Dr. Robert Owens’ Newest Book July 18, 2024
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Floating Through Time: What is poetry? Is it just alliteration, imagery, rhyme, rhythm, sound, stanzas, tone, and meter? Or is it something other. Something shimmering between reality and realization? Is it the charismatic sister of prose encapsulating enchantment bringing substance to what is known intuitively?
Dr. Owens started writing poetry before he ever heard of poetry. There are poems in this book he wrote while in grade school and there are poems in this book, he wrote in 2024. Therefore, it took more than sixty-five years for this book to mature from pen to print from swirling thoughts to a book in your hand.
Loose Him and Let Him Go July 17, 2024
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There’s a story in the Bible about Jesus raising a man from the dead. The man’s name was Lazarus and he was one of Jesus’ good friends. When the moment came for the great miracle Jesus stood before the open tomb and, “cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”[1]
We who believe the Bible is God’s Word accept this as a true story of actual events. It can also be seen as an illustration of what happens when we step out of the smothering embrace of the religious systems humans create to reach God and thus accept what God has done to reach us. When we reject the bewildering straitjacket of rules and regulations humans inevitably devise, and accept that Jesus paid the price, finished the work and welcomes us home He stands at the tomb of our self-help religion and says, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Once we’ve confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believed in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead we’re made right with God.[2] And though Jesus has ascended to heaven He didn’t leave us alone. Just before He left, He said, “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth.
The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you and will even be in you!” Embracing that and allowing the Spirit of Truth to guide us is the ideal for those who follow Christ.
Christ’s final command was to take this light to the world. Instead, we built thousands of competing lamps betraying the unity of the Gospel and confusing unbelievers with our multiplicity of slightly different presentations. But then again, it’s easier to make rules than it is to be sensitive to the Spirit of God. Laws and regulations can appear to bring order out of chaos, relieving the pressure of walking by faith in a faithless world. But these endless rules cannot change us from the inside out. To paraphrase Ben Franklin: if we seek order and security from religion, we’ll never find either one of them.
When following rules define the state of our spiritual life we walk in constant fear of crossing the lines, of veering off even if it’s by mistake into the deception of sin. This fear of deception won’t keep us from deception. It’ll lead us into it. We’re called to walk in faith not in fear. So if we’re walking in fear we’ve already fallen for deception. The Bible tells us that the only way we can avoid falling for deception is to embrace the Spirit of Truth.[3]
Think about it. When we open the blinds at night does darkness come rushing in? No. When we throw open the blinds light rushes out into the darkness. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can’t overcome it.[4] If we’ll immerse ourselves in what God is calling us to, the unearned grace that flows from the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, we’ll find the order and security we long for.
Following God which is walking forward in the light can at first feel like walking backwards in the dark because we’re surrounded by and have been raised in a world that’s in revolt against its creator. We must dedicate ourselves to following the voice of the Spirit of Truth who lives within us. It’s vitally important that we learn to recognize His voice so we can recognize it out of all the voices in the world. When the whole of creation is shaking, He’s the rock-solid foundation giving us the security of our salvation.
Does this mean we should abandon all restraint and follow the voice in our head? First, we must know whose voice we’re following, then we must acknowledge that God wrote us a book to explain it all from beginning to end. His voice will never contradict His Word and His Word shows us exactly how to live moment-by-moment.
Paul put it this way, “It’s true that moral guidance and counsel need to be given, but the way you say it and to whom you say it are as important as what you say. It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the law code isn’t primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever! They are contemptuous of this great Message I’ve been put in charge of by this great God.”[5]
Because we live in a fallen and evil world, some laws and regulations must be imposed to maintain people’s safety to provide external order. However, rules and regulations must never be imposed to bring about spiritual purposes because only the Spirit can birth spirit.[6]
The Bible is the operator’s manual for life on earth. In it God has shared with us the greatest wisdom and the deepest insights. In it we receive not only the instructions on how to live in this world but also how to be born-again as a glorious Spirit-birthed child of God. It’s not possible to put a price on God’s gift of His revelation. But even the Bible can be used to weave a web of soul-strangling regulations keeping us imprisoned in the law.
We must always remember the Bible was given to us to lead us to Christ not to take His place. The tyranny of the law seeks to confine us in a prison of our own making. But Christ stands at the door to our cell and says, “Loose him, and let him go.”
One last thing: Having a Bible we can understand really helps us to understand the Bible. In the New Testament where Christ quotes the Old Testament He quotes from the Septuagint,[7] a translation in the common language of the day and not from the traditional Hebrew texts. The New Testament itself was written in the Koine[8] dialect of Greek. This was the supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written by the people. I’m not trying to share a lecture on biblical languages. What I’m getting at is that Jesus and the Apostles used the language of the day so that everyone could understand what they were saying. They didn’t use the fifty cent words and nuanced meanings of the intellectuals or the technical jargon of theologians. They didn’t use a language that was no longer spoken or a dialect that was from another era.
Today there are many translations that render the Bible in the language we use every day at work, at the market, and at home without all the thees and thous which no longer form a part of our daily speech. I’m not saying don’t use a Bible with those words if that’s what suits you I’m just saying use a Bible you can easily understand. Personally, my favorite is the Message but there are plenty of others. Find the one you’re comfortable with and let it speak the Words of God into your spirit and breathe the Spirit of God into your life.
