Like the rest of us, you’re probably hearing that phrase being thrown around seemingly nonstop these days. For the past almost-year since the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
People politically-left use it to describe the efforts and claims of former president Donald Trump and his allies that the election was “stolen”, “rigged” or a variant thereof.
People on the political right say that the “Big Lie” is the “Big Lie”.
They’re both wrong.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, way, way, way off. Not even close! Because the ACTUAL “Big Lie” – the biggest and most common and most dangerous and deadly and, very unfortunately, most successful, most believed lie, is the one the devil and his minions and the sinful, fallen flesh of humankind tell virtually every lost soul: that they’re on the path to Heaven when they’re actually on the road which leads to Hell.
The devil and his minions have placed big signs every few feet along that road to hell which have four oversized words written on them: “This way to Heaven” – even though they know that nothing could be further from the truth since there’s only ONE path that truly leads to Heaven. The one which goes straight through the immaculate womb and rugged Cross and empty tomb. (I’m copyrighting that because if I ever write a book on the life of Jesus, that’ll be the title: From Immaculate Womb to Empty Tomb 🙂 )
But thankfully, God is faithful to grant clear vision of the truth to every person who accepts whatever amount of the truth about Him and His plan of salvation, the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8, among many other passages… throughout the entire Bible actually but this Chapter is perhaps the clearest and easiest-to-understand of them all), that they’ve received up to that point. For example, Romans 1:20 and Psalm 19:1-6 couldn’t communicate any more crystal-clearly that nature reveals a certain amount of facts, of truth, about God; so if anyone accepts what nature, for instance, reveals about God, He will always be faithful to send them more truth, to take them to the next level of understanding about Him and human sin and salvation/redemption which is the path that leads to (drum roll, please) Heaven! For all eternity.
But, heart-breakingly, billions upon billions of people who have passed through this life – down to the present day and hour and minute – have opted to put their faith in, say, self-righteousness to get them to Heaven. Wrong way (as the common traffic sign says). Wrong path. Wrong answer. (Insert the “buzzer” sound effect from “Family Feud” here.) Because not a single one of us is good enough to “earn” our way to Heaven. “No not one.”
Some of you might be saying, “But DJ Bible, I go to church every Sunday. Twice! And mid-week, too!” To which I reply, “Good for you! That’s a very good thing… but it won’t get a person even a single inch closer to Heaven in and of itself.”
Others have opted to not have any faith at all in or about God and instead have chosen to be atheists. I pray for them as a group regularly, that they’ll see the light before it’s too late, before they find themselves – their real self, their soul – standing before a certain throne of judgment. Not of forgiveness or mercy for it would be too late. But it isn’t too late yet! Hence my regular prayers for that group and others. I genuinely love atheists. And agnostics. And even the ever-smirking self-righteous like the Pharisees of Jesus’s time. Because God loves them. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Every bit as much as He loves His own children, for His love is infinite and immutable, continual, constant, cannot change even one iota ever toward anyone. Because it’s literally who He is.
- “… God IS love…” (1 John 4:8)
But please don’t mistake that, as many do, to mean He therefore couldn’t and wouldn’t ever send someone to hell for all eternity.
He, in the Bible, makes it explicitly clear that He most certainly can and will… IF a person hasn’t chosen the aforementioned path that really does lead to Heaven. Or as 2 Thessalonians 2:10 puts it, who “did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
- “If we are faithless, He remains faithful [i.e., to Himself, per the next phrase]; for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)
All of which brings us to perhaps the scariest portion of the Bible; just listen to what Jesus Himself said (super-scoldingly, brimming with righteous, justified anger but all in love for them, for their souls) to a group of Pharisees who were the “religious” leaders of that era:
- “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:21-23, at the very end of the famous-for-centuries and much-beloved “Sermon on the Mount”)
You see, it’s not about what a person says but rather what a person “does”, what they “practice” in life, what characterizes their lives overall. (You can read more about this specific aspect in a past post.)
Furthermore, when it comes to getting into Heaven, what counts isn’t whether or not you know Christ but rather whether or not He knows you. Not whether I know Him bur whether He knows me.
Further still, note how strong, how powerful self-deception, self-deceit, self-delusion can be. It’s clear by their statement that the Pharisees were absolutely, 100% “certain” they were headed for Heaven.
