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HOME BUSINESS BLOG-MY FREE HOME BUSINESS

Today, I’d like to share with you just a little on how to promote your free home business. Of course, there are as many ways to promote your free affiliate websites as there are people to promote them! I’d like to share a few of those with you today, along with the pros and cons of each one.

The first way I’d like to touch on today is email marketing, or safelisting. Rule #1, you do NOT want to start sending out a bunch of random emails to people you don’t know without their permission. You know, as well as I do, that nobody likes to be spammed (plus it’s illegal)! There are ways, however, to send emails out to folks you don’t know WITH their permission! One way to do this is with landing pages, which we’ll cover later. Today, though, we want to look at safelisting.

Safelists are lists that you can join that are full of people that have agreed to receive your emails. In return, you agree to receive their emails. While this can be an effective way to get your business out there, keep in mind that the same people that are receiving your email, agreed to do so in order to be allowed to send YOU their offers! While you can join most safelists for free (of course, most of them offer upgrades), the free ones are often ineffective.

Once you upgrade, you can email a lot more members a lot more often. Another benefit of upgrading is that you often receive a LOT less email! The typical set up is this: Free members can email free members once a week, and receive emails from everybody in the list. Upgrade to “pro” and you may be able to email all free and pro members two or three times a week…and receive emails only from the pro and “executive” members. Upgrade to “executive” and email ALL members of the list as often as you like…and receive emails only from other executive members. The upgrades are normally fairly modest in price.

Obviously, the executive memberships are far more effective if you decide you want to try safelisting. Whether the lists are free or paid, the list is already there for you. You can have an instant list of thousands! The downside, is that it’s very competetive, and can be very expensive if you upgrade in a few of them. If you’re making money from them, it’s worth it, of course, but if you’re just starting out or if you are on a limited budget, it might not be a wise investment. Personally, while I do use a few of them, I don’t spend too much time or money on them.

I will share with you a few that I do like, though, and that I’ve found to be fairly responsive. Number 1 on the list is:

ListJoe is a great list to start with. It’s a little pricey to upgrade, but worth it IF you want to make safelisting one of your preferred methods of marketing. If you’re not intending to do much with safelists, I would recommend you starting as a free member.(Actually, it’s more of a list builder than a safelist, but it works much in the same way…but it has the added benefit of building your list, too.)

List-twister is another good viral list builder. It’s still fairly new (and fairly inexpensive to upgrade), and as it grows, so will your list!

Herculist seems to be a pretty good safelist to start with. Of course, you can join as a free member, or upgrade to different levels. Either way, it currently has a list of around 56,000 members. I’ve been a member for awhile now, and it might be worth your taking a look.

TargetProBlaster is another one I use, mostly because there’s a lifetime upgrade of only $10 to send out emails to a list of around 50,000 currently.

One of the absolute favorites on my list is the Pearls of Wealth safelist group. You can join any or all of them. Most of them are free to join, and you can join as many or as few as you like. If you’d like to try the safelist submitter, feel free to do so, as long as you understand there is a monthly membership fee (that you can cancel at any time). The Pearls lists are generally pretty responsive, and are all over the world (which is great for your international free home business!). I would recommend you joining a few of them for free and getting your feet wet before jumping into the submitter, unless it’s something you can easily afford. Another great alternative that I’ve used a few times is that you can send out a one time ad to all lists for $5. That might be something else you’d like to try before you commit to a paid membership. See how it works for you.

Just as a note of caution here, if you happen to run across these blasters that charge you $20-30 for a lifetime membership to “blast” your ads to millions a day…STAY AWAY! I’m sure there are probably a few legitimate ones out there, but I also know that many of them are just wanting your thirty bucks. I’m not talking about some of the safelist submitters (which are different altogether) like Pearls of Wealth, or iPostAd…but about the blasters that promise to send your ads to 150-700 million people a day for a one-time lifetime payment. It’s your money, but…

Safelists can be quite effective. I’m not a huge fan of them, although I do use them on occassion, too! Don’t rule them out totally, but don’t get too hung up on ‘em either! There are other ways (totally free) that work just as well or better!

