Live to 100 and beyond?
US News published an article entitled “10 Healthy Habits That Will Help You Live to 100“, authored by Deborah Kotz. I’ll list the 10 habits below, but I encourage you to read the entire article, it’s very good.
- Don’t retire
- Floss daily
- Be physically active
- Eat a fiber-rich breakfast
- Get at least 6 hours of sleep per night
- Consume whole foods, not supplements
- Be less neurotic
- Live like a Seventh-day Adventist
- Be a creature of habit
- Stay connected
Did you catch #8? What can I say but offer my thanks to US News & World Report and Deborah Kotz. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, and what they’re saying in the article is true. Quoting:
“Americans who define themselves as Seventh Day Adventists have an average life expectancy of 89, about a decade longer than the average American. One of the basic tenets of the religion is that it’s important to cherish the body that’s on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overindulging in sweets. Followers typically stick to a vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, and get plenty of exercise. They’re also very focused on family and community.”
Seventh-day Adventists were also featured in the National Geographic Magazine for the very same reason in November of 2005, when researchers studied three different groups of people from around the world (Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy and Loma Linda, CA, USA) to discover why they lived so long. There are a large number of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda. That same NGM study was then picked up by CNN and shown on the Anderson Cooper 360 show.
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Even though I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, keep in mind I may differ from the church’s official stance on certain subjects when I write on my site. I reserve that right for myself, since I believe each and every one of us ought to think and make up our minds for ourselves, through Bible study and prayer — not to let any church do it for us.
Want to learn more about what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist? Go to Adventist.org.
Psalm 92: it will all be set right
The byline for this psalm is “a psalm, a song for the Sabbath day”. It’s yet another mention (among countless in the Bible) of the Sabbath’s importance, and I’m not referring to the false Sabbath of Sunday, which many obstinate and misguided churches are lobbying for, but the true Sabbath, Saturday, which was sanctified by God from the creation of the Earth.
As a photographer, I couldn’t agree more with verse 5: “How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!” The more time I spend in nature, seeking natural beauty, and the more I examine that beauty, the more I realize how great God’s work truly is, and how beautiful He made this Earth before we spoiled it. As for the second part of this verse, I don’t know if we’ll ever know how profound God’s thoughts can be. We are too limited to realize how He thinks, how much He loves us, and how He cares for us.
The rest of the psalm is eschatological, and includes clear references to the destruction of the wicked, and to everlasting life with God, in heaven and here on the renewed Earth:
“Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.” (verse 7)
“For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.” (verse 9)
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” (verses 12-14)
Verse 15 echoes the promises made in Daniel and the Revelation, that all will realize God’s perfect nature and goodness, and will proclaim it aloud, saying: “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Not all of the promises made in this psalm are prophetic. Some are for the present. Verses 10 and 11 say:
“You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.”
My Bible’s footnotes indicate the term “horn” refers here to one’s strength. The original Hebrew version is likely even clearer on that meaning. It’s encouraging and inspiring to see that God sometimes blesses His faithful ones during their lifetimes, not just in heaven. He chooses the time and method, but when He pours out His blessings over them, there is no mistaking His hand. I can attest to this myself, and I’m sure many others can. When we’re in the direst of circumstances and things cannot possibly be solved by human means, He works something out miraculously and we are delivered in a way we could not have imagined if we hadn’t seen it.
Praise be to God!
Psalm 91: reassurance during fearful times
Some of the most beautiful promises of reassurance I know of are contained within this psalm:
“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7)
“For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11,12)
“I will rescue him; I will protect him.” (Psalm 91:14)
Aren’t those promises amazing? I don’t know about you, but shivers run down my spine when I read them. To think, God will personally command His angels to protect me completely, no matter what the circumstances! All that He asks in return is:
- Make Him my dwelling place (Psalm 91:9)
- Love Him (Psalm 91:14)
- Acknowledge His name (Psalm 91:14)
That’s not too much to ask, is it? Of course, the key is to dwell in the Lord, as verse 9 says. How does one do that though? It’s got to be a symbolic statement, one that likely refers to keeping our minds on God, all day, every day, and inviting Him into our lives. It’s a natural extension of that second thing we must do in order to qualify for His full protection, which is to love Him, as verse 14 above says. Or, as another Christian puts it, to dwell in the Lord is to keep His word in our minds all day — to study the Bible carefully and to meditate upon it. Once we love Him and dwell in Him, it’s only natural that we acknowledge His name, or that we speak about Him to others, and give Him credit for all the blessings He bestows upon us.
