An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens May 11, 2023
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Who is right leads to pride, what is right leads to humility.
The Antichrist and the End Times May 8, 2023
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What about the Antichrist?
Every mention of THE Antichrist clearly shows that he will be a leader in the midst of the church not a secular leader. Ask yourself these questions:
Who sits (assumes a position of authority) as God in the temple of God, proclaiming to be the leader of all Christians?
Who claims to be an earthly ‘substitute for Christ?’
Who proclaims he has the power to forgive sins?
Who proclaims that salvation is only available through their particular brand of Christianity saying they are the only true church and that all others are merely sects filled with heretics?
Who teaches a message of ‘salvation by works’, instead of through the blood of Jesus?
If you can identify anyone, or any ceremonial position which does these things you will have found THE Antichrist.
But remember it isn’t just about THE Antichrist. The Word tells us in 1 John 2:18 there are many antichrists and they are all over the place.
Another question the End Timers always ask is, “Do you think these are the last days?”
This might shock many, but I can say without a doubt that we’re already in the last times. They began when Christ began His ministry. This is stated clearly in the book of Hebrews when we’re told, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Emphasis added)
So don’t waste your time looking for a Third Temple when if you are a born-again child of God, you’re a living stone in that Temple. And don’t spin your wheels waiting for the last days when you’re living in them right now. Instead of wasting time and effort looking for that which is here and pining for a future time that is now let’s get about our business and do the good works which He has prepared for us to do.
It’s as easy as that. Don’t over think it. Don’t be pulled away from the good works God calls us to do by people who diagram what they can’t know and lead away from what’s already here.
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens May 7, 2023
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We don’t find humility by denying what we can do. We find it by admitting what we can’t do.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens May 6, 2023
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The only time we should ever look down on someone else is when we’re reaching out to help them up.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens May 3, 2023
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Making it through tough times is easier when we have a purpose, when we pursue a goal, when we love others and can see the good in them.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens available at Amazon/ https://www.amazon.com/New-Old-Sayings-Robert-Owens/dp/B09TWMS37T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3KE6XHNRUYLIJ&keywords=new+old+sayings+owens&qid=1654866223&sprefix=new+old+sayings+owens%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-2
Shadows Dancing On A Wall May 1, 2023
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The idea that everything came out of nothing is an assault upon reason. Since creation is often presented this way as a straw-man argument by the opponents of faith, many thinking people fall for this siren song of secularism.
But that isn’t what the Bible presents. In the beginning, in Genesis we’re told that God called all things in this physical reality into being out of nothing physical. This reality did not exist before God willed it to be here. God said, “Let there be,” and there is.
But this doesn’t mean that everything came out of nothing. In the letter to the Hebrews Paul put it this way, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” It was God’s word and His faith in His word that created everything. And it’s God’s faith that sustains all that we see.
Ponder for a moment the incredibly complex relationship between physical reality and our perception of it. The computer screen you’re reading this article on is made up of more empty space than matter. As is the table or desk it’s sitting on. As are you and me. From the dark matter and dark energy that scientists theorize makes up the vast majority of the Space-time continuum to the sub-atomic world which goes as far in as the stellar expanse goes out this physical reality is actually tiny bits of matter held together by invisible forces.
Accepting ourselves as the center of the universe because that’s the only point of observation each of us has we look at our macro view of the micro world and see solid things and we accept that this is the totality of reality. However, that’s only how we perceive things. That’s not what they really are. All matter is enveloped in emptiness powered by energy and the fabric of creation is sustained by faith.
Long before modern science revealed the mirage of solid matter or the inability of perception to account for an expanding universe without a preponderance of dark everything, one of the greatest of secular thinkers aptly described the shifting sands upon which our understanding rests.
In his book The Republic Plato used the allegory of the cave to explain the relationship between perception and reality. His story goes like this; prisoners are chained in a cave, only able to look forward at the shadows on the wall. The shadows they see are real to them, but in reality, the shadows are just the shadows of real objects in the room and shadows of the prisoners themselves being projected on the cave wall from a fire behind them. The sounds they hear and images they see are real to them, even though they are unaware of the true source. The allegory of the cave is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning human perception. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning.
Thus, even those who knew nothing of God could see that what we see is not all there is and that what we do see is more a representation of what it is than what it appears to be. However, the wisdom of the wise is foolishness to God and the wisdom of God is foolishness to the wise.