If you’d like to follow along on My Free Home Business blog for more info and tips, feel free to click the link!

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

The thing we want to look at here, isn’t who Jesus was talking to, but rather who he was talking about…the prince of this world. The devil. At the moment, we’re not interested in the fact that he was a murderer from the beginning. What we want to look at, is the fact that he’s a liar. Not just that he’s a liar, but that there is no truth in him. None. Not even a little bit. This is a very important concept for us to understand.

The fact that there is no truth in him is a tremendous revelation in light of the kingdom that he rules over! The world. If there is no truth in the ruler, there can be no truth in his kingdom! Now, if you’ll follow along for just a few minutes, you’ll see where this is heading! It’s a very important step toward total freedom in Jesus!

“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” (Rev. 12:9)

His “job” is to lead the whole world astray! How does he do that? Through lies and deception! He is, after all, the father of lies, and there is no truth in him. If he WANTED to tell the truth, he wouldn’t be able to, because there is NO TRUTH IN HIM!

“For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.” (Matt. 24:24)

It’s interesting, that while it appears that it’s NOT possible for the elect to be deceived by false Christs and false prophets, it also seems that it IS possible for us to be deceived by “the world.” I say that, simply because we have been, and we are still deceived by it, even today. It’s a powerful delusion. Allow me to share some examples with you, of what I mean by that.

The world says you have cancer. Jesus says, “By my stripes, you are healed.” (Is. 53:5). The world confesses that it’s full of sickness and disease…it’s constantly “discovering” new ways for us to be sick! But Jesus says he took our sicknesses and infirmities with him to the cross, where they died along with him! (Matt. 8:17).

The world teaches us that when we get this cancer…when we come down with these sicknesses…we should go to the doctor and suffer all sorts of torments (in the name of healing) and with any luck, our health may be restored. Jesus says, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up..” (James 3:14,15)

The world teaches us to accumulate all we can…to hang on to it with both hands…so that someday, with a little hard work and a little good luck, we might have enough to meet our needs and our wants…maybe even a little to pass on to the kids. Jesus teaches us, that if we want to accumulate more, we should give generously from what we have. (Deut. 15:10,11)

The world teaches us that there are countless ways to “be good people” and that there are many paths to one form of heaven or another. But Jesus says, that no one comes to the Father except through him. (John 14:6)

The world is deceptive in many ways. These are just a few examples, and we’ll look into each one as time goes by, along with others. The point here and now, is that the world is a lie, and it’s full of lies…the very foundations and walls are lies. Lies are what makes up “the world.” And it’s no wonder. Its ruler is the father of lies, and there is no truth in him. Therefore, there can be no truth in the world. Yet, we get sucked in by them daily, even as Christians.

The first problem, is that we’re so used to living in these lies and by them, that we don’t recognize them for what they are…lies. They may even make an awful lot of sense to us, sometimes…but they’re still lies. We were born into them, raised by them…and now…now, it’s really hard sometimes to recognize them for what they are. In a way, it’s not our fault. It’s the way of life we were taught by our parents and the world around us. We experience living in them every day.

It’s not really our parents’ fault either. It’s the way THEY were taught as babies by THEIR parents. They experienced the same lies we do…and they SEEM real to us. But they’re not. A great way to illustrate what I mean is this: when you watch a movie on television, it looks real, and it seems real (even though we know it’s make-believe). But if you were to go to Hollywood and look at the set, you’d see “buildings” that are really nothing more than a few sheets of plywood, nailed to a few 2 X 4’s, with a little paint splashed on em. No walls, no ceilings, no floors…just a facade. Fake. Made to appear real. The tables look real, but they were made to smash easily into pieces when one guy breaks it over the head of another guy. Props. Fake. Made to appear real to deceive the viewers…

The world is like that. It’s fake. It appears real. In fact, you might say that the purpose of the world is to deceive its citizens into believing that it IS real. (Remember that the ruler’s job is to lead the world astray!). For everything real we have in God’s kingdom, there is a false prop in the world. In God’s kingdom, for instance, we have wealth. The world offers us money, instead. But, really…what is money? A number printed on a piece of paper that determines the “value” of that particular bill. False wealth. You can’t eat it, or drink it. It won’t keep you warm when it’s cold. It’s not wealth…it’s paper.