The wonderful thing about God is that He loves us so much He’ll protect us even when we don’t love Him. He’ll bless us even when we curse Him. He is truly amazing. I’ve heard stories of people who were atheists or pagans, and yet God protected them in terribly dangerous situations. What do you think happened afterwards? Many became Christians. They began to believe in Him, to love Him, and to acknowledge His name publicly. They realized He exists, and He watches out for all His children, even though He may not always answer our prayers the way we expect. Yet if only we could see His angels at our side when in dire circumstances, we would know He never fails to deliver on His promises.
He doesn’t falter. Only we do, and that’s the hard part to accept, isn’t it? The Bible is full of God’s promises, and yet we have a hard time believing them, because we either don’t think He, who created the entire Universe, has the power to help us, or because we think He slighted us in the past when we prayed for something and didn’t get it. But that’s our pride that stands in the way, isn’t it? We can’t seem to be able to swallow it down and to accept the fact that God did what was ultimately best for us, even if it wasn’t the outcome we expected. Let’s face it, sometimes, when those arrows come our way, as verse 7 says above, we may be among the ones that fall, not among the ones that are left standing. Don’t ask me why — only God knows that. The thing to do is to put it in His hands and let Him figure things out. Let the chips fall where they may, knowing He is in control.
I think that’s the hardest lesson to learn.
You shall have no other gods before me
Here is a short passage from Isaiah 46, verses 6 and 7:
“Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.”
Notice the ridiculousness of the situation: a human being will create an object out of inanimate metals, set it on a pedestal in their home, and start praying to it — what’s worse, they’ll expect results.
Some may read this and say it’s no longer relevant. It’s what the ancient people did. But let’s look around the world and we’ll soon find out that this is still practiced. In some religions, people won’t bother to carve out gods from metals or stone. They’ll pray directly to stones. Or they’ll pray to the trees, or to nature itself. Then there are those religions that still pray to statues that depict human or animal likenesses, and they’re dominant in some parts of the world.
What’s worse, the practice of praying to graven images or statues isn’t limited to pagan religions. It happens right under our noses in the Western world. All you need to is to enter a Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal or Anglican church, and you’ll see statues of Jesus Christ or Mary, or the apostles, or of some saint or other, to whom the people pray and cry. They light candles to them and lay flowers at their feet, hoping in earnest for an answer when God clearly forbids it.
These people have forgotten the Ten Commandments, haven’t they? Here’s what God Himself wrote on the tablets of stone He gave to Moses:
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:7-9)
When one looks at these things through the lens of God’s Word, the matter becomes very simple: you shall not do it. When human reason enter the equation, we hear excuses like “But this is only a likeness that reminds us of God. We are really praying to God, and this helps us imagine Him.” The list goes on and on.
Problem is, God won’t listen to these excuses when it comes time for the final judgment. He won’t care what you intended to do. He clearly forbids the worship of statues and graven images, and all who call themselves believers in God should obey His wishes.
These dreams explain the end time prophecies
:!: Updated 7/25/09: Just found out that Ernie Knoll’s dreams may have been made up, at least in part. I’m sorry to have been misled. You can read more about it here.
I want to let you know about a collection of dreams I’ve been listening to — and testing against Bible truth. They’re found on a website called “Messages from God for His People“, in the Dreams section. The man who has been having these dreams since Spring of 2005 is Ernie Knoll, and he is an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
These dreams are biblical — in other words, they stand up to being tested against sound Bible doctrine and truth. They are not fantasies, and do not try to lead people away from God. On the contrary, they have strengthened my faith and encouraged me to get closer to God and study His word even more. Elder Ernie Knoll also offers additional evidence that the dreams are of divine origin on his website.
I believe these dreams are a fulfillment of the promise God made in Acts 2:17, where it is written:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
Please listen to these dreams, but realize you may not understand them unless you’ve been reading your Bible, and by that I mean ALL of your Bible, not just the New Testament or just the Old Testament.
Also of incredible use to you, alongside the dreams, in understanding what the end times will look like, and what you must do to prepare, is a well-known book written by Ellen G. White, entitled “The Great Controversy“. You can read it online for free, in its entirety.
Please, regardless of what you believe about Elder Knoll’s dreams or The Great Controversy, you owe it to yourself to study the end time prophecies found in the Bible, and to make sure you understand them correctly.
There are several important books in the Bible that are full of prophecies, but the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the Revelation in the New Testament are the ones that deal specifically with end time prophecies, and they’re the ones that are the most mis-interpreted by all sorts of quacks and kooks.
I think that Ellen G. White’s interpretation of these prophecies, as outlined in The Great Controversy, is the right one. And I think Elder Ernie Knoll’s dreams bring Ellen White’s writings and the Bible prophecies to life. His descriptions of specific events which will happen are clearly inspired by God and are meant to prepare the believers and bring them closer to Him.
