  Sounds more like you are trying to smear my name and call into question my faith in Jesus.  Similar to Agent X, you are painting me as a violent man and calling in to question my love and devotion to Jesus.  That is not yours to judge.

You might not agree with me, but who are you to say that a person who owns a gun can’t call themselves a Christian?  Are you serious?  That is absolutely ridiculous, not to mention over the top judgmental and condemning, and I disagree with you.  I have been following Jesus for 23 years and I am out here every day preaching the Gospel because the Lord called me to do so, but you are telling me that I am not a Christian.  I’ve just about heard it all now!  So are the brave Christian cops protecting our streets every night not Christians?  Are our brave Christian soldiers protecting our country not Christians?  You are way off and it is disturbing.

Do you understand that protecting your family is not violent?  Protecting your family is loving.  I am not violent if somebody attacks my family and I protect them.  The attacker is violent and I am being loving.  I never said I was an “agent of God’s wrath” either.  I was making a point that the police are agents of God’s wrath and they carry guns.  A criminal man will reap what he sows and God will punish him accordingly.  God will not be mocked.  He has police and soldiers for a reason.  We need brave warriors to fight evil and protect the innocent.  Should Israel not have an army for example?  Yes, they should and God goes before them and fights for them.  God goes before me and fights through me for my family.  He is my fortress and my rock, my loving God!

Let me ask you this.  Would it be loving to your family to just let someone attack them?  Is that loving your enemy?  No, it is not and it would be in direct violation to 1 Corinthians 13:7.  I can love my enemy by stopping the threat, and preaching to him while I hold him for police.  It is not loving to let him attack my family and hide behind some misunderstanding of a verse like a coward.  I am not a coward, I know God’s Word, and I will protect my family out of love.  Should we have let Hitler annihilate England instead of helping you?  Maybe you would have rather the American military just let Hitler kill everybody, based off your misunderstanding of love your enemy.  I bet if a man was attacking you and I ran up and stopped him, you would be very thankful for the love I showed you.

Yeah, I do quote 1 Corinthians 13:7 a lot because it is God’s Word and that is what it says!  You can be sarcastic about the verse I quote, but that is what it says.  You point the finger at me as if I am cherry picking verses, but how is it that you disregard 1 Corinthians 13:7?  Does it not say in regards to love that it always protects?  Yes, it does.

Who are you to judge how I protect my family?  You are not an American, so you have been raised to believe that people who have guns are bad.  You have been taught to submit to the state.  You also do not have the rights that we have, so you don’t understand the Second Amendment, what it means to us, and how passionately we will defend it.  The Second Amendment is not just about owning guns.  It is about having the right to defend ourselves in the event our government ever turns tyrannical on us.  People forget that.  We put that in our Constitution because of the tyranny of the English king that we defeated.  We made sure we had rights and could fight back.

Somebody from the UK is not going to understand Americans and I completely disagree with you about my rights as an American.  The Second Amendment is not a curse.  It is a blessing.  What is a curse is the Islamic invasion, secularism, and socialism in the UK.  That’s the curse.  You should stand up for yourselves before it is too late.  There are powerful forces who are pushing for a one world government in Europe and I’m not having any of it.  I am not throwing away my guns and I never will.  I am not a slave of some socialist right stripping nanny state.  I am a free American and I will stand up bravely in defense of my neighbors, my country, and my family because I love them and Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and love each other.  As I told Agent X, I love Jesus with all my heart and I submit to Him.

By the way, if you want to know true statistics, guns are used millions of times per year in America to stop violent threats without a single shot being fired.  Usually the presence of the gun stops the threat pretty quick.  Protecting your family is not violent, it is loving.  God calls a man to be strong and courageous and I am ready to put myself in harms way for my family because I love them.

You can judge me if you want to, but that is between you and God.  Jesus knows my heart and you don’t.  You might want to think twice before condemning a brother.

Grace and peace to you

-Ryan’s response to Introverted Evangelist 11-27-19

The Bible says love always protects.  That is a fact.  That photo at the top of the post is a piece of framed art in our kitchen showing 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  Those verses are known as the famous love verses in the Bible.  Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God first and secondly, love our neighbor.  Regarding love, the first part of 1 Corinthians 13:7 says “it always protects.”  We are to love each other and if we love each other and we love our neighbor, then we should protect each other and protect our neighbor!