I know for some of you that may be reading this, it may sound a little far-fetched. But if you’ll bear with me, I hope to show you, with a little help from the Holy Spirit, how true it really is!

THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD

A little, today, on “the prince of this world,” or the ruler of the present worldly kingdom…Paul calls him in Eph. 2:2, “ruler of the kingdom of the air.”

The prince of this world. The god of this age. The ruler of the kingdom of the air. The fallen Lucifer. Satan. The enemy of the Lord, and the enemy of the saints. We think we know a lot about this adversary, and a good bit of it is fairly obvious if you look around you. But we want to dig a little deeper than that. We want to see what this guy is about, because that’s one of the keys to our freedom in Jesus. Things like what motivates him and how he works. For starters, let’s take a look at how he spends his time.

The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.” (Job 1:7 & 2:2)

Ok. He spends his time roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it. But why? Why would he spend his time roaming an earth that he’s roamed from the beginning? He already knows all there is to know about it…every mountain, every stream, every valley and gorge. Why roam the earth, fallen Lucifer? The answer can be found in 1 Peter 5:8.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

He’s looking for us. You and me. And he knows where to find us. Why does he want to find us? So he can devour us. Why devour us? Because God loves us. It’s not because you or I have done anything against him…it’s because we belong to the Lord, and he hates the Lord. And, since we are God’s kids, he hates us, too! Even those people who aren’t children of the King are the devil’s enemies…because satan knows that God loves them, too…and that someday, they MIGHT become God’s kids. So, we are all enemies of the serpent…whether we choose to be or not.

What else does he do?

“…that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” (Rev. 12:9)

He leads the world astray. Not the earth, but the world. You and me. Us. The very kingdom he rules over, he leads astray. Because he wants to devour us all. Because God loves us. By his wily and deceptive ways, he leads the world astray…down a path of destruction, to the very pit of destruction, itself.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10)

And here we are, following along, often without question. Actually, without even knowing we’re following! Because, just as often as we recognize him or his ways, just as often, we don’t!

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14)

What often appears to be good and beneficial to us (from the worldly perspective) is often just another nudge down the road of destruction. That’s why Paul urges us to “live by faith,  not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7). Things are not often as they appear.

Again, that’s why it’s so hard for us as Christians, sometimes, to experience the freedom…the true freedom…that Jesus gave us on the cross. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world exist in the same time and the same place. One is within us, the other is all around us. It’s tough, sometimes, to figure out which is which. The lies and deceptions of the enemy are powerful ones. That’s the purpose of this site. To help us educate ourselves a little about both. So that maybe, every now and then, we can realize there’s something wrong, and we can poke the one ruler in the eye, while we draw a little closer to the other.

The next post will cover another very important lesson we need to learn about the “prince of this world.” It’s one we would all do well to remember…but, til then, may the Lord open your eyes and give you understanding on what we’ve covered so far!

Many blessings!

Today, I wanted to elaborate a little on the Biblical concept behind the idea of two separate kingdoms existing in the same place at the same time, and give you some Scriptures to give the whole thing a foundation. For instance, the Bible plainly speaks of the kingdom of God in many places, and if you’ve read the Bible at all, you already have some idea that the kingdom of God, does in fact, exist. A little more on that in a later post!

What I’d like to look at today, is the kingdom of “the world” and present to you that it’s a kingdom (just like the kingdom of God) with it’s own ruler and its own citizens. The reason for this, is that it’s critical to understand that you and I live in both kingdoms at the same time…which is where a lot of our freedom gets lost. We remain bound in the kingdom of the world by choice. Jesus has already set us free from it. The problem is (and this is the purpose of the website), that we don’t recognize the differences between the two realms, and we don’t realize that we’re trying to live in both of them, instead of stepping out in freedom to live wholly in the kingdom of God!