You can download them to your iPod or computer in MP3 format, directly from the website, and listen to each one. I suggest you listen to them chronologically, starting with the first dream Elder Knoll had, and going down the list from there. I myself have just finished listening to the dream called “Get Ready”. They’re even translated into multiple languages if you should have a hard time understanding English.
Listen to them — all of them, it won’t take long — and then see what you think.
Is God a woman?
I was always bothered by that question. From my own readings of the Bible, it was pretty clear that God is a father figure, a man-like being, a patriarch, not a mother figure or a woman figure. It seems to me a corruption of God’s image, a blasphemy, to call Him a woman.
As I read through Jeremiah, I came across this verse:
“… The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.” (Jeremiah 7:18)
The prophet Jeremiah refers here to Israel’s heresy and their worship of pagan gods, which angered God and caused Him to punish Israel by calling on foreign nations to enslave them. What I found interesting here was the first mention (to my knowledge) of a “queen of heaven”, and the disdain that the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for God, had for such a notion.
For me, this was a clearer sign than the other implied references throughout the Bible that God is most certainly not a woman or a woman figure, but a man figure, or more precisely a Father figure, as He likes to be referred to. Remember the prayer that Jesus Christ Himself taught us? It starts like this:
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name…” (Matthew 6:9-13)
There’s also the question of “why”, as in why entertain such a notion, something that bends our perception of God into blasphemous territory? The Bible clearly doesn’t back it up, and shows us time and time again that God is referred to as our Heavenly Father, the ultimate Creator and Ruler of all there has been, is, and will ever be, so why try to muddle that up?
If you really want to find out whether God is a man or a woman, focus on getting into heaven first, then you’ll easily discover it for yourself. Don’t get mixed up in foolish notions — work on the basics, such as obeying God’s Commandments and getting to know Him better by reading His word daily. Once you do that conscientiously, you’ll no longer doubt God’s nature and will instead be changed yourself, from the inside out, into a better person.
Confusing anti-abortionists with one question
I have always been pro-choice. As a Christian, I can’t see it any other way. It’s about free will, and it’s about tolerance. Those two notions are clearly set out in the Bible, and if you’re a Christian who tries to love your fellow human beings, as the Bible says you should do, then you should also be pro-choice.
This is why I love this video I found on YouTube. A young man went to a group of pro-lifers who were demonstrating on the streets and asked each of them this question:
“If abortion were illegal, what should be done with the women who have illegal abortions?”
It’s a simple question, but one which gets back to the principles of compassion and tolerance so entrenched in the Bible. Watch them struggle to come to grips with what sort of punishment these women should receive, and you’ll see they can’t answer.
I’m glad someone had the courage to go out there and ask this question, because people who try to impose their religious beliefs on others are not doing God’s will. The pain that women suffer through after aborting is greater than any sort of pointless legal action that could be taken against them. They have pangs of remorse and go through bouts of depression for years or even decades. It’s not something I’d wish on anybody, but I strongly believe that they should have the option to do this if they feel it is necessary.
[via Unreasonable Faith]
An interesting conversation
Got this via email. See my thoughts at the end.
Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, you believe in GOD?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Professor: Is GOD good?
Student: Sure.
Professor: Is GOD all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Professor: My brother died of Cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fellow. Is GOD good?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Professor: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From… GOD…
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And GOD did make everything? Correct?
Student: Yes.
Professor: So who created evil?
(Student did not answer)
Professor: Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them?
(Student had no answer)
Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son… Have you ever seen GOD?
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in HIM?
Student: Yes.
Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student: No, sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theatre became very quiet with this turn of events )
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater)
Student: What about darkness, professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light… But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never been seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and can not even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class was in uproar)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so? So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room was silent. The professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir… exactly! The link between man and GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.
My version of the email forward specified that the student was Albert Einstein. Snopes.com says that’s false.
At any rate, it’s an interesting conversation and the student makes some very good points. So does the professor. And that’s the trouble with this argument. You can’t really win it either way, not without a “deus ex machina” situation. The best thing to do is to stick to your faith and go on, leaving others to believe what they will if they aren’t interested. At some point, they may find God for themselves, or they may not. Instead of lecturing, live exemplary lives. A concrete example always beats a good theory.
Hamas leader's son converts to Christianity
The Jawa Report: Influential Hamas Leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef’s Son Renounces Islam.
He now faces death for his beliefs. Al Qaeda has quoted Mohammed and said that “all who change their religion should be killed” when they referred to him.
The entire series of interviews done with him was posted to YouTube and is available for all to see. The thing that should grab you when you watch them and listen to him is how terrorism-oriented Hamas is, and how the idea of and encouragement to violence pervades Islam. Sure, there are moderate Muslims, and I applaud them, but they are choosing to close their eyes to some of the more violent verses to be found in the Koran.
