Jesus...

I've been reading the Gospels again, and this time through the thing that impresses me the most is the utter "supernaturalness" of everything in them.  It's true, this supernatural aspect works its way out in the most mundane of circumstances (Jesus and a fig tree, for example), but the supernatural is always there, underlying every event, every word, every deed.  Whether you meet Jesus on the way to Nain raising a child from the dead as he's about to be buried, with everyone watching, or you listen to him excoriate a Pharisee for his inner thoughts, all is supernatural--and all is natural.  They mingle, like a solution of sugar and water, where it's impossible to distinguish the one from the other, and where you have "sweet water" when you mix them, not a mixture like water and oil, where the oil always is separate from the water. This is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Gospels, and it brings up a question:  How can anyone say that "Jesus was just a great teacher?"  It's amazing to me that any rational human being could come up with this after reading the four Gospels in the New Testament.  If someone doesn't believe, that's fine, but it's utterly wrong to cloak that unbelief in fine words that disguise the true meaning of what one is saying.  Telling the world that this is "all legend" won't cut it either, because that viewpoint exposes much more than it wishes--the fact that the bias against the supernatural is so great that it is never even considered as a possibility.  Once one admits that the supernatural is possible, and that we do not live in a closed universe with nobody in charge, everything becomes possible.  It's possible, for example, that angels and demons exist.  That Satan exists. That God exists. That Jesus actually DID do the the "mighty works" the Apostles said that He did.  That He IS the "Light of the World," whom if anyone follows, he will find his path full of light, even though it is dark all around.  Who is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only Way to the Father." And finally, who holds the keys of Hell and Death, of Life and Eternity, whose keys open the door for you into everlasting life.
Why not actually read these four short booklets?  See if they ring true.  See if they make sense.  Study them yourself, don't just let someone who doesn't believe what's in them tell you what's there.  Do your own "scientific experiment." Let your mind become open to the possibility that we don't live in a closed universe, with only rational, scientific explanations for what occurs.
When you do that, you will be frightened by what actually could be true. And then you will be enlightened, and finally, delighted--because you will be able to experience all of the world that is, not just the part that your eyes see.
Don't miss out.  Let your mind become open, and ask:  "Are these things true?"

Angels, Angels...

Many people are almost obsessed with angels.  They are powerful spirit beings who watch over believers, and they are important-- incredibly so--but did you know that man is actually programmed to be greater?

Here's what the Bible says in Hebrews 2:
5 For He [God] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.
6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? Man, of course, is generic here, and includes women).
7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet [man's]." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

Man rules the earth.  He's the top predator, the one who decides what happens to the environment, suits the earth to his own purposes, who dominates the material creation here on earth for his own ends. 

At present, however, he's "a little lower than the angels," but not forever.The spirit world is almost totally out of his control, and anything above the earth is beyond him. Eventually, though, "All things will be in subjection to him." This will be one of God's greatest acts--making it so that the "King of the Earth" will eventually rule over both the physical and spiritual worlds, and that man will move from King of the material earth to "King of all Creation," under God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  We see that foreshadowed (as we'll find later in Hebrews 2) by the career of Jesus--lowly man, ministering, suffering, and dying, then risen from death because He could not be held by it, and finally living with His Father by the power of an indestructible life as the Head of His own new creation of men and women, those who are the possessors of everlasting life and who have the right to be called "sons of God." The future of spiritual man is bright. It's forever. It's for you, if you want it, and it's yours for the asking.  Embrace it.