I absolutely adore buttered toast, at any time of the day. It has a satisfying, mouthwatering flavor and aroma. I did some research and found out about the Maillard Reaction. A French chemist named Maillard first explained this delicious, toasted flavor back in 1912. My fabulous toast is a reaction between amino acids (main elements of proteins) and sugars seared together in quick, hot temperatures. This brought a spiritual parallel to mind. God explains to us many times that He puts all souls through hot temperatures to destroy dross, which is scum, impurity or something that is inferior (Isaiah 1:24-25; Ezekiel 22:18), to burn out weaknesses (1 Corinthians 3:11-15) and to make us sweet smelling aromas (Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18; James 1:2-4). Everyone on earth goes through quick, hot temperatures in this life (problems, trials, tragedies). If we have been gathering spiritual proteins and spiritual sweetness, then when we endure quick, hot temperatures, we’ll pop up as marvelously delicious saints each time, behaving as souls that are desirable to be around (Luke 2:51-52; Acts 2:37-47). If we have not collected spiritual proteins and sugars, then the hot temperatures will just burn us out, reduce us to sludge or ashes. What’s great is that we can change. If we have been “burned,” and we didn’t come through it successfully—and we’re still breathing—then, we can determine to start over, gathering spiritual proteins and sugars, latching onto them, ingesting them and making them a part of our living. Then, when the hot fires of troubles

One day, you stroll from your car to the bank on the corner of State Route 9 and Highway 30 in Hanoverton, and a couple of people run up to you and start begging you to let them worship God with you next Sunday! You stand there in shock, staring at them. People just don’t do that! Why not? Back in the day of a Jewish high priest named Zechariah, about five hundred years before Jesus Christ lived on earth, God told His people that if they would make the effort to love truth and peace in both their government and personal lives, then they would become such a beautiful blessing for the world that folks from every nation would grab them in the streets and beg them to be allowed to worship Jehovah God, too. Why? Because they would have heard that a real nice God lived with the Jews! In our day, if we and our family, our church, our neighborhood, our city and our country would make the effort to love peace and truth and also behave like we really do love peace and truth, then people from around the world would beg to live around us and worship Jehovah God with us; peace and truth would be evidence or proof that a real God is among us. Wouldn’t it be nice if, when we’re in town, people would feel the need to grasp our hands and beg to come and worship God with us? People did that in Acts 2 when they saw the happiness and good changes in

Raising the dead to life, both spiritually and physically, proves to be God’s favorite hobby. He must have relished showing the prophet Ezekiel the fantastic vision of dry, human bones coming to life in Ezekiel 36. God created a masterly production of a supernaturally weird experience, just like our ultra-modern science fiction movies. Human skeletons plugged up this valley. He plopped Ezekiel, the Israelite priest, down in the middle of a monstrous scene of horror. Then, the Lord told him to stand, face the bones and preach—preach to millions of bones that couldn’t hear anything. Well, Ezekiel obeyed, and while he preached, the skeletons gradually reformed themselves into bodies, sinew by sinew, organ by organ. Then, God ordered him to preach the breath into them. Ezekiel kept preaching, and suddenly, the bodies moved and stood up. They lived! He now stood among thousands of people who had been dead a few minutes before! Ezekiel discovered God’s passion, making something out of nothing, transforming horror into joy, bringing the dead to life, with just His words! God’s words alone, preached from man’s tongue, can bring life into the calcified dead. “But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-7). Most humans choose to live a lifeless, dry-bone-life instead of living, moving and having our being in the God who has such a

Everyone has enemies. Sometimes an enemy may be just one really bad person, like a Goliath. Or enemies may be a group wanting to cause or watch our utter annihilation. Some want to ruin our characters, jobs or minds. These enemies are of Satan (1 John 2:9-12), and God constantly says not to fear any human or anything in nature, regardless of how powerful and dangerous. Some of our enemies include the following. Humans: Hateful, rotten ones. Moses’ last words to God’s people included, “When you go out… against your enemies, and see horses… chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord… is with you” (Deuteronomy 20:1). Satan: The Adversary, a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is powerful, but God says that his fate is sealed already (Revelation 12:9). So, what is there to fear? Sin: We must attack sin with all our strength, not fearing to conquer what keeps us from being special in God’s eyes. Death, Pain and Shame: Jesus destroyed the power of shame and pain by dying on the cross, as well as the power of death by His resurrection. God said, “…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). God taught the Israelites how to fight (Deuteronomy 20:1). Today, He expects us to fight against our enemies, using His armor (Ephesians 6:10-18). God says we are to unite and