Don’t come at me pointing your finger because you are scared of guns.  You are no more a Christian than me because you don’t have guns.  That is a sinful and arrogant assertion.  I am not a lesser Christian because I own guns.  I love my family and my neighbors and I am ready to protect them even to my death if necessary.  Don’t hide behind “love your enemy” and tell me that is saying “don’t protect your family.”  That is so cowardly it disgusts me!  Love always protects!

God tells us to love our neighbor.  If I see someone attacking my neighbor, I will help protect them because I love them.  It’s just that simple.  It would not be loving and it would actually be a sin to know the good I should do and not do it.  I have the ability, training, and courage to stop the attack on my neighbors and that is exactly what I would do.  I would stop the threat because I love them.  Any impact on the attacker is God’s discipline for his criminal behavior.  God’s discipline on the attacker is loving.  I can preach to him after I stop the attack.  Someone who won’t protect those he loves is a coward.  I can love my loved ones and my enemy at the same time.

“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

James 4:17

This is an international blog and I am an American and I am also a Christian.  I love my country and I love Jesus Christ and those two are not separate.  You may not like my rights and my way of life and you may disagree with me, but if you call yourself my brother or sister in Christ, don’t go all Pharisee on me.  I say grace and peace to you Introverted Evangelist.  If you can’t see how much I love Jesus and how much of a real Christian I truly am after all this time following my blog, you are not paying attention.

I have the gift of evangelism that God gave me when He saved me in October of 1996 when I was 18 years old.  I received that gift by the power of the Holy Spirit, which has lived inside of me for the last 23 years.  He has called me to this mission to preach the Gospel to the world and He will fulfill His purpose for me, whether you think I’m a Christian or not.  I will preach the truth and I stand on God’s Word.  I can defend my faith in Christ at anytime, whether I’m suffering Celiac or not.

I have posted my response to the issue of Christian self defense.  It is not my intention to argue nor convince you of my view regarding guns.  That is not what this blog is about.  You can protect your family or not, that is up to you.  I am going to protect my family out of love whether you agree with me or not.  What anybody thinks about how I love and protect my family isn’t going to change a thing.

The Bible says that love always protects and I assume many of us will agree to disagree on what that means.  It’s pretty straightforward for me.  I am not a violent man and I don’t appreciate having my name smeared on WordPress.  I am a strong Christian and I love Jesus with all of my heart.  I protect my family out of love as the Bible says to do.  If someone was attacking you, I would protect you too.  I would protect each and every one of you.  That is love.  Love always protects.

Grace and peace to you all!  Have a blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Update to post 11-28-19 9:46 a.m. MT

Introverted Evangelist posted a very kind reply to me on his post.  I recommend reading it.  We may disagree with each other on this issue, but we are at peace with each other in Christ.  Thank You Jesus for such honest and sweet fellowship!  Thank you Introverted Evangelist, God bless you!

I woke up in pain again this morning.  Yet another day starting out as a battle.  Yet another day crying out to God to heal me and take the pain.  If you are suffering a long term chronic illness (in my case a genetic autoimmune disorder called Celiac Disease), then you know how it feels physically and emotionally.  You know how it wears us down.  You know the frustration and anguish from praying for healing only to receive more pain.  We have suffered for so long we wonder when it will end.  We feel cast aside and forgotten and it can feel like God doesn’t care.

A million questions swirl in our minds as we wonder how much more pain we will live through and what will become of us.  Will I make it?  Is God angry at me?  Is He punishing me?  We can become angry and begin to wonder if He sees the pain.  We wonder if He sees us at all.  I know what these feelings and thoughts are like all too well and I want to encourage all of you who are suffering to never lose hope!  God most definitely cares!  He loves us and cares about us more than we could ever imagine!

I was up early this morning, so I came downstairs as the sun was coming up.  I pushed the blinds away from the french doors off the deck and the image above is what I saw.  It was like everything was frozen in time and it was beautiful.  I heard the Lord whisper, “I love you,” in my spirit as He comforted me through the pain and reminded me He was with me.  He has seen the battle and He knows I’m tired.  He feels my anger and disappointment.  He hears my questions and cries for help.  He knows us, He sees us, and He cares!

