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While rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, I couldn’t help but marvel at the effectiveness of this miraculous substance that has so many uses. Truly, water is a miraculous liquid. I thought about explaining this substance in detail, but since I’m not a scientist, I thought I had better do a little research on what water (H₂O) is.

Realizing that you can’t rely wholly on Wikipedia for truthful answers anymore (since liberals have invaded all aspects of American society and are now using it to forward their agenda), I’ll nevertheless take my chances with this answer as to what water is.

Water (chemical formula H₂O) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth’s hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a solvent). It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides neither food, energy, nor organic micronutrients. Its chemical formula, H₂O, indicates that each of its molecules contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms, connected by covalent bonds. The hydrogen atoms are attached to the oxygen atom at an angle of 104.45°. “Water” is the name of the liquid state of H₂O at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.

A number of natural states of water exist. It forms precipitation in the form of rain and aerosols in the form of fog. Clouds consist of suspended droplets of water and ice, its solid state. When finely divided, crystalline ice may precipitate in the form of snow. The gaseous state of water is steam or water vapor.

Water covers about 70.9% of the Earth’s surface, mostly in seas and oceans. Small portions of water occur as groundwater (1.7%), in the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland (1.7%), and in the air as vapor, clouds (consisting of ice and liquid water suspended in air), and precipitation (0.001%). Water moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation, transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea.

Water plays an important role in the world economy. Approximately 70% of the freshwater used by humans goes to agriculture. Fishing in salt and fresh water bodies is a major source of food for many parts of the world, providing 6.5% of global protein. Much of the long-distance trade of commodities (such as oil, natural gas, and manufactured products) is transported by boats through seas, rivers, lakes, and canals. Large quantities of water, ice, and steam are used for cooling and heating, in industry and homes. Water is an excellent solvent for a wide variety of substances both mineral and organic; as such it is widely used in industrial processes, and in cooking and washing.

Water, ice and snow are also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment, such as swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, diving, ice skating and skiing. Water is an excellent solvent for a wide variety of substances, both mineral and organic; as such, it is widely used in industrial processes and in cooking and washing. Water, ice, and snow are also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment, such as swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, diving, ice skating, and skiing. source

As I rinsed the dishes, it dawned on me how we take so many things for granted, never giving a second thought about such a wonderful substance. We should be thankful for all the wonders God has placed in the world for our existence and well-being.

Since Jesus is co-creator with God the Father, is it any wonder that Jesus referred to Himself as Living Water? After all, He cleanses us from sin (but only if we ask Him to). Like the story of the Samaritan “woman at the well,” Jesus offers His cleansing power to us freely.

Among the many other things, water also cleanses wounds and refreshes our bodies in a way that nothing else does. Since the body is made up of mostly water, it is imperative that we keep it well hydrated. This, in turn, makes our bodies healthier and more mobile. It also gives our skin a healthy glow.

Last night, I had a cramp in my leg, and the feeling of pain and helplessness was beyond measure. I have therefore determined to drink more water. Without it, we would shrivel up and die.

Like so many other things in life, we take the miraculous things God has made for granted – things like eyesight, much like a tiny aperture in your cell phone sending precise colorful images to your brain.

Insofar as taste is concerned, can you imagine a pizza with no taste? The more stuff you add on, the better it tastes, not to mention the wonderful smell – or should I say aroma?

The sense of touch has incalculable benefits to our functioning. Without it, we would be incapable of many things.

We must be thankful to a God who has made us a little lower than the angels and in His very own image and likeness (Genesis 1; John 1).

Wow! What a God we serve!!

Book review:

Since I wrote to you last, I’ve read a couple of books and started one that left me cold. What started out as an informative book on what the ancient times were like in world history, this young man has taken on something beyond his pay grade – the Deity of Christ.

I usually read a book a week, and it must be a non-fiction book, preferably by a Christian writer. All else is a waste of precious time for me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I started reading a new book titled Zealot written by a highly educated younger man in his thirties.

It started off well enough by setting the stage for historical insight of the Jewish people, their God, and their tumultuous history. I learned a lot about Jewish history from just the first two chapters. But by looking at Jesus from a historical point of view and not giving credence to the Bible, this young man has strayed from the basic tenants of Christianity.

(This is what happens when we rely on manmade ideas and philosophies and quasi-historical meanderings as well.)

It appears that his liberal teachers at the university level did their best to indoctrinate him into their erroneous way of thinking.

Three verses come to mind on this issue: “The just shall live by faith,” “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,” and “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or visit me at www.dropzonedelta.com and at my own website www.propheticsignsandwonders.com

“And in the latter time of their Kingdom when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his powers shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the Holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many…” (Daniel 8:23-25).