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:26)  KJV

Most people interpret “mammon” to be money. I’d like to offer you another interpretation. Instead of limiting “mammon” to money, let’s look at it as being the “world system.” No man can serve God and the “world system” at the same time and expect to experience the FULL freedom we have in Jesus! We’re still trying to serve two masters. We already know that God is the ruler of His kingdom…it’s the kingdom of God. It belongs to Him. He is not only the owner, but the ruler, or the overseer. The world system, or the kingdom of the world, however, while still OWNED by God, is RULED by someone else!

Before I give you a few verses to consider, I’d like to share with you an interesting thought from the book of Matt. (4:8-10).

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

When satan showed “all the kingdoms of  the world” to Jesus and offered to give them to him, Jesus never disputed the fact that they were satan’s to give! God had given dominion to Adam, and Adam had turned over the reins to satan when he (Adam) ate the forbidden fruit. In confronting Jesus, even satan wouldn’t have the gall to claim ownership over the world unless he had some sort of footing to stand on! And Jesus never argued the fact…he never made the claim that those kingdoms belonged to God. He never denied satan’s “ownership!” He simply said, “Away from me, Satan!”

With that in mind, along with a few stand-alone Scriptures, it should become clear that, we do indeed, live in a fallen world, ruled by a fallen angel…when we should be living in the kingdom of God and ruled by the risen Son!

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Cor. 4:4) KJV

The god of “this world.” Satan.

Jesus, himself, referred to satan as “the prince of this world.” What is a prince? The guy that rules the kingdom when the King isn’t around!

“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.” (John 12:31)

“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me…” (John 14:30)

“…because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (John 16:11)

This world is a kingdom of its own. It’s ruled by its own ruler (but only as God allows). At the same time, and in the same place, in the same people, the kingdom of God exists, as well. And a man can’t serve two masters. It doesn’t work. That’s why we have so many problems. We’ve got one foot in the kingdom of God, and the other in the world. Once we can understand that, we can begin to work on separating ourselves from the world…we can focus on getting both feet in the kingdom of God.

There’s a good bit more on the kingdom of God…and a good bit more on the world. But for now, just ponder a little on the concept of two very separate, distinct kingdoms…both in the same place. Both in the same time.

Man had 4000 years to be saturated by the kingdom of the world. A long time to be steeped in its traditions, to learn it’s deceiving ways. To contribute to it even. Now we have to unlearn it all and learn the ways of the relatively new kingdom…the kingdom of God. It’s a tough thing to do. There are things about this world that we just don’t really care to let go of…but by His grace, and through a little bit of learning, we just might be surprised to find that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be!

Til next time…

LEGITIMATE FREE HOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

The age old question: Are there such things as  legitimate free home business opportunities? The answer may surprise you! First of all, let’s look at the reason you’re investigating this avenue in the first place. Maybe you were laid off and in today’s economy, it’s pretty tough to find a decent job…or even a not so decent job. Maybe with the economic turmoil, you just need a little extra cash! Don’t despair…and don’t run around throwing money at a lot of different programs that promise to bring the cash rolling in with the click of a button!

Back to the question: Are there really such things as legitimate free home business opportunities? There are a surprising number of “free” home businesses, that (not so surprisingly) really aren’t free. They may be free to join, but they often require you to upgrade or maintain a certain dollar amount in monthly purchases to qualify to receive your money. The money YOU earned! In spite of those guys, there really and truly are a few legitimate free home business opportunities on the internet! We’re not talking about the survey thing, or the clicking ads for pennies type thing, but real, true, honest-to-goodness home business programs that can earn you a substantial income!

Most of these offer upgrades too, but don’t REQUIRE them, like many other “free” opportunities. Of course, the upgrades offer the potential to earn even more money, but it’s a choice that YOU make. You can honestly remain “free” as long as you like and still receive your earnings…and with a little time and effore, those earnings can be rather lucrative!