If you are suffering today, all is not lost!  I know we have had so much taken from us.  Time and experiences we will never get back.  So many years living in pain.  Dreams that were never fulfilled.  There is still hope and God has not abandoned us!  He most definitely sees us and all we are going through and He still has good plans for us!

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39

God comforted my heart this morning with a sunrise.  A heart that has been beaten and battered by disease and pain and has struggled through bouts of hopelessness and depression.  A heart clinging to God crying out for mercy.  It is not easy being human, is it?  I don’t have all the answers, but I know that Jesus Christ is alive and He lives in me by the power of the Holy Spirit and I am relying on His power to get me through this.

I might not understand God’s process or timing, but I know He cares because He always comforts me.  He never leaves me, even when I’m angry.  Even when I’ve had enough.  He is the God of all comfort!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

I am sharing His comfort with you now.  I am in pain as I write this, but He is holding me and nothing can snatch me out of His hands.  His comfort fills my heart and overflows to all of you!  If you are suffering today, take heart!  You are not forgotten!  You are not alone!  God loves you very much and He cares about you!  When you believe in Jesus you belong to Jesus and He will never leave us!  Keep going, rest in Him, and don’t give up!  Give Him the pain.  When it feels like God doesn’t care, remember the truth that He always cares for you!

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6-7

Grace and peace to you all…and Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello from snowy Colorado!  We got hammered with over a foot of snow last night and this morning.  It was a bit rough shoveling all of it off the driveway, but my wife helped me and it was nice having the two shovel tag team.  Our kids had a great time sledding down our homemade luge on the side of our house too, which they have loved doing ever since they were little.  We love playing in the fluffy powder the Rockies bring to Denver!  I told the kids I would do a post for them, so just sharing a few photos and a couple Bible verses today, enjoy!

Victory!!!  So much fun!  Great job on the snow track kids!  You have mastered the Callahan luge!  Watching my kids play in the snow reminds me of the Bible verse about going out and leaping like calves when we get to Heaven.  It is going to be so beautiful and joyful that we will leap for joy like children!

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

Malachi 4:2

Always remember that God is love and He showed His love for all of us by dying on a cross to set us free from sin and death.  Someday we will pass on from this life to eternity and those who believe in Jesus will live forever in the glory and peace of Heaven.  We will have new glorified bodies free from disease and injury and we will go out and leap!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

Grace and peace to you all!

I had an interesting conversation on Twitter today with a guy from Cape Town, South Africa.  He is an atheist and he took issue with an answer I posted to someone’s question regarding salvation.  My answer of course was that you can only go to Heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.  He didn’t like that.  It was a serious question and I posted a serious answer using God’s Word.  If you have been on Twitter, then you know it is full of scoffers and mockers.  It is heartbreaking when someone’s response to the truth is to scoff at it and mock the person speaking the truth.  I look past the insults and I truly feel sorry for them.   We must love even those who hate us as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I have been called many things for following Jesus.  Today, I was told that I was an idiot for believing in Jesus.  He wanted to know why I believed the Bible was true, so I sent him a link to the post I wrote titled “Remember that time when…” about my testimony regarding the demon, the angels, and the miracle God did to save my life when I stopped breathing.  He read it and told me I needed professional help.  That actually made me laugh.  If he only knew!

If he had only lived in that demon possessed house with me and my family for 4 years when I was in high school!  If he had only been there during the angel encounters in 1998!  If he had only been there when I stopped breathing and came back to life in the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit in 2012!  I preached the truth of God’s Word to him and shared my testimony, and his response was that I am an idiot and I’m crazy.  I am neither and I told him the truth.

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.  It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

1 Peter 3:15-18

I let him know I would pray for him.  He told me, “Ok, cool…enjoy everlasting life in that big theme park in the sky!”  I let him know I will enjoy Heaven and I hoped to see him there.  I gave him several Scripture pins and preached the Gospel to him using John 14:6, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9, John 5:24, John 6:40, and John 10:28.  With every insult he threw at me, he read more of God’s Word in my responses.  He has heard the Gospel now and he knows about my testimony.  That is what matters.

