Author: Natalie Hardt

Sinful Creatures in Need of a Good God


April 2025

One of, if not the greatest Christian is the Apostle Paul of whom said, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Romans 7: 19)

Without the Holy Spirit, human beings cannot know God nor have a relationship with Him. Jesus tells the Apostles in John 14 that after He goes back to the Father, the Holy Spirit will be their companion, He will be in them and with them. It is because of God’s Spirit that a believer begins to transform, exhibiting Holy Spirit’s attributes of “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” unlike the sinful attributes of “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21).

The world advocates that if you follow your own heart and live your own truth you will be happy. You are good the way you are, and if not, read self-help books because you are in control of your own life. This mantra is a lie and a follower in Christ knows this because it takes one to discern their motives and desires residing in their heart to truly have joy and be in line with the Word of God. Often we see that when followers of Christ or non-believers choose to live their life without God they are not happy and wonder why. Jeremiah sums it up this way, the heart is deceiving amongst all things, who can know it; consequently, it requires the lifelong sanctification process only made possible through the act of the believer’s spirit working in tandem with the Holy Spirit.

The common worldview screaming the loudest in society is how good and powerful we are without God; this feeds into Satan’s plan to deceive humans and harkens back to the Garden. Jesus calls out the devil for what he is, a “deceiver”, “enemy” (Matt 13:39); “liar” (John 8:44); “murderer” (John 8:44); “evil one” (Matt 13:38); and “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30). When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world, humanity was depleted of grace that can only be restored through the Father. A 13th century theologian, Thomas Aquinas points out that in the Garden, Adam and Eve had “original justice” which is a perfect justice that was taken away the moment they took from the tree of knowledge. In an act of autonomy, they believed and reasoned ingesting the fruit would somehow internalize this knowledge when in actuality took grace away (Stillwaggon, 2014, pp. 67).

God’s Covenants
In Exodus, God gave the Law to the Israelites and instructed them to cleanse themselves of sin every year through animal sacrifice. This is a picture of a future time when Messiah will become a sacrifice once and for all, lifting the curse for all who believe in Him for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Jesus is known as the New Covenant and it requires faith for Jesus is the only way back into harmony with the Father “I am the truth, the life and the way, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The Old Testament tells of God’s promises to the Nation of Israel through the Abrahamic, Noahic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. The Mosaic Covenant introduced the 10 Commandments to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. The Law was never meant to save, but rather show humanity it’s sin and need of a Savior. The Israelites were instructed to conduct animal sacrifices as part of being cleansed for their sin, this painted a picture of the coming Messiah when Jesus’ blood would cleanse the sins of the world once and for all.

Spiritual Disciplines
Jesus went off into nature to pray to the Father. This is an example of how believers can find meditation and solitude more fruitful when done in nature, away from worldly things and it’s noise. It can be through contemplation and evaluation that a believer can examine true motives and desires, being formed as the Holy Spirit imprints His attributes triggering a response in the believer to live out the spiritual disciplines (Strobel, 2013). Spiritual disciplines include praying, mediation on the Word, read and study Scripture, memorize Scripture, fasting, and serving others; this results in a changed life drawing one closer to being more like Christ. Posturing oneself through scripture study, meditation, prayer, and contemplation invites the Spirit to engage in changing one’s mind and heart. The Spirit validates and motivates the believer to repentance, obedience, and self-reflection when the believer invites His glory through engaging in disciplines, not as good works, but rather in faith. Dallas Willard, as cited in Vos (2012) says “prayer has a ‘spiritually strengthening effect’ on every aspect of our personality. It builds our faith and confidence in God. To be done well, prayer will almost certainly be linked with other disciplines…” (Vos, 2012, pp. 104).

The closer believers get to Jesus, the more they will be attacked and tempted to disobey God. In Matthew 4:1-11, we see Jesus subject to Satan’s attempts and shows us how to fight back with Scripture, including Psalm 91 when Satan deliberately misquotes Scripture trying to trick Jesus.  Apostle Paul identifies a believer’s duel between his sinful nature and God’s holy nature and stresses the need of transformation of mind and heart from the “pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). Apostle Paul also instructs the importance of putting “…on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10). For example, the discipline of ‘prayer’ helps ward off the enemy, as Chapell (2001) puts it, “…we do not have sufficient desire to resist…” and seek to get rid of sin at the same time desire it; therefore, we “pray in the Spirit” so that He may “stir up within us a greater zeal for God” so that we may combat enemy attacks (Chapell, 2001, pp. 150).