Score another one for the “Big Lie”. Those men, those souls were like countless other people before and since whose human heart has definitively convinced them that they too are headed for Heaven, But as the Bible also makes crystal clear about said human heart:
- “The [i.e., human, fallen] heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Or as the King James Version puts it, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
I’m sorry to say that I know this to be true firsthand. Thankfully the Bible – and especially Bible memory and recitation and meditation – can and does and will transform the human heart/mind (c.f., Romans 12:1-2) so I’m very, very, very grateful for that but all of us, all of our hearts and minds and souls start out life in the very same boat as described in Jeremiah 17:9 and – still enveloped by fallen, sinful flesh until the day we physically die – that battle never goes very far away in this life, on this side of eternity (c.f., Romans 7:14-25 and Galatians 5:16-26, and note that word “practice” in verse 21 of this latter passage… like I said in that past post, it’s all about “practice”!) – even for the most spiritually mature, which I feel very safe in saying was the Apostle Paul [who physically penned those words] since he was undoubtedly the fullest imitator of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) the world has ever known (and, not coincidentally, probably suffered more than any other human has other than Jesus Himself, but perhaps more about that in a future post) (see also 1 Peter 4:1-2 … definitely more about that in a future post, very powerful and empowering and relieving and freeing/liberating!).
Getting back to this present post’s primary passage in Matthew 7, note that those Pharisees were putting all of their weight and dependence and faith in (admittedly very impressive but equally insufficient-to-get-to-Heaven) deeds rather than having an actual relationship with God. (Meaning a good, active, ongoing and ever-growing relationship, as technically everyone has a relationship with God… some good, some bad; some functional, some dysfunctional; some peaceful, some hostile; some effective, some ineffective; some sufficient, some insufficient.)
And the fifth and final fact from this bit of our beloved Bible I’ll note is that two-word phrase “narrow gate” here in Matthew 7:13, both of which are repeated in verse 14. The picture painted by Jesus is that of a turnstile.
Ever gone with your family to the airport or amusement park or many other places and tried to all go through the turnstile at the same time, together? To say that doesn’t work very well is an understatement. Because it doesn’t work at all.
Does. Not. Work.
And that’s EXACTLY how it is with Heaven, too! It’s entirely an individual thing. Nobody, absolutely nobody can enter as part of a group or family or couple or even denomination. Strictly “one at a time ” as the signs on turnstiles blare.
Good, spiritually-mature and doctrinally-correct families can certainly be a huge help in terms of (post-salvation) spiritual growth, but not salvation itself; no, that’s a decision which each one of us must come to, must make entirely on our own, individually, from our own heart.
The previous post on this blog was about 9/11 (20th anniversary). I’ll end this one by begging any of you who haven’t yet come to that point, who haven’t yet made that decision of salvation through faith in Christ and specifically His becoming a human (Philippians 2:5-11) via the immaculate conception by the Holy Spirit; His perfect, sinless life (how would you like to have been Mary’s other children… talk about sibling issues, yikes, always having to be compared or live up to an older brother who was perfect – truly perfect, not like some who just think they are, but I digress 😉 ); and His death, burial, and resurrection.
THAT, my dear friends, is THE path, the RIGHT path that does indeed lead to, which will indeed take you to Heaven when your time here on earth comes to an end.
And harkening back to 9/11, please don’t make the potentially eternally-dreadful mistake of “putting off the matter” for another day or until another time. Because just think about those thousands of people who woke up on September 11, 2001, and went to work at their office in the World Trade Center or Pentagon as usual, just like every other day, or hopped on an airplane as many of them had so many times before.
Very often, death doesn’t give a one-year or one-week or one-day or even one-second notice. Much better, much wiser to plan ahead in this most important matter. And for the many of you reading this who no doubt already have, how crucial it is to lovingly tell those in your inner circle or whose paths you cross about this.
I feel compelled to end this post by reiterating something I emblazoned on the BibleMemory.ORG Home page and also said in the Overview video on the Home and Videos pages: in my view, in my perspective, I’m the biggest sinner I know, I’m the biggest sinner I’ve ever known, and I’m the biggest sinner you’ve probably ever known, at least that’s the way I see it, since memorizing a lot of Bible verses and indeed entire books opens one’s eyes very widely so as to see these two things (among countless others) very clearly: how righteous and perfect God is, and how sinful and unrighteous and imperfect we are in and of ourselves, apart from Christ – “who knew no sin [became] sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, one of my favorite statements ever made by pen or tongue). Harkening back one last time to those Pharisees in Matthew 7… it’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s not about us, it’s all about Him!
And praise the Lord for that.
Thankfully this “Big Truth” totally trumps, utterly outweighs the real ”Big Lie”, which the devil is constantly throwing out, hoping to snag and drag as many unsuspecting people as possible with him to an eternity in hell. (Misery loves company, eh?) Let’s rededicate ourselves, right now, to thwarting those plans of his by lovingly and humbly and powerfully and confidently communicating – by our lives/deeds, then our words – to as many people as possible starting with those in our inner circles, the “Big Truth”.
In fact, now when someone so much as says that phrase “the Big Lie” you have a perfect reply! Talk about an open door!
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Talk about a weighty post!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryPun fun aside, I’ve been thin my whole life… with two exceptions. The first was when I was promoted to a cushy desk job; it wasn’t the fact that I literally sat at a desk the entire shift in that new role so much as the fact that said shifts lasted 10-12 hours, virtually the whole waking day. Leaving no room for exercise. Enough said.
Then one morning I noticed that my suit pants had gotten a bit too tight for my taste and weighed myself and it was “go time!” Having resigned from that job and gone into business for myself weeks before, I availed myself of that newfound freedom of schedule and hit the many walking paths in the area (or the treadmill when the weather was wavering) for two or three hours every day but Sundays and, wa-la, got back down to my high school weight again. Whew, close call.
But then it happened again. Just recently. That’s right, the second exception was when the trying-to-taper-but-still-going-as-I-write-this pandemic hit early last year (2020) and pretty much everything was shuttered, total lockdown for what turned into many months and I put the previous poundage back on but here’s the thing: like before, it kinda “crept up” on me, like the frog which starts out in a pot of lukewarm water which only very slowly comes to a boil.
And it hit me that this is exactly how it is with the Christian life! More often than not, sin “creeps up” on a believer and previously-gained ground is given back very subtly.
Another perfect parallel: for a second time in my life I now know what it feels like to take “two steps forward, one step back” when it comes to weight management. What it’s like to “give gained ground back” and how important and more efficient it is to (a) be aware of that ever-present (pesky!) potential and (b) prevent it.
And back to the physical realm, I’ve learned for the second time that the best way to do this is to weigh myself every week or so (versus never like before). And that’s true in the spiritual realm, too!
In the physical realm I’ve taken to doing so on Saturdays, and while I’m thankful for the progress so far (around 50% of the “pandemic pounds” have been worked off) that still leaves the other half and it hit me just now on this lovely November Saturday evening that I could always just set my (analog) bathroom scale to a default setting of -15 (versus 0) and, wa-la, that would do the trick, problem solved! But only in my mind. Yes, it would feel good but wouldn’t actually do any good.
This is very obvious in the physical realm but sadly it’s exactly what countless people do spiritually in trying to take a “shortcut” to salvation/heaven, to find a different route than Christ and perhaps the biggest example of this is the massive rise we’ve all seen in “virtue signaling” in recent years in particular. As I find myself saying more and more often to those who ask, don’t let yourself get “triggered” when you observe people doing that but instead simply see it for what it actually is. Self-righteousness. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s a way human nature tries to make a person feel better about one’s spiritual state / soteriological situation, spurred on by the sense of eternity God Himself has set in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11) but unless a person goes through Christ (John 14:6) it’s literally no different than if one were to set the default on their bathroom scale to -15.
Truly, totally ineffective.
Why try to do for oneself (with guaranteed failure) what Christ has already done for us (with infinite success)?
Why merely feel good about one’s spiritual state very temporarily versus actually being in good shape for all eternity?
I choose the latter.
I choose Christ.
Unlike the computer on which I’m currently typing, when it comes to salvation/heaven there are no shortcuts. Or as the famous tagline in Porsche ads would put it, there is no substitute.
The solution is found in Christ alone.
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1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
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4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
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Inaudible… But Very Loud!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs we all know, the wind is intangible… but definitely not silent!
A few months ago a very rare, no, unheard-of tornado (and a DUAL tornado at that!) came within mere feet of my humble abode. At 9:00 p.m. no less. (If you want to experience something truly ethereal, have a double-tornado pass right in front of your bedroom window at night, in pitch darkness. It wasn’t scary, but was one of the most interesting moments and events of my entire life.) But it doesn’t take something even a tenth of that to know that the wind isn’t silent. Hence the common term “howling wind” we’ve all heard hundreds of times.
No, the wind definitely isn’t always silent… and neither is the Holy Spirit!
Inaudible? Yes. For He speaks through the Bible. I.e., the Bible “does His talking for Him” – the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s voice as it were.
Intangible? Yes. The Holy Spirit is a, um, s-p-i-r-i-t and therefore, by definition and nature, inherently intangible.
Yet I find that the Holy Spirit is often quite LOUD. If we truly take the time and wield the wisdom to simply listen for His gentle yet unmistakable and indeed inescapable leading and frequent proddings. Which are every bit as tangible as when we feel the wind blow on our faces or bodies.