My sister has this hobby that I call creepy cactus cultivation. She loves finding weird, ugly, exotic cactus plants and coaxing beauty out of them. My sister just sent me photos of a cactus she found recently that she calls a caterpillar for lack of knowing its real name. It’s as ugly as sin, motley brown and looks a bit like animal droppings. Nevertheless, one day, a pod-type extension appeared on it, also ugly. Then, a couple of days later, a gorgeous flower flushed out of the pod! The bloom was delicate and sported pretty colors of pink, purple, blue. It was multilayered and beautiful. I saw the photos and thought, “Wow, this is like people!” Thus, the following thoughts emerged. Beauty can come from ugly. God finds sin uglier than the caterpillar cactus, but He created a way for humans to pretty-up and produce beautiful flowers through Jesus. We’re all obnoxious in sin without Jesus, but in Him we can overcome ugly and produce great splendor! Paul proudly stated that God “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). Because of this, on a daily basis, we need to take long looks at ourselves in the spiritual mirror and continue transforming ourselves into good, acceptable and brand-new creations in God’s eyes (Romans 12:1-2; 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). God excels in creating beauty out of ugly; He’s the master craftsman in this field (Ezekiel 37).

“Doing wickedness is like a sport to a fool; and so is wisdom to a man of understanding”  (Proverbs 10:23). We each are famous athletes, playing in one of two international sports, either wickedness or wisdom! Every day, we choose which game we play, and some of us cross back and forth often, hopping between the two, but the sport to which we’re loyal the majority of the time is what counts in the final score. Wickedness and wisdom are totally opposite, have nothing in common and have extremely different results. The athletes in the sport of wickedness are called fools, and those in the sport of wisdom are called understanders, much like car racing has racers and football has football players. The sport of wickedness is played using a variety of equipment called polluted living, physical or sexual pleasure that is against God’s sense of morality, worship of manmade gods or of people, sorcery, hostilities, jealousy, outbursts of anger, quarrels, divisions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, coarse joking, murdering, stealing, lying and all sexual perversions (Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:8-10; Revelation 21:8; 22:15). The sport of wickedness is what the majority of people love to practice, and those athletes always win destruction (Matthew 7:13). Whenever the ancient people turned into professional fools, God killed off the majority of them. Those who died in the flood of Noah’s day practiced all wickedness until they became like our Olympic gold medal professionals. God destroyed them at their peak

Paul preached the Gospel in Antioch of Pisidia, and he said something interesting about David. “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers…” (Acts 13:36). Apparently, God didn’t let David die until His purpose for him had been completed. What was God’s purpose in David’s life? David brought many of the Israelites back to God. He returned the Ark of the Covenant to the tent of meeting. He started the kingly lineage of Jesus Christ. He designed the first Temple of God. David produced a God-fearing son, Solomon, to take over the kingdom. David also produced prophesies and songs that spoke of Jesus and His death. God has a purpose for all of us in our generations (Philippians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9). Some of us may have several things to accomplish or just one or two remarkable deeds—maybe famous or quiet and unknown acts. Regardless, the kicker is to stay in God’s light all the way to the end, so that whatever God’s purposes that we finish, we’ll enjoy great and exciting rewards! Note purpose in the lives of Elijah, Jesus, Paul, Peter and James (whose beheading caused the spread of the Gospel outside of Judea). God allowed evil Pharaoh in Moses’ day to rule so God could prove His own reality to the world. God purposefully creates us in the womb, and we won’t die until we have served God’s objective in our generations. Some of

Deuteronomy 8:11-20; 32:18 We have all been overlooked, ignored and forgotten at one time or another. The glaring sign of being forgotten is that we are alone, abandoned and not noticed; it creates anger and disbelief. We try and contact the forgetful ones to let them know they forgot us. If the forgetful ones are genuinely sorry, we happily forgive them. However, if they behave like it wasn’t a problem, then we have justifiable anger, and we never trust them again. We might even leave them behind and move on to other friends and family members. God made us in His image, so He feels this same emotion when we forget about Him. When God finds Himself miles away from our thoughts, He pretty much reacts the same way we would: hurt and angry. He’ll contact us to remind us about our appointment (Matthew 21:33-45). If it was an accident, He forgives us gladly, but if we leave Him behind on purpose, because something more interesting came along, God will be angry. He will, in turn, leave us behind and eventually avenge Himself on us. Why would God’s people forget Him? Men forget God  because of a lack of interest in keeping God’s law, because of the deceitfulness of luxury and wealth or because of problems and tragedies. We forget that we didn’t create ourselves and that we have no control over this life or nature. We forget God because of our own self-seeking lusts. We cannot honestly expect to

