I woke up early in anticipation of seeing some fog this particular morning. Early for me is a spunky 3 a.m. Your mileage may vary. I looked outside, and even though it was dark, I knew there was no fog as the stars were readily visible. Oh well, the weather guessers had misled me again. I puttered around for an hour or so, and decided I would go back to bed and that was that.
Next thing I know, it’s 7 a.m., and everything is bright and white outside. White as in foggy. I quickly rushed downstairs and grabbed the drone off the refrigerator where it lives, and hollered back to my co-pilot to get dressed and meet me out on the porch. She complied without complaint which is… well let’s not go there. I lifted off into the white and attained my maximum altitude of 300 ft. I could still hear the drone and see its red blinking nav lights, so we were good to go in that respect. I noticed that we had picked up a bit of moisture on the camera lens on the drone, so I resolved that issue by pointing the drone due east into the bright shining Sun for about a minute and the moisture evaporated off the camera lens.
Got a good look at everything; very interesting how the layer of fog blanketed most things, thinning out here and there. We are pretty flat here in this part of Minnesota so there were not many hills poking through. I did notice bodies of water were much thicker with fog and it looked like the sun was starting to eat away at this white blanket.
I panned around a couple of times and landed. Landing is as easy as pressing a button on the app and since the drone is gps-guided, it landed within about a foot and a half of where we took off. The rest of the morning was comprised of me thinking it might be a good time for a nap.
Later that day, I noticed a young Hummingbird at our feeder. For being little guys, they are quite aggressive with driving off other birds from “their” feeder.
This is the long play version of a immature Hummer preening and being joined by another Hummer.
Since I had been disappointed the night before as to the weather-guessers’ assessment of what constitutes a good reason to go outside and look at the western horizon, I resolved to keep a “weather eye” on the sky and this coming night looked promising. We still had the smoke from all the western forest fires hanging over us and clouds that looked promising, so promising that they threatened to obscure the entire sky at times, but I had hoped they would thin out a bit towards sundown. And they did. Naturally those that predict the weather and fail, made no mention of the potential of going outside and viewing a pretty sunset, they instead were giving warnings of the potential for rain so they advised to stay inside and Be Safe!
The night before, while flying my drone, I noticed it had developed a twitch in the device that controls the camera. At first, I thought that the drone was mocking me as I have developed twitches of all sorts of late, and this is just the sort of thing that boys do to each other when they notice a weakness, weird behavior or even an odd colored shirt, in one of their buddies. A familiar behavior, of sorts. One that is normally cured by a slap to the head, but not something you can do while the offender is 200 ft in the air.
Here is what it did while landing the night before.
Tonight’s mission would be one of pictures, not video, so I had hoped that whatever had been causing the twitch would calm down enough to get some still images at least.
Here is what I saw when I got to altitude.
Here is a few minutes later.
Here we are looking South. That little bright thing, top, center, left is the moon.
The sun has finally set.
Just before I ran out of battery and have to land, here is a final look.
It is an amazing wonder to behold and it brings to my mind John 1:1-5. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Isaiah 55:6 Our only hope is found in Christ, turn to Him and be redeemed!
Early September has been busy this year. Our Baltimore Orioles, like Elvis, have left the building, so to speak. Escorted vigorously by some rather possessive Hummingbirds. They, having read the tea leaves, again, so to speak, and knew the Orioles had been packing up for a long trip, so took over the nectar feeder and acted like they owned the place. Me, being the jovial shut-in that I’ve become, had my good camera at hand and was clicking away. All Images can be clicked on to enlarge.
We had stopped feeding seeds, which means we stopped feeding the Sparrows, in July. They still show up now and then, and act tough, but all the other birds completely ignore them.
This is the last Oriole I saw, and she was being harried enthusiastically by an Emerald Hummingbird.
In addition to all the excitement going on outside my living room window, I noticed smoke from all the forest fires out west drifting into the Upper Midwest, and the weather guys piped up and said that the coming night’s sunset should be fabulous due to all the upper level particulate matter. I took their word for it and sent the drone up at sundown and, well, it was OK, not fabulous, just OK.
It actually looked more interesting to the East.
Here is a short video of what I saw at around 150 feet in the air.
