Reading a book on heaven by John MacArthur has really got me thinking about God’s omnipresence, and how He will always be with us, always be with all of us individually at the same time. I haven’t been able to find any verses about this—only that He will be with me always. Here are a few quotes from MacArthur’s book:
[We will have] unbroken fellowship with God.
[We will have unity with God] much like the unity that exists between Father and Son.
Perfect fellowship with God is the very essence of heaven.
In heaven we will continually be seeing God.
From 1 Cor. 13:12: “Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face…”
David said in Ps. 17:15, “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness…” (in his resurrection).
It’s hard for me to grasp the idea that I will be in God’s presence always, and that will also be true of everybody else in heaven. I know that He will not be split apart. Each of us will get Him in full. And since God the Father is pure spirit, we will really be looking at the person of Jesus the Son—He is the manifestation of God.
And then how will it be when I am with a small group of friend’s? Will Jesus be there with us? I suppose. And will He also be in every other small group of people—at the same time?
Will His physical presence always be with me, with us? Or sometimes will He be present only in His spirit? Whatever it is, I’m sure we will all be satisfied with it.
And since I will have a glorified body, I will be able to go and be with Him whenever I want—to travel miles and miles in a second. We will have a body like the resurrection body of Jesus was on earth. He was appearing and disappearing and going through walls.
The city of New Jerusalem, our heavenly home, will be huge. And if I had my apartment on the top floor, I think I will be able to somehow fly up there in a second. And what a view I will have! Looking over the whole new earth!
There is more and more news (from the left media) these days about Trump. But He loves it! I think he knows that in the end their news—intending to dissuade him—will do more to reveal the lefts fears and guilt.
This morning in my newspaper I saw two lengthy articles entitled, “Second term could unleash a darker Donald Trump,” and “Trump declines to rule out abusing power in 2nd term.”
I think trump’s openness about how he thinks is what the right loves about him, and conversely, what the left hates and fears about him. He is not one to be “nice” toward his enemies—that is, toward criminals and antisemites and evil doers of all sorts. He will speak out against it with strong speech, which the left will term “authoritarian rhetoric” and abusive power.”
In these articles, I read today that Trump was being compared to the Chinese authority that killed civilians at Tiananmen Square, all because trump said that they showed strength. But he also said that “they were vicious and horrible. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with praising the strength of a country and a leader even if it is evil. Trump never praised evil—only their strength. But Trump intents to use strength for good—to squash evil, even evil in this country. He wants to secure our boarders and deport all illegals. He wants to stop shoplifting, and to open up the oil wells, and to imprison all known criminal—like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Biden.
Oh they are really after him for using the word “vermin” to describe immigrants he would like to “root out,” mainly because certain former dictators also used that word. So they are using his speech against him.
Oh I am laughing and just loving to see Trump’s enemies scurry like frightened mice when they hear and see him. They know their doom is near.
This morning my mind is on the US ships that were shot at in the Red Sea. No doubt this Israeli war with Hamas will escalate. Both Israel and the US has many enemies and they will take advantage of any opportunity to kill us. We must pray for the safety of all ships.
I was also thinking of my time at war in Viet Nam. One positive of soldiers being at war is that there is some comradery—a sense of togetherness. I don’t have that so much now since I live alone—it gets lonely. I always look forward to Sundays, to worship together with friends. I try to get out of the apartment as much as possible. I go to restaurants to hang out and talk with people that know me. I love the smiles.
Have a good day. God’s blessings to you. And don’t forget to pray for all those at war and in distress.
Netanyahu is Correct. Palestinian Authority must not be allowed to return to Gaza. Israel must control the land that God gave to them. They cannot allow terrorists—people that hate them—to be near them, to be in the same land that God gave to only them. The United States must but out of Israel’s business. If we can’t help them in what they want to do, we should but out.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged not to repeat the mistakes made under the Oslo Accords by allowing the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza after its military campaign to oust Hamas from that enclave is over.
“One thing for sure I am not doing. I am not ready to delude myself to say that the defective act that took place under Oslo through a terrible error” must now take place a second time with the return of a “hostile entity” to Gaza and the West Bank, he told reporters on Saturday night.