Character Formation in Daily Life
There will be suffering and blessing, sadness and joy throughout a believer’s life as both natures, human and Spirit, live at odds. Through faith and hope, a believer can experience character formation and the importance of diligently practicing the spiritual disciplines, so they are part of what it means to “…go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). As ambassadors to Christ, the goal is to spread the Gospel and make more disciples, this spiritual formation basically requires going beyond recognition to actual experience as a believer finds his desiring the Kingdom of God versus the world.

Always remaining in the Word through study and application remains evident in my life when proper contextualization and interpretation is undertaken. Rather than live in isolation, or hide one’s faith, it is freeing living outwardly, as Matthew puts it, “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:15). Unafraid driven by true desire to live one’s faith in a forsaken world, leads to experiencing true joy.



References:
Chapell, B. (2011). Holiness by grace: Delighting in the joy that is our strength. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. ISBN-13: 978-1433524424
Foster, R. J.  (1988). Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: Harper & Row
González, E. (2016). Jesus and the Temple in John and Hebrews: Towards a New Testament Perspective. Davarlogos, 15(2), 39-65. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=121475542&site=eds-live&scope=site
Pettit, P. (Ed.). (2008). Foundations of spiritual formation: A community approach to becoming like Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. ISBN-13: 978-0825434693
Stillwaggon, J. (2014). The Problem of Propagation: Original Sin as Inherited Discourse. Studies In Philosophy & Education, 33(1), 61-73. doi:10.1007/s11217-013-9362-7. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93447361&site=eds-live&scope=site
Strobel, K. (2013). Formed for the glory of God: Learning from the spiritual practices of Jonathan Edwards. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books. ISBN-13: 978-0830856534
Vos, B. (2012). The Spiritual Disciplines and Christian Ministry. Evangelical Review of Theology, 36(2), 100–114. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=75190759&site=eds-live&scope=site
Willard, D. (1998). Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, and the Restoration of the Soul. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 26(1), 101–109. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001001817&site=eds-live&scope=site “

Trinity, God Triune

April 2025

The Bible narrative is an overarching story about creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. The Bible is God’s word to the to guide how to live while anticipating the return of Jesus and the coming Kingdom.

Creation

At one time or another, humans have pondered, why are we here and who is our maker? the only place to get the truth to these questions is the bible (for more on the bible,https://jesusforum.net/2020/02/19/jesus-church/). In Genesis 1, we are introduced to the Trinity “Let us make mankind in our image…” (Genesis 1:26). Some might interpret this as there must be three gods, that is not correct. God is Triune, consisting of three persons that make up the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1 records “God said” ten times as He speaks creation into existence. God’s method of communication has always been His words, in the Old Testament, God spoke to His prophets to carry out His will, “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction” (Psalm 107:20); “…my word that goes out from my mouth…will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). In the New Testament, God’s method of communication is still His Word, this time through His Son of whom is the ‘logos’, reason and divine order. In Jesus’ humanity, He identifies with His creation, in His godliness he is sinless and able to conquer death. Apostle John put focus on this in his gospel and personified Jesus as the Word, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” drawing back to His divinity in Genesis 1. Jesus’ mission was to pave the way for man to be restored to God; therefore, He took on flesh to live among His creation, was born a Jew (formerly the Hebrews) His chosen people, and was given the name Immanuel which means “God with us’ in Hebrew. Before His death, we read in John 17 Jesus pray to the Father, “…Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now , Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”. Jesus is the personification of the spoken ‘word’ (the Word) and ‘wisdom’ found at the cross where time and eternity meet and is the consciousness of that communication. Isaiah’s prophesy on this states, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Commentary on this subject agrees “Jesus is the personification of wisdom as is described in Proverbs 5-8” (Stewart, 2018).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit’s role in the act of creation is first seen in verse 2 in Genesis 1 “…the Spirit of God was hovering over the water”. The Holy Spirit is active throughout the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit inseminates the virgin Mary, anoints Jesus at His baptism, and descends on the apostles in what is called Pentecost. Twice in the bible, we see all three persons of the Trinity present at the same time, creation and the baptism of Jesus. The Holy Spirits anoints Jesus, “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove” (Mark 1:10) and the Father speaks, “and a voice came from heaven, you are my Son of whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Jesus was already divine at birth and did not need the Spirit of God to enter Him. The purpose of His baptism was to fulfill the prophesy in Isaiah, one verse being Isaiah 42:1 which speaks to the Servant being given the Spirit in a public display before beginning His ministry. Baptism represents a rebirth, dying to self and be born again. Jesus describes this to pharisee Nicodemus “…unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He clearly states the importance of the Holy Spirit, “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). Only when Jesus leaves, will the Holy Spirit come, Jesus also tells His disciples that when He goes back to the Father, the Spirit will come to be with them, “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for He will be in you and with you…” (John 14:16-17).