We will finish this out with a Hummingbird video, since they are the winners of the ant flavored sugar feeder.
We had a bit of sporty weather last night. Oh sure, the weather guys had slapped a “Tornado Watch”, which included the scare quotes, on us during the day, but lately it seems, they are mostly talking about a threat to the Twin Cities. We get included in the scare quotes just because we live in the same state and may have attended the State Fair once or twice in our lifetimes.
It was an odd day to begin with. Had my right ankle give me fits on Saturday, for no good reason, other than why not. Not so bad going down our stairway, but going up a big deal. And then, late afternoon, my ankle decided nothing was wrong and decided to play nice. Odd. Sunday rolls around and my body is telling me I might have been run over by a bus in my sleep. Everything but my ankle was complaining. I normally don’t stay home from church, but I chose to sit home just in case my ankle remembers yesterday’s antics.
Sent my wife off to worship our Lord and Savior, with her sister and mother, and fired up Zoom to participate that way, except the connection to Zoom stopped about 5 minutes into the service. This not being my first rodeo with the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), I went to https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/48-5/paul-defends-his-apostleship-part-1 and listened to MacArthur go through Galatians 1:10-15, which is what our
Pastor Aaron is going through in our little church. My ankle did not complain once and the wife came home and told me it was a good service.
The rest of the day was quiet and sunny, as befitting a “Tornado Watch” type day. Evening shows up and I notice clouds beginning to gather. There was a big storm cell in northern Minnesota and the clouds were lining up north to south. It gets to around 8PM, the wife goes upstairs to read in bed. I am standing at the living room window, wondering how much battery life I still have in my drone. I had not charged it up from last time, but I checked and found I had 2 full bars out of 4, good enough.
Sent the drone up to about 150 feet and took a look around. The images are clickable and you can zoom in on them.
The sky had potential, but I did not have enough battery life to hang around and the mosquitos had begun to notice me. Brought the drone down to tree top level and the clouds had decided to get serious. It was getting hard to slap away the state bird and fly the drone, so I brought it in.
The images were OK, not great, just OK. It is now my bed time and I head upstairs. Not a peep heard from my ankle. Just as I close my eyes, I detect lightning and hear rumbles off to the east. And that continued for at least a half hour. I find out this morning there was even an F0 level tornado, somewhere in the Twin Cities. From what I recall, F0 level winds are what we would get for day time breezes in Kansas. Perspective, like punctuation, matters.
Shakey Air returned to the skies last night. I hadn’t looked at my drone for over a month and it was sulking on top of the refrigerator, where all drones live in our house. I had been busy working on a new project, one that’s taking up just about all of my time of late. I am not sure how I came upon this idea, but it is one of those things that falls in line with my interest in photography. I remembered long ago, getting a telescope from my brother-in-law in trade for some other trinket, I guess, and that telescope brought to mind that I could lift my eyes to the heavens and view what God has created and is still mystifying scientists and astronomers to this day.
I retrieved my telescope from its resting place, brushed the dust off of it and began to contemplate what it would take to point it at the sky with a camera attached. One thing led to another, and next thing you know I’ve got electronic parts spread all over my desk with the hopes of automating the tracking of the telescope as it pans across the sky.
I have been looking around to see how to accomplish this little task on the internet, and what I have found has surprised me. The sources of information for my project pretty much dried up around 2017. These days, the guys that have done this little task, post a picture of the creation, exclaim its wonders and how cool they are for building it, and that’s it. 2018 seems to be a watershed for this change in people and the internet.
So, the drone got ignored, and if we are being frank here, Minnesota sunrises and sunsets have not quite lived up to what I witnessed in Kansas. I took a break from my puttering around with micro electronics and looked at the cloud forecast for the coming evening. It looked sparse, but I was tired of the whining that was coming from the top of the Fridge, and waited for sundown. I also stuck my Pi camera out the window to the East and told it to record the sundown. Flying the drone was easy, like it should be. I told it to lift off and then brought the drone straight up to about 200 feet and started taking images and video. What I saw was not great, but you work with what you have. The fact that with ALS, I can still fly a drone and take images of God’s creation, the glory goes to the Lord. As should everything that we do. “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2)
What we witness in the world around us and the sky above and including us, was made for God’s glory. Isaiah 43:7 “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Be aware of this as you see a beautiful sunrise or something you see on the internet, like what I am offering here. Give He who created you, the glory due to Him.
