MODERN MANNA

In 1 Kings chapter 11, we learn that King Solomon had a servant named Jeroboam, who was a mighty man of valor. The king saw that this young man was industrious, so he made him ruler over all the affairs of the house of Joseph. Solomon sinned against God and did some things that God had said not to do, so God told him that he would take the kingdom from his house and give it to his servant. He would leave Solomon’s son one tribe for David’s sake. So God sent the prophet Ahijah to tell Jeroboam that he was going to make him king of Israel.

Then King Solomon decided to kill his faithful servant to keep the whole kingdom for his son. To avoid this death sentence, Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until he was told that King Solomon was dead.

In chapter 12, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king of Israel, and Jeroboam returned from Egypt. Then, he and the people of Israel went to talk to the new king. They asked him to make their labor lighter than his father, Solomon, had, but he refused. In fact, he told them he was going to make things tougher for them than the former king had.

So, Israel decided to rebel against King Rehoboam, and they made Jeroboam king over the ten rebel tribes. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, just as God had said. The ten tribes continued to travel back to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple there, but after a while, Jeroboam began to worry. He was afraid that if the people of his kingdom continued to go up to Jerusalem, to sacrifice in the house of God, they might rebel against him, and return to the house of David.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Jeroboam offered Israel some options. He set up two different places of worship in his kingdom; one at Bethel, and one at Dan. He set up a golden calf at each location, and encouraged the children of Israel to come, and worship at one or the other, instead of continuing to journey back and forth to Jerusalem. He told the people, “It’s too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” The people bought it. They started going to the place of worship at Dan. The Bible says this became a sin. Then, Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the tribe of Levi. Remember, God had given the Priesthood to the Levites.

1 Kings 12, verse 32, tells us that Jeroboam held a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast they have in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar to the calves that he had made, and he burnt incense as well.

Then in chapter 13, God sent a prophet from Judah with a message to King Jeroboam. God was not happy with the things he had done since becoming king. The prophet said a child, named Josiah, would be born into the house of David, and he would destroy the idols, and the groves, and the priests that Jeroboam had made.

When Jeroboam heard this, he stretched out his hand and gave the command for the prophet to be restrained. When he did this, his hand shriveled up and he couldn’t move it or pull it back to him. So he asked the prophet to pray and ask God to heal his hand. So he prayed for Jeroboam, and God restored his hand back to the way it was before.

The king was pleased, so he invited the man of God to come to his house and clean up and refresh himself, and he offered him a reward. The Prophet refused the offer and said, “If you would give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place. The LORD told me I should not eat bread, nor drink water, nor go back the same way I came.” So he left and went a different way than what he came.

Now, there was an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him what the man of God had said, and done to Jeroboam. After finding out from his sons which way to go, he headed out to catch up with this messenger and found him resting under an oak tree. He invited him to come to his house and eat bread, but the man of God told him what the LORD had said, and refused to go back with him. Then the old man said, “I’m also a prophet, just like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, and said, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread, and drink water.” But he lied to him.

Notice that the man of God had the word of God. God had told him exactly what to do and what not to do. Why would he ever listen to someone telling him something contrary to what God had already clearly told him?

Look at Paul’s instructions in Galatians 1:8-10.

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed. 
9 As we said before, so I say again now, If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be cursed. 
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Friends, we have the word of God in our hands today, but unfortunately, many are still deceived by the lies of the enemy. Wake up, before it’s too late. Look in the Bible for instructions from God, and hold firmly to his words. Don’t be deceived by listening to the many things that contradict what God has already told us in his word.

So what do you think this man of God did when the old prophet lied to him? Look back at 1 Kings 13:19.

19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

He disobeyed God. This reminds me of Eve in the garden of Eden when the serpent told her something different than what God had said, and she believed the lie. God had given her and Adam specific instructions, but the serpent came along with something new and different, and even though it contradicted the word of God, they still did it and disobeyed God. Now, this prophet of God has been lied to, and he believed the lie. Let’s continue reading on with verse 20.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet that brought him back: 
21 And he cried out to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD, Because you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 
22 But came back, and ate bread and drank water in the place which the LORD did say to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water, your carcass will not come to the tomb of your ancestors.

