A New You for a New Year January 8, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: born again, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Jesus saves, love, Salvation, the Gospel
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Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you facing a new year and thinking, “Why?” Have you ever looked at your life and thought, “I wish I could start this all over again”? When we come to the end of ourselves, we have the chance to find the beginning of everything else.
Every person is the center of their own universe simply because that’s the only vantage point available to anyone who has ever lived. Usually by the time we’re old enough to know anything we’ve figured out that just because we’re the center of observable reality that reality doesn’t revolve around us. And it doesn’t take long to realize that the cold machinery of the space-time continuum takes as little heed to us as we do to the microbes in the ground we walk over every day.
The cold impersonal avalanche of happenstance leads any thinking person to the question, “What’s it all about?” The inscrutability of the carnival mirror maze we perceive as reality leads many to conclude there is no meaning, there is no point, and there is no reason. All there is is what it is and that’s all that there is. A sort of Popeye philosophy that leaves us constantly wandering about looking for the magic can of spinach that’ll make us strong enough to break through the mirrors to scan an open horizon with a clear vista. On our own it always seems to be just around the next corner.
This is where revelation comes in. A mouse in a maze never sees the whole picture. It only sees the corridor it happens to be in at the time. And though it searches and searches it always seems like someone has moved the cheese. Only through revelation can we see enough of the puzzle to learn which piece needs to go next to which piece to make the picture whole.
Lucky for us there is a God who created all this and He wants to allow us to see behind the curtain of the physical giving us a glimpse of the spiritual, which is the essence of it all.
I’m a Christian. By that I mean I have confessed Jesus Christ as my personal Lord, and I believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead. Because of that I believe I am saved, I am born-again, and I have a free pass out of hell and into heaven. And on a daily basis I do my best to follow Christ: loving and forgiving myself and the world around me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
This wasn’t always the case. Until I was thirty years old I was an unapologetic reprobate, and an atheist who cursed a God I proudly declared I didn’t believe in. Then I had a personal encounter with Christ which led me to study the Bible, which led to my confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and my unswerving belief that God has raised Him from the dead. Through this I was born again receiving a brand-new life here and now and that afore mentioned free pass out of hell and into heaven.
I immediately transitioned from hopelessness to hopefulness, from despair to joy, from dread to expectancy. This is such a good deal I can’t bear to keep it to myself.
My words and my testimony will not get you anything. They can’t give you a new you. Only God’s Spirit can do that. We can’t think our way to God. It’s only through His revelation that we can get beyond the example of a blind man trying to picture an elephant by touching its trunk or tail. The only way I have found to find God is through His word. Think about it. If God only wrote one book out of all the billions of books in the world doesn’t it seem logical that it would be the most important thing we could possibly read? If we deny that His word is His word we close the door and throw away the key.
You might say, “Why do I need to be born again?
Here are some reasons and their biblical support:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything: life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.
In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire, and if anyone’s name is not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Jesus Christ is always there for us. He’ll answer us anytime we call him. He stands at the door of our heart and knocks. Open the door today and He’ll come in.
As a new year begins, we can all begin a new life. The mistakes of our past don’t have to be the blueprint of our future.
One of the most important truths in Christianity is that God loves us so much that He sought us out before we even start trying to find him. Referring to Himself in a title reserved for the Messiah Jesus said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” He also said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”
Since He chose us, all we must do is choose Him and that new life starts right now. That is the Way. I have shared what the Bible says we must do to be saved; confess and believe. But it isn’t about a formula. Being a follower of Christ is much more than that. It’s following Christ. He said “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” because as He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Christ doesn’t show us the way. He is the Way to a new you for a new year … or any year … any time.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
2020 Hindsight Will Judge These Predictions January 6, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: 2020 predictions, Dr. Robert Owens, economy, Impeachment, Trump re-election
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My favorite America Philosopher, Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
With that truism in mind let me begin doing the heavy lifting and tough stuff of being the Historian of the Future:
As I predicted before his inauguration our President has been impeached by a Democrat dominated House and no matter what the official charges may say the charge is that they don’t like him, and Hillary was supposed to win. In the coming year President Trump will be acquitted by the Senate and go on to win a landslide victory in November. His coattails will sweep in a Republican Congress. This Republican majority won’t be diverted or perverted by the likes of Paul Ryan and they’ll work diligently with President Trump to deliver the wall and other promises designed to keep America great.
Though the Democrats, the Deep State, and their Media publicists continue to try and manufacture a recession just before the election the economy will finish the year strong with the Trump Bump carrying us into a new decade.