This has probably been the number one area of life about which the Lord through the Bible has been teaching and convicting then empowering me in my daily life, in my day-to-day walk with Him.
Things like music and TV and radio and hobbies aren’t (necessarily) bad in and of themselves (and when managed properly can indeed be very positive, reap great results) – bunless they come before or interfere with the things of God including and in many ways especially the free-will capacity we give the Holy Spirit to get through to us on an ongoing basis.
Believe me, He is very, very, very, very willing and ready to do just that, but will never, ever violate a person’s free will (definitely more on that in a future post, some very powerful takeaways) so it’s up to each of us to voluntarily “make way”, to “make a clear path” for His inaudible-but-loud communications to our hearts/minds.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is like the wind. And – as you’ll see for yourself, with your own eyes, in the coming months and years via this website and related YouTube Channel – Bible memory is like a wind tunnel.
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Quick Thought: Only One
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI think it’s safe to say that virtually every believer is well aware that it’s wrong, indeed dangerous and even deadly, to judge (condemn, criticize) others.
But why? Because God says so in the Bible, quite (crystal) clearly. But why does He say so, what’s behind that truth?
Another truth, as is ever the case with God and His Word, the Bible.
It’s because HE is the Judge… the ONLY judge on the planet.
(For those who might think that jurists – the human judges in our courtrooms – are an exception, not so, since their authority is merely lent, simply delegated to them by God; see Romans 13:1).
But in comparison, I think far fewer people realize that this very same principle applies to a “control issue”. Trying to be “in control” – in most cases, all of the time, in every situation.
While I could (literally) write a book about the bevy of bad results such brings about in the human realm, the spiritual consequences are even far bigger, far worse, far-reaching.
Why? Because control belongs to God and God alone.
Ergo, it’s every bit as crucial and biblical to avoid “trying to control” others as it is to avoid judging others. And every bit as dangerous to fail in that endeavor.
The only form of “control” we can rightly possess is self-control, and of course that’s so good because it’s the fruit of, produced by, the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
I wrote about this in greater depth in an early post on this blog but I love the parallel of those two applications of this “only one” principle as set forth in the two verses highlighted above.
When it comes to things like judging or controlling others, it’s always best, beneficial, biblical to “render… to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17)
With few if any real exceptions, we don’t like it when others seek to usurp or violate our “space”.
Neither does God.
Lord, may we wisely leave “judging” and “being in control” to You and You alone. For there is indeed “only one” Judge and “only one” Sovereign: You. Grow in us instead a servant’s heart of humility and sweet-spirited submissiveness and love.
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The “Big Lie”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryLike the rest of us, you’re probably hearing that phrase being thrown around seemingly nonstop these days. For the past almost-year since the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
People politically-left use it to describe the efforts and claims of former president Donald Trump and his allies that the election was “stolen”, “rigged” or a variant thereof.
People on the political right say that the “Big Lie” is the “Big Lie”.
They’re both wrong.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, way, way, way off. Not even close! Because the ACTUAL “Big Lie” – the biggest and most common and most dangerous and deadly and, very unfortunately, most successful, most believed lie, is the one the devil and his minions and the sinful, fallen flesh of humankind tell virtually every lost soul: that they’re on the path to Heaven when they’re actually on the road which leads to Hell.
The devil and his minions have placed big signs every few feet along that road to hell which have four oversized words written on them: “This way to Heaven” – even though they know that nothing could be further from the truth since there’s only ONE path that truly leads to Heaven. The one which goes straight through the immaculate womb and rugged Cross and empty tomb. (I’m copyrighting that because if I ever write a book on the life of Jesus, that’ll be the title: From Immaculate Womb to Empty Tomb 🙂 )
But thankfully, God is faithful to grant clear vision of the truth to every person who accepts whatever amount of the truth about Him and His plan of salvation, the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8, among many other passages… throughout the entire Bible actually but this Chapter is perhaps the clearest and easiest-to-understand of them all), that they’ve received up to that point. For example, Romans 1:20 and Psalm 19:1-6 couldn’t communicate any more crystal-clearly that nature reveals a certain amount of facts, of truth, about God; so if anyone accepts what nature, for instance, reveals about God, He will always be faithful to send them more truth, to take them to the next level of understanding about Him and human sin and salvation/redemption which is the path that leads to (drum roll, please) Heaven! For all eternity.
