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
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
Marley’s Chains May 29, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, Faith alone, legalism, Religion, religious customs, religious systems, religious traditions
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To paraphrase scripture as presented in the Message we see that not only has the Church become Israel many have become spies only pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are who seek to pervert the freedom from religious legalism Christ gives us. They want to build their own kingdoms and feather their own nests by bringing others into the same religious bondage they drag around like Marley’s chains through a life that reeks of the grave.
Now the paraphrase of Romans 2:17-29:
If you’re brought up Christian, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? It is the same with adultery. And it is the same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Christians that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.
Baptism, the ritual that marks you as a Christian, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being baptized. The reverse is also true: The unbaptized who keep God’s ways are as good as the baptized —in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law unbaptized than break it baptized. Don’t you see: It’s not the submerging in water that makes a Christian. You become a Christian by who you are. It’s the submerging of your heart in God, not the water on your skin that makes you a Christian. And the recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.
Not only are we warned to avoid the legalism of religion we are specifically warned about false teachers and wolves disguised as Christians who seek to build their own kingdoms and lead others astray.
At the end of the book of Romans Paul warns us; One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ. They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents.
And in Philippians 3:17-19 Paul tells us; Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
I’m not knocking anyone’s beliefs or their traditions. What I am doing is trying to warn those who want to follow Christ. We can’t let anyone, anything, or the peer pressure of any community fool us into elevating a system of man over the freedom of Christ. We should ask ourselves, “How can customs, traditions, holidays, and ceremonies transplanted from paganism to attract or mollify converts as faith in Christ was spread, sometimes by the sword, across barbarian Europe after the fall of Rome save us?” Anything that obscures the fact that it’s by faith alone that we’re saved and by obedience alone we’re changed is something holding us back from becoming what God created us to be.
Once again turning to Paul, the Apostle of the heart set free, we find in Galatians a stunning rebuke of those trying to turn a living faith into a religious structure. In Chapter three he says, “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” After faith comes we’re free. Holding on to the structure of religion may make following easier but making ourselves a slave to it doesn’t set us free. And Christ came to set us free.
Remember whatever is not of faith is sin and no one can snatch us out of the hand of God but we can sure jump.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, 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
Does God Speak to You? January 16, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Does God speak, does God speak today, doing what God calls us to do, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, walking in faith
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When people ask me this question I answer it with another, “Do mean God doesn’t speak to you?”
You can officially mark me down as a crazy person or whatever you like I don’t care. But I initially turned from the world to face God because I heard a voice answer my silent plea, the plea of a lost and lonely sinner about to give up on life, “I’ve got to try something.”
What I heard was a voice as real as any I’ve ever heard say right in my ear, “Why don’t you try God.”
As a militant atheist I turned to confront whoever it was that dared to say some invisible make-believe spirit might be the answer to my aching heart. There was no one there. At least there was no one there that I could see or find. So after an exhaustive search that turned up no one I started searching for who might have been there that I couldn’t see. It was a search that eventually led me through the Gospels to Jesus. It was a search that led me from a dead-end life to a life filled with hope.
I said all that to say all this:
Have you ever felt God leading you to do something? It probably won’t be an audible voice. I am convinced that God only uses an audible voice for either the extremely hard-hearted/hard-headed or to comfort the extremely hard pressed. Instead he leads us through our spirit which is linked to Him through His Spirit which lives in us as born-again believers.
If you aren’t one of those it’s easy just confess Jesus as Lord or leader of your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead…and that’s it. Done and done.
So here we are children of God through adoption, made right with Him, spiritually standing in Daddy’s throne room, minding our own business and His Spirit leads us to do something: something that doesn’t seem like something we would want to do on your own…….say He leads us to spend everything we have to buy Bibles to give to homeless people.
What should we do?
