God's way Vs Man's Way
When I found this picture, I just had to use it!
Self Preservation;The Highest Law?
When it comes to the law of self-preservation, some will say that it is even an unconscious activity which is within our very beings. It is said to be the first law of nature. In fact it is Albert Einstein who I believe made the most profound observations about Self preservation.
“We all know, from what we experience with and within ourselves that our conscious acts spring from our desires and our fears. Intuition tells us that that is true also of our fellows and of the higher animals. We all try to escape pain and death, while we seek what is pleasant. We are all ruled in what we do by impulses; and these impulses are so organized that our actions in general serve for our self preservation and that of the race. Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation.”
So far so good and yet what if I told you that the Church of Satan also considered Self Preservation as its highest law? This was the way that Anton Layvay (the founder of The Church of Satan) promoted his believes. He claimed that Satanism was intended to be all about self worship and Satan was just a symbol. In truth, what he claimed to be promoting was “Spiritual Humanism.” This was a lie that I swallowed hook, line and sinker and it almost cost me my life and my very soul.
In fact, one of my closest friends during the time I was a Satanic Priest claimed to be following this very law (self preservation) when overnight she decided to become a Christian! She was a very devoted satanic witch and was one of my first converts when I started forming my own “congregation” of Satanist. (To read more about this time in my life, you can read my three hubs that I wrote about my conversion to Christianity, From Satanist To Salvation Part One Two and Three).
The reason behind this drastic decision was events that happened while I and this young lady were scouting out a location to do a ritual in the hills above L.A. When we reached a fork in the paths we were following, something came over me and I told her “you must chose which path you truly want to follow!” This was quite symbolic because “the left hand Path” is what Satanism is often referred to as.
Right after I said this, some unseen presence attacked us! She claimed that something was actually trying to choke her. I felt the presence around me and yet was not affected as much as she was! We quickly left the area and she had become so scared that she refused to even talk to me for two days. I would soon find out that another friend of ours who was also a witch, had just recently became a Christian and was doing her best to convert my friend to Christianity as well. I do want to make it clear that “Lilith” (the Satanic name for the woman I have been speaking of), was a seasoned Satanist who had witnessed other spiritual phenomena. She was not one to spook easily!
The reason why I tell this story is to make it clear that I am fully convinced of the existence of things that are of a spiritual nature. Not just as a theory but as something as real and concrete as me sitting here writing this hub on my computer! For this was just one example of many experiences with the Supernatural.
To me, the reality that we humans are engaged in spiritual battle is absolute. In fact there are many days I can almost feel the invisible bullets whiz past my head! As I have stated in previous writings, I feel that God has kept me alive for a reason. I have had too many things happen to me that should have killed me. One of these incidences was when I was caught in an undertow (or riptide) in the Pacific side of Baja California.
Even though I had grown up in California and had experiences with these before, I did the worse thing one can do and that is to panic. There is no way one can fight the intense power of undertow, all one can do is ride it out. However, this time I allowed myself to get “caught up” in my emotions and it quickly wore me out!
I reached a point in which I was quite certain I was going to die and surrendered myself to that fact. It was then that a strange and powerful peace came over me and next thing I knew I was on the beach! I had by then quit my participation in satanic practices and yet, I was still interested and active in Occult activity.
I do not recall praying or even feeling my “life passing before my eyes.” Instead it was just a “powerful peace.” I have had Atheist friends claim that my survival instincts kicked in and that is what saved me. It was just adrenaline, then why do so many people drown in undertows? Why didn't their adrenaline come to the rescue?
I quickly want to discuss a little more about spiritual phenomena for it has been a subject that has become quite popular in media with “reality” shows like Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters“collecting” evidence of “life after death.” The "science" of Paranormal research has greatly expanded and improved in recent times. Now we have all kinds of gadgets to record and capture spiritual activity. I have often wondered if these devices would prove useful in detecting the Holy Spirit for if they can pick up demonic presences you would think they would also resistor spirits that come from God. However, I also wonder if that would be appropriate.
Now I would like to compare some of the concepts of “the world” with principles and morals presented in the Bible. First let us start with the view from Mr. Darwin and his famous “survival of the fittest” view, which some would claimed influenced mad men like Adolph Hitler in his raciest campaign to eliminate “inferior” categories of people. Other similar statements like “might is right” has also sprung from this concept.
However, Jesus Christ had a some what different take when he talked of self sacrifice. He preached forgiveness and laying down your life for a friend (John 15:13). This is in stark contrast to other statements around self preservation! For he went on to state “those who would seek to gain their life would lose it” (Luke 9:24).
Yes every thing wants to survie!
Labor Pains!