The man of God saddled his donkey and left, but he didn’t get far before a lion met him and killed him. Then, the lion and the donkey both just stood there by the dead body.

So Sad. This account shows that there are consequences to disobeying God. Look at all Adam and Eve lost by disobeying God, all because of a lie. Look what this prophet of God lost by listening to a lie. We have a lot to lose if we listen to lies. Eternal life is at stake if we don’t obey God. We have to be on our toes and refuse to listen to lies.

How can we recognize a lie? By knowing the truth. Jesus said, “God’s word is truth” (John 17:17). The word of God is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

We have the word of God recorded in the Bible. If anyone tells you something contrary to God’s word, don’t believe them. How will we know if they’re lying or not? We have to know the Bible. To know it, we have to prayerfully read it, and study it every day. It should be our daily bread. It’s like the manna that God sent down to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness. This is manna from heaven for us. Modern Manna. Heavenly food to nourish our spiritual bodies.

God has protected and preserved his word for thousands of years so we can have it today. Satan has always attacked God’s word, and he will never stop. He’s always trying to get us to disobey God’s word. He’ll try anything, but he seems to favor lying to get us to disobey God. Many of the modern Bible translations are full of lies, in addition to deleting many entire verses. We need to be very careful about which versions we read. Do some research on your own and see where each translation originated from.

Satan not only uses these false Bibles to deceive people, but he uses those who read them to sow seeds of doubt in others. Only by knowing the truth can we be sure we won’t be deceived. If you just listen to some Christians talk, you’ll notice that there are many contradictions in their beliefs.

Many are starving because they never even pick up God’s word to read it. Many are only eating this modern manna once or twice a week as the preacher feeds it to them. We do need that, but we also need to learn to feed ourselves. We need it daily. How long can our physical bodies live without physical food? Not long. The same is true of our spiritual bodies. They can’t live long without spiritual food.

In like manner, if someone puts poison in our food we will most likely die. When we receive spiritual food that is laced with poison we will most likely die, spiritually. If you’re one of those who think there’s no way a preacher will lie to you, then you are very mistaken. The Apostle Paul said they would (2 Corinthians 11:2-4). The Bible also says that Satan has ministers pretending to be ministers of God (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). That old prophet lied to this young man of God, and yes, there are preachers today who lie. Again, we can only spot a lie if we know the truth.

Isaiah 8:20 says, “if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Our creator has prepared this manna for us, and we need to fill ourselves with it every day and know the truth so we won’t be deceived. It’s the only way. Know the truth, and you will recognize a lie when it comes along.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker that does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY dividing the word of truth.” So, does that mean God’s word can be wrongly divided? Sure it can, and it often is. Many Christians believe the old testament is irrelevant, and many even refuse to read it. That’s not “rightly dividing” the word.

Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:..” That’s the way to rightly divide the word of God. Reading the Bible is fine, and very important, but we must also study it. Meditate on it. The best way is to study subjects. If you want to know what the Bible says about grace, first, use a concordance or Bible software, and find out the definition of grace. Then, search for the word grace, anything that relates to grace. When you have finished, you will know what the Bible actually says about grace. That’s how you rightly divide the word of truth. It’s very dangerous to build a doctrine on one verse of scripture. Many have done just that and have led others astray because they didn’t study the Bible for themselves.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.” We have to know the word of God in order to properly obey God, and teach our children to obey him. How will we know it if we don’t study it? Acts 17:11 says the men of Berea were noble and received the word with all readiness of mind, AND they “searched the scriptures daily,” to see if what they were being told was true. That’s what we must do. We need to be sure what our preachers and teachers are telling us is true. That’s the way we benefit from this modern manna; this daily bread that feeds our spiritual bodies.

1 Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let them become a fool so they may be wise.” When we study God’s word, we need to put away our preconceived ideas and be open-minded so we can see what the Bible really says. Then, we need to be willing to reject what we thought was the truth when we discover we were wrong. That’s how we grow and become wise in the word. Holding on to preconceived ideas has kept many people from understanding the truth. Jesus said God’s word is Truth (John 17:17).

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 
6 Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your paths.

Trust the Lord. Trust his word. Don’t trust your own understanding. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word. We have to get our doctrine straight from the Bible.

