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God Keeps His Promises August 31, 2021

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.
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Imagine if the Jewish people had accepted and proclaimed Jesus as their Messiah.  In this scenario the High Priest, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes would recognize the hand of God upon Jesus and the Holy Spirit within Him.  They would have no doubt taken Him into the Temple and worshipped Him for what He is: God and man united in a virgin’s womb.   

There would have been no crucifixion and therefore no resurrection.  In the what-if of this imaginary tale, though the people of God read the signs of the times, though they perceived and accepted the coming of God, they would have remained an earthly people.  

For without the crucifixion there would be no substitutionary death cleansing humanity of sin.  Without the resurrection there would be no risen body of Christ, and consequently we would have no chance to be raised with Him.  And without the ascension of Christ into Heaven the Helper never would have come and no one would be baptized in and subsequently filled with the Holy Spirit. 

The promises given by God to the people of Israel through Abraham all related to earthly things.  Things which the Bible says, “perish with the using.”  I don’t in any way mean to say the faith of either historical or present-day Jews does not deal with deeper things than that which we can see, taste, touch, or feel.  Or, that the plan of God for the Jews did not include things that may be forever hidden from us.   

However, from the Biblical record which is the only record we will ever have that is directly from God, the Jewish people were an earthly people whom God called out from among the Chaldeans and promised them the land “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”    

And even though it may be beyond our understanding, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  How these things work out in the here and now may not be recognized, they may be misinterpreted, they may not even be noticed by the generation who witnesses them, but we can be assured when all is said and done it will all be done just like He said. 

In the meantime, here in the flowing stream of reality we call the present and in its historical wake the whole pageant of Israel’s existence: their repeated rejection of God, their worshipping of idols, their almost deification of tradition ceremonies and laws, and finally their rejection and crucifixion of Christ, has come about so that all the people of the world could be adopted into the family of God. 

The Jews were dispossessed of the land God promised them.  They were scattered over all the earth.  They have been persecuted, rejected, and the other people of the world have attempted to obliterate them.  But God has preserved them while those who sought their destruction have themselves faced annihilation time after time.  Their very existence has proven the reliability of God’s word. 

There is an old story which goes like this: Queen Victoria, who was an agnostic, asked her Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli who was a Jew who had converted to Christianity, “If you can prove to me the existence of God I will believe.”  Disraeli answered, “Madam, I can prove the existence of God with just two words.”  The Queen taken aback by this calm assurance asked, “And what are those two words?”  “The Jews,” her Prime Minister answered. 

Whether or not the return of the Jews to their promised land after World War Two and the subsequent founding of the modern state of Israel is the long-anticipated ingathering foretold in scripture, which may be beyond our powers of perception, one thing is clear.  The reestablishment of a Jewish state in the promised land is unequivocally a banner to all nations that God does not repent of His promises. 

Here’s a New Testament promise we can all hold on to, “… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2021 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook, Twitter, Gab, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, or visit Dr. Owens’ Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens 

Dr. Owens’ Next Book Signing Event August 24, 2021

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.
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When:

Saturday     August 28  9 AM –  5 PM

Sunday        August 29 10 AM – 4 PM

Where:

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Sports & Events Center

100 Ben Chapman Dr

Hoover, AL 35244

Dr. Owens has three new titles published in 2020 and four new ones so far this year.

Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new.  All Twenty-three of Dr. Owens’ titles will be available.  His books include: Five novels in the America’s Trojan War series, America’s Odyssey: You Can’t Go Home Again, America’s Odyssey II: You must Go Home Again, America’s Steel Brigade, and America’s Armageddon. Six books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, Make America Great Again – AGAIN a book that chronicles Thirty-three of the positive accomplishments of President Trump’s first term that the media buried and the Biden Administration is erasing from History books, and America I’m Glad I knew Ya.  Five, History Books: America Vol. One: Colonial History, The Azusa Street Revival, The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same (describes how the elites in America use presidential assassinations to create and sustain a secular political religion), America Won the Vietnam War! and, Skid Marks in the Sky: The Legendary Life and Hippie Adventures of Bobby Backstreet. A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years.  Three books designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith, Hope, and Love.  The first in a series of six book in a commentary on the book of Ephesians.  A book of poetry Every Farmers Got a Gas Pump.  And The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom.