Sin

Divine intellect in the the mind, body and soul would have remained in the human soul if not for the fall corrupting the nature of man (Stillwaggon, 2014). The serpent used his wiles to trick Adam and Eve into disobedience to God resulting in evil and death entering the world (Genesis 3). The world will never be free of until the return of Jesus. According to John Calvin, all of creation is subject to God and thus according to God’s justice has been cursed (Lamoureux, 2009). Apostle Paul says in Romans “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:20-22). It is because of God’s grace, mercy, love, patience, and forgiveness that humanity has been given a path to redemption. The Law given to Moses so that humanity can know what sin is, this is referred to as works, which is impossible to maintain. it won’t be until coming Messiah that humanity can put their faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to works so that no one can boast (Romans).

Israelites

Thomas Aquinas “…argues that the existence and some attributes of God can be known by reason, whereas other things about God – for example, that God is triune – can be known only through special revelation” (Highfield, 2008, p. 105-106). The existence of God has been made known to humanity through general revelation and special revelation; the first refers to the physical beauty of earth and the universe that is all around us, everything we take in through the senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. God is Creator, recorded in Genesis “…God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…” (Gen 1:1-2). Special revelation is God revealing Himself through various means including miracles, scripture, and the supernatural; for example, the Nation of Israel meets God in Exodus and becomes the only nation ever to be set-up as a theocracy. First century historian Josephus Flavius, as well as theologians (Aquinas, Barth) affirm the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as real events that took place in humanity’s history. For instance, the Joseph story shows how the Jewish people go from Canaan to Egypt where they will live for 400 years as slaves until God frees them from Pharaoh. It is through Moses that God frees the Jewish people and teaches them to love and worship their God, Yahweh, the only one true God, as opposed to pagan gods they have come to know in Egypt. Israel, time and time again, allowed themselves to be influenced by the surrounding pagan nations that resulted in their idolatry (worshipping false gods) and sacrifices. This would later result in judgement that takes them into bondage under the Assyrians (722 BC) and later the Babylonians (586 BC). Jesus will accomplish where Israel fails.

The Church

After Jesus commissions His disciples to spread His church throughout the world to all the nations (Matt 28:16-20), the church will confront, challenge, and establish its set doctrine. As one can imagine, there were many heresies against the Christian community and attacks on the identity of Jesus. Arianism was one well known heresy that argued against the divinity of Jesus, it proclaimed Jesus as a created being making the Son not equal to God the Father. If this were the case, then Jesus’ death and resurrection would not be able to save humanity from eternal death. As with the Nation of Israel, the Church will become idolatrous and it will take centuries for it to find its way back. Beginning with Arianism, the church had to push back against this heresy during the Patristic Age (100-500AD) through to the early Middle Ages (Dark Ages). This required church leaders to come to the defense of Jesus as being the God-Man. These events have been recorded at the councils of the Nicene Creed in 325, Nicene/Constantinople Creed in 381, and Toledo in 589, and confirm Jesus as fully human and fully God; the same essence, coequal, and coeternal to the Father (homoousious). Systematic methodology came about during the centuries the church found itself explaining and defending God. It is a process by which to learn and know God and involves study and interpretation of scripture by gathering and organizing similar themes of information from various sources, such as scripture, nature, tradition, and experience (Highfield, 2008). Through this systematic methodology application, theologians confirm the Nicene Creed’s reaffirmation that God is Triune; and the homoousious of the three persons that make up the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – One God, three persons.

