General Articles

Seek Ye First the Kingdom :: By Rick Segoine

Published on: by RR10

Every human being has their own unique relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Or a lack of a relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

All who reject Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life have either a total lack of relationship or a skewed relationship with the Creator, based on the teachings of one of the numerous false prophets and/or false messiahs that Jesus Himself prophesied would come along to deceive many (Matthew 24:11).

Everyone who accepts Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and repents of their sins and is forgiven then receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and begins a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

This personal relationship develops over a lifetime into one of intimate trust, an ever-deepening faith, and a peace that passes all understanding.

“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it” (Philippians 1:6).

Whoever truly believes that Jesus paid the penalty in full for their sins and places all of their trust in Him as their Lord and Savior opens the door for the Lord to come in and begin that good work in you.

Along the way, as He is being faithful to complete His good work in you, He will teach you many wonderful truths and bestow upon you numerous beautiful, heavenly gifts.

So many wonderful gifts are bestowed on all who seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. Gifts that can be considered life’s greatest treasures. Gifts that will last for all eternity. Gifts such as discernment to make right choices, as well as the desire to make those choices based on what is pleasing to God, who is Holy. Also, gifts such as patience and perseverance to study His Word and learn of His ways and His plans and of history. His Story (2 Timothy 3:16).

You will be filled with joy as you learn from “He who declares the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10).

Then there are gifts such as compassion and forgiveness that are born out of what the Apostle Paul referred to as the greatest gift of all, which is love (1st Corinthians 13:13).

The Creator of the universe Himself will teach you what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

He will show you personally what it means when He says, “It is better to give than to receive.”

He will transform your heart to fully understand what He actually did on that cross on behalf of us all, where He literally fulfilled the words that He had spoken when He said, “Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Yes, when a person seeks first the Kingdom and freely allows their heart to be transformed by God into a heart like the heart of Jesus, that person will, in time, come to understand and embrace fully the depth of the meaning of these words: It is not the will of God that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

Gifts such as these lead to wisdom. Wisdom that is sorely needed in a world that rattles on its metaphorical hinges due to unsaved mankind’s total lack of wisdom.

What is wisdom?

  1. The dictionary defines wisdom as a noun, meaning the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.
  2. Common sense, good judgment.
  3. The sum of learning through the ages, knowledge.

That is all true, and from a biblical sense, we could add a few things, such as:

  1. When in doubt, ask yourself this simple yet enormously important question: What would Jesus do? What would Jesus say?
  2. What is the will of God in the matter?

True wisdom is to be found in the answers to those questions.

True wisdom is always in tune with the will of God.

The chaos and disharmony we observe on planet Earth today are a direct result of mankind pursuing not after the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven but rather chasing after the countless deceitful lies of Satan and the ways of and lures of the world and of the flesh.

The worldly ways that always lead to and result in utter foolishness.

Not just hilariously laughable foolishness, as depicted in Psalm 2:4, but disastrous foolishness that morphs into deadly wickedness.

Seek to learn the ways of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you do, you will find wisdom along with all of the other beautiful eternal gifts bestowed upon you by our Heavenly Father through His Son, with perfect at all times assistance from the Holy Spirit.

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of Heaven, and all things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).

Compared to eternity, life on Earth is exceedingly short. By comparison, it is merely a puff of smoke, a wisp of steam, or a passing vapor (James 4:14). Now you see it, and now it is gone.

Years ago, a band called Kansas captured the idea of life on Earth being short with a song called “Dust in the Wind.” “All we are is dust in the wind.”

Our Heavenly Father has mercifully offered an alternative to our lives ending up as of no more significance than dust in the wind. Or a puff of smoke, or a wisp of steam, or a passing vapor.

He has offered us eternal life in resurrected bodies that will not age, will not get sick, will not die, and will not be tempted by sin (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).

His promises for our future include these words:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Whosoever will perish does so of their own free will, for it is not the will of God that any should perish.

Whosoever will declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

None who accept God’s free gift of salvation, which leads to eternal life, will ever be reduced to “dust in the wind.” By seeking ye first the Kingdom of Heaven which is also the Kingdom of God, all things will be added unto you. And some of the “All things that are added unto you” are so wonderful that our Heavenly Father has not even revealed them to us yet.

The beyond-amazing awesomeness and perfect integrity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ensure us that eternity and the place that Jesus has been preparing for all who love Him is going to be more wonderful and more enjoyable than anyone has ever imagined, or even possibly could imagine this side of the Rapture.

Hope to see you in paradise,

Rick Segoine

 

God’s Miracles :: By Dale V. Nobbman

Published on: by RR10

God has always performed miracles throughout history and right up to the present day. President Trump’s miraculous survival of an assassination attempt is the obvious latest example.

Donald Trump has given “God alone” the credit for his surviving the assassination attempt. Many famous personalities and politicians have publicly stated the same. I’m sure thousands, and hopefully millions of other Americans, have come to the same conclusion that God is still in ultimate control of human events.

I heard a former Secret Service member say that an 18-year-old with a mere .22 caliber rifle could have made an easy kill shot at that short range of 130 yards.

If Trump had not turned his head at just the right angle to look at the graph he was pointing toward at the time the shot was taken, the result of the assassination attempt would have been very different. It is an ‘absolute’ miracle Trump survived; that is what many are saying.

God’s intervening ‘providence’ was at work at the rally in protecting Trump, and that is the only possible answer.

Why do I say that? Well, as a historian, the assassination attempt on Trump reminded me of an incident with George Washington, which I learned about years ago in a ‘Wallbuilders’ booklet by David Barton about America’s Godly Heritage, and also from a Wikipedia internet article about the Battle of Monongahela in 1755. I doubt if you have ever heard about the whole story of the battle and its results. It used to be in school textbooks prior to the 1950’s, but not since at least 1953.

I will provide some pertinent details below about July 9, 1755. If these details pique your interest, you can take a deeper dive into it on multiple internet websites.

The story is about how George Washington’s life hung in the balance for over two hours during the battle and how God intervened to spare his life.

Great Britain and France both claimed the same territory along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The French and Indian War took place 20 years before the American Revolution. In 1755, the British and Americans were allies against the French and Native Americans in the area. In July of 1755, the British General Braddock, along with George Washington (a Colonel in the Virginia Militia), about 100 Virginians, and 1,300 experienced British troops marched on the French-held Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). On July 9, 1755, just seven miles from the fort, the British were ambushed as they marched through a wooded ravine by around 300 French troops and Indians.

George Washington wrote in a July 18th letter that General Braddock was mortally wounded and died on July 13. Of the 1,300 British troops, 456 were killed and 422 wounded. Out of 86 British officers, 26 were killed and 37 wounded, and of 50 women serving as cooks and maids, only four survived. The French casualties were only 8 killed and 4 wounded. The Native American French allies lost 15 killed and 12 wounded. At the end of the battle, George Washington was the last officer still on a horse, even though he had multiple horses shot out from under him during the battle.

In the same July 18th letter to his family, Washington wrote that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him, and he was not harmed. Washington told his family, “By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation.”

In 1770, Washington returned to the scene of the battle and met up with an old Indian chief who had participated in the battle. The chief had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. The chief said he had personally shot at Washington seventeen different times, with no effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him.

What an amazing story that very few Americans today know about. Just like the fact that many Americans do not know or believe in America’s Godly heritage. For example, do you know that 52 of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the Constitution were members of Orthodox Christian churches, and many of them were evangelical Christians? This is the kind of American history that most leaders in our government and school systems do not want us to know about or be taught about today.

God only knows what purpose He has for the United States of America moving forward, but whatever it is, I know God is in control, and we should all trust in that!