All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/author/drrobertowens

August 10, 2021

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We Can’t Do It On Our Own 

There is something about us that makes us want to make everything about us.  If there is any way to make it appear to anyone, everyone, or even just ourselves we will move any mountain, swim any sea, or rationalize any action to see ourselves as the center of the universe.  And salvation falls into this same pattern. 

For this reason, every religion man has ever devised has been built upon works.  We must earn our way to heaven.  That way we can take the credit. 

I taught Comparative Religion for several colleges.  During the semester as we covered the major and many minor religions of the world I would right on the board a section on each one.  In these sections I wrote what it takes to receive salvation or make it to heaven in these different religions.  At the end I asked the students to review all the sections and see if they could spot one striking similarity and one striking difference. 

Inevitably at least one, often several, would discern that every religion except one required people to earn their salvation.  And only one, Christianity, said salvation comes through faith alone. 

Several times after this exercise students sought me out after class and accepted the Lord as their personal Savior.  One time a woman brought in her whole family, and they all confessed Christ as Lord and professed their belief that God had raised Him from the dead. 

We know there is a profound and life altering difference between a mental assent that Christ is Lord and a knowledge that God raised Him from the dead and a living faith in these two realities.  The very faith we use to accept and profess is a gift from God.  However, God gave us our intellect.  He doesn’t mean for us to check our mind at the door when we enter His presence. 

Learning the truth is a fundamental step towards accepting the truth. 

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.  Humanity does not need another teacher, a leader, or a new way of looking at life.  The problem is that since the fall of Adam man has been spiritually dead.  We are separated by an uncrossable gulf from God and each other.  What we need is spiritual re-birth and reunification of fractured humanity.  

Once we are re-created in Christ our feet are on the highway of holiness leading to life in, through, and with our Savior, but we aren’t merely passive passengers along for the ride.  Because once we’re saved, we have work to do. 

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2021 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, or visit Dr. Owens’ Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens 

Dr. Owens’ Next Book Signing Event August 6, 2021

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.
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When:

Friday         August  6   4 PM – 9 PM

Saturday     August 7   9 AM – 5 PM

Sunday        August 8   9 AM – 3 PM

Where:

Warren County Fairgrounds

1400 W 2nd Ave

Indianola, IA 50125

Dr. Owens has three new titles published in 2020 and four new ones so far this year.

Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new.  All Twenty of Dr. Owens’ titles will be available.  His books include: Five novels in the America’s Trojan War series, America’s Odyssey: You Can’t Go Home Again, America’s Odyssey II: You must Go Home Again, America’s Steel Brigade, and America’s Armageddon. Six books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, Make America Great Again – AGAIN a book that chronicles Thirty-three of the positive accomplishments of President Trump’s first term that the media buried and the Biden Administration is erasing from History books, and America I’m Glad I knew Ya.  Five, History Books: America Vol. One: Colonial History, The Azusa Street Revival, The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same (describes how the elites in America use presidential assassinations to create and sustain a secular political religion), America Won the Vietnam War! and, Skid Marks in the Sky: The Legendary Life and Hippie Adventures of Bobby Backstreet. A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years.  Three books designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith, Hope, and Love.  The first in a series of six book in a commentary on the book of Ephesians.  A book of poetry Every Farmers Got a Gas Pump.  And The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom.

All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/author/drrobertowens

Don’t Just Live Be Alive August 3, 2021

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All of humanity have physical life while we spend our moment upon the stage of the world.  Most have a soulish, or mental life whether we exercise it or not.  But only those who have been born-again and united with Christ have spiritual life. 