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

Jesus quoted this scripture when Satan tempted him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) and we need to be able to do that as well. We need to fill our minds with God’s word because we won’t always have a copy of it with us.

In conclusion, God's Holy Book, the Bible, is Modern Manna, sent down from God out of heaven. It is spiritual food for our spiritual bodies. We need to eat it daily. Learn it. Memorize it. Get to know it so you won’t be deceived. Pray without ceasing. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word, and read it AND study it EVERY day. Your life depends on it.

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A BOY, A SNAKE, TWO WOLVES, AND A SONG

When I was young, my grandmother told me a story about a young boy and a snake. The boy’s mother gave him some milk with some cornbread mixed with it. Like he had done the last few times she fed him, he took his food and went outside.

When she decided to go out and see what he was doing, she found him sitting by the rock chimney feeding a snake. It scared her so bad that she grabbed her son and ran back into the house with him, and began checking him to see if he had been bitten. I don’t remember if there was a moral to the story, or if it was even true. My grandmother was part Native American, and she told us lots of stories from Native American culture as well as fairy tales, from children’s books.

There are many old Indian tales that are very interesting. Like the one about how snakes got their poison, and the one about how the world was created. I like the one about the two wolves living inside every person. It is a metaphor explaining the two natures that we all have. The good nature and the bad one. The moral of that story is that whichever one you feed will be the strongest.

This same idea can be found in the Bible. There, it refers to the old man of sin and the new man in Christ. Whichever one we feed will grow strong and thrive. There’s a good little kid's song that I learned very early in my childhood that came from that very idea. It says,

“Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.”

“Oh, be careful little ears what you hear.”

“For the Father up above is looking down in love.

So be careful little eyes what you see (hear).”

That’s a great little song with a great big message. We have to guard our minds and be careful about what we see and hear. That’s what God tells us throughout the Bible.

Proverbs 4:23 says, Guard your heart (mind) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

We have to be careful where we go, and what we say and do as well. Those are other lines in the song. 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says, Refrain from all forms of evil. 

The first verse in the book of Job tells us that Job was a holy man that revered God and went out of his way to avoid evil. If we want to remain holy we have to do the same thing. We have to be careful where we go.

Both the song and the Bible also show us that we should watch what we say and do. This is very important. When I was a young Christian, I remember hearing a few older Christians cursing. I’ll never forget how shocked I was. I couldn’t believe a saved person would say things like that. Then I learned that many Christians don’t see anything wrong with it at all, but the Bible says they’re wrong.

2 Timothy 2:16 

16 But shun profane and vain talking: for they will lead to more ungodliness.

Did you get that? Using profanity leads to ungodliness. People who want to be godly should avoid profanity. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Our words show what’s in our hearts. I know that to be true from my own personal experience.

James 1:26 

26 If any of you think you are religious and don’t bridle your tongue, but you deceive your own heart, your religion is worthless.

“So be careful little (and big) lips what you say.”

Don’t be buddies with the snake. Feed the good wolf and avoid all evil like it’s the Plague, and grow more godly.

For an in-depth study of what God says about using profanity read What’s Wrong With Using Profanity?

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THE 12 DISCIPLES AND THE 12 APOSTLES

The twelve disciples are mentioned four times in the gospels. Matthew referred to them in the first verse of chapter 10 and again in the first verse of chapter 11. Mark wrote about them in verse 17 of chapter 20, while Luke mentioned them in Luke 9:1. Did Jesus have only twelve disciples? Some people think that’s the case, but Bible students understand this is not the case at all?

Jesus chose twelve men to be with him daily, to be close to him, to learn from him, and to help him in his ministry. These twelve are referred to as disciples but they were also called Apostles by Jesus (Luke 6:13). They were the twelve pillars of the new testament church, Jesus being the foundation. They are called Apostles in fifty-nine verses of the new testament, but four of those verses refer to them specifically as the twelve Apostles. According to Strong’s Concordance, an Apostle is an Ambassador, or a Delegate, a Special Messenger.

Although the Bible does refer to the twelve Apostles as the twelve disciples a few times, they were not the only disciples of Jesus. In the word of God, all of Christ’s followers were called disciples, not just twelve of them. He had thousands of disciples when he was here on earth and millions more since he went back to heaven. If you’ve been born again, then you’re his disciple, as well.

