Ed Christian's World

Miracles of Sodom…

Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah-from the LORD out of the heavens. Gen.19:24

Genesis 18 and 19 record the judgment and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – cities so evil that their inhabitants attempted to rape the angels sent to them. The Bible records the judgment – fire rains down from the sky and the cities are destroyed.

Of course, modern scholars and critics of the Bible believe the account to be a myth and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah an event that never took place. And there has never been any remnant of any city that would fit the description of the account… until now.

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would have been located in the region of the Dead Sea. Seven miles northeast of the Dead Sea is a city called Tall el-Hamman. It has in recent times been the focus of an extensive multi-national archaeological excavation. Those involved in the excavation included archaeologists, geologists, geochemists, geomorphologists, mineralogists, paleobotanists, sedimentologists, medical doctors, and cosmic-impact experts.

After fifteen excavations, the team published its conclusions. The conclusions were stunning. They placed the city about 3,600 years ago, which is within the generally accepted time period of Sodom and Gomorrah. What they found, set apart the ruins from virtually any other city ever excavated. They came to the conclusion that the city was destroyed – suddenly, violently, cataclysmically.

How was it destroyed? Fire from the sky. The blast was so great that the scientists likened it to that of an atomic bomb. In fact they believe that the force of the blast was greater than the atomic bomb of Hiroshima… a thousand times greater – or the equivalent of a thousand atomic bombs!

The force that destroyed the city was so powerful that the temperature of the air rose above 3,600 Fahrenheit. Mudbrick houses, clay vessels, swords, shields, and spears began to melt.

According to the scientists, none of the estimated 8,000 people or animals within the city survived, just as in the account of Genesis. In fact, it appears that wood and small plants were blasted into tiny diamond-like structures. Other finds indicated the melting of elements that require temperatures of 4,435% Fahrenheit!

As for the vegetation, it appears to have been wiped out as it was written “and also the vegetation of the land.” Further, it appears that the destruction caused the land to be covered with salt – also echoing the account in Genesis.

It is yet another example of science catching up with the Bible. And it’s striking for this to be revealed in our generation. For our culture once identified with the morality of Abraham – now it identifies more with that of Sodom – and now the stones cry out, warning of judgment.

Be confident in the Word of God. In the end it will be proven true. In the meantime, live by it, stand by it, and overcome by it. And May God greatly bless you this month as you do!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Power of Being Wrong…

When I was 17, a friend was driving with me at 50 miles per hour on a two-lane road, and we see a guy driving his car the wrong way. We are head-on, honking the horn, as he swerves to the other lane. We were laughing.

Then another guy on the wrong side of the road was heading toward us and he swerved to the other lane. We began to think that everybody’s going crazy until we suddenly realized we were on the passing lane of the opposite traffic.

Afterward it dawned on us that there might be another explanation. Maybe it wasn’t them, but us. We admitted we were wrong which saved our lives. So in life you might be confronting the same problems repeatedly; where you think everybody else is wrong.

Maybe you’re in the wrong lane, or it’s not the situation, or perhaps it’s the direction of your heart, your attitude. The problems will only stop when you get in the right lane.

It’s the power of knowing that you are wrong. Ask yourself the question, maybe I’m wrong? If you can ask that question, in God, you can turn everything around.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

Learn to observe your perspective on things in order to see ideas from a different point of view, you might come away with a completely different solution to a nagging problem.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Better Than Angels….

Hebrews 2:1 says, “For this reason we must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift.” “For this reason WE must pay closer attention.” That is including himself.

Here is the very writer of Hebrews, the writer of the word of God and he is saying he has to pay closer attention. If he has to pay closer attention, how much more do you or I?

This is a warning. So how much more do we have to be careful to pay close attention to scripture to not drift away? How much more should we, you, direct your heart, focus your heart on the word?

Every day. Read it, hear it, follow it, and not just pay close attention, but pay closer attention than you have before.

So pay closer attention to the word of God and His word to you, because if even the very writer of Hebrews has to do so; how much more for you and me?

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. 2 Peter 1:18

Study your Bible, read the everlasting truths found there and live them so that they become part of you, your thoughts and your being as though your life depends on it because it does.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

To Be A Tree…

In Matthew 7, it speaks about fruit and trees. It says you will know the tree by its fruit. So what’s the focus here? The fruit? No, it says you will know the TREE by its fruit.

The fruit is there only to tell you what kind of tree you are dealing with. The focus is the tree. We tend to focus on the fruit. If I can just produce an apple, I’ll be an apple tree. If I can just produce righteousness, I’ll be righteous.

But that’s not what it is saying. The fruit doesn’t make the tree; it’s the tree that makes the fruit. The secret of producing fruit is to be a tree. Forget about producing the apple for a moment; learn to simply be as the apple tree.

Good works don’t produce good people. Good people produce good works. Christian works don’t produce Christians. Christians produce Christian works. Learn to be in Jesus.

Become what He made you to be. And if you have the heart of Jesus, the heart of love, the Spirit of God, your life will be filled abundantly and overflowing with His fruits and the fruit of the Spirit.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. John 15:16

Learn how the tree takes in water by its roots. God gives us living water; and when we abide close to Him, we grow stronger, then we can bear His fruit.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The City on the Hill…

The image that would become the foundational vision and symbol of American civilization came from the nation of Israel and from a Jewish Rabbi, Yeshua – Jesus.

Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” These words were directed to his disciples, yet became identified with an entire civilization and revealed the unique greatness of America.

The foundation of American civilization must ultimately be traced back to the Rabbi from Nazareth. The vision of America originates with the Great Commission, the charge He entrusted to His disciples.