I’m not saying Christianity has always been peaceful. The Crusades and the Inquisition, both foisted upon the world by the Catholic Church, are prime examples of the evils that are brought about when religion is allowed to dominate governments and world affairs instead of being kept in its place, but at least Christianity is peaceful now, thanks to the efforts of Protestants who were willing to die for their beliefs not too long ago.
It’s noble indeed to see that Yousef is also willing to die for his newly found beliefs, if it should come to it.
Has the Ark of the Covenant been found?
Two years or so ago, I first heard that the Ark of the Covenant had been found in Israel, near Jerusalem. I wasn’t sure quite what to make of it, and I figured that time would offer more evidence that would help sway the balance in either direction.
For me, that time has arrived. I now believe that it’s quite likely that the Ark of the Covenant was found, deep in a cave near Jerusalem, underneath the very spot where Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins. From what I understand, Jesus’ very blood came down from the cross and found its way, through a crack in the ground, to the very Mercy Seat of the Ark, where it acted as an atonement for our sins. The crack was formed when the ground shook at His death, and then closed again when He was resurrected and the earth shook once more. I’m not sure how to put this, other than it makes sense to me. It’s like the pieces of a Biblical puzzle are coming together.
I offer the following information for you to consider. You don’t even need to be sure of what you see or hear at this point. I believe that we will get more evidence in the near future to support or refute these findings, and at that time, the evidence will be conclusive.
The person who I believe quite possibly saw the Ark of the Covenant was Mr. Ron Wyatt, an American from Tennessee who conducted an extensive search for it in a cave system known as Zedekiah’s Cave, near Jerusalem. He financed all his trips to Israel himself, out of his own savings, and that’s what makes it more authentic for me. After his death in 1999, an organization that he formed, named Wyatt Archeological Research, continued his work. I can’t vouch for that organization, since some of the things they’ve been doing since then seem to refute Wyatt’s original findings.
There is, as is expected, plenty of controversy surrounding Wyatt’s work. After all, the Ark of the Covenant would be a very important find, of tremendous Biblical significance. His Wikipedia page doesn’t inspire confidence. Then again, there are plenty of people who support him, some of which refute the claims made on Wikipedia and say that any attempts to correct his Wikipedia page are always erased. What I can say is that to me, Ron Wyatt seems like an honest, God-fearing man (from the videos I’ve seen of him), and he looks like he truly believed what he found was the genuine article, so I think he deserves to be heard, and his evidence considered.
Certainly, what I’d like to see happen is that the Ark of the Covenant (if indeed it is the Ark of the Covenant) is revealed for the world to see. Perhaps there are good reasons to keep it hidden still, such as the possibility of a holy war erupting over it — I don’t know — but all I can say is that all this secrecy fuels speculation, and it’s not right.
This video from David Gates gives a good overview of the Ark of the Covenant find. Watch it from minute 10 to minute 15.
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There are many videos of Ron Wyatt on YouTube. I chose two of them to show you here. First, there is a video of Wyatt made in 1999 (the year when he died), where he talks about the Ark of the Covenant. The second video is also of Wyatt, and here he talks about the dried blood sample that he recovered from the Ark, and of what he found when he sent it to a lab for analysis.
What I find amazing about the blood analysis, if true, is that Jesus’ blood only had 24 chromosomes, 23 from his mother, and a single chromosome from a divine source. It certainly make sense, from both a Biblical and scientific view, if you believe that Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit, and not through a sexual act.
Apparently there are people who are actively trying to discredit Ron Wyatt. Some have even gone as far as try try and destroy his archeological findings. His two sons gave a talk in Israel recently, and they show, first hand, how others have gone out of their way to destroy what Wyatt has found there. Some are even trying to extract the Ten Commandments out of the Ark, for reasons unclear to me.
Ron Wyatt’s sons, Danny and Ronnie, also talked about the six Levites that were sent in to retrieve the Ark after the Israeli authorities were informed of the find. Apparently, all of them died when they approached it, and Wyatt was called in to retrieve their bodies. Their deaths made front page news at the time, though the official story said they had died by driving their car into a field of landmines.
Look, I’m not saying Wyatt’s findings are conclusive. Wyatt could have been overzealous, and, desiring to find what he had been searching for, he could have glossed over certain things that might have led him somewhere else. Who knows… But what if what he found really is the Ark of the Covenant? I think that possibility deserves our consideration, especially when you consider that his findings have spurred so much discussion, and have convinced so many others to go and search for themselves in those areas.
There are many agendas at play here. Some, are trying to find the truth. Some are trying to hide it. And others are trying to destroy it. And that’s what I think makes this seem like the genuine article. You know the old saying — where there’s smoke, there’s bound to be fire. There wouldn’t be so much controversy over this if there weren’t some truth to it.