I have already written a hub about how I feel strongly that we are quickly nearing the time that Jesus Christ will return and because I do not like to repeat myself, I will refer you to “The Final Harvest season: The Return of Jesus.” In this article I discuss my reasons why I have reached these conclusions, and yet because of some of the latest developments in the world, I feel I should once again touch upon the subject.
It is quite true that very soon after Jesus was taken up to heaven, people started claiming he would soon return. Even though the Bible clearly warns us that no man knows the time that Christ will return, many still set a date only to be proven wrong and in the end, feeding fuel to fire of those who are skeptics. It was only about a month ago, that I was walking down the street and I saw a van painted with the message: “Jesus will return May 21st 2011!” Then some very egger people started trying to hand me a flyer but I refused.
Later a Christian friend showed me the flyer and it said that even though the Bible states that no man knows the time of the return of Christ, the Bible sets a time line that makes it clear that He will return in 2011! “They” claim May 21st of this year will be Judgment Day and that October 21 is when Christ will actually return! (This is May 21st being the day of the Secret Rapture and that the “Time of Tribulation” will end with the return Jesus on October 21st). This to me seems quite strange, for there a problem and that is the calendar that we use may be incorrect! Here is quote that I like from a writer named Duncan Long
“The kicker to the not-knowing-the-day-or-the-hour argument is that historians not only don't know the day or the hour we're in, no one even knows what year it really is. The reason for this is that errors were made during the Middle Ages with the calendar; in the process we're no longer sure just exactly what the actual year is.”
The truth is that not everyone calculates time the same way. There is Julian calendar with 365 days then there is the Jewish calendar that is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis (a day); the revolution of the moon about the Earth (a month); and the revolution of the Earth about the sun (a year). These three phenomena are independent of each other, so there is no direct correlation between them. On average, the moon revolves around the Earth in about 29½ days. The Earth revolves around the sun in about 365¼ days, that is, about 12.4 lunar months.
However, in most of the world a day ends at midnight and the civil (or Julian) calendar has abandoned any correlation between the moon cycles and the month, arbitrarily setting the length of months to 28, 30 or 31 days. This creates an interesting dilemma; for what calendar do those who try to determine when Christ will return use? To have clearer understanding of the debate around the return of Christ, I urge anyone interested in this subject to check out http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21/
This latest uproar around the return of Christ to me is just another indication that the time could be short. One great chapter that discusses this very topic within the Bible is Matthew 24. This is my “go to” chapter when I want insights about the seconded coming. What intrigues me is that many situations foretold in the Bible are happening all once! For example there is the current economy crisis, the situation in the Middle East that is escalating so quickly that it is hard to keep up with. Then there is the “natural disasters” that have also been happening at alarming rate.
This recent disaster that happen in Japan is one that I feel will have major effects around the world now and for a long time to come. It is not just an earthquake and the Tsunami but the situation at Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to keep getting worse. It is now believed that there could be up ten thousand dead and the damage has been at a cost of at least 180 billion. This is a nation that is considered to have the 3rd largest economy in the world, so this tragedy will definitely have a grave effect on a financial crisis that has affected most of the world.
This earthquake is the largest quake in Japan's history and yet, it does not compare to 9.5 that happened in Chile in 1960. Personally, I am hoping that we do not receive any quakes larger than 9.5 and yet we probably will! If I am right in my feelings about us "closing the gap" between the time that Christ will return then this is only the beginning of the signs that will happen. I also feel that there will a strong increase in the sightings of UFO'S along with complete chaos in the Middle East. Some may wonder why I say there will be increased UFO activity, well that is because Satan will be intensifying his efforts to deceive people in any way he can .Also I expect to see all types of cult and Occult involvement on a grand scale!
The truth is that there is a part of me that hopes I am wrong. For if I am right the world will become much worse in every aspect imaginable. However, there will also be a intense reveval in people seeking God. Here are some other hubs that have information in them that are connected to this one. It will help explain my viewpoints and the conclusion that I reach in this hub. These hubs are..
My message is not one of vengeful God wanting to punish the people of Japan, or the world for that matter. Instead the God that has revealed himself to me is one that cares about every living soul on this planet and whishes to see them saved. I will discuss this in more detail in a hub I am also working on initialed The Reality of Jesus? I know that this is just a small splinter of the “ice berg” for I could probably write a dozen hubs on this subject however I will state that I can not believe that this life is filled with random events. There is purpose for the world and our lives in it and it my sincere prayer that each of you find that purpose in your life!
So Evolve Your Way out of This!
This is why I have always had a conceren with Nuclear Power!
And it just keeps getting worse as the Bible says it will!