Try to imagine a human being who has no wisdom or understanding, no mental activity beyond what it takes to move, eat, and exist.  This person might be in great shape, but their true humanity would be gone, and they would exist more as an animal than as a human. 

This is how it is when we have not been born from above or re-born of the spirit. We may be in great shape, we may even be famous, or rich, handsome, beautiful, and acclaimed by all but we wouldn’t be a child of God.  We would be dead in our spirit and separated from all that truly makes life worth living: union with our Creator. 

Like casting pearls before swine trying to explain spiritual things to anyone who hasn’t been joined to the Body of Christ and received the Holy Spirit is like trying to hold the opposite ends of a magnet together, they repulse each other by their very nature. 

Think for a moment of any funeral you’ve ever attended.  There was grief present.  There may have been tears.  There might even have been stunned silence as the mourners contemplated the suddenness of death and the transitory nature of lie.  One thing that is never there though is the one in the coffin taking any notice of any of this.   

And that’s just how it is with the spiritually dead.  The life of God’s Spirit is going on all around them.  His Spirit is upholding and maintaining the integrity of all creation.  His Spirit is alive and working in all the born-again Christians walking around them all day every day.   

There is no more recognition of the passage, the work, or the presence of God’s Holy Spirit among the lost than there is recognition of all the life going on around a corpse in a casket.  The spiritually dead read the Bible as it was just another book.  They think of God as if He were a moral principle, the force, or a myth.  They think of being born-again as something other people do, something that makes no sense, or else they don’t think about it all.   

A person who is blind isn’t startled when you turn on a light.  A person who is deaf doesn’t jump when you yell at them.  It’s the same with those who are spiritually dead and living comfortably in sin, they couldn’t care less that God is holy and that He will not abide sin.  They are neither frightened of the consequences of their sin nor are they enthralled with the rewards of salvation.  They are blind.  They are deaf.  They are dead.  When we speak of the deep things of God to these walking dead, we might as well be speaking to a brick wall.  We are casting our pearls before swine.  There is only one message we should seek to share with the lost: repent of your sins, accept Jesus as your Savior, and find life. 

The whole meaning of the Gospel, the good news delivered to humanity through Jesus Christ, is seen in His resurrection.   

Sin, death, and the devil are defeated when Jesus triumphed over them in the pit of hell disarming principalities and powers making a public spectacle of them as He led captivity captive.  We must never forget that He was perfectly sinless and that He was delivered to the executioner for our transgressions and then He was raised for our justification. 

Jesus didn’t come to die and then rise again to raise our awareness or further our education.  He didn’t live a sinless life and then suffer for the sinful merely to provide us with a moral guide.  God didn’t sacrifice His only Son to establish a cultural tradition.  No, the passion of the Christ happened so that humanity may learn the truth about God’s love for us and His provision of a way to return to Him and become His children.  This is the truth, and the truth has been revealed so that we may be free. 

When someone has been missing for a certain length of time the authorities begin looking for them.  If when they find them, they’re dead, after notifying their nearest family what else is there left to do except burry them.  Because once we’re dead, we begin to decay rather quickly. 

Preaching the Word without the anointing of the Holy Spirit is no more than searching for dead bodies.  For without the Spirit there is no life.  An old story says that once a man had a heart attack and died in a spiritually vacant church and it took the EMTs half an hour to figure out which one was the physically dead among all the spiritually dead. 

Having scoured the highways and the byways for those willing to give up an hour on Sunday morning and pay their tithes these blind leaders of the blind can do no more with the breathing corpses than burry them in an upholstered pew.  They preach a socially relevant something being careful to end the service in time to make it to the local buffet before all the other stained-glass graveyards get out.   

It’s amazing but true, many who have never experienced the new birth will dispute with those of us who have what it is, how it operates, and what it does within us.  Leave the laws, traditions, and ceremonies of the world behind and find the freedom that God wants you to have in Christ Jesus and don’t just live, be alive. 

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2021 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, or visit Dr. Owens’ Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens 

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