But, heart-breakingly, billions upon billions of people who have passed through this life – down to the present day and hour and minute – have opted to put their faith in, say, self-righteousness to get them to Heaven. Wrong way (as the common traffic sign says). Wrong path. Wrong answer. (Insert the “buzzer” sound effect from “Family Feud” here.) Because not a single one of us is good enough to “earn” our way to Heaven. “No not one.”
Some of you might be saying, “But DJ Bible, I go to church every Sunday. Twice! And mid-week, too!” To which I reply, “Good for you! That’s a very good thing… but it won’t get a person even a single inch closer to Heaven in and of itself.”
Others have opted to not have any faith at all in or about God and instead have chosen to be atheists. I pray for them as a group regularly, that they’ll see the light before it’s too late, before they find themselves – their real self, their soul – standing before a certain throne of judgment. Not of forgiveness or mercy for it would be too late. But it isn’t too late yet! Hence my regular prayers for that group and others. I genuinely love atheists. And agnostics. And even the ever-smirking self-righteous like the Pharisees of Jesus’s time. Because God loves them. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Every bit as much as He loves His own children, for His love is infinite and immutable, continual, constant, cannot change even one iota ever toward anyone. Because it’s literally who He is.
But please don’t mistake that, as many do, to mean He therefore couldn’t and wouldn’t ever send someone to hell for all eternity.
He, in the Bible, makes it explicitly clear that He most certainly can and will… IF a person hasn’t chosen the aforementioned path that really does lead to Heaven. Or as 2 Thessalonians 2:10 puts it, who “did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
All of which brings us to perhaps the scariest portion of the Bible; just listen to what Jesus Himself said (super-scoldingly, brimming with righteous, justified anger but all in love for them, for their souls) to a group of Pharisees who were the “religious” leaders of that era:
You see, it’s not about what a person says but rather what a person “does”, what they “practice” in life, what characterizes their lives overall. (You can read more about this specific aspect in a past post.)
Furthermore, when it comes to getting into Heaven, what counts isn’t whether or not you know Christ but rather whether or not He knows you. Not whether I know Him bur whether He knows me.
Further still, note how strong, how powerful self-deception, self-deceit, self-delusion can be. It’s clear by their statement that the Pharisees were absolutely, 100% “certain” they were headed for Heaven.
Score another one for the “Big Lie”. Those men, those souls were like countless other people before and since whose human heart has definitively convinced them that they too are headed for Heaven, But as the Bible also makes crystal clear about said human heart:
I’m sorry to say that I know this to be true firsthand. Thankfully the Bible – and especially Bible memory and recitation and meditation – can and does and will transform the human heart/mind (c.f., Romans 12:1-2) so I’m very, very, very grateful for that but all of us, all of our hearts and minds and souls start out life in the very same boat as described in Jeremiah 17:9 and – still enveloped by fallen, sinful flesh until the day we physically die – that battle never goes very far away in this life, on this side of eternity (c.f., Romans 7:14-25 and Galatians 5:16-26, and note that word “practice” in verse 21 of this latter passage… like I said in that past post, it’s all about “practice”!) – even for the most spiritually mature, which I feel very safe in saying was the Apostle Paul [who physically penned those words] since he was undoubtedly the fullest imitator of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) the world has ever known (and, not coincidentally, probably suffered more than any other human has other than Jesus Himself, but perhaps more about that in a future post) (see also 1 Peter 4:1-2 … definitely more about that in a future post, very powerful and empowering and relieving and freeing/liberating!).
Getting back to this present post’s primary passage in Matthew 7, note that those Pharisees were putting all of their weight and dependence and faith in (admittedly very impressive but equally insufficient-to-get-to-Heaven) deeds rather than having an actual relationship with God. (Meaning a good, active, ongoing and ever-growing relationship, as technically everyone has a relationship with God… some good, some bad; some functional, some dysfunctional; some peaceful, some hostile; some effective, some ineffective; some sufficient, some insufficient.)
And the fifth and final fact from this bit of our beloved Bible I’ll note is that two-word phrase “narrow gate” here in Matthew 7:13, both of which are repeated in verse 14. The picture painted by Jesus is that of a turnstile.
Ever gone with your family to the airport or amusement park or many other places and tried to all go through the turnstile at the same time, together? To say that doesn’t work very well is an understatement. Because it doesn’t work at all.
Does. Not. Work.
And that’s EXACTLY how it is with Heaven, too! It’s entirely an individual thing. Nobody, absolutely nobody can enter as part of a group or family or couple or even denomination. Strictly “one at a time ” as the signs on turnstiles blare.