Likewise, you can spend as much as you want on advertising or promoting your new business…but it’s really not necessary if you’re willing to put in a little time and effort in learning about the free ways. Yep, it may take a little longer and require a little more effort, but it’s just as effective, and in the long run, the advantages lie with the free ways. They can self-produce for you over a very long period of time, simply by putting in a little work in the beginning.

Even the free home business programs may cost a little bit to start up, though. We’re not talking about a major investment, but even with a free affiliate website, for instance, you’ll need a place to host it. There are tons of hosting services out available for very little cost…usually less than ten bucks a month! And you might be interested in getting your own domain name…another small investment. It’s really easy to find those for well under ten bucks, too!

A lot of internet business folks recommend autoresponders, as well. Do you HAVE to have one? Not at all. Especially if you’re selling affliate products! That’s a choice you have to make for yourself, but it’s an investment that you might want to consider at some point down the road, especially if you’re selling your own products or trying to build a list. Another twenty bucks of so a month. You can easily do without the autoresponder, as many affiliate programs will have their own, but even if you go all out right off the bat, with the domain name, the hosting and the autoresponder, you’re looking at forty dollars or less a month to operate your home business. There’s NOWHERE else where you can do THAT!

Are there really such things as “legitimate free home business opportunities“? You bet! You just have to take a little time to find it…

PERSONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN

If you’re like millions of Americans, finding a personal health insurance plan that you can afford has been a difficult task…and it’s getting harder and harder each day. The insurance companies keep increasing premiums, covering less, and if you have a pre-existing condition, you can pretty much hang up any chance you had at grabbing onto some strand of relatively ineffective insurance. Many people that used to be able to get reasonable insurance through their employer have seen rates skyrocketing, the coverage dwindling, or the option of providing health coverage disappearing altogether.

Long waits for health care are becoming more commonplace. Haggling with your insurance company over needed or recommended procedures are another every day occurance, not just concerning the time frame and coverage, but whether or not they’ll cover it at all. With medical costs going through the roof, and little or no relief in sight, there are estimated to be 45 million Americans without health insurance. And countless others that are seeing household budgets strained by trying to keep up their premiums in today’s economy. It’s not uncommon to find households paying between $300 and $600 a month just for health insurance!

Can you imagine, in today’s struggling economy…without any type of health coverage…the relief and peace of mind of finding an affordable alternative for the entire family?

Believe it or not, there is such an alternative available! While many people aren’t aware of such programs, there are programs available that are NOT insurance companies, but rather professional medical savings programs, that require no medical exams and that accept anyone (including those with pre-existing conditions!). If you find the RIGHT professional medical savings program, the benefits they offer often rival, or exceed, the “coverage” provided by many far more expensive insurance companies!

It seems nearly impossible to expect it in today’s world, but there are programs that offer savings, not only on health care, but dental, vision, hearing and prescriptions, all in one complete package, through one PPO (Preferred Providers Organization) or another! Excellent savings programs can be found for under $100 a month that include savings for the entire family! Many insurance companies today don’t offer that kind of coverage at anything close to an affordable price for the average family! In addition, there are no claim forms to fill out and no waiting for the insurance company to “approve” the doctor (or the visit)!

The “drawback” is often seen as a modest increase members may pay for a doctor’s visit. At the same time, while one may pay an additional $10-$20 at the doctor’s office, quite often, the savings for hospital visits and major medical expenses are greater than what the insurance companies can offer. Add that to the fact, that the members pay less than $100 a month to participate in the program, compared to $300 or more for insurance, and there is quite a significant savings! The average family would have to visit the doctor roughly 8-12 times a month, EACH month, in order to benefit from the average medical insurance coverage (compared to the savings program)!

The days of the affordable personal health insurance plan appear to be gone forever. If you, or anyone you know, is without adequate health care plan, be a friend…suggest they check out the possibility of joining a professional medical savings program. If you, or anyone you know, is paying $300-$600 a month for health insurance, be a friend…make the same suggestion. The benefits may surprise you, and the savings will definitely help ease the financial burden!

