One Heartbeat Away

Every one of us could be just one heartbeat away from the last one of our life. We need to think about our accomplishments that have been made during our lifetime and determine in our own mind if we have done enough to be proud of and serve as our legacy for others to remember us by.

Planning for our future must include planning for the future of those who we leave behind. Have we considered that we have left our loved ones with what we would have wanted if we were left by their passing?

Memories are made of happy and sad events that occur in the lives of each of us. What memories do you have of those who have departed this life? What memories would you like for those you leave behind to have of you?

When was the last time you told someone that you loved them and appreciated them and really meant it from your heart? Isn’t this something that will be remembered by your loved ones when you pass beyond this life?

God certainly gave each one of us the ability to love by His own example of what He did out of Love for each one of us when He sacrificed His Son for every one of us. This was the beginning of unconditional love even though through our actions we fail daily to deserved the mercy being shown to us.

Remember that telephone commercial that said to us: “Reach out and touch someone”? How we all fail miserably to do just that when unknown to us someone is in need for just that. Even at times that someone was probably you.

Memories, memories, there are good ones and bad ones. Why would anyone want to remember only the bad ones when the good ones can bring a smile to your face as you remember the lives of those who are gone?

Memories are certainly made of this…….

Lest we forget

People are born imperfect into an imperfect World. It is not in the nature of man to do good, but because of man’s ego and the temptations of the World, it is his nature to see himself better than others and when given the opportunity, it is his nature to “one up” others at every opportunity. A wise person said that when we have the opportunity we should do good unto every person, especially those who are of the faith. Even though this is against human nature to do so, it can be accomplished.

Jesus preached to the people that we should live gentle lives and not return evil for evil. That we should love our enemies, offer blessings to those that curse you, do good to those that hate us and to turn the other cheek to those who would smite us. But don’t you understand, this is all against the nature of people because they are imperfect and this is an imperfect World.

If in fact we ever realized it, our lives in this World are of very few years and just as they had a beginning, they will have an end. Some of us live our lives as though they will never end and strive to get out of life as much as they can no matter what the cost is to others. In one word we are all hypocrites, for with the same tongue and with the same breath we praise and bless God and curse man who he created. His creation which in part is other people that we encounter in our lives. This should not be so, but is in reality the nature of man.

We should look at our lives as a training ground or a dress rehearsal to prepare us for tomorrow if we are to believe that there will be a tomorrow. How can we possibly believe that the few years that we spend on this Earth is all that there is to our lives. If we do believe that, then we should eat drink and be merry and get everything out of life that we possibly can, for in just a few years we will certainly die with no hope for anything beyond the grave.

Another old saying that everyone is familiar with goes like this: “if you can’t say something good about someone, then don’t say anything.”  That certainly is a good thing to do, but it goes against the human nature of man because man cannot bridle his tongue and control what comes out of his mouth.

I have seen with my own eyes and have experienced it myself that there are many people who are believers in God and Spirit filled that continue to gossip, criticize and speak evil things about others. If you don’t believe that can happen, then you are either blind or see it happen and turn a blind eye to it. This is nothing but imperfection in our imperfect lives, who because of misery in our lives seek to exploit the misery in other people’s lives. This should not be, but is again human nature. We might not be able to control these kind of thoughts, but our tongue can be controlled if we want to.

So, what can we do to control our vile tongues and cease from offending others? Maybe nothing as long as we are in these imperfect bodies. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try, but the evil powers that maintain much control over our lives work constantly to prevent us from doing what we should.

Maybe like some groups of people we might choose to live in isolation like some who are called Monks who isolate themselves from mankind in a Monastery for the purpose of not being influenced by worldly things. There are some of these isolationists that live in silence, never speaking a word aloud for fear of defiling themselves by speaking things that could offend others. Could this be the answer to maintaining purity in our lives in order to force perfection upon ourselves.

It has been said that God’s will is for us to love one another. What is the love that God wants us to express? Is it the words “I love you” which have very little meaning unless our love for each other is expressed in some other way. Love is the opposite of hate, but can be verbalized with the same breath. Both words come from the same heart and are expressed with the same tongue. We are all capable of doing this. So love just expressed with words alone have no meaning if not expressed by doing something good for someone else. God loved the World and gave the life of His own Son to save us from eternal damnation. If we really love someone, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same thing?

Have you ever wondered about what the Bible says about defiling yourself? It is those things that we speak which originate from within our heart that cause us to be defiled and make ourselves to appear to be unclean and indecent. Again it is the words that we speak which are the things that make us appear to be evil to others and spoil the testimony of those who are said to be believers. Right back to where we were in the beginning that we allow our tongue to make us appear bad to others because we allow evil thoughts to be verbalized instead of controlling our tongue. These things should not be so. How can we say that our words bless God and turn around and curse man and spoil our testimony of being a child of God.