Netanyahu referenced the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s initial exit to Tunisia. He noted that this was a correct decision, adding that the error that had been made was to allow it to return in 1994 with through the Palestinian Authority under the auspices of the 1993 Oslo Accords.“I won’t repeat this mistake and return this body to Gaza, because the same thing will happen,” he said. He referenced the 2007 coup in which Hamas ousted the PA’s Fatah party from Gaza and forcibly seized control of the enclave.
The Palestinian leadership has split into two, Netanyahu said, but the ideology that denies Israel’s right to exist is common to both those who rule in the West Bank and in Gaza.
Instead of seeing the kind of governmental reform that took place in Germany and Japan after defeat in World War II, the opposite will occur if “we will return the same entity – that has not undergone any reform or transformation — into Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
“This is what even our good friends are proposing,” he said.
“I think differently and I oppose this. We have to build something different” once the war is over, he said. He emphasized that Israel must have general control over the territory, including security, but that the internal governance would be Palestinian,” Netanyahu said. He clarified that this reference newly created government entity and not the PA.“The PA doesn’t fight terror it supports it. It doesn’t educate for peace, it educates for the destruction of Israel,” he said. “This isn’t the entity that needs to enter there [Gaza],” he said. The international community and the United States has pushed Israel on the issue of what happens to Gaza after Israel completes it military campaign to destroy Hamas. It did so after the terror group infiltrated southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and seizing some 240 captives. The United States supports Israel’s military campaign in Gaza but is concerned about the high number of displaced people due to aerial bombings, some 1.9 million out of the 2.7 million that live there, as well as by the high death toll. Hamas has asserted that some 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza war-related violence, without specifying how many of those are combatants. The United States and the international community have called on Israel to minimize civilian casualties and ensure a flow of aid. But they have also looked to the day after and stressed that the PA should govern Gaza, even though they have not offered a viable security alternative for that option. Israel has insisted that the IDF must maintain military control of the enclave. US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday addressed the Biden administration’s day-after vision for Gaza, when she spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations COP28 Climate Conference in the United Arab Emirates.“Hamas can not control Gaza and Israel must be secure,” while the Palestinians have a political horizon, she said, explaining that this included the return of a revitalized PA to Gaza. “The PA security forces must be strengthened to eventually assume security responsibilities in Gaza,” Harris said.
“Until then there must be security arrangements that are acceptable to Israel, the people of Gaza, the PA, and the international partners,” Harris said.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza
“The PA must be revitalized driven by the will of the Palestinian people,” she said, adding that this revitalized PA must be able to govern Gaza as well as the PA.Moving forward, she said, “we can not conflate Hamas with the Palestinian people.” Harris clarified that “Hamas is a brutal terror organization that has vowed to repeat October 7 until Israeli is annihilated. No nation could possibly live with such danger.” But how Israel conducts its military operations against Hamas, “it matters how” and international law must be respected. “To many innocent Palestinians have been killed. The scale of humanitarian suffering and the images coming from Gaza have been devastating,” she said. “Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians,” she said. On Saturday night in Ramallah PA President Mahmoud Abbs said that Gaza was “an integral part of the Palestinian state and that “any political solution” must include that enclave as well as the West Bank and east Jerusalem. According to his statement posed on the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, the only solution to the bloodshed, he told PA leaders, is recognition of a Palestinian state on that territory, including UN membership. Abbas called for an international conference to discuss and set a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. “We continue with our people to remain steadfast in the battle for survival, freedom, and independence. We will not kneel. We will not surrender to the fait accomplice. We will not allow the Nakba of Palestine in 1948 to be repeated, whatever the circumstances, and no matter how costly the sacrifice.”
In my last post I gave you all my complaints. This morning I have been thinking and feeling how good my life is—pretty good. I really have very little to complain about. I am well fed, feeling good, healthy. I have no debts, just day to day expenses. God is good!
The sun is shining, and I know that God has been merciful to me.
I am feeling more and more like writing my next book on heaven, and I have an idea for the outline. I think at this time in my life the best thing I can do is to think every day on heaven. Maybe that is why I feel so good today—because I have been reading about it—what it will be like.
