In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

For many reasons and from many enemies and deceived people, the fact that Jesus Christ created the heaven and the earth has been brought into question in the minds of those who believe in Jesus Christ, or at least claim to.

If you're uncertain, you have to go nowhere other than to the first 10 words of the Bible (King James Version) to rid yourself of all doubt concerning the reality of God creating all things.

As the title of this post says: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It's as clear as that. There is nothing that can be added or taken away from it. God created it.

Here's how Colossians 1:16, 17 says it:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Again, there is no ambiguity as to the fact that Jesus Christ created everything. The "all" in verse 16 confirms again there is nothing that was made that didn't come forth from the person of Jesus Christ.

In John 1 we have these words affirmed again. Here is how John declares and reveals it:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Here we have same revelation that "all" things were made by Him, and reiterates the fact that there was absolutely nothing made. 

The reason people attempt to distort Christ as creator is it is an attempt to convince themselves and others there is no final judgement. If there is no creator, there is no one that will hold any of us accountable for our sins.

Paul dealt with this in the first chapter or Romans, saying this:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

What the Holy Spirit reveals through Paul is that these people that assert these lie really know the world has been created by God, but the creation itself is a testimony against them.

It's the magnificence and awesomeness of creation that declares God, and those who say differently are considered to be without excuse because the invisible things of God are clearly revealed and seen in the creation.

Don't believe anyone that lies about evolution or the latest flavor of anti-creation assertions. The physical creation demands people acknowledge it came from the invisible and eternal God, and by extension to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Everything that is (outside of evil and sin) were created by Jesus Christ. To deny that is to deny our creator. To deny our creator is to invite the wrath of God that comes on those who as an excuse live in ungodliness and unrighteous; not accepting the righteousness of Jesus Christ offered through His death and resurrection.

 

The Jesus Conspiracy

Long ago when Jesus Christ created the earth, He had created the heavens before them, and spirit beings called angels, which were led by three key angels named Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer.

They were apparently in charge of all angels, with a third being under the leadership of each one. When Lucifer, which was later had his name changed to Satan, rebelled against the plan of God for creation, the angels he oversaw fell with him, and they've been opposing the eternal purpose of God the Father in Christ ever since.

Most of us know that Satan went to the first representatives of the human race - Adam and Eve - and made the offer of an alternative life to live outside of the command and purpose of God. He approached Eve and she was deceived and ate of the alien life form, and then offered it up to Adam to eat of as well. Adam ate the fruit of the life form knowing fully what he was doing, and the human race, from that time forward, has been imprinted with the characteristics and person of Satan, to one degree or another. The Bible calls it the "flesh."

Now Why do I call it a life form rather than the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? The answer is I have never believed it to be a tree, in the physical sense, because the Tree of Life, the life essence offered by God, was never in fact a tree, but Jesus Christ Himself. In the same way the Holy Spirit is identified as a river, so is the Jesus Christ as the Tree of Life.

So what Eve had just digested of the essence of Satan, now was imbibed by Adam. It's doubtful it was really two physical trees standing in the Garden of Eden, but almost certainly two opposing life forms and life styles.

Whether you agree with the physical versus essence argument isn't relevant to the argument, as the consequences are the same, and Jesus and we have to deal with that either way. I only mention to give you an idea of what it is that really happened in Eden, which was the embracing of what and who Satan was, rather than Jesus Christ.

This was all said to say this: Jesus Christ, from that time forward, has entered into a battle with Satan over the hearts and minds of the human race, including Christians, and He has provided a magnificent conspiracy to undermine the works of Satan.

What is that fantastic conspiracy led by Jesus Christ? It's the complete and total victory in the cross, and the resultant resurrection and ascension into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

But more than that, the same life that died, resurrected and ascended, was now sent back into those that were born again, or more fully, born from above, and is now expanding and enlarging in true believers who have repented and accepted the life form that had been offered to them thousands of years ago.

In other words, the way to the Tree of Life was again opened by Christ, and we now eat of that life form, which is Christ, as we are transformed into His image. At least that's part of the tremendous eternal purpose of God, where His purpose is to have Christ be pre-eminent in all things.

So while Satan in the world to imprint His person hood on the human race, Jesus Christ surpassed it all and made a completely new humanity that was born directly out of Heaven by the Spirit. That is what a true Christian really is, and there is no other.