References
Henry, M. (2018). Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. M. Henry (1662 – 1714). Retrieved from: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/matthew/12.html
Highfield, R. (2008). Great
is the Lord: Theology for the praise of God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. Retrieved by: https://lc-ugrad3.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/externalLinks/externalLinks.html?operation=redirectToExternalLink&externalLink=http%3A%2F%2Fgcumedia.com%2Fdigital-resources%2Fwm-b-eerdmans-publishing-co%2F2008%2Fgreat-is-the-lord_theology-for-the-praise-of-god_ebook_1e.php
Lamoureux, D. O. (2016). Beyond the Cosmic Fall and Natural Evil. Perspectives On Science &
Christian Faith, 68(1), 44-59. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=113835293&site=eds-live&scope=site
Stewart, D. (2018). Why was Jesus Called the Word of God? (Logos). Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved from: https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_219.cfm
Stillwaggon, J. (2014). The Problem of Propagation: Original Sin as Inherited Discourse. Studies In
Philosophy & Education, 33(1), 61-73. doi:10.1007/s11217-013-9362-7. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93447361&site=eds-live&scope=site

Utopia vs. Heavenly

– Look Alike and Yet Very Different
– Response to a Global World

2025

Do you consider yourself one of two extremes, UTOPIA-minded or HEAVENLY-minded, or perhaps neither, but rather somewhere in between? For Christians (believers), a heavenly worldview is the only position to take; if not, then this poses a huge problem and is what James calls doublemindedness (James 1:8). The heavenly look to the supernatural, take an eternal approach to life, put faith in Jesus and anticipate His return. The utopia follow a secular worldview, take a natural approach to life, put faith in human effort, and anticipate an ideal world in “time”.

+

Utopia focus on the things below the firmament while the Heavenly focus on things above

Photo: letterstocreationists.wordpress.com








letterstocreationists.wordpress.com/2012

Globalization Since The Beginning

Man has always strived to rule the world, including Babylon (605-539BC), Medo-Persia (539-332BC), Greece (332-168BC), Rome (168BC-476AD), and divided Rome/Catholic Church Papacy. Evil comes naturally to men and when its influence becomes unified, grows to a point beyond the imagination (Jeremiah 19:5); consequently, it is impossible for the world to ever reach an utopia state. One commentary puts it like this, “men continue to band themselves together against God. They feel two or more men united against God have a better chance than one man set against God” (D. Guzik, 2017). Hitler, League of Nations (after WWI), United Nations (after WWII), and the more recent globally driven billionaires are examples at unifying the world under one government or world order. Books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation reveal a day when God does allow a one world order to come to fruition, then the end will come. Revelation 13 describes how all the nations will worship the beast via the antichrist; Revelation says, “…And authority was given it [beast] over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (13:7-8 ESV). This brings up the subject of predestination (another subject for another time) that says the saved have been selected prior to creation (“foundation of the world”).

The earliest attempts at globalization go back to Noah’s descendants of whom settle in the Mesopotamia region (later known as Babel) and how they spiral deeper into sin. Genesis 11:1 says, “…the whole world [having] one language and a common speech” (NIV) because, like Adam and Eve, these post-flood inhabitants are instructed to spread and populate the entire earth (Gen 1:28; 9:7); but rather, they disobey God and remain concentrated in one area falling deeper in idolatry (worship sun, moon, stars). Like Babel and many civilizations that come after, God turns away and gives “them” over to “…lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” (Romans 1:24-25 ESV). The Tower of Babel story ends when God causes the peoples in the land to disperse by confusing their language; this is how the world comes to have different languages.

Different Worldviews

God made humans in His image, Genesis says, He “…made each [plant, animal, human] according to its kind…” (Genesis 1:25); therefore, logic has it that humans have an innate ability to organize and categorize. One need not be a sociologist or behaviorist to see the evident characteristics hard-wired within humans, such as the propensity to form groups, man-made systems and governments. This diversity concerning nations does not mean leaders do not work toward peace, nor spread the Word of God throughout the globe. It does mean the only world ruler can and will be Jesus. The heavenly know the present ruler of this world is Satan; therefore, any unification would be under his influence (more on that https://jesusforum.net/2019/09/12/sinful-creatures-in-need-of-a-good-god/). Opposition to Genesis is the utopia evolutionists belief that creation just ‘happened’ through a process of chance. They question the heavenly’s faith in the supernatural considering it nonsense because afterall, if it is not “seen” physically then it must not exist. To the heavenly-minded, it takes more effort to dismiss our Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient God of whom shows His power every day through natural/general revelation. Every day the sun rises and sets is an expression of our Creator as Master Scientist and obviously the highest form of intelligence, sovereignty, and in control. The heavenly perspective equates the utopia worldview as a reflection of John Lennon’s “Imagine” lyrics that long for no heaven above, hell below, religion nor borders as nothing more than fantasy, magic and frankly ungodly at its core.