There were clouds and even a little color…
Here is a panorama, the West is on the left for those of you directionally impaired types, the East is on the right.
This is what my Pi camera saw. Close, but not quite a good sunset.
Here the drone is landing and being a very well behaved flying machine.
Since the Pi camera spent the night outside, I let it know it should do the sunrise, and it did.
This was taken the night of July 27th to the morning of the 28th. Stars marching across the sky. More like little pin pricks of white on a black background. We tried and we failed and will do better next time.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a Raspberry Pi, which is a very small computer that can do many things. I have used them for sensing temperature, tuning on lights when you walk into a room, determining distances of objects, making a robot, and running my HAM Radio. I keep one outside our upstairs East window when it’s not raining. It will do as it is programmed to do, you set it and forget it. And I did. Went to sleep and in the morning, I remembered that I had left it outside last night and downloaded the images it had saved. In the first 40 frames, a rainbow, with a hint of showing a double rainbow. The whole thing in real life lasted for about 30 to 45 seconds. Neat!
The Pi Camera also caught a thunderhead in garish red before the sun went down. Also very neat.
I will leave you with Genesis 9:12-17. God’s Covenant of the Rainbow. 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; 13 I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
I recommend you picking up your bible and paging through it, after seeing a rainbow, a beautiful sunset, or whatever has caught your attention and give glory unto God Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever;Psalms 146:6
I have always been interested in atmospheric phenomena, which is a fancy way of saying I like watching clouds. Living in Kansas, I would have to say was the best cloud watching to be had.
This was looking west from our place in May of 2015. The spring in Kansas is burning season and the plume of smoke took on the colors of the sky.
Coming back to Minnesota, I was pleasantly surprised with offerings here. A bit understated, but nice colors.
I have a Raspberry Pi Zero, which is the size of my thumb. It is a micro-computer that can do many things, but mine has a camera. I set it in my East upstairs window and let it take pictures. The image above was from that Pi. It has also taken bird images.
I made a case for my Pi Zero from my 3D printer, stuck it on a tripod near the feeder, added a battery and let it do its thing. This image is of a young Oriole female and a female Downy that had developed a sweet tooth/beak.
These days, I have set my Pi to run a timelapse for a couple of hours and I take those hundreds of images and compile them in a video editor, Shotcut, and it makes a video out of them.
With a Drone, I grabbed this sunset.
The glory of the Lord is shown in each one of these images. I am exceedingly thankful for the gifts of my mind and the ease in which I have learned and any other thing that He has directed me to. I was a history lover and He blessed all of us with a book, written through His hand, of the history of His chosen people and the inclusion of us Gentiles. Not necessarily a history book, but a user’s manual, for all of us.
Psalms78:23Yet He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven;
Proverbs 25:14 Like clouds and wind without rain Is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely.
My only boast is Christ. Look at the sky and the glory He has made, and let He who created you, open the doors of heaven unto you. Repent, and follow the Risen Christ.
Once upon a time, I was content with grabbing my camera and snapping a photo of the birds that came to our feeder. Then, because we live in a fallen world, the Grackles and Starlings showed up and chased all the photogenic birds away. Fine, I thought, we will leave up the nectar feeders and watch the Orioles and Hummingbirds and be content with that. However, the ants showed up in such great numbers, they irritated the Orioles so much that they found less ant plagued feeders in the neighborhood and rarely come now. And I brooded…
I recalled living in a Southern land and having mastery over the skies.
I also recalled getting bit by tiny voracious bugs known as chiggers, as I stood in the grass, piloting my flying machine. I amended my memories of that time, and have relabeled them as bittersweet rather than halcion like.
Not everything is what it once was. While I could stride the land and do many wonderful things back then, I was not at peace, even with all I could do. Little did I know that the good Lord had plans for me, and through the mystery of undeserved grace, (Romans 5:15-17) allowed me to finish remodeling our house and have it be sold the first day on the market, for cash and more than we were asking, and just like that, we ended up back in Minnesota, where we had started, some 19 years ago. Looking back and knowing what I know now, it can only be providence as the way home was smoothed before us.