Jesus Christ said that you must be born again, or born from above, and only those who have been born of the Spirit are truly saved. That in fact, is the definition of what a Christian is, and you know them by the fruits coming out of their lives from the live of Christ within them.

The is the countermeasure of the Godhead against their enemy, and this grand conspiracy continues on, and will continue on until the end of this age, and then throughout the ages, as Christ continues to reveal Himself in and through us forever and ever.

This goes beyond just getting right with God and being saved, to the full heart of God from before creation and sin, where He and They had a purpose they developed and committed to, which in the heart and mind of God, has never been changed or altered.

Welcome to the conspiracy.

A Lesson from the 'Jesus People'

I think that in the distant future, historians interested in Christian history will look back at what's called the "Jesus people" movement and identify it as a turning point in history overall.

Why do I say that?

Not because of the elements connected to what happened, as most of them fell by the wayside and very little is left today from the experience. While there are people who do connect it with some ongoing Churches today, overall it has largely been neglected or misunderstood as to its importance.

What were some of the characteristics connected to it? Community, innocence, passion, spontaneity, little leadership, creativity, ordinary people, communalism, excesses in some cases, organic, simplicity and short-term thinking, among many other things.

While much of that is important, it's not what makes the experience significant. What makes it significant is that God Himself initiated the move; it was happening outside the institutional church and institutional leaders. That's one of the reasons when many have commented on it throughout the years, much of the excesses are mentioned, rather than the tremendous strengths involved as well.

As a matter of fact, when the institutional church finally caught up with them, the impetus was winding down, and the 1972 event called Explo 72 was probably the final nail in the coffin. At that event none other than Billy Graham and Bill Bright played significant roles in the meetings which attracted tens of thousands.

A lot of believers have felt that the watering down of the message and institutional church leaders influencing the naive new believers into wearing the right clothes and hair lengths (outward appearances) took the focus off of the simple love of Jesus they had been centered on.

The point I want to bring up though is one of the major reasons the movement stalled and failed, and what we can learn from it.

Primarily it was a victim of its own success. When it became public knowledge and the media began to cover it, it was doomed to failure.

This is important because it's far better when important change like this happens that believers can grow up in relative anonymity until God may choose to reveal Himself through them at the right time - if ever.

Very few believers can ever handle publicity or fame, and shouldn't really have to. Yet the media world we live in makes it hard to grow up spiritually in obscurity.

And if we do happen to become known, we start to think it's the Holy Spirit moving, when in fact it can be the very opposite. As Paul said, he was little known but well known. We need to be the same way. The church may know us, but we won't be popular in the world, and neither should we be.

It's far better to grow and live life in Christ in a quiet and peaceable manner, than it is to become well known and untold pressures put upon us.

There are ways to make an impact without becoming famous or important in our own eyes. The costs of becoming visible in the climate we live in is far too much of a price to pay.

Even so, we will be tested as to our foundations and commitment to the eternal purpose of God lived in us. It's hard enough to do it in everyday life, let alone adding fuel to the fire by allowing ourselves to be put under the type of scrutiny and opening ourselves up to all the people with agendas out there.

We need to be careful how we hold our stewardship of the eternal purpose of God. It's far more profitable to grow and learn spontaneously by the Spirit of God over a long period of time, than use the old methods of trying to increase through our own strength, strategies and plans, thinking we're called to do so.

The reason this is such a temptation is we see something of the heart of Christ in His purpose, as then respond in our own strength, thinking we're increasing the kingdom of God, when in reality we're building our own kingdoms out from ourselves rather than out from Him.

In the end, I don't think what began to happen in the mid 1960s was a failure in any way. What it did was remind us that God can easily move outside the institutional church system, and can make an extraordinary impact on the lives of men and women who want only Him.

The key thing we need to learn if we want to go forward is to stay focused on Christ alone, and stay away from the temptation to become well known. Even if we are approached and we think it's a good opportunity to grow and become known, I would stay away from it and quietly let the Lord do His work.

After all, He's never in a hurry.

This isn't to discourage growth, just that it has to be growth from God rather than human ingenuity and thinking.