An example of an utopian worldview is John Lennon’s “Imagine”, sung by its loudest proponents, Hollywood

YouTube, March 2020

For the heavenly, a globalized world only results in dismissing God and reaching a higher level of corruption and evil. Historical Babel and subsequent societies and civilizations have spiraled deeper into chaos because man cannot help himself when he becomes powerful. His pride and arrogance eventually win out and as Lennon’s lyrics describe, leave them to their own “imaginations”. The mind is the breeding ground for sin that takes root and goes from a thought to action and thus results in a darker heart. Romans 1:21 says “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” (KJV). The King James Version uses the word “imagination” while other translations, such as the NIV and ESV, use the term “thinking”. There is no other path for the Christian than the heavenly perspective, a life-long process of sanctification that involves renewing the mind (Romans 12:2) and what Jeremiah calls circumcising the heart (Jeremiah 4:4).

Man Is Naturally Evil

One may ask if people are basically bad then what about the atheist that helps the poor; or what about the believer that is driven by their ego and posts good deeds on social media for all to see and take note? Altruist behaviors can be found in both believers and nonbelievers because all are made in the image of God; consequently, the heavenly perspective knows any good that exists within a person has nothing to do with ‘them’ and everything to do with God. The heavenly also consider it a blessing to be aware of their sinful nature as they fight against the daily fleshly struggles. Only God knows the ‘true’ and ‘deep’ motivations of the heart and mind, as Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). Simply put, recognizing one’s depraved nature is at the foundation of what separates the utopia mind from the heavenly mind, as Ezekiel puts it, “I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV). More on the subject of man’s propensity toward sin and disobedience toward God, go here https://jesusforum.net/2019/10/25/original-sin/.

Godly Wisdom Versus Humanly Wisdom

The utopia belief evolves around self-esteem, sees man as basically good, and puts its confidence in humanly wisdom and reason. To the heavenly, the utopia perspective is arrogant and ignorant resulting in ripe conditions for He will “…destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinth 19 ESV). The Ecclesiastes author, known to be Solomon, describes everything under the sun as subjective to ‘time’ and thereby “meaningless”. He goes on to say, “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account” (Ecc 3:15 NIV). So much hinges on the ability to acknowledge one’s deficiency and need of a Savior. In the Old Testament days, King David writes, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Acts 25-26; Psalm 2:1-12). Babel quickly discounts God, “And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6 ESV). Through their successes, they grew arrogant that then spiraled deeper into sin. Jeremiah, around 1750 years after Babel, describes God telling Jeremiah how He could not have imagined the extend of evil man has succumb to. Again, the human race showing what it is capable of without God as the Israelites around 600BC spiral farther into decay as they fall into idolatry and sacrifice their children (throw in the fire) to Baal (god of fertility, considered Lord of the earth). God tells Jeremiah, “…I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind” (Jeremiah 19:5 NIV).

Final Words

All human beings have an innate need to connect with their Maker for all are made in His image. Reputable theologian Spurgeon puts it like this, “To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light … We may judge ourselves by this, do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it from us?” (C. Spurgeon, 2017).

References:
Firmament Google Image. (2012). https://letterstocreationists.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/was-the-expanse-overhead-in-genesis-1-a-solid-dome/. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=firmament&tbm=isch&chips=q:firmament,g_1:genesis:98KMeFEbvZM%3D&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwiPl5aH77bpAhVJVKwKHbqDCykQ4lYoA3oECAEQGw&biw=1350&bih=623#imgrc=3aPffWzE4-iM8M
Guzik, D. (2017). BlueLetterBible. Retrieved from: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Psa/Psa-2.cfm
Lennon, J. (2020). “Celebrities Go Viral Singing “Imagine” During Coronavirus”. YouTube March 19, 2020. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/2crExMmiDdc
Spurgeon, C. (2017). BlueLetterBible. Retrieved from: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Psa/Psa-2.cfm