In 1971 when I was 17 (and yes, I realize I am dating myself here), John Lennon released his song, “Imagine.” It became the biggest hit of his solo career. The melody was lyrical, poignant, and hauntingly beautiful. It touched something deep inside the listener when it was played. It still remains one of the most recognized and most often played compositions of modern music.

However, as lovely as the music was, it was the lyrics of the song that resonated with an entire generation of youth. It still does so today. The song speaks longingly of a time when there will be “a brotherhood of man” – of a time “when the world will be as one.” The plaintive cry of the author/poet is, “I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”

No one can listen to the song without actually feeling the longing and pathos of the author who penned it. It is wistful, beautiful, heartfelt, and deceptive!

There is just one problem with this song, but it’s a big one – at the heart of this achingly beautiful melody lies a deadly deception. For you see, the philosophy and worldview set forth in it are humanistic and atheistic to the core. This “brotherhood of man” that John Lennon so longed for was not the brotherhood that we believers in Christ enjoy. No, the brotherhood Lennon hoped for and longed to be a part of was a brotherhood of man without the Creator God being a part of it, as evidenced in the very first line of his lyrics:

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
above us only sky” (John Lennon – Apple Records 1971)

John Lennon was a brilliant musician. He was also vehemently anti-God. Although for a time, he and the other members of the mega-famous rock group The Beatles became enamored with the Eastern mystical cults of Transcendental Meditation and Hinduism, at the core of his being, Lennon was a humanist and an atheist. Yet even he, as evidenced by the longing expressed in these lyrics, yearned for a world filled with genuine peace, love, and the brotherhood of all mankind. His problem was that he wanted it without the Prince of Peace.

This longing for an end to violence, strife, and bloodshed is even more desirous today as we watch our world hurtle toward destruction at warp speed. Yet the same heart-flaw that was in John Lennon is the same bitter vetch that resides within the heart of all mankind. The fatal flaw at the center of man’s heart is sin.

Sin is the black root that lies embedded within the very core of all humanity. It is the poisoned taproot from which all of our problems grow. It grows and flowers and produces the bitter and deadly fruit of rebellion and pride.

Sin is the very reason that, apart from God’s grace and redemption, mankind can never hope to have lasting peace. It is the sinful heart of man that John Lennon – and all those who long for peace but who reject Jesus Christ – who is the only source of peace – refuse to acknowledge. Sinful man is so arrogant and prideful in his heart that he cannot see the truth. And this truth is what man, in his utter rebelliousness and pride, does not want to face or deal with.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Man is sinful. Man is a fallen creature. And at the very core of his being, man is a rebel. “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

This rebellion began in the heart of God’s most beautiful and powerful angel – Lucifer. Somewhere deep inside the heart of God’s crowning angelic creation – Lucifer, whose title in the Bible is called “son of the morning” – deep within the heart of this exquisitely created archangel, the deadly seed of “the mystery of iniquity” began to germinate.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations” (Isaiah 14:12).

Lucifer had been created in splendid perfection. He was called by God “the anointed cherub that covereth.” In fact, most Biblical scholars believe that Lucifer was, in some way, the archangel that was associated with music in Heaven, particularly music related to the purpose of worship of the Most High God.

“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth: and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the Holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:14-15).

Yet, at some point, deep within the heart of this most magnificent of creatures, sin was birthed, and as a result of Lucifer’s pride and rebellion, sin – that “mystery of iniquity” – was loosed upon all of creation.

“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:16).

At some point in time (we are not given to know precisely when), but apparently sometime after the creative work of God was wrought, and after the “morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” ( Job 38:7) in jubilation at God’s handiwork (angels were often referred to as stars and as “sons of God” in the Old Testament), somewhere after God had created and pronounced that ALL He had made “was very good” – somewhere within the heart of Lucifer, a worm of pride and jealousy began to grow. It grew and grew until he was consumed by pride and envy to the point that he actually plotted to overthrow his Creator and to become “like the Most High.”

Thus, pride led to a rebellion in Heaven whereby Lucifer – now renamed Satan (which means adversary) by God – led one-third of the angelic host in rebellion against their Creator (see Isaiah 14:12-15; Revelation 12:4).

Satan then planned to corrupt and destroy God’s most precious creation – man, who God created “in His image.” Satan (the Deceiver) succeeded in tempting and deceiving Eve with the promise that if she but listened to him, she and Adam would “be as gods” (Genesis 3:4-5). And Adam – fully aware of what he was doing – willfully followed suit in rebellion, thereby forfeiting everything that God had given him. So with the fall of man accomplished, Satan usurped the rulership of all of the worldly kingdoms and became the “god” (ruler) of this world system.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been the ultimate power behind the rulers of this planet. Ever since Eden, there has been a cosmic war that has been raging between the Lord of Hosts and the Prince of the Powers of the Air. At stake are the immortal souls of God’s most beloved creation – man.