Mmmmmmmm….how great would it be to sleep all night again, just by getting that one monkey off your back!!!

THE WORLD OF TWO KINGDOMS

I promised in the last post to give you some Scripture to validate the idea behind “the world of two kingdoms.” Keep in mind, that until Jesus came to earth, there was only ONE kingdom…”the world,” or Adam’s kingdom…the one that became satan’s kingdom after the fall of man. If it still sounds confusing to you, try to relate it this way: Your child ulitmately belongs to God, but He chose YOU to share in the “ownership” of your child…to raise him and help him to grow and mature as a person. Yes, your child belongs to God…but he’s also YOUR child. God gave him to YOU and made him YOUR responsibility! Same principle applies to the kingdom of the world. The world was Adam’s first child…even before Cain and Abel…and Adam gave that child over to satan to raise from infancy to what it has become today (but only, God allows).

It is this “world” that we’ll be looking at today…Adam’s child…satan’s adopted son.

The world.

“That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen. 11:9)

The Lord confused the language of the WORLD and scattered them over the face of the EARTH. Two different things. Two distinct and separate entities.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.” (1 Sam. 2:8)

Again, the foundations of the EARTH are the Lord’s, and upon them he has set the WORLD. The prophet, David, knew the difference. He mentioned it when he stood against Goliath…

“Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.” (1 Sam. 17:46)

“Their voice goes out into all the EARTH, their words to the ends of the WORLD.” (Ps. 19:4)

“The EARTH is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the WORLD, and all who live in it…” (Ps. 24:1)

“The heavens are yours, and yours also the EARTH; you founded the WORLD and all that is in it.” (Ps. 89:11)

“All you people of the WORLD, you who live on the EARTH, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.” (Is. 18:3)

“Let the EARTH hear, and all that is in it, the WORLD, and all that comes out of it!” (Is. 34:1)

If the earth and the world were the same thing, why would these guys keep separating them? We live ON earth and IN the world. ON God’s earth, and IN the devil’s world. That’s why it’s so tough for us sometimes! But as we move along, you’ll see the light of freedom!

There are many other verses. I know some folks feel like the Old Testament really doesn’t apply to these modern times we live in…so for your sake, I’ll throw in one of my favorite New Testament verses in this particular area!

“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole WORLD astray. He was hurled to the EARTH, and his angels with him.” (Rev. 12:9)

That ancient serpent…who leads the world astray. He wasn’t hurled to “the world.” He didn’t need to be. He was already in control of it. He was hurled to the EARTH on which the WORLD existed. Another New Testament fave…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God so loved the WORLD, he gave his one and only Son. Why? Cuz the EARTH didn’t need salvation. The WORLD did. You and me. Us. We, the world. The world that lives on earth.

Two separate and distinct entities. The EARTH is God’s. The WORLD, he gave to Adam to raise, who in turn gave it over to the fallen Lucifer to raise. Next time, we’ll take a peek at some Scriptures to see just who, exactly, is in charge of this whole mess we call “the world.”

Many blessings!

Adam – The Origin of “The World”

Ok, on to the next thing we, as Christians, need to understand: Adam and the origin of “the world.” (I’m trying to put this thing into some semblence of order, at least in the beginning, because each of these concepts is very important to understand on your path to finding your freedom in Jesus!) With the creation of Adam, we also saw something else come into existance…the world. Now when I say that, it’s important for you to understand that I’m not speaking of the earth because the earth was created long before Adam (feel free to check out my post on Adam and dinosaurs!). But I’m referring to the world…or the world system.

The Bible is very clear that there is an earth ON which we live…and the world IN which we live. One, the earth (and everything in it), is God’s. The other, the world (or the world system), also ultimately belongs to God…but, He gave control of it to Adam who, in turn, gave it over to satan. When Adam drew his first breath, so did the world system…the system that dictates how people live together on this earth. Adam, being the first member of the world was the “mentor” of this system, so to speak. In fact, at the time, Adam WAS the world system in its entirity! In the beginning, before Adam ate the forbidden fruit, it was a world that followed God and His principles. It was a Godly world.