We often say the word disciple means follower, but it actually has a deeper meaning than what we think of today when we hear the word. In the Greek language, it means learner or student. The true disciples of Jesus will spend time with him every day and learn from him through prayer and Bible study. Then they will practice what they learn and become more like Jesus every day. At least, that’s how should be.

James, the Lord’s brother, tells us to be doers of God’s word and not hearers only (James 1:22). He said we will be blessed if we follow God’s instructions. If we want to truly follow Jesus we must be doers and not just hearers. So let’s be students of Jesus. Let’s listen, and learn from him. Let’s read, study, and obey his word, and claim the blessings that come from being a disciple of the One who created the universe and everything in it.

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ABDUCTED BY ALIENS

One night, when I was eight years old I had a terrible dream. I continued to have the same dream, periodically, in every detail, for the next thirty years.

When the dream begins it’s night, and my entire family is gathered at my great aunt’s house. My aunt, my mother, both my grandmothers, and my two sisters I had at the time, were all in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal. My two grandpas, who had both died years earlier, were also there, sitting in the living room, watching TV with my dad, and my great-uncle. They were all very focused on what they were watching, not saying a word.

I was there in the living room with the men. I was walking around, looking at them, but they didn’t seem to notice me at all like I wasn’t even there. I sensed something was wrong, so I slowly walked into the kitchen where the women were. They were all talking, and laughing as they prepared the food. I looked around at each of their faces for a minute. I could see by their laughter and smiles that they were all happy.

As I continued to look around, I caught a glimpse of something moving outside the window that was directly behind where my aunt was sitting at the table. As I slowly moved around to where I could get a better look, I saw an alien looking in the window. I didn’t want to scare the women, so I slowly turned and left the kitchen. I went back to the living room to tell the men about it, but they were all gone, and the TV was off.

At that moment, I heard a noise at the front door. The deadbolt started to vibrate. Then it slowly slid back and the door slowly opened. I saw a long set of gold-colored stairs coming down from the sky directly to the front door. Three aliens were slowly walking down the stairs. The one in the middle was taller than the other two. When they finally reached the threshold and stepped inside the house, they started moving around very quickly. One of them grabbed one of my sisters and placed a large band-aid on her face. Another grabbed me from behind and stuck the same kind of band-aid on my face. Then, with a quick jerk, the alien pulled the band-aid off my face, and everything went black.

That’s where the dream ended. That’s where it always ended. For more than thirty years that dream haunted me. Not every night, but quite often. I always wondered why it kept returning time and time again. I was sure it meant something, but I couldn’t figure out what. If I were like some people who believe in little, green aliens, I might have concluded that we had been abducted by them. I’ve always believed in God, and I know he has all the answers, and I talked to him about it, on several occasions, but I had never gotten an answer.

Then, one morning I woke up at the end of the dream. As I lay there in bed thinking about it, I asked God again to show me what the dream meant, and this time he did. For the first time in thirty years, it was clear. I really can’t put it into words but he revealed the whole thing all at once. Like opening a door, or pulling back a curtain. I just knew instantly. I was amazed as I recalled the dream and went through it step by step. Here’s what God revealed to me.

THE MISSING MEN
The Men didn’t notice me because they never really knew me. My Grandmother had raised me and one of my sisters from the time I was three, and she was two. My grandpa on my mother’s side had died before I was born and I only saw my grandpa on my dad’s side three times in my whole life; once when I was very young, once when he was sick and in bed before he died, and the last time was at his wake after he died. I never saw my dad enough to get to know him until I was twelve, and my uncle had only married my aunt a little while before the dream started. So, there had been no men in my life up to this point.

THE ALIENS
Right around the time I turned eight years old, my mom and dad separated again, and she came to stay with us. By that time she had another child who was five years old. My mother left her with us for a few days, and someone reported this to the Welfare office, which is now known as the Department of Human Services (DHS). Two female social workers and a male police officer came, and forcibly, took all three of us and put us into foster homes. They were the three aliens in my dream.