I’m talking about spending way more money than our natural head says we can afford. It just doesn’t make sense when we look at our budget through natural eyes. And the wisdom of the world tells us, “Come on most of the homeless you give a Bible will either lose it or throw it away.” Or, “Come on they’ll only listen to you witness about what Christ has done for you and accept the Bible so they can get a handout or something.”
But there it is again, an urging, a leading to do this thing that makes no sense. It itches at our hearts. It won’t leave. We feel our spirit saying, “If I don’t do this I’ll miss an opportunity to do what I’m supposed to do,” while our head says, “Are you crazy you can’t afford to do that!”
Over and over our heads, filled with natural sense knowledge keep shouting, “If I spend all that money just to give it away I won’t have it for what I need.” Or the ever ready, “Can’t someone else do it? Like someone who has more money.”
God isn’t looking for ability He’s looking for availability. If He can make donkeys speak and use murderers to being people back to life, turn water into wine, and save sinners like us He can surely provide for all our needs.
If we want to see the miracles of God we need to follow Him into uncharted water. We need to do what He calls us to do because where God guides God provides. Walking in faith always sensitive to what He calls us to do and then following Him in the doing … that’s the way to see the miracles of God.
Faith isn’t doing only what we can do on our own. Faith is doing what God calls us to do even when we know we can’t. Let’s step out of the boat and feel the waves beneath our feet.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, 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
I Got Faith You Got Faith All God’s Children Got Faith December 11, 2018
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: believe and receive, confess in faith, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, our confession
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Pastor John Osteen the father of Mega Church Joel used to lead his congregation in this confession, “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.” while waving his big black Bible in the air. He started every service this way encouraging the faithful to stand on God’s Word.
It’s our confession of God’s Word that opens the door to miracles. For if we don’t believe God’s Word how can we say we believe God? And if we don’t believe God who and what do we believe?
Many of us have been told we’re losers. Many of us have been told we’re worthless, unwanted, unnecessary, and unloved. Not all of us grew up with Mom and Pop Cleaver protecting, supporting, and affirming us. Many of us have told ourselves we’re no good, forgotten, and useless. And sad to say many of us believe what the world says about us. We often believe ourselves and allow these beliefs to shape and guide our lives.
May be we should try God? Let’s believe His Word and let that shape and guide our lives.
Now think about God’s Word for a moment. He says that His word is truth, and that His judgments endure forever. He also says He watches over His Word to perform it. If He’s lying about all that He’s a liar, and we know God isn’t a liar. The devil is. That’s his very nature. And since the devil’s original sin was his desire to be recognized as God, when we say or act as if God is a liar we’re giving the devil exactly what he wants, because we’re saying the liar is our God.
Spiritual things can only be understood by those who are spiritual. To the natural man they’re foolishness and the fool has said in his heart there is no God. In this article I’m speaking to believers and hopefully to those without hope who might become believers. To those who’ve confessed Jesus as Lord and who believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. If we’ve done those things His Word says we will be saved. It doesn’t say might be. It doesn’t say could be. It says will be. Which also means you can be.
He also says we overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb AND the word of our testimony, that we will be judged by the words that come out of our mouth, and that whatever we ask in the name of Jesus we shall receive that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
That is some powerful stuff. Our words are important. Some people interpret all this in such a way that believe God becomes their servant and that He’s honor bound to give us anything we ask for. But in His Word He tells us that we need to ask for the right stuff when He says you ask and don’t receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
We need to get lined up with Him. We need to allow Him to put the desires in our heart and then use the power of confession in the Name of Jesus to move forward in the ministry He’s called us to, and then we’ll receive the desires of our heart, the ones He put there. For make no mistake if you’re a believer you’ve been called to minister the Word to a world dying to receive it. That ministry is your witness. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar. God will always give you the words to say if you testify of Him. Share your witness, your testimony. Simply tell what the Lord has done for you. And if you don’t have a testimony seek the Lord until you have one.
All it takes is faith to walk out on God’s Word and expect Him to accomplish it. That’s what we do to get saved. And that’s what we must do to be who He says we are, to have what He says we have, and to do what He’s called us to do.