Good, spiritually-mature and doctrinally-correct families can certainly be a huge help in terms of (post-salvation) spiritual growth, but not salvation itself; no, that’s a decision which each one of us must come to, must make entirely on our own, individually, from our own heart.
The previous post on this blog was about 9/11 (20th anniversary). I’ll end this one by begging any of you who haven’t yet come to that point, who haven’t yet made that decision of salvation through faith in Christ and specifically His becoming a human (Philippians 2:5-11) via the immaculate conception by the Holy Spirit; His perfect, sinless life (how would you like to have been Mary’s other children… talk about sibling issues, yikes, always having to be compared or live up to an older brother who was perfect – truly perfect, not like some who just think they are, but I digress 😉 ); and His death, burial, and resurrection.
THAT, my dear friends, is THE path, the RIGHT path that does indeed lead to, which will indeed take you to Heaven when your time here on earth comes to an end.
And harkening back to 9/11, please don’t make the potentially eternally-dreadful mistake of “putting off the matter” for another day or until another time. Because just think about those thousands of people who woke up on September 11, 2001, and went to work at their office in the World Trade Center or Pentagon as usual, just like every other day, or hopped on an airplane as many of them had so many times before.
Very often, death doesn’t give a one-year or one-week or one-day or even one-second notice. Much better, much wiser to plan ahead in this most important matter. And for the many of you reading this who no doubt already have, how crucial it is to lovingly tell those in your inner circle or whose paths you cross about this.
I feel compelled to end this post by reiterating something I emblazoned on the BibleMemory.ORG Home page and also said in the Overview video on the Home and Videos pages: in my view, in my perspective, I’m the biggest sinner I know, I’m the biggest sinner I’ve ever known, and I’m the biggest sinner you’ve probably ever known, at least that’s the way I see it, since memorizing a lot of Bible verses and indeed entire books opens one’s eyes very widely so as to see these two things (among countless others) very clearly: how righteous and perfect God is, and how sinful and unrighteous and imperfect we are in and of ourselves, apart from Christ – “who knew no sin [became] sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, one of my favorite statements ever made by pen or tongue). Harkening back one last time to those Pharisees in Matthew 7… it’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s not about us, it’s all about Him!
And praise the Lord for that.
Thankfully this “Big Truth” totally trumps, utterly outweighs the real ”Big Lie”, which the devil is constantly throwing out, hoping to snag and drag as many unsuspecting people as possible with him to an eternity in hell. (Misery loves company, eh?) Let’s rededicate ourselves, right now, to thwarting those plans of his by lovingly and humbly and powerfully and confidently communicating – by our lives/deeds, then our words – to as many people as possible starting with those in our inner circles, the “Big Truth”.
In fact, now when someone so much as says that phrase “the Big Lie” you have a perfect reply! Talk about an open door!
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REPRINT: It’s That Time of Year Again: 9/11
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryThe following is a reprint of a past post:
September 11.
This is a date and that was a day which we will never forget. September 11, 2001. 9/11. It doesn’t matter how it’s written, it still causes a tingle to run up my neck every time. The tragedy. The sorrow. The loss. The massive and senseless, needless loss of people who were simply going to work like they had thousands of days before or merely catching a flight that morning.
But also the heroism and bravery of our fellow Americans. The first responders. The amazing passengers on United Flight 93 who almost saved themselves but definitely saved the country from an even more horrific outcome that day since those hijackers were planning to fly that plane into the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
And that reminds me of a great Bible verse, Romans 8:28 – “And we KNOW that God causes ALL things to work together for GOOD to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” There are many ways which that proved true in a big-picture, overarching kind of way… but also and even down to the nitty-gritty. Did you ever think that a 30-minute DELAY on a runway would be a good thing? Indeed, just the opposite: that’s likely near the top of the list of things that cause people to curse aloud. But just think about how gracious God was in letting that particular plane – United 93 – on that particular runway at that particular airport on that particular day get delayed for take-off for a solid half-hour, which in turn allowed those brave passengers to receive the phone conversations and realize what fate awaited their plane unless they rose up and fought back, to save their own lives but otherwise at least the lives of their fellow man on the ground in Washington, DC. As you’ll hear me say regularly in future posts and one in particular, there is NO SUCH THING as a “coincidence” in life. None whatsoever. And this is a good and indeed historic example of that. (Most of us probably thought we’d NEVER give thanks for a 30-minute delay in traffic, eh?)