I would like to end this with one quotation from the Bible that is in First John, Chapter four and verse twenty, as follows:

“If any person says that they love God, but in their heart they hate a brother or a sister, they are a liar. For any person that doesn’t love their brother and sister who they can see, how can they love God who they have not seen?” (paraphrased)

We are all brothers and sisters in the sight of God because He has created us and is the Father of us all. If we say that we have love for a person, then how do we express our love? Is it with words only? If we say that we don’t hate a brother or a sister, then our actions and our words will not express hateful things.

There is only room in God’s Kingdom for the love of one another. If we don’t forgive a brother or sister who has wronged us and love them as God commands us, then God will not forgive us for the wrongs we have done to each other.

Having said all of that, it is my desire for God, through His infinite mercy, to forgive me of all my trespasses. To that end I forgive those who have in many ways trespassed against me because I know that the devil was behind all that has occurred. Just as God has put all of my trespasses behind Him and will look on them no more, I do the same thing for those who have trespassed against me and will not speak of them from this day forward because they are behind me.

Since love for a brother or sister is more than just words, I will in the future express my love for all of God’s children as the opportunity presents itself.

Human nature that is part of these vile bodies works against each one of us, but because of the glory of God’s promises which are to come for those who obey Him, it is my desire that nothing in this World hinders me from experiencing what He has prepared for us.

Just another Life Experience

Living with guilt and a heavy heart

To be offended by a random post, one must first have a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience will cause someone to hear a truth that applies to them and get angry simply because "The shoe fits".

A heart full of guilt causes a person to withdraw from those who are aware of the cause of the guilt. It’s easy to look at yourself in a mirror and forgive yourself for hurting others, but to face those who know and admit your failures to them is the only way to find peace with yourself.

You might say to yourself: “I have forgiven myself for not responding to my mother for years when she attempted to reach out to me because I don’t do anything unless I want to.”

You might say to yourself: “I have learned to forgive myself when I decided not to visit my mother in the hospital while she was on life support, because I don’t do anything unless I want to.”

You might say to yourself: “I can learn to forgive myself for not taking the recommended actions my Dad asked me to do in order to help keep my mother alive if something happens to him, but I don’t do anything unless I want to.”

The final straw that broke the camel’s back, the thing that caused me to take the action that I took was when you decided not to honor your Mother on Mother’s day. Because you were so full of guilt, you thought that I was trying to manipulate you with my Face book posts and you stubbornly decided not to do something that was right to do in rebellion against me.

Only those who are real believers will accept what the bible says about rebellion. I quote: “rebellion is like witchcraft and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry”.

I published the following post on Facebook, not to send a message to a certain person, but to give my opinion about what I believed was the proper thing to do on Mother’s Day. Just my opinion being shared as do many others who share their opinions.

Following is my Mother’s Day post on Facebook.

“Honor your Mother on “Mother’s Day”

1. Personally visit her if possible
2. Telephone her with best wishes if a visit is not possible.
3. Send her a Mother’s Day Card

Anything other than one of these things to do is insensitive if your Mother is still living.”

 

Well someone took this as a message to her because she had distanced herself from her mother for years and probably was carrying around a sense of guilt because of what she had done, so she wrote the following message to me:

Quoting what this person said:

“Please do not post statements on FB to try & guilt me or other sisters to do anything. I am referring to your 3 Mothers Day posts. When I agreed to open my FB page to you, I told you I didn't know if it would ever go further than that. Please do not push or try to manipulate. This only causes me to draw back. If I decide to ever take another step, it will be because I want to, not because of guilt.”

I waited until Mother’s day had passed with hope that this person would do the right thing and personally contact her mother and take a step to end this separation from her, but obviously she didn’t do it because she doesn’t do anything unless she wants to.”

Because of this continued disrespect towards her mother and the unnecessary hurt to her mother that she had consistently demonstrated over the years, I removed this person from being a listed friend on my Facebook account. How could I consciously continue having this person as a friend when it was obvious to me that she never intended to change her relationship with her mother?

Then this person’s daughter, my granddaughter, posted an open to the public message to me on Facebook for all to see:

Again I quote what was posted on Facebook to me:

“For the record, Ron Cox...this person that you deleted, went out on a limb to trust you to be a FB friend. The first time that she "disagreed with you", you delete her. Sounds like you didn't really want to be friends in the first place. Probably should delete me too.”