President Trump will complete his first term as the first president since Carter to finish his first term with out taking us into a new war.
In the 2020 election President Trump will receive the highest percentage of Black and Hispanic votes of any Republican since FDR.
Unless there is a forum devised to take the process out of the hands of the highly partisan supposedly nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates President Trump will skip these opportunities for the democrats who pretend to be journalists to tip the scales in their candidate’s favor with unfair questions, characterizations, and inuendo.
The stock market will follow the impeachment show. If it looks like the President will be removed it will fall if it looks like he will be exonerated it will rise.
Same thing with the election. Trump winning = stock market goes up. Trump losing = stock market goes down.
If the neo-cons and democrats manage to manufacture a war Trump can’t avoid or if they succeed in sinking the economy, all bets are off and Venezuela here we come.
China will continue to swallow Africa, stamp out freedom in Hong Kong, intimidate Taiwan, sign a major treaty with the Philippians, accelerate their defense build-up, launch more probes to the moon, and violate every trade deal they sign with the USA.
Putin will orchestrate the reunification of Russia and Belarus opening the door for him to remain in the presidency beyond the end of his second second term.
Brexit is a done deal. After which Britain will sign a new trade treaty with the USA as it rebuilds its links with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Italy will swing back to the right.
Hungary and Poland will continue to turn away from the centralizing bureaucrats in Brussels.
The climate cult will continue to chatter away while the world spins on as usual.
Sweden’s society will buckle under the weight of EU mandated refugee resettlement.
Great Britain will face increasing calls for both Scottish independence and the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.
Catalonia will continue its efforts to break free of Spain.
Libya will degenerate into a full-blown civil war with outside powers fighting a proxy war for control of its oil.
Japan will begin a major re-armament campaign.
The declining purchase of Fed T-Bills by foreigners means that the Fed’s monetization of our ever-increasing debt will accelerate in 2020.
Marijuana will become legal in several more states.
The United Methodist Church will split over gay marriage and the ordination of homosexuals.
The Roman Catholic Church will be wracked by scandals at the highest levels of the Vatican.
Today is tomorrow’s yesterday and it’s all now to God. So no matter what happens in the coming year if we hold on to Him we’ll eventually trade this transitory here for an eternity there.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
The Reason for the Reason December 16, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Christmas, Dr. Robert Owens, Frosty the Snowman, Its’s a Wonderful Life, Jesus is the reason for the season, the Grinch stole Christmas
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Frosty the Snowman asked Rudolph the Reindeer, “Do you think Christmas is too commercialized?” The Elf on the Shelf interjected, “Is the Pope Catholic?” Santa put down his milk and cookies and added, “Ho, Ho, Ho.”
As loyal media mavens of 21st Century America pop culture our perceptions of the Christmas season have been shaped as much by George running down the main street of Bedford Falls and Scrooge buying the biggest goose in town as by anything in the Bible. We spend our time driving the kids around to see the lights, decorating the tree, and shopping with precious little time left to even mention Jesus or the significance of His birth.
Seeking shelter from a crass and crude culture degenerating from indifference to outright hostility to God many of us retreat into a warm and fuzzy Currier and Ives Norman Rockwell bubble of accepted Christmas traditions based more in a Dr. Seuss Disney media than reality. To ward off the black Friday commercialism that consumes us, we duck behind the “Jesus is the reason for the season,” mantra. As if this alone was enough to lead us not into temptation.
As we hide behind our little Jesus catch phrase with the pious feelings, even this fleeting mention of the Name of Jesus inspires, and we should ask ourselves how often this spiritual sleight of hand gives us an opportunity to share the reality of Christmas. Or has it merely become the Christian version of the oft repeated insincerely asked “Hi, how are you?” catch phrase of Xmas? Is it time we admit this verbal deflection is more about making us feel like we’re doing something to combat the conquest of Christmas by the grasping spirit of conspicuous consumption by making a dent in the cacophony of crass commercialism?
The enemy can’t defeat God. He cannot overcome God’s plan and he can’t snatch us out of God’s hand. Just as in the garden when he confused Eve and led her down the primrose path to perdition, the enemy’s power is based on deception. Afflicted with spiritual ADD most of us careen from one shiny object to the next while falling for fads, trooping after trends and hypnotized by the next new thing. The accuser of mankind has never missed a church service, and his favorite disguise after an angel of light is the puffed-up rituals, ceremonies, and displays of the sideshow religion he pedals in place of the simple gospel.