What John Lennon and all of lost mankind refuse to acknowledge is that God had already given man that longed-for “Peaceable Kingdom.” But Adam sinned, and through that sin, forfeited his authority on earth, and (far) worse, severed his intimate relationship with his Creator – thus tainting all of his descendants with the curse of sin that now separates all of fallen man from a holy God.

Until man’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden, there already was perfect peace and harmony between the Great Creator and His most precious creation, and between man and all created beings. But sin, in the form of pride and rebellion, ruined God’s perfect world, and henceforth, the story has been, as Milton wrote, the story of Paradise Lost, and of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind and the restoration of Paradise.

None of this took God by surprise, however. He knew before He created anything that Satan would rebel and that man would also fall. The Bible tells us that He had already made provision for our redemption. Even before creation, Jesus had already offered Himself to be the “Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).

In order to redeem His fallen creation, God already knew that He would have to send His Son to earth. His Son, who would literally be God wrapped in human flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was He who came as our “Kinsman Redeemer.” It was Jesus who was both fully God and fully man who was, is, and ever shall be the only One able to pay the debt that sinful man had incurred.

Christ Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life that we, in our sinful state, could never live. He died, was buried, and rose again to utterly crush Satan’s plan for the ultimate ruin of mankind. Jesus, the Son of God Himself, came as our Savior! (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

It may seem as if Satan, the enemy of our souls, is winning the war. From a human perspective, it certainly looks like he is. But Satan – that old Deceiver of Mankind, that wrecker of Paradise – is on a leash! He can only go as far as the Lord allows him to go, and he is about to reach the end of his tether! The Prince of Peace is coming soon to judge sin and rebellion once and for all and to set this world to rights.

Man longs for peace. The hidden cry within every human heart, whether saved or lost, is peace. Even among the most bloodthirsty murderers, there are those whose souls cry out for peace and release. And although there are many whose consciences are “seared” who revel in wickedness, there are also many others who long for peace from the dark, howling chasm of misery and emptiness that is consuming their souls, an emptiness within them that yearns for genuine peace to fill it. The hope of this peace is what draws even the most vile of humanity to the Light of the World.

The problem comes when man rejects the only source of genuine peace. In our rebellious heart, the worm of pride still lives. Even though God Himself, in Jesus Christ, offered Himself up as a sacrifice for sin so that “whosoever will” could come to Him and have his debt of sin pardoned, – even so, there are still millions who, of their own free will, choose to reject this “so great salvation” and who, like John Lennon, seek “peace” within themselves, or within nature (created things), or within false gods who are nothing more than Satan and his rebel angels in disguise.

This War of Kingdoms is about to reach its climax. Satan is putting the finishing touches on the plans he has to wrest the rulership of creation from Almighty God once and for all. The stage is set for his final assault against his hated enemy, the Most High God. The Ancient of Days is allowing him this one final campaign before HE returns to put an end to the millennia of carnage this usurper has wrought upon His creation.

Satan’s tactics have never changed. He has always used lies and deception to get what he wants, and what he most wants is the worship and adulation that belongs only to the Almighty God – and he will lie, deceive, and utterly destroy this world and everyone in it to get it.

It is all coming together. Right now, Satan is using the lure of peace – a world free from war and strife (even though it is he who is behind all of the world’s misery). He is using the very idea of a “brotherhood of man” to draw in those who so want peace but who want it on their terms and not God’s.

Right now, that Deceiving Angel is grooming and placing into position a man who will be his “man of the hour” – a man who will quickly rise to power just as soon as his one great impediment (the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit, who is embodied within the true Church) is removed.

At his appointed time, Satan’s man (who is none other than the prophesied Antichrist) will glide onto the stage of the world, bringing with him the promise of peace, love, unity, and the brotherhood of man – but all without God.

Even now, his minions, both human and demonic, are putting the finishing touches on the last parts of Satan’s global plan. The people of the earth who have rejected the true Prince of Peace have been primed to accept the false one. The war-weary, hedonistic world is ripe for deception. All is ready.

Satan’s man (the Antichrist) is already positioned and is waiting in the wings. The stage is set, and the lights are dimming. The instant God’s true Church is removed, the curtain on the final act of The Conflict of the Ages will rise.

The plot of the last Act is the overthrow of the Kingdom of Heaven and the eternal destruction of men’s souls. The implementation of the conflict will be through deceit, and the promise (that is a lie) will be “peace.”

The orchestra is warming up. The opening strains of music can be heard, and the theme song they are playing is – Imagine…

www.authoralicechilds.com

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H2O :: By Jim Towers

And The World Will Live As One :: By Alice Johnson Childs