Then, as we know, Adam ate the fruit and fell from grace. In doing so, he took the entire world system with him! Adam chose to follow the system of the serpent, rather than the system God had in place…so that the entire world system, as it grew, was raised under the watchful eye of the fallen Lucifer. And we wonder why we have the problems we have! Between Adam and satan, the infant world system really had no hope of being anything other than what it is today…a fallen system, filled with fallen people with the whole thing going to hell in a handbasket! If you can imagine a fallen Adam and a fallen angel raising a child together, then you can imagine what kind of messed up kid you’d have. The sad thing is, you don’t have to imagine it, you’re living in it!

From the time of the fall, until the time of Jesus, mankind had about 4000 to corrupt this fallen system even further. By the time Jesus showed up to save the day, the world was solidly entrenched in it’s misguided, satan-inspired, man-taught way of doing things. These are powerful words, and they had 4000 to cement their power in the world system: tradition, ceremony, religion, education, medicine (just to name a few). Now, some of these things aren’t necessarily bad things. But when you incorporate them into a fallen world system, a creature arises that’s really very difficult to kill…and it’s a very dangerous creature because it’s one we’re all so familiar with…it’s the world we live in.

Now, when Jesus was born into the world…like Adam, he brought with him a new world system…the kingdom of God! The thing is, for 4000 years people have been living (and learning to live) according to the world system. Now along comes this young man that starts spouting off stuff that’s the exact, complete, direct OPPOSITE of what mankind has been so deeply ingrained by. Quick example using money: the world teaches you to gather all you can as quickly as you can…Jesus tells you to give it all away. Money is power. Jesus is power. Directly opposing viewpoints, two separate kingdoms.

The problem is this: they both exist at the same time and in the same place. Right here. Right now. On earth. You can’t see them, because they aren’t objects or places. They are SYSTEMS. And they SEEM like they’re both mixed up together. It’s no wonder we get confused! And here we are trying to live in both places…in both systems…at once…and it’s not working. It’ll never work. Because the two kingdoms are so directly opposite, they will never mix. Matthew 6:24. You can’t serve both God and mammon (the world system). But that’s exactly what we try to do because we don’t even realize there are two kingdoms, much less being able to distinguish one from the other!

To help clarify what I’m trying to say, if you took a shovel full of dirt from your yard, and mixed it with a shovel full of dirt from my yard, it would be impossible for us to ever distinguish or separate your dirt from mine. Thankfully, while it’s difficult sometimes, it’s not impossible to distinguish the two kingdoms in which we live today. Sometimes it’s quite easy…sometimes it seems nearly impossible. But it’s not. Keep in mind that with God, all things are possible! (Matt. 19:26)

We’ll go into this a little deeper as time goes on, but for now, please try to renew your mind a little. Understand that we are living in two directly opposing kingdoms at the same time…two that often appear as one, on the surface. This is a very important step to finding your freedom in Jesus and understanding some of the trials you may be going through today, and even more important when it comes to taking some of the necessary steps to finding your freedom.

In the next post, I’ll be offering you some Bible verses that will hopefully help demonstrate this powerful truth to some degree. For now, though, please keep in mind two things so far: we have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Without that, we’ll never understand that there are two kingdoms existing on our planet today. The world, or the world system (the kingdom of darkness) and the kingdom of God. Two very important truths.

Until next time…many blessings!

FREEDOM IN JESUS

Ok, I’ve decided to add a new catagory today, entitled “Freedom in Jesus,” as you can see! I strongly suspect that most of my posts will fall into this catagory for awhile! It’s dedicated to my facebook friends, my brothers and sisters everywhere in Jesus, and I think it’s probably going to be the most valuable tool I have for sharing with you! If you’d like to join my group in facebook, feel free to do so by clicking here! With that said…

The best place to start is normally the beginning…but in this case, we’re going to start a little closer to the end of the Bible with this passage:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

I’d like to start with this passage because a lot of things you read here may be new to your way of thinking. If that’s the case, you may find some of it a little hard to accept or a little far-fetched at times…and that’s ok. I’m not here to convince you, nor am I here to argue with you. I’m simply here to share with you what the Lord has given me to share. If you can’t, or won’t, or don’t want to accept the things you find here as truth, that’s fine. Again, my “job” is not to convince you…simply to share with you what he’s given me.