THE BAND-AIDS
Putting the band-aids on us, and ripping them off, represented the fact that they tried to help fix our situation, but we had to go through some pain. We were put into foster care for a while, and some bad things happened there. Our grandmother went to court and got full custody of all three of us, and she raised us to adulthood. Many years have passed since then, but we have not yet fully recovered from the whole situation. God is working on it, and fixing one thing at a time, as we allow him to. In 2 Timothy 1:7, the Bible says,

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

This is what God has done, and is doing in our lives. Restoring all that Satan took from us, and replacing the spirit of fear with the Spirit of power, love, and sound minds. What an amazing God we serve. Here’s another amazing thing. After he revealed the meaning of the dream to me that morning, I have never had it again, and I no longer have nightmares like I did before that morning. Many of the fears that I lived with for years vanished as I drew closer to the Lord. It’s amazing to see God working to heal, and restore. I pray that you will trust God, and ask him to work in your life to heal and restore whatever has been broken. He will help you with your inner struggles, whatever they may be. He will put all the pieces back into the right places, and get you back on the right road, and he’ll help you to keep moving in the right direction.

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TREES AND MEN, VINES AND SIN

In the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to work a little in my yard, to get it ready for spring. I moved some old broken cinder blocks that had once been at the edge of the wood line but were now in the woods because, for the last several years, I haven’t been mowing there and the woods were taking over more of my yard.

I picked up some dead limbs that had fallen off the old oak tree behind the house. I raked some of the leaves out of the yard and threw them in a low spot in the woods which needs to be filled. Maybe they will eventually rot and become dirt.

I finished taking out a stump from a small tree I had cut down a few summers ago. I cleared away some shrubs and brush from a spot at the edge of the woods where I want to plant some wild apricots, and I worked on clearing a spot for a garden. Last week, I dug up a small spot there and planted some potatoes. I’m not much of a gardener but this year I want to plant a few things and maybe get some practice.

I like having a nice, clean, well-kept yard, but I haven’t really been able to work like I need to in order to keep it like I want it. I’ve just been doing the bare minimum for the last few years, so it’s a mess. The bushes around the edge of the yard are out of control. They look terrible and they’re making my yard smaller every year. This week, I thought I would spend a few minutes pruning them. The next thing I knew it had been over an hour and I still wasn’t finished. It will take a while to get everything in good shape just doing a little at a time but maybe I’ll get there eventually.

As I was trimming the bushes, I noticed something interesting. There were vines growing on several of them. I remembered how beautiful they had been the last few summers running all over a cluster of bushes and hanging down. The leaves were a different color and a different size from the bushes and the blooms and full flowers were amazing. It made a beautiful arrangement with all the different colors.

Looking at them this week, though, a memory is all there was. The naked vines covering the naked bushes just looked like a mangled mess. The bushes that were covered with vines looked much different from the ones without them. They just looked sick. They were twisted and bowed over from being pulled and weighed down. The vines have been slowly choking the life out of them. Several of the bigger bushes were already dead.

As I cut the vines off, some of them sprang back up immediately like they were happy to be set free. Some of them took a little longer, while some of the others just stayed down. I guess they were damaged more than the other ones. Maybe they’ll liven up in the spring.

On several occasions in the Bible, you’ll find trees being used to represent humans in parables and prophecy. So often, we can draw parallels from nature that can teach us valuable lessons.

Many times, we are like those small trees and sin is like those vines. It is often beautiful on the outside, especially in the beginning. We don’t realize the negative effect it’s having on us, usually, until it’s too late.

Sin infects our lives and destroys our minds and bodies. It drags us down and holds us there. We become sick and it slowly chokes the life out of us and eventually, it kills us. I’ve seen it many times, especially with substance abuse but any sin is equally as devastating. Even if others around us don’t know what specifically is going on, they can see the effects that sin has on us.

Our only hope is in Jesus (1 Tim. 1:1). He is the only way for us to be set free from the chokehold that sin has on us (John 14:6, John 8:36, Gal. 5:1, Rom. 6:22). 

When he sets us free we’re just like those bushes that were once held down by the vines. The weight of sin is removed and we come alive. We’re so happy and grateful to be free. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.

Are you being dragged down by the weight of sin? Are you having the life slowly choked out of you? If that’s the condition you’re in, you need to know there’s hope. Call on Jesus and he will break the hold that sin has on you and set you free. Then you can stand up straight and move forward. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Do it today.

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THANK YOU FOR 200,000 VIEWS

                              

I want to thank everyone who has subscribed and visited my blog. As you may or may not know, I have two hosts for this blog. I have the same content on both sites. Between the BLOGGER.COM site and the WORDPRESS.COM site, there are now over 200,000 views. Praise the Lord.

Many posts have been viewed over 100 times each. Some over 200, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800 and 900 times. Two have over 1,000 views each. Thank you Jesus. There are readers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Iran, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States.

Thank you all for reading, and sharing my posts with others. Thank you for all the encouraging words. Thank you, especially for your prayers. Please keep those coming, for my blog, my ministry, and for me and my family as well. The last few years have been challenging for our family, but God has been so good to us. Thank you all for being so gracious when I’ve made spelling and grammar errors.

Thank you for sticking with me through all the different incarnations of the blog while it took a different direction from what I had first imagined. I don’t know how many times I changed the name, and I can’t promise I won’t change it again. Some of the content here is from my first two published books; THE JOURNEY TO HEAVEN, and INSPIRATION FOR THE JOURNEY. You can find them on Amazon.

I started this blog, to share what the Bible really says on topics of controversy, such as the Worldwide Flood, The Trinity, and The 6 Literal Days of Creation versus 6,000 Years. Eventually, I posted all the studies that I had completed at the time. I was working on more Bible studies and some other ideas, but to thoroughly study these subjects takes time, and I needed to post something for my readers while I was working on the next Bible study.

I had lots of other material completed. I’ve been writing in some form or another most of my life. I’ve written songs, poems, short stories, stories of fiction, true stories, and even comedy skits. I was working on several books at that time, but this was a blog for presenting Bible studies, I kept telling myself.

So I decided to start another blog to present other things I was interested in and other topics that may not deal directly with Bible subjects. I later scrapped that idea for something different. After much prayer, I changed the name of the blog, and started posting some other stuff I had written, including my Sermons. I would post more Bible studies as I completed them, and that’s been the format since.

Of course, I’ve been praying since day one for God to bless my blog and bring people to it who would be blessed by it, and for him to lead me in what I should post. I set out to finish one of the books I had started writing but hadn’t done anything to in quite a while. It was about some of my experiences growing up in church, and some of the struggles and blessings I experienced after becoming a Christian.

I started thinking that these could be the kind of stories I could write to fill in when I didn’t have a Bible study completed. I could write about things that happened while I was growing up and the lessons I learned. I prayed about it, and that’s the direction I took. I have several other things I would like to add to the blog, and different kinds of content, including my Christian song lyrics, some poems I’ve written, and some drawings and other art that I’ve done. I’m working on a Podcast for these posts now as well. I just need to find the time in my busy schedule. I want everything I do to glorify God, not me, so I’ll keep praying, and I ask you to do the same.

There’s one more thing I want to mention while I have your ear, or in this case, your eye. If you’re not already subscribed to the blog, I want to ask you to do that right now. On BLOGGER, just click the link below. On the page you're taken to, go over to the right, and scroll down until you see a box that says "Subscribe by Email." Put in your email address, and click Submit. You’ll receive an email when I post a new article. You can unsubscribe at any time in the future by simply clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. Here’s the link to my Blogger.com site.
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com/

If you prefer using WordPress, you can easily find it by clicking on this link and hit the Follow This Blog button on the right.
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com/ 

It has an archive list that contains most of the past articles in alphabetical order.

I’ve tried to make it possible for everyone to have easy access to the blog, so I have it on the two most popular blog host sights. I like them both, but my favorite is the one on Blogger. I’ve had it longer, and in my opinion, it’s the best-looking one, it’s the easiest to read, and it's the easiest to post to, and edit. It has an archive list going back to my first post and a list of some of the most popular articles as well. There’s a simple search bar to make it easy to find articles on any subject. You can use the one you like the best.

Thank you again for reading and sharing my thoughts, and studies. I enjoy sharing them with you. Thank you for your love, and your prayers, and thank you for sticking with me on this journey. God bless you and your families on your journey.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6