To the Moon and Beyond

This Saturday will be the 50th anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. I was five years old then and don’t remember watching it live. The Apollo 11 landing occurred on a Sunday night with Neil Armstrong stepping on the lunar surface just before 10:00 p.m. CST. Since it would have been past my bedtime, I was probably asleep then. I do remember dressing up as an astronaut for Halloween three months later and wearing my costume at kindergarten.

As a kid, I looked forward to the 21st century figuring we’d be living like The Jetsons. I assumed our space program would travel throughout our solar system and beyond. Although probes have orbited and landed on other extraterrestrial bodies, manned missions using the Space Shuttle haven’t gone beyond our earth’s orbit.

When Newt Gingrich briefly ran for president in 2012, he suggested putting an American base on the moon by 2020. While it’s unlikely that will happen next year, President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to create a “space force.” This would be a sixth military branch overseeing missions and operations in the space domain.

Christians have debated if it’s God’s will for man to travel beyond this earth. The Tower of Babel was man’s attempt to reach the heavens instead of obeying His command to replenish the earth. Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.” 

On the other hand, Psalm 8:6 says, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” This could include territory in outer space as well as on earth. Some of our astronauts were believers. An evangelist I met last year had planned a missions trip to Russia with Neil Armstrong just before the astronaut died from heart surgery complications. Armstrong’s Apollo 11 comrade Buzz Aldrin performed a communion service for himself while in space. The year before on Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 astronauts read from the Book of Genesis while orbiting the moon.

Even if mortal men never go beyond the moon, believers can look forward to being supernatural space cadets. We will have an eternity of traveling between heaven and earth plus exploring other parts of the universe. Your first trip to outer space could be the rapture of the church. Are you ready for Jesus to beam you up?

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Future Forgiveness

Thank God for grace! None of us deserve eternal life but God made that available through the death and resurrection of His Son. We need to continue receiving that grace to fulfill His plans and purposes for us on this earth.

A doctrine I’ve heard taught by some modern grace teachers is that once you’re saved, all your past, present, and future sins are forgiven. For a while I kept thinking, something isn’t right about the future part. Then I read Michael Brown’s book “Hyper-Grace” in which he shares this powerful analogy…

“It’s as if you have a debit card with a prepaid amount of one million dollars, but the account is not charged until you go out and use it. In the same way, the forgiveness of all of our sins has been prepaid, but that forgiveness is not applied in advance. It is applied as needed.”

The Lord also gave me this illustration. If you’re married, there have been times you said or did things that hurt your spouse. Your marriage didn’t suddenly end but that relationship was strained until you apologized and asked for forgiveness. No one has ever been a perfect husband or wife.

Likewise, anyone who is part of the Bride of Christ will occasionally say or do things that are wrong. Any believer who claims he never sins is a liar. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Fortunately, the next verse mentions the forgiveness available for when we blow it: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Yes, forgiveness for future sins is available but is to be received when needed. Jesus may have said on the cross “it is finished” but every believer is a work in progress. A Christian serious about his walk with the Lord won’t practice sin but still misses it from time to time. We all have room for improvement. 

So the next time you feel convicted when messing up, don’t live in condemnation. Confess it before the Lord (and others when necessary) and then move on.

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” - Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

Oh My Stars!

Facebook is a convenient way to stay in touch with friends, reconnect with old ones and meet new people. It’s also provided me an outlet to minister to numerous folks at once plus share evangelism testimonies. But just like any other technological tool, Facebook can be used for ungodly purposes.

I’ve noticed a few friends posting horoscopes on their Facebook pages. Perhaps some of them are ignorant of what the Bible says regarding astrology and the occult. That’s why it’s important to read the word of God. There are numerous warnings about seeking counsel from astrologers and fortunetellers. Here are a few of them…

“And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.” - Leviticus 20:6

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.” - Deuteronomy 18:10-12

“You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from what shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, nor a fire to sit before!” - Isaiah 47:13-14

While Satan has some supernatural power, it is inferior to God’s. Look at Daniel 2…

27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 

28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. 

Daniel then went on to interpret the king’s dream.

Some may argue the wise men in Matthew 2 were astrologers since a star led them to Jesus. The Lord can use physical objects to guide us. License plates from a particular state often appear at peculiar times whenever He wants me traveling somewhere. But that’s usually to confirm direction already given me. If we depend too much on outside circumstances for guidance and not the Holy Spirit, the devil can manipulate things to deceive us. That’s why it’s best not to put out “fleeces” when seeking divine direction. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Christians who think reading horoscopes is just harmless fun should recall the woman in Acts 16 who had a spirit of divination…

16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 

17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 

18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

So if you have been dabbling in horoscopes or other occult activities, I urge you to stop!  Ephesians 4:27 commands us to give no place to the devil. We also don't want to be doing things that might cause other young believers to stumble. Instead of looking to the stars for guidance, people should look to the One who created the stars.

“And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.” - Deuteronomy 4:19

Back to the Future

Today millions of people will gather around TV sets to see the Seattle Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. Despite the fact I enjoy watching NFL games, I plan to avoid certain parts of the telecast. One of them is Queen Latifah singing “God Bless America” before the kickoff. This is the same woman who at last Sunday’s Grammy Awards officiated a mass wedding that included homosexual couples. The Super Bowl halftime shows also had a couple of profane incidents by their performers. Although the commercials are often clever and entertaining, I’d rather just watch the football game.

Prior to previous Super Bowls, my mom and dad often asked me to make a prediction. Usually, I haven’t come close to the final score but there have been exceptions. Prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, I picked the St. Louis Rams to beat the New England Patriots 20-17. However, I also told my parents that the game could go into overtime with the New England Patriots pulling off an upset. As it turned out, the Patriots won 20-17 on a last-second field goal. That game almost went into overtime.

A similar thing happened seven years later when the Arizona Cardinals faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. Wanting to see Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner win another Super Bowl (as he did once before with the Rams), I picked Arizona to win 27-24 but had a feeling they would lose. Sure enough, the Steelers won by an almost identical score of 27-23.

Years ago I used to think it would be cool if one could know in advance the results of major sporting events like the Super Bowl. Some of you might remember the movie “Back to the Future II” in which Marty McFly travels in Doc Brown’s time machine to the year 2015 (which is now only one year away). At an antique store, Marty bought a sports almanac with the intent of bringing it back to 1985 and become rich through gambling. Marty’s plan backfired when his nemesis Biff Tannen temporarily stole the time machine and gave the sports almanac to himself. It resulted in a disastrous change of events that could only be corrected by going further back in time.

In real life, people ruin their lives by attempting to access future information through satanic means such as horoscopes and fortunetellers. The future ultimately belongs in the hands of God. Some people attempt to discern future events through hidden codes in the Bible. These folks should get to know the actual author of the Bible by reading His word. 2 Peter 1:19 (KJV) says that we have “a more sure word of prophecy.”

One of my favorite Bible verses is Joel 2:25, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” In her book “The Secret to True Happiness”, Joyce Meyer points out, “With God, ‘plan B’ can be even better than ‘plan A’ would have been.” So even if you made many bad decisions in the past, you don’t need the aid of a time machine to turn your life around. Put your total trust in the Lord.

“Remember the things I have done in the past.  For I alone am God!  I am God, and there is none like me.  Only I can tell you the future before it even happens.  Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.” - Isaiah 46:9-10 (NLT)