It's Not Like Becoming a Butterfly!

So thankful the Christian

change in heart, is spiritual

In my heart, my old life is absolutely in the past. A new life, in Jesus, has begun. Because life in Christ
is new for me again in life, I'm just not the same, unaware, sinful person I once was.

2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 has been translated — and misused — in more than one way. Some translations say we're a "new creation" in Jesus. Others say we're a "new person" in Jesus.

But neither of those translations means we're changed in the flesh! (Colossians 2:10-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 3:3, Philippians 3:2, Galatians 6:15, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, Romans 2:28-29, Galatians 6:13, 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, Colossians 2:10-11)

When we get saved in Jesus, when we know we have salvation in Him, when we know we have forgiveness of old sins and the opportunity to live delivered or free from those sins, we don't get that salvation through destruction or even circumcision of the flesh.

Instead, Jesus gives us new awareness, a new excitement about life (all things becoming new to us in life: even old lessons seeming new). Jesus gives us newness of understanding (faith comes by hearing), and sets us free.

And when Heaven sets us free from sins, we truly are free, indeed.

We really do become like children in the way we behold things. The Bible says it's through childlike faith in Jesus that we're saved.

Our childlike faith in Him, our being new in Him, is spiritual. It's like being re-born in Him, discovering Him anew. Salvation is having new understanding, a whole new way of wanting to live our lives.

A change in life because of salvation, isn't a change in flesh, but it's a change in awareness, like leaving a womb where you haven't known anything and suddenly seeing life the way Heaven meant you to.

Salvation is a gift that gives us grace, a new awareness, a new, spiritual hunger. And that gift (that release from sin) is spontaneous and good: no evil reminder of the past needed.

Salvation, in Jesus, is deliverance from the past, being set free to have new life from Heaven in heart.

In Jesus, the old mistakes of living are overwith. And it becomes each Christian's testimony of heart that my old way of life is gone.

Redeemed.

Everyone's View of What Heaven Must Be Like, is Different ...

and yet the same.

Maybe, just maybe, the journey back Home isn't as complicated or otherworldly as many may think. Maybe it's not about the fears and hopes a songwriter expressed in the old hymn, "Finding It Home." Maybe, it's not about meeting masses of souls on celestial shores versus the darkness of this world; for that's not quite what the Bible says at all.

The Bible says wait on rescue from the Lord. The Holy Spirit says our deliverance is promised, not as a meeting of masses on a heavenly shoreline, but, really, as Heaven's army descending to meet us at a time of fiery trial in this world.

When Jesus returns to this world full-force, He will have all of Heaven's armies with Him. He is "I Am" (Yahweh), I Am Lord of Hosts (The Lord of Heaven's Armies); and He will deliver this world.

Just how that will look, in flesh and in Spirit, no one really knows. Maybe it's simple as our descendants, our children, fighting a great battle, in righteousness one day.

But something we know for sure is that Jesus is our sure Deliverer, and that rescue begins today, with faith, a belief, a thought.

Deliverance is on the way. Heaven isn't a distant shore, but is so very close in heart.

For now, maybe, our rescue from Heaven is simply in our relationship in Jesus.

And, one day, hopefully a ripened old age, maybe that relationship is ultimately as blessed as being swept up and away into loving adoptive arms on a cold winter's day.

Life is a Gift

"We can never repay
our parents for the gift of life."

Fr. Brian Mullady

Suffering Isn't a Way of Life

Counting our living "joy"

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

James 1:2-4

With brothers and sisters coming to Jesus in greater and greater numbers in wake of conflicts in the Middle East, there is so much zeal of faith in Christ, so much new life in Jesus, so much joy over forming new churches and having baptisms and just overall good harvests, in certain countries of refuge. [This was written so long ago. It's a shame the same can't be said in 2024.]

But with that zeal, there also seems to be at least a little of the old Muslim way of feeling about some things. The Holy Spirit is leading; but the old heart also is speaking.