“O Lord…Bring my soul out of trouble! And…cut off my enemies, and…destroy all the adversaries of my soul…” (Psalm 143:11-12). Adversaries are opponents, challengers, rivals, enemies, foes or antagonists. What are soul-adversaries? Jealousy, prejudice, hatred, murder, cowardice, ungodly language, laziness, brutality, cheating, stealing, lying, slander, gossip, lusting for any kind of self-gratification that God says is bad (e.g., like alcoholic drinking, sex outside of marriage, power, money), and putting anything on this earth (e.g., sleeping, people, hobbies, sports, jobs) above God and His commands. All things like these have the mission of keeping our souls from living in the Land of Light and Life (Heaven). The weird thing is that we give in to them every day! What is wrong with us? Most people put up with bullies, including whole towns and nations—until someone stands up against them, even if it means death. Behaving like Abel, Joseph, Daniel, Elijah or Jesus (who all obeyed God rather than humans) is a huge risk most of us won’t take. Jesus wants to rescue us from our soul-adversaries. However, we have to have the guts to allow Him! This coming week, make a list of your own soul-foes. Throw them into God’s hands (1 Peter 5:7). Make serving Christ every day and the entire year your primary goal (Matthew 6:33).

I have a bulk, plastic container of dish soap with a sticker boldly requesting, “Please keep upright.” It is plainly said, implying dire consequences if the large bottle is not kept upright, which would be soap leaking over the counter, the sink and the floor. The soap company sweetly warns us against the dire consequences. They don’t need to come and to demonstrate the dire consequences to each customer. Anyone with elementary reading skills would be foolish or thoughtless not to obey the instructions! The soap container warning has a spiritual slant. God is upright, just, sinless, faithful and perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). David was upright and warned Solomon to be upright, too (1 Kings 3:6; 9:4). Job was upright, blameless of evil doing, and he feared God (Job 1:1, 8). Since God invented uprightness, He can instruct people about it, and His instructions are in the Bible with plenty of examples (Psalm 25:8). God doesn’t leave the dire consequences to our imagination. He explained that if we tip over and spill our souls out over the earth, there won’t be anything left of us to get to Heaven. He, like the soap company, doesn’t have to come to each of us and demonstrate the consequences. It’s in the Bible. People who don’t keep upright are called perverted, evil, walkers in darkness, perverse, crooked and devious (Proverbs 2:6-15). God created humans upright, but we like to find ways to tip over (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Wise people seek to practice walking upright, but

I once read an article in a well-published biblical archeology magazine that expressed disgust with God, because He doesn’t tolerate other gods! The writer didn’t seem to know the difference between Jehovah and the other gods. Because humans have to worship something, we’ll make all-knowing, all-powerful beings out of anything: nature, sex, war, drunkenness, death, stars and moons, animals, and even heroes (dead or alive). Manmade gods are limited to certain territories, cities or cultures. They can be stolen by other groups. Many demand horrible human sacrifices, self-mutilation and prejudice against females (even still today). Those gods practice all of the human evils. Their writings are full of error, which means they either lie to their worshipers or they don’t know the truth. Out of the millions of gods that humans know, there’s only one that stands out. He says He is the only real God, and He claimed this thousands of years ago. Let me briefly introduce you to this unique Lord (Lord means master). • His actual name is I Am Who I Am (Exodus 3:4); the Hebrew word for “who” can also be “what, that, because, why.” • He has no beginning and no end (Revelation 21:6; John 1:1; Psalm 145:13). • All of His revelations are accurate in every way (Psalm 119). • He doesn’t live in a house or a city made with human hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24). • He says He’s the God for all individuals, not prejudiced against any nation, sex, territory or

During the wilderness wanderings, Moses’ sister Miriam grew old watching her baby brother lead a great nation and her other brother, Aaron, work as the highest spiritual leader of the new nation of Israel. At some point, when Miriam should have been displaying the wisdom of age, she made a bad decision. Maybe she became jealous of her brothers. After all, she did help save Moses when he was just a baby. She did lead the women, and people called her a prophetess. Or, maybe she felt unhappy about Moses marrying again, to a woman from Cush, more than likely with dark skin! Of all the nerve! Now, this new woman would get all the attention! Whatever the reason, Miriam managed to convince Aaron to go along with causing trouble in the camp. Aaron could serve as the great leader! Moses was just the baby of the family! Miriam and Aaron, each well over a 100-years-old, began chirping louder and louder, when unexpectedly—God came for a visit. The Lord moved near with His cloud and scolded the two badly-behaved senior citizens for their terrible sins of jealousy, backbiting and treason (Numbers 12:1-15). Since Miriam was the ringleader (remember the golden calf incident, Aaron had no backbone), God righteously punished only her with full-body leprosy—a white blob of oatmeal-with-clothes-on! Miriam’s brothers immediately begged God’s mercy for her. The Lord said she must be punished for seven days! What an ego-buster! God visually displayed the disgust He has for envy and spiritual