And if the believers among us think we don’t have enough faith remember we had enough faith to believe God for salvation. And I don’t know about you but if I have enough faith to believe God will welcome someone like me into heaven I’ve got more than a mustard seed’s worth so mountain you better start jumping. Also remember faith itself is a gift from God. We can always ask for more. So if you don’t have enough faith to believe God for salvation ask God and He will give it to you.
I got faith, you got faith, all God’s children got faith, and the only kind of faith for me is faith in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 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
Faith is the Answer and Prayer is the Key November 13, 2018
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: born again, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, filled with the spirit, Salvation, walking in faith
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It’s time for us to grow up, to put away childish things and delve into the deep things of God.
Some may ask, “How do I do that?”
We need to study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing the word of God for it’s sharper than a two edged sword or a surgeon’s scalpel. It divides soul and spirit and it reveals all things. We need to speak to God and listen to God. We need to learn to hear His voice and recognize it. In other words we need to be in a constant conversation with God so that we can be about His business in this world.
Often we pray for God to guide our steps and then do nothing as we wait. God cannot guide our steps if we aren’t stepping. Step out in faith and He’ll sustain us as we work for Him. That’s right. It may have been free admission but it isn’t a free ride. God has called us to work. And He has given us the tool to do the work: faith.
Don’t believe me believe Him.
It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. And part of that faith is knowing that He didn’t send us out to work for Him without equipping us with what we need to accomplish that work.
Jesus said, “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.”
And He didn’t just say it once or twice. He said it over and over, “This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you.”
Jesus wasn’t keeping this ability to accomplish the work He’s called us to do miraculously through the power of His Name a secret. He told us numerous times that praying in His Name, in line with His purposes was more than just effective it’s powerful.
He also told us that we’ve been chosen to do His work in the world in His Name, “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”
The time for hesitation is through. Once we confess Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead we are born again. There’s no time to linger at the edge of the pool waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. Dive head first into the deep end. Turn away from the weak and beggarly elements of this world and embrace life in His eternal presence which begins the moment we’re born again and translated from the kingdom of darkness in this world into the kingdom of light in His presence.
We all have questions for God. I know my first was “Why me.” Then once we’ve taken up residence in His city on a hill we move on to, “What do You want me to do?” quickly followed by “How am I supposed to do that?” He isn’t looking so much for ability as He is for availability. And remember: where God guides God provides. If He’s called you to it you can do it. Just have faith, talk to Him, listen to Him, and watch as He turns your life into Acts Chapter twenty-nine.
Whatever questions, whatever problems, whatever opportunities we face in this life prayer is the answer and faith is the key.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 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
It Takes Faith to Be an Atheist July 18, 2018
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: big bang, creation, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, faith in Christ, faith is a gift, the Big Bang, the gift of faith
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I once had enough faith in myself to believe there was no God. I had enough of that self-centered faith to believe the entire universe sprang from a Big Bang. I could believe that Big Bang came from an unbelievably dense unbelievably small point that for some unexplained reason suddenly exploded. I could believe that after the explosion this unbelievably dense unbelievably small point expanded into everything that is. I could believe that everything that is now expanding would eventually stop expanding and then contract back into that unbelievably dense unbelievably small point that would then eventually explode again and the entire process would happen again over and over from eternity to eternity. Yes, I had enough self-centered faith to believe all that.
I blindly accepted what scientist told me was verifiable evidence that all this was physically true. I never once asked myself any of these obvious questions: How could anyone possibly know that this had ever happened before? How could anyone possibly know that it would happen again? How could anyone possibly know where the unbelievably dense unbelievably small point came from? Or better yet, what made this self-existing unbelievably dense unbelievably small point explode?
Without asking any of these important questions I could believe all that without ever contemplating the fact that chaos breeds chaos it does not breed the complex organization that we observe in reality from atom to Adam. Or, as the Second Law of Thermodynamics puts it the entropy of any isolated system always increases.