So there are Christian testimonies, sometimes, that are a little outside the lines of how the Holy Spirit leads us: like when a new minister (who has done so much: who has done the faithful work of praying his family not only to safety but to work fruitfully for Christ) says there's a price to pay for following Jesus.

I think he hasn't gotten the good news deep in heart yet, that Jesus "paid it all," and that we've been called to a certain freedom.

Too often, newness in Christ seems to be compromised by the old feeling that faithfulness means suffering and suffering. And maybe that's why some of our understanding of the New Testament has begun to lean a little more toward suffering than the Holy Spirit intends for us.

When the Apostle James says to count it joy when we're going through trials of life, he's not saying to look for trials to get into, to look for temptations, to look for opportunities to suffer, nor to want anyone else to suffer. But the Holy Spirit is saying, through James, that when there are trials or tests of faith (even though, like Jesus, we despise the shame), we have to keep focused on the promise of deliverance and the prize of Heaven, which is "joy."

Throughout trials of the New Testament, we learn to focus on what's ahead in Christ, to endure through ignoring the suffering and focusing only on the "expected end," which is never the Christian's destruction.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord.

"They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11, New Living Translation

But what about long-suffering? The New Testament teaches that long-suffering may be an outcome of being a devoted in faith. Isn't that an argument for suffering?

... You know, God lets us know, through His word, that we're always supposed to be ready with an answer for the hope that we have because of our faith in Jesus. And the Bible says we're able to even shut mouths, to end arguments, through Him.

So it's with conviction in the Spirit that we know, and are blessed to say, how long-suffering is only seasonal — or for a season — in our lives.

Yes, slavery in the United States was a time of long-suffering, and that time wasn't for what anyone would call a short season. But, in that time, God was working, bringing many slaves to life in Him.

And that time of true long-suffering did have an end, a season of deliverance, of harvest. And the end was joy — a joy the Holy Spirit had led many a faithful slave to keep faith for.

That was during the time of the birth of a nation.

Slavery was among our birth pangs, as Jesus might say. And even Israel, the mother place of our faith, has well known those pangs.

But those pangs, ultimately, were only for a season, not as a way of life for generations; and suffering isn't what the Christian is to look forward to — but joy in the end.

To review:

In Jesus, suffering is only momentary, not a way of life. 

The reason we count it joy when there's sometimes suffering in Him, is we know suffering is only for a short while, that our day of deliverance is promised, that we can endure — thinking only of the prize of deliverance for many people.

 

During difficult times in the life of nations, during the birth pangs Jesus foretold, there's always the promise of joy.

And maybe, today, long-suffering, for us as Christians, means growing patient (for a short while) with the broken, fallen nature of this world.

But personal suffering — as individuals and as families — isn't supposed to be a way of life.

What Does "As Touching" Mean?

Jesus said it, and that settles it ...

"For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in Heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

Matthew 22:30-32

It's so important not to read the Bible with an ungodly heart. So God plainly tells us that spiritual things are spiritually discerned: 1 Corinthians 2:14.

How on God's green earth is anyone of a mind to think Jesus Himself spoke of physically touching anything hellish?!

My Lord, Jesus, help us.

When Jesus and the disciples use the term "as touching," they're simply expressing closeness in spiritual agreement. The simplest way to understand that is to know that when the New Testament says "as touching," that means "as in close spiritual agreement with."

So, when Jesus speaks of the resurrection in Matthew 22:30-32, He's basically saying, "There's not person-to-person marriage in Heaven. But, as in close spiritual agreement with knowing you'll be resurrected from the dead (knowing you'll have new life through My promise of Heaven), you can believe that [because they trusted in the word that I whispered to the prophets, and even though I had not appeared to Israel yet, they believed in Me] I've already raised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm not God of death, but of Heaven."

Then, the disciples speak of "as touching" Gentiles who have become believing, meaning "As in close spiritual agreement with new believers," this is what we're teaching.

