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Just as peace in war requires unconditional surrender, so it is internally, spiritually. But surrender to what or to whom? Where do I find peace? Where can I find clarity of thought? Where can I find genuine eternal purpose?
The confusion began in the Garden of Eden when the second voice, Satan’s, spoke and was embraced by our mother Eve. Today, there appear to be many voices, but there are still only two. The first voice is God’s—the Creator of life, the absolute, the truth. The other voices which appear so diverse are all bound by one common denominator: their unanimous rejection of the first voice, God’s voice, the absolute truth. If you want peace, you must return to the first voice. Deuteronomy 30:19:
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Are you ready for peace? Are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, the King of Glory? Are you ready for a single mind? Click onto "Further With Jesus" and do it before you proceed any further. Today could literally be the very best day of your life and tomorrow will be better. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, Proverbs 11:19:
As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
GOD SAID, Galatians 6:7-8:
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
GOD SAID, Genesis 4:7:
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
GOD SAID, Romans 6:22-23:
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
MAN SAID: You Bible-thumpers are always trying to stuff your morality down my throat! There is no God, and the archaic writings in the Bible are certainly not valid for an enlightened society. Who needs God?
Now THE RECORD: Every Thursday eve, God willing, GodSaidManSaid publishes a new article proving that God is, and proving the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures. This is feature #309. All of these subjects are archived in text and audio. Simply go to the navigation bar on your left and choose one of four categories:
1. Archaeology
2. Prophecy
3. GodSaidManSaid—The Record
4. The Historicity of Jesus Christ
From the beginning, God instructs man on the terrible consequences of disobeying His commandments. The Scriptures list one Holy directive after another. I like to think of God’s Word as an owner’s manual. Could it be that the Designer and Creator of our DNA might have some insights on how we should conduct our lives? Is it true that righteousness breeds life? Could it be possible that the "wages of sin is death", and that sin actually pays wages? Does it make sense that you reap what you sow? Can the consequences of rejecting Biblical commandments be measured?
When one rejects absolute truth, the results are very negative and can even prove deadly. Following is a very short list of very basic commandments and precepts given by the God of the Holy Bible thousands of years ago. After each Biblical position, I will list man’s response and then the record or results of man’s disobedience.
Alcohol:
GOD SAID, Proverbs 23:29-35:
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
GOD SAID, Proverbs 20:1:
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
MAN SAID: I like alcohol! Over 60% of the U.S. adult population drinks alcoholic beverages.
Now THE RECORD: According to the Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, alcohol contributes to more than 100,000 deaths annually in the U.S., with 18% of Americans experiencing alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency sometime in their lives. The National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse reports an annual 500,000 alcohol related injuries, 600,000 assaults, 70,000 sexual assaults, and 14 million Americans who are addicted. If we were to extrapolate global populations using U.S. statistics, the number of annual deaths related to alcohol would be 2.2 million, 11 million injuries, 13.2 million assaults, and 1.54 million sexual assaults. Those who will experience alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency in their lifetime would number about 1,170,000,000, and this is really the tip of the iceberg. These are conservative extrapolations, as I am confident that the global percentages are higher. Now consider the colossal harm to the family unit, the broken homes, damaged children, psychological illnesses, and huge financial cost, just to name a few.
It’s true the "wages of sin is death".
Divorce:
GOD SAID, Matthew 5:31-32:
31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
MAN SAID: Go ahead and divorce for any reason! Make it easy; make it "no fault."
Now THE RECORD: When I was a boy in elementary school 50 years ago, I can’t recall even one schoolmate living in a single parent home, or in a home with one biological parent and one step-parent or “live-in companion.” Today in the American classroom, a child living in a home with both biological parents has become the minority.
In 1997, the likelihood of a first marriage ending in divorce was 50%, and a second marriage, 60%. Various studies today show the range of first marriages end in divorce 40 to 50% of the time.
The problems caused by divorce are catastrophic. The list is very long and includes issues such as the psychological problems that affect the divorced spouse and the children, financial distress, suicide, substance abuse, births out-of-wedlock, juvenile delinquency, murder, assault, and kidnaping, just to mention the most obvious.
Danish researchers Morten Frisch and Anders Hviid, in a 2006 analysis of 2,000,000 men and women, found that for each additional year one’s parents stay married, the probability of heterosexual marriage increased by 1.6% among sons and 1.0% among daughters. In contrast, the rate of homosexual unions decreased by 1.8% among sons and 1.4% among daughters for every year of intact parental marriage.
God’s Word again is correct. We must strive to obey. God said to Cain, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door."
Going to Church:
GOD SAID, Hebrews 10:24-25:
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
MAN SAID: Why go to church with all the hypocrites? I’ll worship God in my thoughts at home. Or, there is no God, and houses of worship are simple social crutches for the weak minded.
Now THE RECORD: God created a place for mankind to come and congregate, to be reconciled unto Him, and to be instructed in His Word. Hundreds of studies have been, and are presently being, conducted to ascertain whether there is any connection between religious faith and health. Some of the latest results are shocking to the unbelieving world. In 1999, the results of a study conducted by the University of Texas were published. Twenty-two-thousand people were followed over a nine-year period. Those who attended church or synagogue more than once a week lived an average of eight years longer than those who didn’t. Let me say it another way: those who attended church more than once a week lived 2,920 days, or 11%, longer than those who didn’t.
A Yale study reported that churchgoers were less likely to become physically disabled. According to a syndicated article released by Knight Ridder Newspapers, churchgoers are healthier than those who rarely or never attend:
Several studies concluded that people who attended religious services regularly are hospitalized less often and have stronger immune systems than people who rarely or never attend.