In other words, the odds of a tornado hitting a junk yard and leaving a fully assembled 747 in its wake are less than zero. And to have order come from chaos on a universal scale would mean that that would have to happen billions upon billions of times. Which flies in the face of something I learned back during the Hippie commune days, no matter how many times you multiply zero it is still zero.
But I had faith! Without blinking an eye I was proud to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Everything came from one itsy bitsy piece of who knows what that existed from eternity to eternity exploding into everything and the shrinking back to an itsy bitsy piece of who knows what over and over. Sure that made sense but a loving God who created everything that was too far out to believe.
Jesus tells us that we have to come to the end of ourselves if we want to walk with Him. We have to realize that anyone who intends to come with Him has to let Him lead. We’re not in the driver’s seat; He is. We shouldn’t run from suffering we should embrace it. Follow Him and He’ll show us how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, His way, to finding ourselves, our true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything we want but lose ourselves? What could we ever trade our soul for? He said those who seek to hold on to everything will lose everything and those who let go of everything will gain everything.
When I first started trying to live this kind of life I thought of it as learning to walk backwards because it was the opposite of everything I had ever been taught on how to succeed.
When some people see another walking in faith following Christ sacrificing themselves for others they say, “Wow! They have such great faith.”
To be sure to follow Jesus takes faith but even that faith is a gift from God. God gives each of us a measure of faith and we should think seriously about that and follow that faith into the good works He’s given us to do.
So while it takes God given faith to follow Jesus it takes faith in ourselves to be an atheist. I praise God that in my life the faith gift of God overwhelmed my own faith in me. When I look at all the dead ends my choices led me to and compare that to the fulfilling and joyful life I have found following Him and I can see that He has a better way.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 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 Only Way Back to God May 29, 2018
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion.Tags: backsliding, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, personal revival, renewing your faith, revival
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If Jesus is the Son of God, if God became man and walked among us, if the incarnate deity suffered and died to pay for the sins of the world, if He descended into hell and took the keys of death from the devil, if He rose again from the dead justifying all who become one with Him, if He rose into heaven and anointed the ultimate altar with His blood offering up the payment for the fall of man what is there that can be of more importance than that?
If out of all the millions of books ever written God wrote one book, one set of writings infused with His Spirit, and alive with His Word what can compare with that?
I remember back when I first began to walk with Christ. As with most new believers I burned with passion and devoted myself as exclusively as I could to the study of His Word. I couldn’t get enough. I read His Word every chance I got. I devoured it. I lived and breathed it. Nothing else mattered. I just had to get His Word into me, into my life. And it changed me.
Reading God’s Word led me to Christ. Reading His Word taught me to love. Reading His Word taught me that I shouldn’t pollute His temple (my body) with drugs, tobacco, and other things. It healed me of addictions I had accepted as a normal part of life, cleansed me of sins I hadn’t even known I was committing, and it gave me a love for God’s people, and His church.
Being a self-centered substance abuser, a street-fighting loner, and in general a morally bankrupt reprobate gave me a lot of running room in my search for holiness in Him. I was working forty to eighty hours per week and spent every waking hour not at work in the Bible. It was a wonderful time and a joyous time of getting to know my first love.
For many of us as the first blush of love fades, as the joy of Christian fellowship becomes an everyday event, as we learn that many Christians shoot the wounded, crucify pastors, and leave their love at the altar the supernatural becomes mundane and love fades. Slowly we become colder until we wonder, “Was it all a dream?”
The cares of this life seem to cauterize the faith of believers. We strive to walk by faith and not by sight but most of us are peeking. We still have one eye on the world, one ear to the ground, and one hand in the cookie jar. That’s what trips us up. We can’t walk through life divided. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. You see no one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the world.
I have made that mistake. Like Frodo looking into Mount Doom I peeked at the news until it consumed me. My daily study of “What was going on” became an exercise in naval gazing: a worthless pursuit that gave me the ability to speak like an expert and live like a fool. For a fool has said in his heart there is no God. And I know there is a God and I invested my intellect and my attention in that which is not God. For this I repent.