Some people say that if you are too heavenly bound you are no earthly good. But I think that if you are too earthly bound you are no earthly good; for thinking on heaven is the best way for a Christian to feel good about life. Knowing where we are headed and knowing that it will be wonderful, tends to brighten ones day on earth and give him a motivation for living a holy life.
Today I’m going to do some complaining. I hope you don’t mind too much. Ha ha.
Talking Too Loud
I like to sit in my favorite restaurant in the morning for breakfast and read. So, I like it quiet. I don’t mind normal conversation, but there are always a few people that talk too loudly. Their voice is heard almost no matter where I sit, and it’s hard to concentrate on my reading. It’s very annoying! I almost want to say something to them, but I don’t want to embarrass them. You know, it’s almost as if they want people to hear them. It’s like they take pride in being heard by many people. Maybe they have a secret desire to be a preacher or a politician or a comedian—but never get the chance.
Derek Chauvin
I’m not a fan of his, but I think he got a bum deal. I don’t think he is guilty of murder. He was just doing his job. In fact, he acted in accordance with how he was trained. When Floyd resisted arrest, Chauvin used an approved method of restraint.
Last night I listened to a segment on Newsmax. I heard that it has recently been found that there was no evidence that Chauvin killed Floyd. Yes, there was never any scientific evidence that his knee caused any trauma to Floyd. There was “No life-threatening injury identified.” In fact, did you know that the actual prosecutors did not believe that any of the officers should have been criminally charged? They thought the case should have been thrown outfor lack of evidence. It was suggested that since Floyd had 16.6 grams of Fentanyl in his system, maybe that was more the cause of his death, since 2 grams is considered to be a lethal dose.
Then why and how was Chauvin convicted of murder? Two reasons: 1) Keith Elison (Minnesota’s AG) decided that he would take over the case. He saw to it that Chauvin would be seen as racist and would be convicted. 2) Chauvin was convicted not based on evidence, but on political and media driven pressure. The public convicted him!This sounds to me an awful lot like Jesus’ trial. Pilot rendered Jesus guilty based only on what the crowd wanted. They said, Crucify Him! So He was!
Like I said, I am no fan of Chauvin, but I am disappointed in this country and in my state of Minnesota, that we will sentence a person based not on evidence but on popular opinion. Where is the justice?
My writing
I’m not presently writing any books. I’ve been going back and re-writing—editing. Truthfully, I’m kind of discouraged. I like to write, but not many are buying. I may look into a different self-publishing company, one that is more Christian based. Lulu is open for anything. I also need more money and more direction and support. I can’t do it all myself—which is what I have been doing. Enough complaining!
My reading
I would like to write a book on heaven. But before I start I need to do more reading on the subject. I read the book Heaven, by Randy Alcorn and now I am reading a book on heaven by John MacArthur. So far, I don’t like it—too negative. He spends too much time in telling the false teaching of heaven. I already know that. I want to know what the truth is about heaven. I may have to just do my own Bible Study, to go through the entire Bible and see what it says. That’s the best way anyway.
I’m also reading a book about William Tyndale. I’m enjoying it. He lived in a difficult time and place—in the 1500’s in England and also Germany. He was brilliant. He was so dedicated to his work of translating the Bible into English, from Latin and Greek, and he also examined Luther’s German translation. He wanted the common man to have a bible to read in English. Since the Catholic Church was against his work and against his teaching, he was always moving around from place to place—hiding. They eventually labeled him a heretic and at the end was burned at the stake.
I am only halfway done with the book so that will not come until the last few pages. Terrible to think about!
I will end my complaints here. I hope I will have a better day—and that you will too.
When the sky is bright and partly cloudy with gusts of wind, cloud formations can be very beautiful. Lately, I have been thinking of writing on the subject of heaven. And when I look heavenward through the clouds it gives me a greater incentive to write on that subject. For when He comes in His glory and when we go to meet Him it will be “in the clouds.” (1 Thess. 4:17; Acts 1:9; Rev. 11:12)
Stephen Nielsen 