And then the Lord grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and made it very clear, I was now His. As I said, the mystery of undeserved grace. The last 5 years here have been one of reduction and addition. He took from me the skills of my body, I found out I had ALS about 6 months after we arrived home. He left me the knowledge I had acquired and kept my mind sharp and questing. He added to me a living heart and one that loved His word. I was allowed to learn about charismatic ministries and found them to be a false gospel and a false hope. Our only hope is Christ. (John 4:13-14) He led me to teach bible study and to disciple believers hungry for the word. As of last month, He allowed me to preach in our church when our pastor was on vacation. All of it a mystery to me as to why He pulled me from Hell’s grasp and blessed me with life.
Back to the brooding. I was not displeased with life and how it had turned out. The peace (Romans 5:1) granted to me, completely undeserved, but available to all believers, was a blessing beyond all understanding. Even though I have very little feeling in my feet or hands, and am pretty much housebound, I do not feel disabled. People are taken aback at this, expecting a tale of woe. I am at peace and serving the Lord, what’s to woe about?
I had a thought that I could fly a bit as quite a few people have mentioned to me that they would like to fly a drone too, so maybe this could stir up a conversation that includes the Lord. Since I don’t get out much, I have been amazed as people have been directed to me who need to hear about Jesus or maybe their faith needs a bit of stirring up. I don’t know how it works, but God’s got the details all worked out.
My fingers are a fair bit less responsive than the last time I was flying a drone, but somebody built an app (Litchi) to automate most of what you have to do with flying a drone and taking pictures. And since I have Photoshop, I can do a series of photos and let Photoshop stitch them together. That’s what we have here, from my first flight. Since Photoshop uses an algorithm that dictates how it should stitch photos together, it could care less if you have an odd perspective or shaky fingers or any of that stuff. Thankfully, it also lets you warp images just fine, hence the image you see here is a wee bit bent in areas. Ignore reality and run with it.
You should be able to enlarge the image to see all the details in their warped glory, at least I can on my Mac, I just spread my fingers apart on the touchpad. Your mileage may vary on whatever platform you use.
“There is nothing wrong with your Computer. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical.”
We had a chance to spend some time at the Cordes family cabin last month, and sister-in-law Julie with her friend Alicia, came up from Kansas. We had all gathered together to celebrate Julie’s birthday. It is a beautiful place on a nice quiet lake in the woods of Wisconsin. The cabin will sleep about 20 with ease, so the 10 of us had plenty of room.
Got there in the afternoon and by the time all the hugs and handshakes and what not had gone on, it was evening and what happens in this family is the games come out. I am not a game player, but I hung around, whispering clues to my wife and listening to all the laughter.
The next day, after breakfast and a second helping of coffee, most of us headed down to the dock and Patti, Julie and Alicia wanted to take the paddleboards out before the breeze picked up on the lake.
Leighton wandered down to the dock, and the next thing you know, he noticed the dock frame had broken from the paddleboard rack. And he proceeds to get in the water and starts to fix it. My job is not falling off the dock and taking pictures, so I stuck to my job.
It was a beautifully mild June day and not many mosquitoes, so sitting by the fire pit and listening to Julie sing was a treat. That evening we went out to eat and listen to one of the locals sing, who happens to be a retired cardiac doctor and a fanboy of Bob Dylan. Mr Dylan and I are not on speaking terms and probably have been that way since 1969 or so. Everybody had some salad thing to eat, but I stuck to bread and water and called it good.
More games after we got home and they went way late into the night. About 1 am I heard guitars and singing from the basement, where Julie and Alicia were staying and I think it was Bob Dylan stuff to boot. It eventually petered out around 2 am-ish and a guy could sleep.
The next day was damp with sprinkles, and the ladies all went into Hayward for some shopping. Us men decided to drive the backwood roads in search of an Elk or maybe a Bear. We saw neither, but did happen upon 2 separate snapping turtles laying eggs on the side of the road. On the way home we came upon something a bit out of the ordinary. This is Ojibwe country and there is a reservation of theirs very near here. What we drove past was a cemetery of theirs.