As you can see for yourself there was no “disagreement” about what I said in my Mother’s Day posting. The message that was sent to me was nothing more than a response as the result of a guilty conscience reacting to my Mother’s Day Facebook post.

I just wanted to set the record straight so that misinformation and gossip would not be accepted as being fact.

Just another example of how I must have failed to be the right kind of Father to this person for her to turn out to be so rebellious and disrespectful against her parents.

What Value is Truth?

Most of the people in the Church World are just like these two boys depicted in the above picture when it comes to being introduced to something new. People are so comfortable with what they know and so biased in their thinking, that they refuse to hear or see when someone tries to show them anything that challenges their belief.

When I accepted everything that came over the pulpit as truth, without question; when I agreed with everything that the preacher said; when I was a lukewarm Christian I did not rock the boat, I was no trouble to anyone; not even the devil. I was neither overly sinful nor overly holy. I was just another of many halfhearted believers, and my life was quiet and untroubled. I was accepted. But then I changed. I got hungry for more of Jesus and God’s Word and I could no longer play church games.

I began to search the scriptures to see if what was coming over the pulpit was indeed truth and in line with the bible. I questioned certain doctrines that did not line up with God's Word. Down came my idols of denominationalism, preachers, position, money, acceptance, fame, popularity, pleasure--anything and everything that was more important to me than Jesus and God’s Word. I repented and turned to the Lord with all my heart. I began to dig into God's Word and study it to show myself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. I entered into a new realm of discernment and began to see things in the Church that before had never bothered me. I heard things from the pulpit that broke my heart. I saw other Christians compromising on what the Word of God says in order to be loved and accepted by all of the churches.

I reflect back and realize that I too was once that way, and I was hurt. I was hurt because I realized that I once was the same way, giving more allegiance to church creeds, traditions, doctrines and constitutions than I did to the Word of God. I was hurting because, they do not know what they are doing because they are self-deceived. But, I was awakened, turned around, made broken and contrite in spirit, and God gave me a burden for His people that they too would believe the Word above the philosophies of man.

What was the result of this? Now my friends and family think I am crazy, a false prophet, led astray and even controlled by demons. Instead of rejoicing with me or encouraging me, they ridicule me, mock me and call me a defector and a strife breeder. In fact some don't even consider me a believer anymore. Some have consigned me to hell.

One reason for this is their religious biases are threatened whenever someone from within their ranks takes spiritual commitment and the Word of God serious enough to question non-Biblical doctrine and refuses to play religious games with the living God.

When the Holy Spirit awakened me and I began to embrace the Lord's call to expound the truth that was revealed to me. I began to stand for what the Word of God said and I began to see things regarding the issue that I never saw before and I wanted to share it with people. I talked to leaders of churches and pew people, I opened my bible to them so they could see the truth for themselves.

I hoped these believers would see these truths too--that they would love the Word and fall on their knees with me and pray for a greater understanding of these truths. Instead, I found that most of them became very angry and upset. I was accused of being a strife breeder, turning against your church, trying to split the church and giving heed to doctrines of demons. The more I sought God and tried to expound the truth about the matter the angrier they became until I ended up being shunned by everyone. They refused to listen to anything about the subject.

Multitudes of Christians today do not love the truth. They love their traditions, their leaders, their constitutions and their church doctrines. This is proven by their adherence to what the above says rather then what the Word of God says. These compromising believers are deceived but, like the Jews of Jesus' day, they are convinced they see clearly. They say they adhere to God's Word but, the truth is, only if it agrees with their churches belief. Something other than truth holds their hearts; they do not embrace God's Word like a priceless pearl. Instead they coddle whatever the preacher says, or the constitution says, or some false teaching that caters to their flesh.

In the minds of those who reject me and forsake me because of truth have good reason: It is because they see me as a threat to something they hold dear.

My stand for truth is a rebuke to their compromise. Because of this they cover their eyes and their ears to keep from seeing a reason to question their beliefs. Change must come from the heart and the way to the heart is through the eyes and the ears.

Life

Taking a look back so we can see ahead

Life is a journey from the cradle to the grave and filled with all kinds of emotions. These emotions progressively change as we travel down the road of life due to the experiences that we encounter. We look at other people’s lives and wonder why ours is so difficult to be as they are. Life is what we make of it and at times we find that we have somewhere along the way lost something that has caused such despair in our heart. If we find that the end of our journey is growing near and much sadness and loneliness controls our feelings each day, it may not be too late to change our situation.

Looking back over what we have experienced is a way to retrieve those pure and good things that have been lost. Think about starting back at the beginning and attempt to make right all that has gone wrong. The time may have arrived to begin to judge ourselves instead of judging others and accept that we are no better than they are. What we have lost can be found again if we are willing to accept responsibility for how things are in our lives instead of blaming someone else for where we presently are.