He knows why I believe and he knows I am living proof and a living testimony that Jesus Christ is Lord and everything the Bible says is true!  God cut through the darkness today and He is reaching out to another human soul that He loves!  My job is to get out of the way and let God do His thing through me!  It doesn’t matter how many times I am insulted, scoffed at, or mocked for believing in Jesus!  May His will be done!

I am praying that the Lord reveals Himself to this man.  I prayed this morning for the Lord to reveal to him that the spiritual realm is real and everything I told him is true.  I asked the Lord to open up his mind and heart and reveal the truth of His Word to him.  I have also asked God to prepare his heart to know these things and I asked Him to use this man to preach the Gospel.  I pray blessing over this man and I pray the Lord saves his soul!  Like I told him, I hope he doesn’t die without Jesus.  Heaven and hell are very real places and that is no joke.  I told him he will find that out when he takes his last breath someday.  I also told him none of us are getting to Heaven without Jesus.

“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:3-9

This man reminds me of a guy I shared the Gospel with in college.  He was a philosophy major and he called me a fool for believing in Jesus.  A year later, he came running up to me on campus and enthusiastically told me he had accepted Christ!  He thanked me for sharing Christ with him and told me, “I understand now man!”  It was beautiful!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, keep preaching the Gospel and keep loving people, especially when it is hard and you encounter resistance or persecution!  Keep going and don’t give up!  We will reap a harvest of righteousness and Jesus will be glorified!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

I want to thank my brother in Christ Stu from Something To Stu Over for nominating me for The Barnabas Award!  Stu is a deeply honest man and he speaks God’s truth in love as he ministers to people with a humble loving heart.  I have known him for over a year now and he has become one of my closest and respected friends and fellow soldiers in Christ.  I recommend checking out his blog!  I also want to thank my sister in Christ Jenny from Of Progress and Purpose for nominating me as well!  I have known Jenny for several months and have enjoyed reading her uplifting blog.  She is a loving mother and wife and she shines the heart of Jesus!  Thank you both!  I am humbled and honored and all the glory goes to Jesus!

Who Was Barnabas in the Bible?

Barnabas is an Aramaic name meaning “son of consolation.”  Barnabas was a first century disciple of Jesus Christ and a fellow missionary with the Apostle Paul.  He was a great encouragement to the brothers and sisters in Christ and he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  He was there in Antioch with Paul where the disciples were first called Christians.

Quick Bible Fact:

You will notice in the verses below that Paul is still called Saul.  Dual names were common in first century Jerusalem and Paul was still using his Hebrew name “Saul” at that time.  Paul was also a Roman citizen since he was born in Tarsus and he started using his Roman name Paul as he went further into the Gentile world preaching the Gospel.  We see him called Paul for the first time in Acts 13:9 when Paul and Barnabas preached on Cyprus.  He is called Paul in every chapter after that.  It is a common misunderstanding that Jesus changed Saul’s name on the road to Damascus.  He was still called Saul after his conversion in Acts 9 until he and Barnabas are sent off on their missionary journey in Acts 13.

“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought of the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.  The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”

Acts 11:19-26

I love Biblical history!  Now you know who Barnabas was and the important role he played in the encouragement of the church and the spread of the Gospel around the world.  Hence, the Barnabas Award!

The Barnabas Award Rules:

Thank the person (or people) who nominated you and share their blog(s).

List 5 things about yourself

Answer the 5 questions you were asked

Think of 5 bloggers who encourage and inspire you and nominate them

Ask your nominees 5 questions

5 Things About Me (5 little paragraphs anyway)

#1 and always #1, I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart!  He is my Lord and Savior and I submit to Him and His will for my life!  Jesus Christ is Lord and only He can save our souls!

I love Colorado and have lived here most of my life.  I grew up in Littleton, which is just a few miles from Denver driving south on Broadway.  I lived off Littleton Blvd. just west of Santa Fe.  I love the mountains and I’ve had many great days fishing, camping, and snowboarding in the high country.  Winter Park is my favorite ski resort, especially the Mary Jane side of the park.  With over 330 days of sunshine per year and amazing outdoor opportunities, Colorado is a beautiful and encouraging place to live and raise a family.