[1] John 11
[2] Romans 10:9
[3] II Thessalonians 2:9-12
[4] John 1:5
[5] I Timothy 1:8-11
[6] John 3:6
[7] Septuagint: abbreviation LXX, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. The Septuagint was presumably made for the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), was translated near the middle of the 3rd century BC and that the rest of the Old Testament was translated in the 2nd century BC.
[8] The fairly uniform Hellenistic Greek spoken and written from the 4th century BC until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian.
Season Three Episode Twenty-one July 16, 2024
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In Episode Twenty-one / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share one some more old-time gospel songs: This Little Light of Mine, I Saw the Light, and Victory is Mine. We also play one of our homegrown songs: A Nashville Gospel. In our Bible study this week we look how we can walk out of the grave of spiritual death and enter into life in Christ through a study of John 11 and Romans 10:9. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 14 from the book, Hope: “Loose Him and Let Him Go.”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.com All of Robert’s thirty-six books are available in paper back and kindle through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 15, 2024
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Nothing takes precedence over God. If He isn’t first nothing else will last.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 14, 2024
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Grabbing all we can get is the fastest way to lose everything we have.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 13, 2024
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If something isn’t united it will be divided.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 12, 2024
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We shouldn’t allow what we know about God and what we do for God to become two separate things.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens July 11, 2024
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God’s children can’t stand evil. The Devil’s children can’t stand goodness. We should examine our hearts; in which direction do we find ourselves gazing? We can judge for ourselves to which family we belong.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
Lead Me Not into Temptation July 10, 2024
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This line from the model prayer[1] Jesus taught us something the Apostle James also points out, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”[2]
Or, as it says in the Message, “Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, ‘God is trying to trip me up.’ God is impervious to evil and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.”[3]
It’s us and only us who choose to sin, to turn our backs on the good and embrace evil. “Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.”[4]
Just like everyone else who’s wandered this earth since the fall of man I struggle with temptation. It matters little that I know these struggles come from my own lust. I still have a battle on my hands. And just like everyone else I can stand strong against most temptations, but I do have those sins which so easily ensnare me in their web of momentary pleasure and future guilt.[5] These are the things I struggle with. Anyone who’s honest with themselves will admit they have the same situation.
Recently after a service I had a man asked for counsel about this very thing. All I could do is all I can ever do; share my witness.
When I’m faced with the temptation to fall into my pet sins, which I face on a daily basis, I admit I’m not strong enough to resist the temptation. These sins have years, decades even of practice in enticing me to wander from God’s path of obedience. My own lusts have their spiritual hands on all the right levers to pull me away. How can I resist? Who’ll save me from myself?[6]
Christ has come to set us free and when He sets us free we’re free indeed.[7] I know that’s what the word says. But how do I get in on all this freedom when I’ve spent so much of my life as a willing slave to these sins?
The first step is to admit my inability to resist the sin. And to realize that these thorns in my flesh[8] are there to protect me from pride and to shape me into what the Lord intends me to be. It’s the act of surrender, of admitting my inability to resist that makes a way. You see when I get to the end of my rope if I give up my struggle and ask Jesus to use His strength to resist the temptation for me, I can walk unscathed through the fires of my lust. When I’m weak[9] then I’m strong because Christ’s strength is perfected in weakness.[10]
We’ll never be tempted by more than we can endure and in every temptation there’s a way of escape.[11] This is one of the many promises we can hang on to when we face our pet sins across the gulf of temptation. Think of how the Lord himself resisted temptation in the wilderness.[12] He used the Word of God to rebuke Satan.
In the same way we need to have the Word of God in us if we want to have the strength to admit our weakness so we can find His strength.
Walking with God can sound and feel like walking backwards to anyone steeped in the wisdom of the world. For the wisdom of God is foolishness to the wise of this world.[13] Just as the weakness of a sinner becomes the strength of the saint as hand in hand with the Man who stilled the sea, we give it all to Jesus so He can give it back to us.
Those who seek to keep their lives lose them and those who give their lives away keep them for all eternity.[14]
So how do we resist temptation? We trust Jesus to do it for us since every sin was paid for at the cross. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. And you will be saved.[15] That isn’t pie in the sky. That isn’t a hollow promise for the great by-and-by. That is a constant reality for the here and now.
When those pesky old sins reach up and try to drag us down remember we aren’t out here all alone. Once we’ve given ourselves to God in and through Jesus it’s no longer just us facing these struggles it’s Christ within us the hope of Glory.[16]
[1] Matthew 6:5-15
[2] James 1:13-15
[3] James 1:13-15
[4] James 1:13-15
[5] Hebrews 12:1-2
[6] Romans 7:20-26
[7] John 8:36
[8] II Corinthians 12:7-10
[9] Ibid.
[10] II Corinthians 12:9
[11] I Corinthians 10:13
[12] Matthew 4:1-11
[13] I Corinthians 1:20-25
[14] Luke 17:33
[15] Romans 10:9
[16] Colossians 1:27
Season Three Episode Twenty July 9, 2024
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In Episode Twenty / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share one some old-time gospel songs: I’ll Fly Away, Glory Glory Hallelujah, and I Went to the Enemy’s Camp. We also play one of our homegrown songs: I Got the Bok and the Blood and the Blessed Hope. In our Bible study this week we look at our journey through temptation to victory in Jesus through a study of Matthew 6:7-13. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 13 from the book, Hope: “Lead Me Not Into Temptation.”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.com A ll of Robert’s more than thirty books are available through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 