I would also ask that you don’t accept these things simply because I posted them in this blog, or because I, myself, believe them to be truth. I would urge you, for your own benefit, to study your own Bible in your own free time and let the Holy Spirit lead you to your own conclusions…whether they are in agreement with mine, or not. After all, I am no more than you are…a vessel… subject to the same flaws we all share.

The first part of the verse, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” is where we want to start. It’s amazing to me, the picture that God has unfolded! This verse is widely accepted to mean we shouldn’t follow the ungodly ways of the sinful world. And that’s true. But that’s only a small part of the meaning! There’s a much deeper root that runs thru this flower! We’ll try to get to it soon, but for the present time, keep this verse in mind…print it out and keep in taped to your monitor. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, (and put this in BOLD caps) BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND.

Why do we want to be transformed by the renewing of our minds? So we can “test and approve what God’s will is!” How can we test and approve the things that we so often don’t understand ourselves? The mind is the battlefield, and there’s a three-way struggle for control of it. God’s on one side, the devil’s on the other, and you’re on the third side, trying to keep it for yourself! Without intentionally trying to promote my books, “Snakebit!” and “Hail, Ye Knights of the King” both have some great information in them along these lines. In fact, “Snakebit!” deals exclusively with some of the deceptions we’ve been living under for ages without even knowing it! They’re both available on this site, if you’re interested. At the same time, a lot of that information will also be shared on the blog as time goes by…

The thing is, brothers and sisters, we have an awful lot of mind-renewing to do! We’ve been terribly misguided in many, many ways!!! It’s a matter of extreme importance to understand that we need to change our misguided ways of thinking and to have our minds renewed! That’s the intent of this blog, because without doing that one simple step, we may never find the freedom that Jesus intended for us when he took our place on the cross!

Accept it or reject it. Agree or disagree. But please, join me with an open mind as we begin our journey…and allow your open mind to be renewed, if you will, so that we may no longer conform to the ways of the world…so that we can test and know God’s will…so that we can experience the freedom that Jesus gave us on the cross so long ago…

THE NEW COVENANT (Part 2)

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isa. 64:6).

For those who seek God’s presence by their own works…for trying to follow the rules and regulations of religion…the veil is still there, separating them from God. And it always will be. For those people “…It has not been removed…”

But what else did you see in 2 Cor. 3:14-16?

“…because only in Christ is it taken away.”

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away! No more separation from God. How come? Because centuries later…

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.” (Matt. 27:51).

Because when Jesus died on the cross for your sins, the curtain that separated us from God was torn in two from top to bottom. Just as Aaron had to cleanse himself by sacrifice before he could enter God’s presence, I have to cleanse myself by sacrifice before I can enter His
presence. So do you. But for you and me, the sacrifice was provided by God….Jesus….so that whenever “anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” His blood is our purification.

And instead of having to sacrifice every time we wish to enter God’s presence, the sacrifice that was made once…Jesus on dying on the cross…was sufficient forever.

On top of that, we can enter His presence any time we wish. We’re not limited to once a year.Through Jesus, we’ve been made clean. We can be with God anytime we like, anywhere we like! Unlike the priests of old, we don’t have to enter God’s presence with fear and trembling…we don’t have to wonder if our buddies are gonna have to drag us back out by a rope tied around our ankles! In fact, Paul says in Hebrews 4:16
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence…”
With confidence! Why?

“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood…” (Rom. 3:20-25)

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Rom. 5:9).

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…” (Eph. 1:7).

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:13).

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Col. 1:19,20).

Through Jesus, we have peace with God. We’ve been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We can fellowship with God…anytime, anywhere. Our sins have been redeemed.
That’s the New Covenant.
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