I have had a very strange supernatural life that has included living in a demon possessed haunted house, 2 angel encounters in Denver in 1998, and dying and coming back by a miracle of God on 4-28-2012.  I wrote a book about it all and published it on Amazon.  It is my personal testimony of how I came to Jesus and the supernatural life I have lived following Him.  It is called One Man’s Very Strange Supernatural Life.  If you live in the U.S. and you would like a free eBook, please let me know through my contact page and I will send you a free copy directly from Amazon.

I have been married for 18 years to the woman I fell in love with in college (University of Northern Colorado), and we have two beautiful awesome kids, our 9 year old son and our 12 year old daughter.

My main mission in my life and for this blog is to preach the Gospel to the world unashamed in fulfillment of the Great Commission, which the Lord commanded in Matthew 28:18-20.  Romans 1:16 forever!!!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Stu’s Questions:

Which song picks you up the minute you hear it?

Christian songs, especially TobyMac and Lecrae and the Reach Records crew.  I’ve been really enjoying Kanye’s new Gospel album too (p.s. Speaking of encouragement, any haters out there need to stop hatin’ on the brother and pray for him.  He is young in the faith, lift him up!).

In your short time on this Earth who has been your biggest inspiration?

Jesus!

Who is your biggest encourager blog wise?

There are so many brothers and sisters in Christ who encourage me on my blog every day.  I couldn’t pick just one.  Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers!  It has helped me more than you know!

How can you be a better Barnabas to those around you?

By always being prayerful and mindful of speaking life to everyone, especially my family.  God’s Word tells us that whatever is excellent and praiseworthy we should think about such things.  Sometimes I get really discouraged from fighting Celiac every day and I can fall into a negative funk.  Filling my mind and heart with God’s Word and staying in prayer empowers me in the Holy Spirit to be an encouragement and glorify Jesus!

How do you encourage that friend who is going through a hard time?

By just being there for them, listening more than talking, and comforting them with prayer, kindness, and understanding.  It’s all about sharing the same comfort I have received from Jesus.

Jenny’s Questions:

Who in your life is your biggest encourager?

That would be Jesus again!  He also encourages me through my wife and kids every day!

How do you see yourself as being an encouragement to others?

God gave me the INFJ personality type, which is very rare and even more rare for a man.  God gave me a deep empathy and intuition and He has always used those gifts to help lift people up.  I care about people and what they are going through to the point that I feel it inside my soul.  I will always offer an encouraging word and prayer and a hug too.  I will also stand up for people and protect them if necessary.

When was the last time someone gave you words of encouragement?

Today!  My son said, “I love you Daddy.”

When you are down, what encourages you to get back up and keep pressing on?

The loving fire of Jesus inside my heart to do everything I can to help people get saved!  God has done great and miraculous things in my life and I have a great responsibility to tell the world what He has done for me!  Thank You Jesus!!!

Who was your greatest encourager when you first accepted Christ?

My friend Roberto from college!  He was one of my best friends and roommates and several years older than me.  He was like a big brother to me and he still is!  We have been friends since 1997 and we are still friends to this day.  He just had a birthday and I sent him an ecard of a little dancing animal in a Scottish kilt singing Happy Birthday with a Scottish accent.  He loved it!  He was a great friend to have after first accepting Christ.  He read the Word with me, helped me with questions, and inspired me to preach the Gospel and be strong in the faith.  That is the kind of friend everyone needs!  Love you brother!

My 5 Nominees:

Heart Tokens by Renee

Steve’s Country by Steve (and Muffin too)

Blessings By Me by Michelle

J-M’s History Corner by JM

ExCatholic4Christ by Tom

I love the questions that Stu and Jenny asked, so I’m sticking with those!  Feel free to answer 5 of those or all 10 if you like.  Have fun with it!

Thank you again Stu and Jenny for the nomination!  I pray this blog is an encouragement and blessing to everyone who reads it!  Thank you all for your encouragement!  Don’t ever forget, Jesus loves you!

Grace and peace to you all!