And indeed, as recently noted in the past, despite all the tragic loss and destruction and devastation which occurred that day, I thank God for 9/11. For that bravery and selflessness and self-sacrifice demonstrated so beautifully and courageously by those first responders in New York and Washington and our military heroes at NORAD and civil servants at several FAA centers in the east and those countless “average” citizens like me who dropped to the knee and cried out to God for mercy and grace and healing for a country which has always tasted so generously of His grace but has put that at risk in recent decades by turning its back on Him in many ways, reminding Him (for MY sake, NOT His) of the truth in James 5:11 – that He is by nature “full of compassion, and is merciful” and surely enough He doled both out in spades and has kept our nation free of big attacks these past 18 years since. (Indeed, and interestingly beyond words, I prayed that prayer right at 10:30 a.m. ET, as the TV screen was showing the collapse of the second World Trade Center tower – and as it turns out that was the exact END of the active devastation.)
So on this day which will indeed never be forgotten, which like December 7 sixty years before will “live in infamy”, I thank God for all of those things, for bringing us through that horror and demonstrating His mercy and compassion yet again, just like that verse says. May He continue to be on our side but as Abraham Lincoln so wisely put it, “my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” Amen. Lord, please pour out that compassion particularly on those directly affected, who still feel the sting of the loss of friends and/or family. For those now-adults who were children who lost one or both parents, forever altering the course and nature of their lives. For those former first responders who still suffer the dreadful effects of cancer and other diseases to this day as a result of that day. For Lisa Beamer and surviving relatives of those courageous passengers on Flight 93 whom You used to lessen and dull the full brunt of that day. May each of us serve as Your fingers and feet to them through our prayers on their behalf, donating to their respective charities, or simply showing kindness to strangers, who more likely than not were affected by that day even if by two or four or six degrees of separation. And most of all, Lord, please keep using that day and the memory of it to remind the masses that only ONE THING in life really matters, and that’s the decision we make regarding the life to come, regarding our eternal destination. May not a single person reading this take another step or spend another night without first making sure that this is a settled matter, by putting their faith in Your immaculate conception, perfect life, then Your death, burial, and resurrection to cover and pay the price for OUR sins and thus allow us to enjoy a relationship of peace with God, not hostility.
Please make that a pressing priority. Please don’t delay even one more day. Because, as so dramatically demonstrated on 9/11/01, “tomorrow” is guaranteed to nobody. TODAY “is the day of salvation’ … NOW is ‘the acceptable time'” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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Quick Thought: “D’oh!”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryLast night for dinner I had a big bowl of salad.
Score: +1
Overall: +1
But I paired it with a half-loaf of freshly-baked French bread.
Score: -1
Overall: 0
Gained ground given right back … I should’ve remembered this past post!
In the physical realm but even far more in the spiritual realm, how important it is indeed to maintain the ground we gain.
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Quick Thought: Context Can Change Everything!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryBy the way, near the end of yesterday’s walk, I was reminded of another important truth: the determinative nature of context.
The spectacular scenic route referenced in the just-published previous post was the one I opted for yesterday and for one 30-minute stretch, airplanes from the next-door airport fly right over your head at such a low altitude (since they’re literally just taking off) that you can feel the power of their engines’ thrust and almost feel like you could touch them if you jumped really high. (As if that weren’t enough, all of this takes place right by a wide river and several stunningly beautiful edifices… like I said, spectacular!)
It’s a very busy airport (which makes local walkers and joggers and bicyclists very happy… travelers? Not so much) with planes taking off on cue every 30-60 seconds and one thing which always amazes me is that they don’t fall right out of the sky, into the river below. My head is fully aware of the power of engine thrust and that this is what keeps multi-ton pieces of metal in the air but to my eyes what makes it so amazing that they don’t fall down is that they appear to be moving far too slowly.
Because I see them against a very big sky in the background.
Context can change everything!
And that’s exactly how it is with the Bible, too! The context of a given passage can completely change one’s initial, verbiage-only perception.
The words are essential but to properly understand what God is actually saying in His Word, it’s absolutely crucial to consider the context.
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Quick Thought: True Health
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs you know from reading past posts, I’m a huge fan of exercise and especially the hours/miles-long walks I take 3-5 times a week. For the spectacular scenery on especially one of my various, rotating routes, yes, but most of all by far for the focused fellowship and prayer so conducive to such a setting (outdoors, surrounded by nature, etc.).
I’ve made many more exceptions during the ongoing pandemic of the past year but otherwise have long been a big fan of eating healthily, too, and while that’s a great thing (since one’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19) I was reminded anew during yesterday’s walk of a crucial principle: that as good and healthy and important as it is to carefully manage what goes into one’s mouth, it’s infinitely more important to be aware of and manage what comes out of it.
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So Clean!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI just brushed my teeth and swished some serious mouthwash and my entire mouth feels so clean, don’t you just love that feeling?!
I do.
But it only lasts for a short while. Second-grade science class made crystal clear to us all that as soon as we’re done brushing our teeth, the plaque process restarts immediately and before long, that super-clean, super-fresh feeling fades.
Endless cycle.
And that’s exactly how it is with the Christian life!
We read (or better yet, study or memorize!) the Bible and pray and confess our sins and feel so “clean” and “fresh” spiritually and indeed emotionally. But before long the “sin process” restarts and attacks not our mouth but rather our heart and mind. (And definitely our tongue! James 3.)
It would be FANTASTIC if there were a toothpaste which lasted, which sustained its cleansing effect forever, permanently. Fantastic… and fantastical since, after some many centuries of success-less trying, that’s almost certainly “not gonna happen.” But I’m thrilled to tell you that said forecast does not apply spiritually! Because “Thy word [i.e., the Bible] I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin…” (Psalm 119:11). Unfortunately but as we all know to be reality: (a) nobody can memorize and recite Scripture (or even just read it) 24 hours a day (thus giving the sin process its toehold, its cue to restart anew) and (b) comparatively few people – even mature believers – memorize Scripture on a regular, systematic basis at all.
One of the main goals and purposes of BibleMemory.ORG is to change that second part! Such that even though the first hurdle (i.e., doing so every minute of the day) will obviously remain intact for the rest of our physical lives, I am absolutely certain that the Lord is going to lead many millions of Christians to the point that they’re reciting or meditating on the Bible at least once every hour.
Memorizing and reciting Scripture is like brushing one’s mind and heart and spirit and soul. That’s right: just as brushing our teeth restores a clean and fresh feeling to our mouth, so also the Bible – if ingested – restores the soul…
… and cleans and purifies and sanctifies the entire person…
… and actually and literally causes spiritual growth.
How many of us would even THINK ABOUT, even CONSIDER going an entire day without brushing our teeth?
Yet how many go an entire week or month or (gasp!) year without memorizing and reciting Scripture?
With your help and by God’s good grace and great power, that’s about to change! What a wonderful world it will be when we see millions of people memorizing and meditating on Scripture many times throughout each day! May it be so.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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Talk About Two Beautiful Bridges!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryJesus is the “bridge” between God and humanity.
(Talk about bridging the gap! And an infinite one at that.)
The Bible is the “bridge” between Jesus and humanity, between Him and us. Because it’s by the Bible we learn about and (literally) come to know Him in a very personal, real, tangible way.
How would we know about His amazing-beyond-comprehension-much-less-human-description humility but for the Bible? (Philippians 2:3-11)
How would we know about His heart for the Father and humanity, His genuine love for people, but for the Bible? (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – you can leaf to literally any page and you’ll see this on clear display)
How would we know about His immaculate conception, remarkable birth (in a manger, an animal feeding trough; a singing heavenly host of angels; magi; trying to be killed by the king of the land)? And perfect, sin-free, flawless life? And excruciating but infinitely propitiating death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead and seating at the right hand of the Father in heaven and sending of the Holy Spirit so we wouldn’t be stuck with the unwinnable, lose-lose battle versus sin and the flesh and the evil one?
The Bible is the greatest tangible gift, tangible thing in the universe. And the most powerful by far. What a gift… yet how many of us take it for granted?
If there were a well of water which, when drunk from, made the drinker look ten or twenty years younger or pounds lighter, who among us wouldn’t be PANTING FOR AND LAPPING UP THAT WATER each and every day?!
But it’s even more amazing than that, because God didn’t just give us such a well (the Bible), He gave us such a well in our home, right where we live, such that virtually ANYONE can access that life-giving, health-enhancing, righteousness-restoring well: it’s no mistake, rather, it’s an unmistakable demonstration of God’s grace that the Bible is THE MOST prolific and easily-accessible book in human history.
Yet, sadly, many of us take it for granted. Such power, such life-yielding and health-wielding capacity there for the receiving, yet somehow we time-to-time take it for granted.
May those times of laxity and spiritual lethargy end today, at this very moment… or at least be fewer and farther between (as we used to say as children) “startinnnnnnnnnng NOW!”
Our life will be so enriched by that. Spiritually but also physically. In the next life but also the present one.
Like I penned at the end of the previous post: May we drink daily – and diligently – from that cup.
What a gift! What a remarkable, indescribable, gigantic gift of God’s grace. The precious Bible.
(Indeed, only something so sweet could motivate such a sorry sinner as I to memorize its every verse, chapter, and book!)
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