It's not hard to understand the way the Holy Spirit speaks!

Heaven Bless Their Hearts

Lord, bless the Jehovah's Witnesses, anyway!

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13

They're a misunderstood part of Heaven's church: the Jehovah's Witnesses. They are some of the few Christians who've been brave enough to come to our door, in a city and community whose troubles are well and widely understood now.

The latest tract I received from them is almost as if in answer to some of the worries that kept me grieved, years ago, about the state of the church, and the state of many of our homes.

The tract asks a question that would earn a "D-minus," if I were a college theology teacher. The tract asks, "Who really controls the world?"

It's a terrible question.

To make that worse, the tract goes on to say, "The Evil One controls the whole world."

But that's wrong, wrong, wrong.

The tract goes to 1 John 5:19, which says the whole world lay in evil. Some versions of the Bible read that to mean the whole world is under "power" of the "evil one." But that's just not the Holy Spirit's meaning!

1 John 5:19 is simply telling us the whole world has people who are choosing to live wickedly. There's no nation that's completely free of evil.

But that does not mean evil has control of this world!

Ephesians 2:1-6 says Heaven's church has been delivered from evil, and that means every one of us who has grown to know Jesus!

Jesus does promise that we're persecuted as Christians, as He was persecuted, especially if we want to live right instead of wickedly like much of the world. But, in heart and mind, we're not consumed by evil. We may be in evil circumstances, but the circumstances are not in control of our destinies as Christians.

So, when someone says, "We have the power. We're in control," that's not someone who really knows the Lord. Because, that's nothing to boast about.

Being free in Christ, or having the promise of freedom in Him, is something to value in our lives as Christians. But warring over "control" isn't godly or true to Heaven.

The word of Heaven says Satan is "prince of the power of the air," a kind of power "now at work in the children of disobedience." But that's as far as the word goes in giving hell any credit for being in control of anything.

Hell is at work in "children of disobedience," or people who so choose. But evil isn't at work in us as Christians, no matter how evil pushes us around. And, knowing that truth, we can patiently go about our way in life, forsaking any evil.

Evil is not our controller!

One good thing in the JW tract is 1 John 2:17.

To paraphrase that scripture, I read it to mean:

"And the world perishes, and the lust thereof: but those who live according to the will of God abide forever."

The tract also offers the comfort we find in Psalm 37:10-11 and Revelation 21:3-4.

Lord, bless those witnesses.

Our Firm Foundation

Living in Christ isn't just like living on a houseboat

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13

Matthew 24:45 speaks of a faithful servant preparing food for a household.

Genesis 35:2 speaks of Jacob leading his household to part with the idols that were objects of worship among his people.

The New Testament speaks favorably of the households of Lydia and Narcissus. Lydia's whole household received salvation in Jesus.

Jesus spent much time at the household of Mary and Martha, among others whose names we don't know.

The Proverbs 31 woman, a foreshadowing of how the church would live and work, was attuned to the needs of her household.

Jesus prophesied that members of households would begin to struggle one against the other in these end times, for sake of trying to save people from their sins, for His sake.

When Israel was fighting to leave slavery, their households were saved from death through applying the blood of the Passover lamb to their doorposts, foreshadowing how Christians are spared damnation by carrying the blood of the Lamb on the spiritual doorposts of our hearts.

Joseph's long-lost family was saved from famine when his brothers reunited with him and received the forgiveness and hospitality of his household.

A jailer who received salvation, because of Paul and Silas' time in prison, courageously and joyously brought the two prisoners into his household, so that his whole household would be saved.

Jesus' healing of an official's son brought the official's whole household to faith.

Paul preached goodwill to men, but especially to "the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10)

And when Jesus fed more than 5,000 after church one day, he asked the congregation to get together in groups of 50, probably to symbolize how churches would get together and become the households of faith that Paul preached about.

Clearly, households are important to Jesus, important to all Heaven.

