REDEMPTION AND A RAINBOW

Posted on by michellethurman2344

Gen. 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”

We are a three part being: we are spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. Our body was formed from the dust of the earth. It is the anchor that keeps us in this world. It is earthly, flesh formed from the dust of the earth. From dust we were formed and to dust we shall return.

Gen. 3:19 “…..”For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Our bodies, our flesh, was formed from the dust of the ground and in death we return to dust; our bodies decay and become one with the earth again. But…from the breath that God breathed on us we became spirit. He gave us life; His life. We are His children, born to fellowship with Him eternally. We are spirit, we live in a body formed from the dust of the earth. God gave us the earth to live in, to work in, to enjoy, to rule over with the same love and compassion and kind care that He gives to us. The earth is our dwelling place where we were to live in harmony and close fellowship with our Heavenly Father. And then…..

Gen. 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman….” Eph. 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” I Pet. 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Rev. 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…..”

God created us to live forever, here on the earth. Within our flesh formed from the dust of the earth, God created an immune system that is the most amazing and complex structure in the world. It requires an entire branch of medicine to study and come to know it, and still it is not completely understood. Within our bodies dwells a host of microscopic armies whose sole purpose is to protect the body from any and all attacks on our flesh which, in the beginning, were meant to renew our bodies indefinitely. Since the fall of man our bodies have fallen to attacks on our flesh from sickness, disease, infirmities and accidents and, even with our immune system, we eventually succumb to these attacks. But, in the beginning it wasn’t so. We were immortal until sin entered in. Even today we do not die from old age; we die from the those assaults against our flesh.

God’s enemy; the one who hates Him, but who is helpless against Him, attacked God through His family….us. And we all know that story. We went from being immortal and ruling over all the earth to being mortal and subject to the ravages of sin. A pretty poor trade-off. But our spirit lives on. Spirit and soul are so closely connected that only the Word of God can separate them...[Heb. 4:12 ” For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”] The soul is the bridge between the body and the spirit. It communicates between the two and wrestles with our spirit for control. God knows the difference between them and sees what is truly in our hearts [spirit] as opposed to the thoughts and intents of the soul. The spirit man is our true self; our eternal self, but for many their spirit cowers in shadow overwhelmed by the assaults of an ungodly and sinful soul. God looks past the exterior displayed by our soul and looks deep into our hearts/spirit and reaches out to us at our most basic level….the real us.

When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior our spirit man is reborn; but our soul is renewed by the washing of the Word – God’s Word. Together, when the flesh perishes, they go to be with God; and one day the earth itself will be redeemed and it will once again become our eternal home. Without Christ you cannot enter into God’s presence, so if the flesh dies and the spirit hasn’t been reborn you go to the place of God’s enemy. That enemy, Satan/the devil, has won you, taken you out of the Hand of God, because you did not accept God’s salvation through Christ. It’s a very simple fact….sad, but tragic for so many; and a great sorrow for our Heavenly Father who loves us all. Think how it feels to lose a child. God has lost millions of His created family, but because He gave us each free will He will not override our choice….or lack of it.

Man entered so quickly into gross and horrible sin that God destroyed the world through one, world engulfing flood; saving only Noah and his family. The atmosphere over the earth coalesced into one massive downpour; while the fountains of the deep opened up and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions turned the oceans into a massive, overwhelming tsunamis which ripped the Teutonic plates asunder and inundated the land with giant waves of water. That water overwhelmed the earth for nearly a year and when it abated the earth and its atmosphere was radically altered.

Gen. 2:6 “But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” Gen. 1:7 “Then God said, “Let there be an expanse [land] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

Before the flood the earth’s atmosphere was heavy with moisture, but afterwards that changed. Before the flood the atmosphere did not allow for rainbows, but afterwards those conditions changed and God placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise that He would never again destroy the whole world by way of flood. Gen. 9:13 “I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

There are those who have decided that the rainbow should represent them and their lifestyle, when it is really a reminder of the sins of men that brought on the destruction of the world through flood. The rainbow is a sign of God’s promise to not destroy the earth by way of flood ever again. It is not a sign that He has forgotten what sin is or what and how it devastates mankind; but sinful man tries ever to subject God to their will and flaunt their sins before Him. Rather than repent and be born again, they insist that not only the rest of mankind, but God Himself bow to their demand that they be allowed to continue in their sin, that it be not counted as sin but as the ‘way they were made’.

Satan sought to place himself above God, to be worshipped as God is worshipped; and he inspires men to do the same, to make themselves their own god and force their perception of themselves as not in need of repentance or deliverance on all others. We can see this in those who are in seats of power; how they seek to rule over the public and make themselves as rulers who know what is best for those they rule over. They would have us give up our freedoms to their superior ability to direct our ways and rule in place of God. To this end they have tried to close churches and silence the Christian and conservative populace. They call good evil and evil good and make the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a racist, and a evil that seeks to do what they themselves are working to do; that is to bring the world under their domination.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about freedom; freedom from the ravages of sin and new life in Christ. And, while we do preach the Good News to all men, we do not, nor do we have the right, to force any to accept that Good News. Our constitutional freedoms are based on our God given rights….that all men are created in the image of God and have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Yes….we are subject to the death of the flesh so long as this world remains, but our spirit man lives…..if not in the presence of God; then sadly in the presence of God’s enemy, satan.

Gen. 8:22 “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Rev. 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth; passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among the, and they shall be His people, among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

JOHN 4:35 “BEHOLD THE FIELDS THAT WHITE AND READY FOR HARVEST EVEN NOW.”

Pray for the harvest for the Great Awakening is almost upon us.

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Published by michellethurman2344

I was born in California, but both my parents were born in different areas of rural Oklahoma. My father grew up on a small cattle ranch and my mother grew up in the hills of eastern Oklahoma near the Ozark Mts. Both were born in the 1920's when Oklahoma was still more a part of the 1800's than the twentieth century so I like to say I was born of parents who were the last generation born during the old west. Their old west roots had a huge impact on my childhood. I spent the first three years of my life on my Granny's chicken farm. She was my father's grandmother and she owned 60 acres of alfalfa which she rented out and lived on three acres of barnyard where she raised chickens. There was some electricity, but no indoor plumbing outside of a faucet in the kitchen. The toilet was down the boardwalk in a small shed...in other words...an outhouse. The shower was a room under the water tank in the pumphouse. Granny's little three room house was the only painted building on the property. Everything else was raw, unpainted wood including the two room house my parents lived in. And I loved living on that little farm where I pretty much had free run of the barnyard and sometimes even wandered into the fields surrounding it. The town where I was born is along the Colorado River in the middle of the California desert and across the river from the Arizona desert and while we did live there for the first 12 years of my life, we moved a lot due to my father's employment. He was a big equipment operator and we moved to where the work took him, but usually only six months of the year then we moved back to our hometown. We moved to Northern California in 1958 and I have lived here ever since. I am a mother, a grandmother, have one great-grandchild and recently retired. I am divorced and now live with my youngest sister. My sisters and I like to cruise and take road trips. I am enjoying my life.

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