It means America is to be a nation of disciples, conceived for the purpose of the bearing the light of God and spreading to the ends of the earth. Even if mainstream American society has forgotten the reason for America’s existence, you don’t forget.

Live as an all out disciple of Jesus. America needs that more than ever. In an age of darkness, lights must shine all the more. In an age of compromise and moral sliding, you must all the more, live your life above reproach, as a light, a witness, as a city on a hill.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14

As the darkness becomes darker, we must become brighter. Strive to be the Called, the sons and daughters of salt and light, keep praying, keep shining.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Sound of the Watchmen…

After 9-11, everyone was saying God bless America, but which God? Which America? What blessing? Is it the God of the Bible or the God of political correctness?

Is America founded to be a light to the nations, a new Jerusalem, source of Gospel missions, refuge of the Jewish people, friend of Israel? Or the America that’s the chief exporter of pornography, immorality and the god Mammon, which has daily blasphemed God on its media airwaves, and advocated the killing of tens of millions of unborn children – an entire generation?

The blessing of safety and prosperity – so we can continue in sin? No, the point isn’t “God bless America”, the point is “America, bless God!”

The focus of our prayers isn’t to be our nation’s prosperity, but our nation’s repentance. In our own lives, our prayers tend to focus on God blessing us – but more important is that we repent and live in God’s will.

You can’t expect His blessings if you don’t submit to His will. Pray and seek that your life be truly in His will. Bless God with your obedience and God will bless you with His best.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30

Pray for our country, its people, its government, that we, as a nation will turn from our sin and seek God’s face. Repent and turn away from the spiritual darkness.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Beggar and the King…

A king adopts a beggar child, takes him into his mansion and says all this is yours. The child takes the candlesticks and jewels and puts them in his pocket. He takes the paintings down, puts them in a bag.

The child still has the mind and heart of a beggar. He doesn’t really believe he’s rich, adopted or loved. As long as he clings to it, he’s not.

If we’re clinging to money, that means we’re really not rich. If we’re clinging to possessions, that means we really don’t have much. If we’re clinging to the love of people, then it means we really don’t have love. If we’re clinging to anything in the world, it means we really don’t have much in heaven.

You’re a child of God if you’re born again. You’re a child of the king. Whatever He has is yours. He has gladly, freely, given you the kingdom and all His blessings. You don’t have to cling to things anymore.

If you’re His child, you’re rich. Receive it, and stop clinging. Let go and be blessed. In God, you’re no longer a beggar. You’re a child of the King.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

Give to those in need and help the ones who have lost hope; love those who need to see, and feel God’s love. Doing these things, we store up heavenly treasures and His blessings.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Reich And The Kingdom…

Hitler tried to neutralize the church. He said to pastors: “you confine yourself to the church, I’ll take care of the German people.” Hitler’s deal was the devil’s deal. He can’t take away your faith; so he says, keep your faith away from the people. If he can’t destroy your faith, he’ll neutralize it.

Too many believers have accepted the deal. They hear the Word of God, worship, talk to the Lord in church, but the rest of their lives aren’t touched. That’s exactly what the enemy wants. He wants it all to stay in the sanctuary and that way there’s no miracle or victory.

Tell the devil, no deal! If you made a deal, tear it up! Take the gospel and spread it. Take the love of Messiah and let it change your life. Take the power of the Spirit and go out on the highways. Take down that wall between Sunday morning and the rest of your week.

The Lord came down to this life that this life would change; all of it because there are no deals with the devil. He is only Lord at all if He is Lord of all!

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Mark 1:19

Take the Word on the road with you today, take it outside and let His light shine, share your blessings with others that they may see your faith in the Lord of all.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Straight Street…

Shaul or Paul was on Damascus Road when he had the vision from God; a very dramatic way that salvation came for Paul. But it didn’t end on Damascus Road. It led Paul to Straight Street.

In other words, salvation must lead to a straight walk. Every encounter, every experience with God has to lead to Straight Street, a daily straight path. True change isn’t a high or an experience, but a changed life.

The very experience of God leads to righteousness because experience isn’t good in itself if God isn’t in it. God’s presence is for nothing if it doesn’t change your life.

Take the blessings of God in your life and turn them into a new way of life. Take the experience and feeling of love and turn it into a straight path of love. Take that experience of victory and turn it into a straight path of victory.

Take that experience of the Holy Presence of God and turn it into a straight street of holiness, because the experience is only the beginning. The victory is the changed life. Damascus Road always leads to Straight Street.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Acts 9:1-20

Today, claim the victory that you have through Yeshua. Live a transformed life of holiness; for you have been forever changed by His glory.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Spirit of Courage…

Often believers get discouraged. Spirit-filled emotions go to big highs and then obstacles come and they crash. Believers often think that the Spirit is the high, but Spirit in Hebrew is Ruach which means courage.

It’s the courage to go through the lows and still persevere – that’s the Spirit. The Spirit-filled life isn’t characterized by ups and downs. God hasn’t given you the spirit of a yo-yo. He has given you the Spirit of power and the discipline of love.

The spirit-filled life is characterized by courage and encouragement, the power to overcome discouragement. The sign of the Spirit is one who overcomes fears; has a heart of encouragement.

They aren’t overcome by obstacles, they overcome them. They keep going. That’s the Spirit of life. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God hasn’t given us a Spirit of timidity, but of power, of love, sound mind and discipline.”

Are you dealing with problems; down in the dumps? Live like a spirit-filled person, don’t be discouraged; take courage anyway. Rejoice. Fight the good fight. That’s the Spirit. In fact, that’s the Ruach.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

Truly live by the Holy Spirit today and walk in courage, in power and in confidence in His anointing.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed