The Real God, and True God.

“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” – Acts 17:22-23

I always find this portion of scripture very interesting, and very profound. To give you a little background on the story, here is how it goes. Paul the apostle was in Athens waiting for Silas and Timotheus. Athens was at that time a part of the Greek kingdom. And we all know that the Greeks, even from days gone by, were men renowned for their earthly wisdom and philosophies. They were the ones responsible for most of the mathematical and scientific discoveries at that time, and even before. Greece is known for scientists like Archimedes, the famous Pythagoras of the mathematical Pythagoras theorem, Aristotle and many others. These are men who influenced the Greek kingdom and culture with their scientific discoveries and philosophical ideas. It is now wonder then, that at the time Paul was at Athens, for him to preach Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead, it would have sounded very foolish to these Greek fellows. The following is the biblical account of this predicament

“Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoiks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.” – Acts 17:18 – 20.

I think now you have a pretty good picture of what was going on.
The whole point of this discussion is, we notice that there are a few categories of people mentioned above with the following characteristics:

Those who are superstitious and have belief in the supernatural. These are those who have a belief that somehow life cannot just be plain as it is, and there must be some higher power somewhere governing things.

Those who are worshippers of certain gods

Those who are philosophers and who believe they know everything and can explain everything that happens in life by their logic, and reasoning, and.

Beyond the scriptures, as we mentioned in the history of the Greeks, there are scientists and those that prefer scientific proof and want everything to be explained in terms of what can be proven by mathematical formulas and experimental proof, using scientific methods.

All the people described above have one thing in common. THEY REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, AND THE TRUE GOD WHO CREATED ALL THINGS IN EARTH AND IN HEAVEN.
Some people are like that today, even in our own culture. Some try to use reasoning to justify why they don’t believe in God. Some insist on scientific proof and don’t believe in any of these things. These are the scientific kind and the philosophical kind. All they know and believe is what man has proven to them scientifically. What they haven’t proven, they create philosophical reasons of why they don’t believe in God.
And then there those who are the superstitious type. These are those who believe in the supernatural. They believe in a ‘SUPREME BEING’ or a ‘god’ who is ultimately responsible for all things in life. Some have gone searching for this ‘god’ in certain places. Some have found themselves worshipping ‘their gods’ in their bid to be in fellowship by the ‘higher power(s)’.
But in all these things, one thing that I know for sure is that in every man there is a foreknowledge of God. Every man knows deep in his spirit that there is a God. He might not be able to explain it, but there is a part of a man that ‘knows’ there is a CREATOR.
It is that part of man that led the Greeks in Paul’s day to write the inscription ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’. They figured that they might know all gods and all scientific knowledge, but JUST IN CASE they had missed out one of them (perhaps even the most important of them) they wrote a devotion to the UNKNOWN GOD.
However, the bible clearly lets us know that every man ‘knows’ about God, even though no one has preached Jesus to him, or God to him. The bible says

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: ” – Romans 1:19,20

The bible lets us know that God himself has shown himself to all men, through the things that are made, through the things that exist. We can all see the sky, the rainbow, the seas, the great mountains, the great places, the animals, and all that is in the earth. Through the natural things we clearly see the works of God. And so the bible says we have no excuse because that which may be known of God has been shown us.
But then some people said, “We do in believe in God. But we also believe other are other gods to whom we can worship…”. Well, the bible says

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him: and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” – 1 Corinthians 8:6

Some others said, “Yeah! We believe in one God alright. But we also believe that every man can get to God in his own way. So I can worship him the way I want, I can find my own way to him”.
Well, the bible also says

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” – John 14:6

Note the definite articles in this verse. Jesus didn’t say I am ‘a way’, because many other religious leaders claim to be another way to God. Jesus said I am THE WAY. It’s a definite article. He said THE WAY and not A WAY.
Do not be deceived. False Religion will not get you anywhere. Even the great Buddha, when he was on his deathbed said, ‘I have not yet found the way. But we can find the way together. Let us find the way together’. See that? Even the great Buddha was not so sure about his own gospel.
For today, this is enough…
Don’t hate the messenger. Hate the message…

The God-Kind-Of-Life

Life is not what many people think it is. A close analysis of what life really means will give us an understanding of what we expect from it.
Scientifically, (for those of you who did science in High school), we can classify life into many classes, the primary forms of life being: Plant Life and Animal Life. We further distinguish general animal life and human life. Let’s quickly describe the major attributes of each life form.
Plant life: This is the life that any plant possesses. Plants grow, they reproduce, and they live and die after a season. How long a plant lives is dependent on each type of plant. But there are things that a plant cannot do. A plant cannot think, has limited motion and movements, and cannot reason.
General Animal life: This is the life that all animals possess. Animals can live, smell, hear, eat, move about without boundaries, and can reason, some even have the ability to remember. For example parrots can re-echo what they hear, Cats and dogs remember their owners and where they live. Baboons know where to go and steal the next maize cobs. But they are still limited as compared to human beings.
Human Life: This is the life that we possess. In addition to the general 5 senses of smell, touch, hearing, etc, humans can reason. They have emotions, they are intelligent, and they are inventive. They can read, talk to each other in an intelligent and yet understandable language. They can love, they can hate, they can imagine, and so forth. But this life, though, is still limited in terms of what is actually possible. What limitations are there someone can ask? Well for a start, man can fall sick. Man can suffer, man can be poor, and man can be in all sorts of oppressions. This is because natural human life has no way of overcoming these challenges.
BUT THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF LIFE!!
This is the life that is superior to sickness, disease, infirmity, and suffering. This life is the kind of life that Jesus always talked about. Every time Jesus talked about life, he was always referring to this kind of life. To understand this life we need to go to its root definition.
When Jesus talked about life, he used a GREEK word called ZOE (Just before anybody says, ‘how do you know?’, understand that the bible was originally written in Greek).
So what is ZOE? Zoe is a God-kind-of-life. That’s the best definition that we find in the Greek definition. Zoe is a God-kind-of-life. This kind of life is unconquerable, it is unbeatable. And Jesus came with this life. Jesus said,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life…” – John 14:6

I said zoe (the God-kind-of-life) is unbeatable. This is the very same life that God himself has!! God has Zoe!! You say how do you know? The bible says so. It says

“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” – John 5:26

You see that? ‘For as the Father hath life… ’ The Father (that is God) has ZOE because the Greek word used in that scripture is ZOE. And then look at it again. He says, that life that God has, has also been given to the Son. Wow!! So you say Jesus has this life? Well that’s what the bible is telling us!! Jesus himself said, ‘’I am the way, the truth, and the life”.
I can already hear some skeptic saying, “Well that’s Jesus. Praise God for him, because only he can have this life…”
Listen Brother! Listen Sister!! The bible says

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life (ZOE), and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life (ZOE); and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” – 1 John 5:11.

And so the apostle John cries out and writes

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life (Zoe),…” – 1 John 5:13

He says, if you have Jesus as your Lord and savior, he says you have this life.
So if I have this life how can I be sick? How can I be poor, how can I be defeated, how can I be a failure? Think about it. Could God be sick? Could God be a failure? Could God be poor, could God suffer? It’s impossible because the life that he has is superior to all. And boy oh boy, I have this life in me!! I have Zoe, because I have Jesus.
And so the apostles cry out and say

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” – Romans 8:37

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” – 1 John 4:4

You see that? How could I fail? How could I be sick? How could I be defeated? With this God-kind-of-life how can it be possible?

So why do many Christians suffer, why do they live the human life when deep inside their spirits they have a God-kind-kind-of-life? It’s because they have not accepted the truth. Understand that God’s things, and God’s blessings can only manifest in your life if you accept and believe in them.
And lastly, this kind of life is only gotten by being born again. If you are not born again, you cannot have this life. If you don’t have this life, you will continue to live in the fear of death, in torment of various kinds, because the natural human life is subject to the forces of nature, the forces of evil, and to Satan.
To be born again, you have to confess Jesus as Lord over your life and believe with your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. If you want to get born again, pray this prayer thus:

“Lord God I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead. I confess Jesus as Lord over my life.”

It is that simple

God bless you.