Peddled by hucksters who prey upon the potatoes who grow so comfortably on our couches, the glitzy glamour and heartwarming familiarity of cultural Christmas might have more spirituality than a Grinch stealing presents but not nearly as much as Linus sharing biblical truth.
So, the next time we use our “Jesus is the reason for the season” shield to deflect the hooey and hype seeking to drown the most miraculous birth in History let’s prayerfully project the reason more than the season. Just in case we’ve missed it here’s the reason for the reason:
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Trump Remembers the Forgotten December 10, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, jobs report, record unemployment, The forgotten man, Trump Bump, Trump economy, Trump policies
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Not so long ago Washington all but gave up on our country’s blue-collar workers. They washed their hands of those in the supposedly outdated manufacturing and energy sectors. The message the perpetually re-elected and their bureaucratic “experts” tried to sell us through their media megaphone was that with the rise of globalization these industries were hopelessly in decline. According to them for the vast portions of the country they contemptuously call the “Rust Belt,” there was nothing anyone could ever do to change that.
Mocking then-candidate Donald Trump’s pledge to bring these jobs back President Obama asked, “What magic wand do you have?” It turns out no magic wand was necessary. All we needed is a President willing to fight for the forgotten workers across America with policies that put U.S. industry first instead of ones that sold us out to the globalists.
Beginning as soon as he entered the Oval Office President Trump turned the accepted wisdom of the inside-the-Beltway Deep State on its head. Instead of going along to get along the populist president repudiated the globalist agenda of the Bush-Clinton-Obama triumvirate.
He cast aside the downward trajectory of managed decline and adopted a policy agenda that’s made life easier for America’s working people and the small businesses that employ the majority of them. He passed the biggest employer and worker tax cuts in a generation. He mandated deregulation across the board. And defying the naysayers he’s negotiated new trade deals that have one goal in mind; make America great again by putting the interests of America first.
These bold moves have helped drive the unemployment rate to a 50-year low. And according to Investor’s Business Daily the Trump economy is creating factory jobs ten times faster than under the Obama administration. Blue-collar jobs are surging for the first time in decades. Since President Trump’s inauguration 523,000 manufacturing jobs have been added. Compare that with the 287,000 created during President Obama’s final three years in office.
In August, 2019 while touring Shell’s new Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex President Trump sought to explain that it’s a new dawn for American energy and manufacturing. In his remarks he said, “With your help, we’re not only unleashing American energy we’re restoring the glory of American manufacturing, and we are reclaiming our noble heritage as a nation of builders again. The critics expected you to stay on the sidelines, silence your voices, and surrender the future of our nation.”
In December of 2018 the Wall Street Journal reported, “The U.S. became a net exporter of oil and refined fuels last week for the first time in decades, a symbolic milestone that would have seemed unthinkable just 10 years ago.” Today America is the largest crude oil producer in the world. Until the Trump Bump none of this was considered possible. Now the world is filled with possibilities.
On August 19, 2019 while speaking at the Detroit Economic Club Vice President Mike Pence said “Wages are rising at the fastest pace in more than a decade. And maybe most important of all to the President and me: that wages are rising fastest for blue-collar working Americans. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
He Touched Me December 9, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, encouragement, Faith, He touched me, Hope
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God’s immediate immensity overwhelms me. He’s present everywhere and yet He’s present to me. There are more planets, and stars, and galaxies than we have a number to describe. God created them all. He upholds them by the power of His word. And yet He touched me. He touched me and now I’m no longer the same.
The God shaped hole in my life ached for Him even when I denied Him. Stumbling like a blind man in a world filled with light I couldn’t see what was around me and I couldn’t see where I was going. Landing in a ditch I thought the fetid water was clear and the over grown wilderness of weeds was a garden. Then He touched me and oh what joy filled my soul.
Raising me up from my graveyard of sin He gave me a new life, gave me my soulmate as a wife, and allowed me to work in His garden. And since I’ve met this blessed savior, since he’s cleansed and made me whole I’ll never cease to praise him I’ll shout it while eternity rolls, “He touched me, Oh He touched me, and oh the joy that floods my soul! Something happened and now I know He touched me and made me whole.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Trump Negates a Nasty Narrative December 4, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: bigotry, Charlottesville hoax, Dr. Robert Owens, racism, white supremacy
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Remember journalism? This was an archaic art form once practiced by investigative reporters who tried to discover the truth and then inform others of what they found.
While true objectivity is a mirage or an Historian’s joke, once upon a time there were people who attempted to present the facts and then allow readers, viewers, or listeners to decide for themselves. We called them jour·nal·ists. In today’s hyper-partisan world of Spy vs. Spy corporate tit-for-tat attack media, true journalism has been abandoned. People like James O’Keefe of Project Veritas who actually investigate and report are treated as tinfoil hat wearing denizens of the fringe by the hacks infesting the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media.
