Saturday, 8 February 2020

You are His Image and that is your Problem

If you are old enough, you might have seen the series of films called "McHale's Navy". Captain Wally Binghamton (pictured) is in charge of a number of American Torpedo boats, stationed on an island in the South Pacific in the Second World War. Lt. Commander Clinton McHale is in charge of one of the P.T. Boats (PT 73). Binghamton is always trying to destroy McHale's reputation, trying to destroy McHale's reputation, but no matter how hard he tries it always "backfires"and Binghamton always comes off second best. In this picture above, we see a frustrated Captain Binghamton jumping up and o]down on a photo of Commander McHale. Why would he do that? Well, he has failed to hurt McHale so he does the next best thing: he just jumps up and down on his photo (which is McHale's image).

It sounds ridiculous I know, but I have heard of jilted girls doing that to the photo (image) of their boyfriend or sticking pins in it or tearing it up, which amounts to the same thing; they can't get even with the boy so they do the next best thing to relieve their frustration and it probably does help them to "let off some steam"to some extent.

Let me explain something to you that you may not have considered fully:
Firstly, the Bible assures us that you were "made in the Image and Likeness of God", and are His children that He loves.

Secondly, there are two powerful Spirits in this world of urs. There is God who reigns Supreme over the entire Universe that He created, and there is Satan who is a loser that wanted to be equal with God, but couldn't attain that.

Thirdly, when God made the world and everything in it, the Genesis record assures us that "He saw that it was very good" indeed He even placed the first people in a perfect environment that was a Garden of Eden and He gave them a  "freedom of choice".

Fourthly, Satan was absolutely frustrated that there was nothing he could do to destroy God. But then in his frustration, he came up with what he saw as a way to hurt God. So straight away he cunningly enticed the first people to sin by implementing their "freedom of choice"and disobeying God's instructions, and we have also largely cooperated with Satan and ignored God's instructions in the Bible ever since. So you see, just like Captain Binghamton, mentioned above, Satan couldn't harm the one he wanted to, but he can destroy or hurt the image of that one, (us people who god made in His image and likeness). which includes your children too, and if he can't hurt you easily he will attack them for sure, so surround them in constant prayer.

If he can't destroy people spiritually (because some repent and seek Jesus'forgiveness by becoming Christians) then, he has decided to hurt them Physically, whether Christians or non-Christians, by putting sickness amongst them. However, when God sent Jesus to forgive our sin if we repent, He also made provision for our healing from sickness if we either ask in faith to be healed or have a "believer lay hands on the sick person in Jesus' name". Well, did Jesus solve the problem by doing that? No! Not completely, Satan is very subtle, and infiltrated our schools and places of learning, with people that teach Atheism and Evolution, to undermine people's faith in the Bible and God.
Why am I writing this? Well I am 87 years old, have been a Christian for 71 of those years and studied the scriptures constantly and have practiced the instructions therein, (and after making many mistakes), can now assure any doubters that if you repent and Believe in Jesus, and follow His New Testament instructions, you will be helped to have "an Abundant life"  here and now. If as an added bonus you want a long life with no evil befalling you, then you can have that too. Read Psalm 91. Then there are statements of Jesus like Matthew 21, verse 22 "and all things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Believing in faith is the answer there, and we need to sort things out, (for example, Mark 8:36), "what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" God has done all he can do for us; it is now up to us to get our priorities right. There is plenty of room in Heaven, Jesus said that "narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it, whilst broad is the way to destruction and many go that way". We have to decide whether we will ignore God and live as we please by crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, when Hell awaits those who do that, or alternatively, developing the faith that pleases God and inherit Eternal Life in Heaven with all its incredible benefits.
Best wishes, Tom.