What happened with the publicity connected to the Jesus people was the immaturity of the new and primarily young believers was used as an excuse to attack the overall impetus of what God was doing, and the end result was that publicity caused the purpose to really be stillborn before it was able to take root.

We are at that stage again, as Chrisians start to look seriously at alternative ways of meeting as the church and what it really means. Unfortunately there are already those who are off the foundation of Jesus Christ and embracing all sorts of irrelevant worldly issues rather than the only thing that really matters.

Don't be discouraged though if you're not one of them. All the publicity they're attempting to generate will fall by the wayside relatively soon, as it always does.

For those serious and focused on Christ alone, we need to continue to hold to the head and not be tempted to let go.

Much of what the Jesus people experienced for a short period of time was from God and gave a little glimpse of what is in store for the future of the church. Let us not be in too much of a hurry to grow and become well known, rather let us continue to root down deep into Him and never move off of that.

For those of you who have gathered quietly for a number of years, this doesn't mean growth won't come to you, just be careful of it coming forth from Jesus and not from the current temptation to make it a popular experience.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life - 3

One interesting thing when reading the story about Adam and Eve and the tree of life, is God never said a thing about it. Read it and see at the beginning. It is mentioned that the tree of life was in the center of the garden, but it doesn't say God communicates anything about that to Adam - before the bringing to life of Eve, or afterwards. It only says they can eat of any tree in Eden, with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Another interesting and enlightening part of the story, is right next to the tree of life in the center of the garden, is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Both are said to be in the center of the garden, which means they were side by side.

That seems to speak to them being competitive in nature, and opposing possibilities.

I've heard some say that the reason it was sin to partake in it was because mankind prematurely reached for knowledge before partaking of life. I think that's completely wrong and false. Those who assert that are intellectuals who attempt to justify their way of thinking and interaction with the scriptures. They're wrong.

How do I know they're wrong? Look at the last part of the book of Revelation. Along with the throne being in the center of New Jerusalem, there is also the tree of life and the river. Where do you see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It's not there. And it's not there because it doesn't belong there.

Inside this city, which is the people of God, there is only one tree, and that tree is Jesus Christ - the tree of life. To say the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a separate part of God is ridiculous to assert.

That would mean that Jesus Christ as the word of God really didn't contain the full thought of the Father. When Jesus said He and the Father were one, He was saying if you see Me you see the Father. To make it look like there was something more to the Father that was kept from Christ wouldn't make any sense, and would make Jesus a liar, or minimally confused. We know that isn't true, so these types of assertions are wrong, and the people making them confused.

When Jesus is referred to as the word of God, it means everything that God had to say in and through Him was represented; that's why Jesus is called the Word of God. He was the full representation of who the Father was. So to have a second tree being something of God but not represented by the life of the Father in Christ would be complete confusion and contrary to what the scriptures reveal throughout them of Christ.

The trees were two competing life forms, or rather, two ways of living. Life is defined by Christ as fellowship with the Godhead and man, so life in that sense can't be ascribed to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just like Satan exists, but he's not life, but rather murder and death. Because something's alive doesn't mean it gives life. That's why Adam was commanded by God to guard the garden, which he immediately failed to do.

So here we are in the garden of Eden where God put Adam and Eve, and we have all this abundance available as expressed by God through trees to eat, with only one guideline: that they refrain from eating from one tree. That was it!

In the middle of paradise where mankind was placed, we have the history of man about to be decided, as the great enemy of manking attempts to immediately move them off of the eternal purpose of God, which as we know now, he was successful in doing.

It all centered around what man was going to internalize. God was saying we have to be careful what we eat, and He wasn't talking about natural food for the body.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

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Jesus Take Us As We Are

This is a song that we used to sing with a bunch of us that lived together in a neighborhood and just spend time together loving the Lord. It is from about 25 years ago, and we learned it from brothers and sisters that were living the same way in Britian.


Jesus take me as I am

For I can come no other way

Take me deeper into you

Make my flesh life melt away

Make me like a precious stone

Chrystal clear and finely honed

Life of Jesus shining through

Giving glory back to you



I wish I had the music to upload so you could listen to it, but the words speak for themselves.

We also used to change it around sometimes and make it 'us' and not only individual. Either way it was very moving to all of us.

Gary