As a case in point one of the most virulent myths that have metastasized through the chatocracy bouncing like a Ping-Pong ball from talking head to talking head is the lie that President Donald Trump is a racist who described the neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017 as “fine people.” This Faustian fabrication twists the words of the President whose statement with regards to the tragic incident in Charlottesville clearly related to those on both sides of the Confederate monument debate.
Judge for yourself. Here are the actual words of the President at a news conference shortly after the Charlottesville incident:
“Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.” Then, in answer to a misleading follow-up question, the President further clarified his meaning by stating, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
The Democrat Media’s blatant rewriting of history in this case has been so outrageous it has even earned a challenge by CNN’s political commentator, Steve Cortes, when he stated, “As a man charged with publicly explaining Donald Trump’s often meandering and colloquial vernacular in highly adversarial TV settings, I appreciate more than most the sometimes-murky nature of his off-script commentaries. But these Charlottesville statements leave little room for interpretation. For any honest person, therefore, to conclude that the president somehow praised the very people he actually derided, reveals a blatant and blinding level of bias.”
And if the President was not clear enough about his views at the news conference his words in a subsequent statement condemning the attack that killed a counter-protestor at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia should have laid the racist talking point to bed. In that statement the President said, “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”
Later after the shooting in El Paso the President said, “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
In their epic battle to maintain the chains of their nearly universal hold on the Black vote the democrats masquerading as journalists will go to any lengths to keep the Charlottesville hoax alive. Repeating their lies over and over on every network and in every newspaper they hope the width, depth, and volume of their calculated cacophony of criticism will fulfill the cynical belief espoused by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels when he said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
Those who refuse to believe the truth will believe the lie. The denizens of the Deep State swamp know this and the second part of Goebbels’ quote clarifies the goal of their efforts; “The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Truth is their enemy. Truth is our ally. Turn away from the false narrative of the echo chamber commentary and read for yourself the words of our President and watch as Trump Negates a Nasty Narrative.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Dr. Owens’ Last Book Signing Event for 2019 November 29, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
When:
Friday NOV 29 5 PM – 9 PM
Saturday NOV 30 9 AM – 5 PM
Sunday DEC 1 9 AM – 3 PM
Where:
Iowa State Fairgrounds
3000 E Grand Ave
Des Moines, IA 50317
Dr. Owens has six new titles published this year.
Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new. All sixteen 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. Four books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, and The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom. Four 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), and America Won the Vietnam War! A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years, and a book designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith. All of these books are available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.
All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at Amazon
Is Thanksgiving All About Receiving? November 27, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Jesus lives, Jesus saves, Thanksgiving, to give is better
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In millions of homes throughout America families and friends join to together to celebrate a cherished holiday, Thanksgiving. In countless homes people go through various types of rituals and traditions including taking time to share what they’re thankful for. If we listen to those often hastily prepared statements we’ll find the vast majority of them refer to what’s been received.
“I’m thankful for my family.” “I’m thankful for health.” “I’m thankful for peace, prosperity, safety, security, a home, a car, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, etc.”
It’s good to give thanks for all we’ve receive. It’s even better to give thanks for the Giver and to recognize that it’s all a gift.
The greatest gift of all is Jesus. God gave Him to us as our Savior. It’s through His stripes we’re healed. It’s through Him making Himself poor that we became rich. And it’s through the indwelling Spirit of God that we have access into the wisdom of the ages. And that wisdom teaches us that it’s better to give than receive.
So this Thanksgiving as we share what we’re thankful for perhaps we should be thankful for all the opportunities we have to give. The Word of God tells us plainly, “If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.” In another place it says, “Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way.”
All around us a world in need of God stumbles through the inky void of uncertainty not knowing why bad things happen to good people, why the evil seem to triumph over the good, or where they’re going when they die. And we have the answer. His name is Jesus.
So how do we share what isn’t just good news but the best news ever with the lost and broken around us?
It isn’t by trying to shove a Bible down their throat. It isn’t by beating them up with doctrines they don’t know repeated in religious speak. It isn’t by trying to scare them to death with stories of what will happen when they die. When we use these time-tested mistakes while trying to share the most beautiful truth in the world, that Jesus came to bring us life, our success rate is perfectly expressed by my favorite band, Casting Crowns, “Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth’s become so hard to see. The world is on their way to You, but they’re tripping over me.”