Little wooden huts in which their relatives come and put things into these huts of their dead. Cigarettes, candy, jerky, and other things are placed in these huts. We got home about the same time the ladies did and the evening proceeded with more music, games and laughter.
Church Service with family, at the cabin.
The next day was Sunday and after breakfast, we arranged ourselves about the main floor and sang several songs of praise unto our Lord and Savior and I gave the sermon. It was the one written for next Sunday at our church, so it gave me a good chance to practice it with my family. That afternoon, we took the pontoon out and had a great time. Much singing, love and laughter.
We cruised right past a Loon and got sprinkled upon on the way home.
That evening, we went to a fish fry place, Pine Ridge on Sissabagama Lake, which lake, from the air, looks like an old man running, sort of. This is a popular place to eat and it is first come, first served.
We put our name in and ended up waiting outside the restaurant under the covered porch attached to the building. There we sat with another family waiting to eat. It was Alicia and Julie along with myself and my wife on our side. We also had the family that was waiting to eat in our grouping. The rest of us, that would be Randy, Patti, Carol, Ronda and Leighton, were on the other side, and the people entering and leaving the restaurant walked in between us. Alicia turns to Julie and says “I have a rap song I am working on and would like to try it now, and you need to sing the chorus, you know the one…”
And then she points to me and tells me I need to thump my feet to the beat, and I think to myself oh yeah, back home I’m known as Mr. Rhythm. She starts out rapping the tune, I start thumping my beat erratically as it’s the way my people, and Julie starts singing the chorus at the appropriate time. The people sitting next to us, who we do not know, are just smiling and starting to make mouth noises like they’re trying to sing along. Pretty soon we’re thumping the whole porch. People walking past and into the restaurant are smiling and bobbing their heads and it goes on like this for the next 30 minutes, one song after another. Those people sitting next to us, who’d been smiling and singing along with us, were called in to eat and then we were next, and entered the building. It is a large place divided into two sections, with two long tables in our section, we filled 1 table and the party who was sitting next to us singing outside, filled the other table. We place our orders, and it’s basically all you can eat chicken strips, fried fish or broiled fish if you prefer. You get a glass of wine and coleslaw, fry bread and eat as much as you want.
Julie gets up and heads to the ladies room. When she was out of ear shot, Alicia tells everyone in our group to sing Happy Birthday when she comes back to the table. And so we do, and so does the entire other table across the room. It was a great time and I ate too much. More games when we got home and more singing.
The next day was a travel day for our group of Leighton, Ronda, myself and my wife. We were headed back home. Carol, who had ridden up with us, was staying another week and Julie and Alicia were headed to South Dakota to visit Jessica and family, Leighton and Ronda’s daughter. The whole trip we saw 2 snapping turtles and one Loon, no Elk or Bears. We were about 7 miles out from the cabin on State Road 70 and Ronda was whining that she hadn’t seen any Bears. As she was saying this, I observed a Mamma Bear, 2 cubs of this year and a yearling bear with them. Mamma was sniffing a cabin porch, and her little ones were gathered around her. Leighton wheels the car around and Ronda takes a few pictures and I got a video of them. We could then go home satisfied and at peace. A good time was had by all.
Continuing in John 8, Jesus has been confronting the Pharisees in their unbelief. They, the Pharisees, had just asked Jesus, “Where is your Father?” (v. 19) These guys, who had been taught in the ways of their people, in the temple and knew the scripture, were always asking something of Jesus, as to proof of He was who He said He was. And the proof was all around them in the supernatural acts of healings, casting out demons and raising the dead that Christ performed. They saw these things, yet they did not believe. Their idea of a messiah was everything that they desired in a leader. Basically a military leader that would kick the Romans out of their lives and see the Pharisees and the righteous ones that they truly believed themselves to be. Christ came to save the lost, and they were lost but unrepentant in lostness. Comfortable in how they saw themselves. Cold and unforgiving to all who were less than themselves.