A church is a place to seek the face of God, to rejoice, to give thanks and to be glad. On this website, an article titled "A Merry Heart or a Broken Spirit" discusses bone marrow. It shows that when one rejoices, is positive, is happy, the bone marrow manufactures red and white blood cells prolifically. White blood cells attack disease, and red blood cells bring food and oxygen to our bodies. This is, in fact, a powerful part of our immune system.
A 1995 Spokane, Washington, study of 232 heart patients found that those who described themselves as deeply religious were more likely to be alive six months after surgery than those who were not.
Harvard’s Mind/Body Institute found that those who prayed regularly were able to reduce blood pressure and ease symptoms of chronic pain and illness.
Again, the Knight Ridder article cites a 1996 poll of family doctors that found 99% believed spiritual practices and prayer can be helpful in medical treatment.
Of course, God’s Word is vindicated again.
Proverbs 11:19:
As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
Man continues to ridicule and reject, but he also pays the price.
Homosexuality:
GOD SAID, Romans 1:21-32:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
MAN SAID: Sexuality is a natural animal tendency, and we’re all animals, you know.
Now THE RECORD: The wages paid by the sin of homosexuality is death. The destruction of so many things lies in its wake. In the following short review of "Homosexuality Part II," a subject on this website will be cited that deals specifically with life expectancy.
The homosexual agenda is to convince the world that homosexual proclivities are perfectly normal and functional, and should be embraced by all. This is in spite of the fact that their orientation is condemned by God, and that research reports the average life span of the homosexual to be 41 years. That number—41—has been ridiculed by the homosexual community. The number was originally published by Dr. Paul Cameron, president of the Family Research Institute in 1992. Dr. Cameron is also a peer reviewer for the highly prestigious British Medical Journal and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. As a peer reviewer, he participates in analyzing and recommending which articles are of sufficient academic stature to warrant publishing. New-Life.net refers to Cameron’s research in the following paragraphs:
Life expectancy of homosexual men and women without AIDS is about 33 years shorter than that of the heterosexual (Cameron, Playfair, Wellum, The Homosexual Lifespan, Family Research Institute, Feb 14, 1992). Surprisingly, AIDS has only a modest effect on the average life expectancy of a homosexual male. The average age of men dying from AIDS is 39. The average age of homosexuals dying from all other causes is even more revealing: 41. Only one percent die of old age. In study after study, less than three percent of all homosexuals surveyed are over the age of 55.
The following excerpts are from a June 2005 article published by Lifesite.net titled, "Yet Another Study Confirms Gay Life Expectancy 20 Years Shorter:"
WASHINGTON, DC, June 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com)—A new study which analyzed tens of thousands of gay obituaries and compared them with AIDS deaths data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has shown that the life expectancy for homosexuals is about twenty years shorter than that of the general public. The study, entitled "Gay obituaries closely track officially reported deaths from AIDS", has been published in Psychological Reports (2005;96:693 697).
In an interview with lifesitenews.com, Dr. Paul Cameron, the President of the Family Research Institute and the scientist who headed the study, indicated that he was not at all surprised by the findings. Rather he said that it only served as further confirmation for what had long been known and other studies have already shown.
One such study was conducted in Vancouver British Columbia and published in 1997 in the International Journal of Epidemiology (Vol. 26, 657 61: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/657). It almost exactly mirrors the findings of Cameron’s research.
The Vancouver study was conducted by a team of pro-gay researchers, who, upon finding that pro family advocates were using the results of their research as confirmation for their beliefs about the risks of the homosexual lifestyle, issued a statement trying to curb this unintended after effect. "The aim of our work," said the research team, "was to assist health planners with the means of estimating the impact of HIV infection on groups, like gay and bisexual men, not necessarily captured by vital statistics data and not to hinder the rights of these groups worldwide. Overall, we do not condone the use of our research in a manner that restricts the political or human rights of gay and bisexual men or any other group."
Despite their attempts to downplay the practical consequences of their research, it is difficult to ignore that the study concluded with the statement that "under even the most liberal assumptions, gay and bisexual men in this urban centre [Vancouver, BC] are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871." Corresponding almost exactly with Cameron’s study, the Vancouver study indicated that "life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men." [End of quote]
After a short search for Canadian life expectancy charts, which was unsuccessful, we did find that male life expectancy in the United States in 1890 was 42.5 years. Resist, as one will, but the results will be the same. Those who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ will repent, and forsake their sins, and find newness of life. Those who reject so great salvation have chosen their doom.
This feature lists four of many life-giving commandments found in God’s Word. Each of God’s commandments has inherent within it a blessing or a curse. Why not choose life and live?
GOD SAID, Proverbs 11:19:
As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
GOD SAID, Galatians 6:7-8:
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
GOD SAID, Genesis 4:7:
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
GOD SAID, Romans 6:22-23:
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
MAN SAID: You Bible-thumpers are always trying to stuff your morality down my throat! There is no God, and the archaic writings in the Bible are certainly not valid for an enlightened society. Who needs God?
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
Authorized King James Version
"A Few Words on Homosexuality," New- Life.net
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, October 09, 1998.
Levine, K., "Saying No To Divorce," Parents
Martin, R. A. & Dobbin, J. P., "Sense of Humor, Hassels and Immunoglobin A: Evidence For a Stress Moderating Effect of Humor," International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 1985.
Rogers, J., "The Blues Are a Bone Breaker," Psychology Today, May/June 2000.
Siegel, J., "Divorce May Harm Children’s Long Term Mental Stability," The Jerusalem Post, February 19, 1999.
"Yet Another Study Confirms Gay Life Expectancy 20 Years Shorter," 6/6/05, Lifesite.net
GodSaidManSaid, "Alcohol and Christians"
GodSaidManSaid, "Divorce"
GodSaidManSaid, "A Merry Heart or a Broken Spirit"
GodSaidManSaid, "Homosexuality II"