It’s not about who we are it’s about who He is. It isn’t about what we’ve done it’s about what He did. And it isn’t about what we get it’s about what we give.
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! May the Lord bless you and keep you may He make His face shine upon you. As we gather with our loved ones on a day set aside for giving thanks instead of offering a litany of what we’ve received let’s give thanks for opportunities to give.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Dr. Owens’ Last Book Signing Event of 2019 November 25, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
When:
Friday NOV 29 5 PM – 9 PM
Saturday NOV 30 9 AM – 5 PM
Sunday DEC 1 9 AM – 3 PM
Where:
Iowa State Fairgrounds
3000 E Grand Ave
Des Moines, IA 50317
Dr. Owens has six new titles published this year.
Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new. All sixteen 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. Four books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, and The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom. Four 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), and America Won the Vietnam War! A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years, and a book designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith. All of these books are available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.
All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at Amazon
How Than Shall We Pray November 19, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, intimacy with God, Prayer, the Lord’s prayer
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One of my favorite sayings is, “Why worry when you can pray.” I know that the Bible says, “Don’t worry,” more times than it says, “Don’t steal,” and we all know what stealing is.
Prayer is how we talk with God. Notice I said talk “with” not talk “to.” We come to God in prayer bringing our praise, our thanksgiving, and our needs. And it should also be a time when we listen. It’s supposed to be a two way conversation. And since God knows everything and we don’t perhaps listening should be a bigger part of the process than most of us make it?
How than shall we pray?
This is a question Christians have been asking since Jesus walked among us. And God’s Word doesn’t leave us to stand around scratching our head. It gives us some clear-cut straight forward teaching. Matthew (in The Message) puts it like this, “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.” In The New King James we’re told, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
In other words there is no magic formula. There is no surefire incantation we’re supposed to memorize and repeat like a mantra. Instead we’re supposed to talk with God on a one-to-one personal basis and everyone’s personality and circumstances are unique. Which brings us right back to the age-old question; How than shall we pray?
After telling us what prayer should not be Jesus told us what it should be. The Message puts it this way, “With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:” and the New King James once again references the way heathens pray telling us, “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:”
Notice one version tells us “Like this:” and another says, “In this manner, therefore, pray:”
Neither one tells us, “Repeat these words.” One says “Like this,” or in this way. And the other says, “In this manner.” The clear meaning of this when interpreted through the admonition found in the immediately preceding passage whether the “Don’t fall for that nonsense” of The Message or the “do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do” of The New King James is that turning what follows next into a formula or a mantra is the exact opposite of what Jesus was trying to teach us about prayer.
What follows these warnings about praying repetitiously like a religious robot or a magician’s apprentice is Jesus’ teaching about how to pray not necessarily about what to pray or as it has come down to us through religious tradition, the “Lord’s Prayer.”
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
This is a model that we can analyze. Using this analysis we can try to understand its components. We can accept these as necessary components of prayer.
Some say that the so-called Lord’s Prayer is the meaning of the 23rd Psalm embodied within a prayer.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the till waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
There are many ways to break down the Lord’s Prayer into its essential components. Here’s one way:
- A personal relationship with God— “Our Father”
- Faith— “in heaven”
- Worship— “hallowed be Your name”
- Expectation— “Your kingdom come”
- Submission— “Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
- Petition— “give us this day our daily bread”
- Confession— “and forgive us our debts”
- Compassion— “as we forgive our debtors”
- Dependence— “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
- Acknowledgment— “for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever
Seeing this as a model Jesus gave us when teaching us how to pray it makes sense to see complete prayers as having these components. However, taking the message of His teaching in the same passage of scripture to heart tells us that the idea of memorizing or repeating endlessly the same words like a mantra is the opposite of what He intended.
It’s good to remember that the shortest prayer in the Bible, “Lord, save me!” was answered immediately. So we can see it isn’t the length or a certain sequence of words that brings an answer.
So, How than shall we pray?
We should pray from the heart with pure intentions seeking intimacy with Him not merely fulfilling an obligation or checking a box on some spiritual scorecard. If we seek Him we’ll find Him. If we draw near to Him He’ll draw near to us. The most important aspect of our prayer is not what we want it’s who we want. If we seek Him and His kingdom He assures us that all we’ll ever need is there when we need it. He’s an on-time God.
So when we pray let’s not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they’ll be heard for their many words instead let’s just talk with Daddy openly, intimately, and often. And let’s give Him the space to speak to us. We’ll do well to apply the wisdom of God not only to our conversations with others but also to our conversations with Him, let’s be swift to hear and slow to speak.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 