If we view this life that we have lived as preparation for the next life, we must ask ourselves if we have done it the right way. Have we lived by the Golden Rule? If our answer is not “yes”, it may not be too late to start over and retrieve what has been lost along the way.

A Life Changing Moment

Life Experiences! Yes, we all have them. Those who passed before us who were our ancestors had them also, but more than likely we knew very little about their lives. In this article you are given the opportunity to see one of many life experiences that I had.

Throughout all of my teenage years I had one ambition, a strong desire to be a United States Marine and serve my Country in a uniform. This desire must have started while I was very young and knowing that I was too young to enlist in the regular armed forces, I moved to do the next best thing I could think of, which was to join the local National Guard. When I was but fifteen years old I proceeded to prepare a birth certificate showing me to be seventeen and enlisted in the Army National Guard.

While I was approaching my seventeenth birthday, I made plans to enlist in the Marine Corps just as soon as I turned seventeen. On November 21^st of 1952, on my seventeenth birthday, I was waiting outside of the Marine Corps recruiting office, waiting for the door to open so I could enlist. Something I had been looking forward to for such a long time.

At that time I was living in Paducah Kentucky with my Mother and Stepfather. Before moving there with them, I had met my present wife, but had only known her for a week or two. I can say with all probability, not really long enough for much of a relationship to develop. The reason I say that will become relevant as I explain more of what came about.

So on my seventeenth birthday I went through all the necessary things required to join the Marine corps. Just a few days later, I received a phone call that was instrumental in changing the course of my life. This became the life changing moment and was the most unforgettable day of my life. To this day I regret what had happened and what I had previously done to cause this day to be what it was.

The phone call was from the United States Marine Corps recruiter informing me that they were unable to accept my enlistment. This was a day that just shook me to the core and all hopes and dreams just vanished before my eyes knowing that I would not be able to fulfill what my desire had been for years.

After that had happened, I decided to return to Jeffersonville to live with my Grandparents. This presented the opportunity to renew the relationship with the girl who was to be my wife. Unlike our first period of courting, which only lasted a couple of weeks, we continued dating which gradually blossomed into a more meaning relationship which resulted in us getting married about two months later. Thus we proceeded on our life together, raising a family and are still married after these almost sixty years.

Now we will speculate on the course that my life might have taken if I had been accepted into the Marine Corps when I enlisted in Paducah Kentucky. If this would have taken place it probably would have meant a long period of time before I would return to Jeffersonville and the initial relationship with my present wife very probably would not have evolved into what it had done. Since we had only known each other for a couple of weeks before I left for Paducah, the relationship between us would have probably cooled off and because of the time which would have passed, we both might have lost interest in each other.

With some degree of certainty, I believe that my life would have developed into a lifetime career in the Marine Corps. This became evident to me as I look back knowing that even after we were married, I reenlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard and took very well to being a member of the armed forces.  In just six or seven years after being a member, I advanced through the ranks from an enlisted man to a Sergeant First Class Grade E-7. This is just an indication of how successful I would have been in the Marine Corps.

If this path would have developed after being accepted into the Marines and my wife and I had not been married, who can say what our lives would have been like, as well as those who became our children. One could speculate that these children would never have been born, or at the most would have been born into a totally different kind of family.

But you see, I completely believe in the providence of God that He has predestinated each one of us to be where He wants us to be, to do what He wants us to do in order for Him to fulfill His plan in the lives of each of us. If my path would have been different when I was seventeen years old, I probably would have not been led into the ministry of His Word that He predestinated me to be. The same goes for each of us, that for His pleasure He has put us where He wants us to be.

What should we do? Should we say to God: why was I not allowed to fulfill my teenage desire, why did you bring me into such and such a place in my life when I would have desired something different? One would say to God: why was I born into this dysfunctional family when I believe I deserve something better?

Our lives do not belong to us, they belong to God. He put us where we are to fulfill His plan, so who are we to question His Judgment and the things in our lives that He set in motion?

There are times in every one of our lives when we face a crossroad and the road which we take could make a Hugh difference in our lives. At times we embark on the road of which we have no choice because it is made for us. Then there are times when we choose which road to take. If we take the road which is not God’s will because we have turned our face from His teaching or instructions, then we find that we have disobeyed God. We should always ask God what His will is for us and find the answer in His Word and follow it.

What we should say is the same thing that Jesus said to the Father when He was faced to take His place on the cross that God had predestinated for Him to take.

Not my will Father, but your will be done,