I remember when I was a new believer reading through the Bible for the first time. When I read the book of Judges I wondered why God kept saving those Israelites over and over when after a few times it became evident they would just backslide again. Then I had my first stumble, and my second, and my third, and I am forever grateful that God does not shoot the wounded. Instead he binds the broken hearted.
As Unspoken puts it,
YOU CAN NEVER FALL
TOO HARD, SO FAST, SO FAR
THAT YOU CAN’T GET BACK
WHEN YOU’RE LOST, WHERE YOU ARE IS NEVER
TOO LATE, SO BAD, SO MUCH
THAT YOU CAN’T CHANGE
WHO YOU ARE
YOU CAN CHANGE WHO YOU ARE
If the world has caught you in its web once again, if shiny objects glittering in the light have captured your attention turn away from the world, cast your eyes upon Jesus, keep your thoughts upon Him, and return to your first love.
You may ask, “How do I do that?”
There is only one way back to God. …
Get back to God.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 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
How Can You Stay So Optimistic? February 28, 2018
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion.Tags: depression, Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Jesus saves
2 comments
People ask often me “How can you spend so much time following the news and writing on the bizarre twists and turns of our political theater of the absurd and still remain so happy and optimistic?”
The answer is, “It’s easy because my hope is in Christ and all of this is just a soap opera.”
Sure I tune in multiple times every day to see what my people are up to. Yes, I follow every twist and turn in the plot. I cheer when my favorite characters triumph and I hiss when the evil nemesis unfairly pulls them down.
However, all in all I realize I’m something like Horton. I hear the Who. And like Horton I realize there’s a whole world living on a speck of dust flying along oblivious to the fact that dust in the wind is not the most stable place to exist.
Fleeting flowers and beautiful sunsets like snowflakes and icicles dazzle the eye inspire the imagination and then they are gone. Look at the sweep of History. We can read of empires long ago. The amazing DNA tests available through a multitude of sources can tell us where we come from. Ancestry web sites tell us who we come from.
In reality what do we know of those billions who have gone before? What were the names of your eight great grandparents? If by some miracle you can name all eight what do you know about their lives? Can anyone reading this name their sixteen great-great grandparents? I would wager 100 to one no one can. So in our own lives our knowledge of History dissolves before 100 years has elapsed. Sure we can read and memorize facts about the past but how far back does that really go? At most 5,000 years. Conservatively the earth is at least four billion years old. The universe itself is estimated to be at least thirteen billion years old.
And our direct knowledge goes back maybe one hundred years. Our knowledge gained through study maybe five thousand. Get the picture? We are the Who.
If that was all there was I would jump up on a table and sing,
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is
And for thirty years of my life that’s what I did. The emptiness and futility of it all led me to the edge of sanity and beyond. I wandered about aimlessly muttering, “I’ve got to try something. I’ve got to try something.”
Until a voice in my ear said, “Why don’t you try God?”
That day changed my life. That day led me to road that led me to Christ and from that day to this I have hope and joy and nothing I see prancing across the stage of this earthly drama can take it away.
In America our standard greeting is, “Hi how are you doing?” Not that anyone really cares. Not that anyone ever really listens to your answer. That is just a customary greeting. I always answer, “I’m blessed.” This often brings questions such as, “Why?” This gives me an opportunity to tell them I’m blessed because I have eternal life and that Jesus gave it to me and the devil can’t take it away.”
Sometime people answer, “I am too.” And it’s always a joy to meet a brother or sister wherever they may be.
So, though it is interesting and it helps pass the time as we hang on to our speck of dust as it swirls about in the wind don’t let the story-line get you down. Just skip to the back of the book and you’ll find out that Jesus is God, God wins in the end, and no matter how bad it gets we should pray, “Come Lord Jesus.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 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 