The problem with this thinking past the shadows is that we can’t reason our way to God. He’s outside the bounds of our reality, the source and summit of that reality and therefore, beyond anything we can think or imagine. If He didn’t reveal Himself, we could no more reason what He’s like than an ant could reason its way to man.
God used an allegory to teach the Israelites about the death-defeating life-giving nature of the Messiah’s mission.
Since the days when the Jews were slaves in Egypt the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb has been the symbol and the purchase of redemption. Originally Moses ordered the Jews to sacrifice the Passover Lamb and then apply the blood to the door posts of their homes. Seeing the blood of the sacrifice the Angel of Death passed over God’s chosen people. For more than a thousand years the Jews sacrificed the Passover Lamb every year to cover their sins never knowing this was a shadow of things to come.
Christ’s ministry was first announced to a fallen world when John the Baptist said, “Behold the lamb that takes away the sins of the world.” And from that moment on His life brought the true form of reality out of the shadow.
Following the command of Moses as interpreted by the elders every year each Jewish family chose a lamb and took it into their home to live with the family for five days. During this time, they examined the lamb for blemishes. Only after it was found to be perfect could it become the Passover Lamb. Then the lamb was sacrificed, and the blood poured out on the altar of God to cover the sins of the people.
Jesus, the Lamb of God entered Jerusalem on the same day that the lambs entered the homes of the Jews. For five days He was examined by the Chief Priests, the Scribes, and the Pharisees. After He was found to be without guilt, they were forced to bring in false witnesses. Than on the fifth day; the Day of Preparation just as the Jews were sacrificing the Passover Lamb the light of revelation pierced the darkness of a fallen world as thousand year old shadows took on flesh and blood for when Christ was nailed to the cross the shadow became real.
At the time of Christ’s death and resurrection even His Apostles didn’t understand what it was all about. They scattered and hid fearing they would be the next to go. It was only after they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that they boldly proclaimed the Gospel. It was only then that they finally grasped that Jesus came to fulfill the scriptures, to make the shadows real.
We may ask ourselves, “How did they miss it?” But just as the proof is in the pudding so faith is in the living. Do we live consistently in a way that reveals our grasp of God’s revelation? Or do we judge our acceptance with God by how well we’re doing? Do we live each day in the full knowledge that we’ve become eternally acceptable to God only by our faith in Christ? Our ability to walk boldly into our Daddy’s throne room must never be measured by how good we are. If it is we can never enter.
People say that hindsight is 20/20. Yet we all know those who fail to learn the lessons of History are doomed to repeat it, and all around us we watch as History repeats itself over and over. We who’ve confessed Jesus as Lord and who believe in our heart God raised Him from the dead have the benefit of revelation. We’re given insight into the shadows which still lie over this vale of tears like a fog. We can see the forms which to those without Christ are nothing more than shadows dancing on the wall of a cave.
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 29, 2023
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A God centered life doesn’t consist merely of acts of worship, it needs to be an act of worship.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens available at Amazon/ https://www.amazon.com/New-Old-Sayings-Robert-Owens/dp/B09TWMS37T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3KE6XHNRUYLIJ&keywords=new+old+sayings+owens&qid=1654866223&sprefix=new+old+sayings+owens%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-2
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 27, 2023
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Dreams don’t magically appear they’re born through the determined hard work of a dreamer.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 26, 2023
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It’s a sad thing when we work hard but just don’t have the talent to accomplish our goal. It’s a tragedy when we have the talent but won’t invest the hard work to reach our goals.
Lead Me Not Into Temptation April 25, 2023
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The title of this essay is a line from the model prayer 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.” 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.”
It’s us and only us who choose to sin, to turn our backs on good and embrace evil. “Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood and becomes a real killer.”
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. 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 daily, 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?
Christ has come to set us free and when He sets us free we’re free indeed. 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 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 then I’m strong because Christ’s strength is perfected in weakness.
We’ll never be tempted by more than we can endure and in every temptation there’s a way of escape. This is one of the many promises we can hold on to when we face our pet sins across the gulf of temptation. Think of how the Lord himself resisted temptation in the wilderness. 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. 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.
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. That isn’t pie in the sky. That isn’t a hollow promise for the great by-an-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.
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 