Jesus answered them “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” This they refuted and it angered them just to hear it. Blasphemy is what they heard. This should also cause us the wonder what filters we employ when we hear the word of God. If you have been reading the bible, praying and repenting to God, going to a church that preaches from the full counsel of the Holy Word, those blocks or filters on your ears should have fallen away. For some, their eyes and ears are open immediately and it stuns them to see and hear so clearly. For others, the change is gradual but the day will come when you realize that you are not the same. Have faith and trust in He who created you.
Jesus was speaking to these lost men in the temple treasury and while His words were objectionable to them, no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. (v. 20) He continued teaching, with the stark message that He is going away, they would seek him, but would die in their sin. Where He is going, they cannot come. (v. 21) Which of course, they started to ask if He was going to kill Himself. (v. 22) Ears to hear, but do not. (Isaiah 6:10, Jeremiah 5:21, Ezekiel 12:2, Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27, Romans 11:8)
He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins.” (vv. 23-24) Hard words to hear for people who thought they were blameless. At this, they ask Him, “Who are you?” Their hearts were dead, their God and Creator was before them, and they asked “Who are you?”
And again, Christ tells them that which they would not hear: “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” (vv. 25-26) The scripture helpfully tells us what is obvious to all but them: They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. (v. 27)
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him. A couple of things here, “When you have lifted me up” From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Both the Crucifixion and Ascension are implied here. Now, for the first time, they are marked out as the instruments of the Crucifixion (comp. Acts 3:15), and therefore the means by which He will return to His Father’s throne.
Then from Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: 8:21-29 Those that live in unbelief, are forever undone, if they die in unbelief. The Jews belonged to this present evil world, but Jesus was of a heavenly and Divine nature, so that His doctrine, kingdom, and blessings, would not suit their taste. But the curse of the law is done away to all that submit to the grace of the gospel. Nothing but the doctrine of Christ’s grace will be an argument powerful enough, and none but the Spirit of Christ’s grace will be an agent powerful enough, to turn us from sin to God; and that Spirit is given, and that doctrine is given, to work upon those only who believe in Christ. Some say, Who is this Jesus? They allow him to have been a Prophet, an excellent Teacher, and even more than a creature; but cannot acknowledge Him as over all, God blessed for evermore. Will not this suffice? Jesus here answers the question. Is this to honour him as the Father? Does this admit his being the Light of the world, and the Life of men, one with the Father? All shall know by their conversion, or in their condemnation, that he always spake and did what pleased the Father, even when he claimed the highest honours to himself.
They both do an excellent job of explaining what is going on. Christ has told these Jews that He is I AM as seen so far in this book, John 4:26, John 6:35, John 8:23. They, the Jews, were too lost in their religion of works and rituals, too busy looking down their noses at all who were not born of Abraham, to believe what was plainly before their eyes. Christ tells them they will die in their sins. They are wondering what sin? Are we not sacrificing, are we not following the rituals of purification, are we not righteous in all that we do? (1 Peter 3:12)
Then we find out that as He was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (vv. 31-33) Conveniently forgetting the golden calf, (Exodus 32-34) idol worship (2 Kings 17:41) and Babylon (Jeremiah 32:28) and kind of missing the point.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” (vv. 34-38)
This obsession with belonging to the line of Abraham (v. 39) and thinking because of that, they were set up as a people and primed for entry into heaven and then being told, no, you are slaves to sin. The wages of sin is death. They are experiencing what Nicodemus did when rocked by Christ by being told that all he knew was wrong. Are you, who are content to sit in a pew and merely listen to the Word, or maybe have even decided that you are so good with God, you can forgo going to church, with the exception of maybe Christmas and Easter, are you thinking that you are going to heaven? In light of what Christ said, just before He ascended to heaven: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20) This was an action statement. He did not say“Go forth and sit quietly in a pew, only listening, and it’s OK fine to not attend church most of the time. You are good to go.”
We are told to believe and obey and repentance is the first order of business. All of which is in the Bible. Know God by reading the scripture, and find out how we are supposed to honor and give glory to Him. The bible was never meant to entertain you. That is a major issue with just about everybody these days, they have to be constantly entertained or they won’t do it. I was like that too. God said be Holy for I am Holy. (1 Peter 1:16) How you even understand what Holy is, is to pick up that book, or go online or on your phone and see what it says. It will change your life. The Truth will set you Free!
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