Not every household is a full house. Some are empty nests where one person is meant to care for only one other for a season, showing us God doesn't give all of us the same responsibilities in life.

For some, taking care of a household in elder years is much different than in big families with children.

Thinking again about when Jesus fed the multitude: Most of our lives are more quiet than that.

It's easy to think Jesus fed more than 5,000 faithful people, so maybe we should make that a goal in our week to week. But that may not be what God is calling everyone to do.

Instead, for many of us, there's a need to overcome hurt, have household peace, and begin reaching out to just a few around us.

The well-being of households — and our ability to be fruitful at home — is important to Heaven. Just look at what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12:

"Concerning agreement in brotherly love, you don't need instruction: for you are taught of God to love one another. And indeed you are in loving agreement with the faithful all over Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more; and that you study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk honestly [having honest gain to give] toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing." (Paraphrased)

Getting settled, having peace at home, and thereby being able to get things done, is a first step toward being able to be a good example to those in spiritual need around us, as long as we don't become overburdened like Martha did one day.

Jesus being the anchor of our soul and home, we don't have to worry as much about the troubled waters around us in life.

The Difference in Jesus

Church joy, obedience, and freedom of heart are different from what this world may think

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13

I tried to share this word with a loved one last night. I hope she heard what I said.

But, in case she didn't, and in case anyone else needs to hear, this is something on my heart today, after a very difficult few weeks.

First of all, the healing and understanding that comes with salvation does often take time in life, but it's also immediate or instant.

The Holy Spirit painstakingly gave us the Bible, working through one people and another people over centuries, recording trial, error, and victory in Christ alike.

Not only does the Bible record show us how salvation immediately saves us, how the love of Jesus immediately opens our understanding and gives us new hope for life (even life everlasting through Heaven); but salvation speaks directly to us as individuals, blessing us to understand rescue and freedom in Jesus, immediately.

But how does the freedom of Christian salvation square with issues of slavery? How on earth have the oppressed, historically, understood life in Christ when oppression has been extremely contrary to knowing Jesus and the freedom of salvation in Him?

The short answer is that, even though salvation in Jesus is immediate in the life of a person who gets saved, circumstances are often slow to be reconciled with that salvation.

And, indeed, fruit of the Holy Spirit is patience.

When we are in the habit of waiting on spiritual outcomes, we're easily contented with such as we have. And we don't look forward to anything terribly fleshly.

To wait on Jesus is to wait on something spiritual, even the promise of salvation for children and grandchildren.

That's how many who were slaves in America were able to have joy and freedom of heart in Christ, trusting Heaven's promises, as did Abraham.

"WAIT! on the Lord," the pastor repeatedly shouted above the pew.

When we're waiting, in Jesus, we're waiting on Heaven Himself, and we're expecting our children's repentance, which is obedience.

Some people may get confused about that. Because, the Bible says things like, "Children, obey your parents in all things," which, to the lost, could mean going to get cigarettes for dad. But the HOLY Spirit tells the faithful the true meaning. Jesus says we can't love mother or father more than Him, so Apostle Paul clarifies, "Obey your parents in the Lord."

In Jesus, our obedience is to knowing Him and the way that He counsels.

To help people survive the slavery of Paul's time, Paul counseled servants to, yes, be obedient to their earthly masters, but Paul didn't stop there.

The whole of what he said is to have the Holy Spirit, that Spirit of obedience to Heaven, in the tasks that you and your masters need completed in order to live in peace one with another; but do NOT serve in order to be "men-pleasers" (Colossians 3:22). Instead, serve in "singleness of (Christian) heart" with those who you are working with, with reverence or fear of Heaven. "And whatsoever you do, do wholeheartedly, as for the sake of Heaven, and not for men" (Colossians 3:23, paraphrased).

In Jesus, there's a difference in the reason and in the ways we serve even our own selves.

In Jesus, I work for my health, that I may serve another day, and that I may see my loved ones and others break with sinning one day. In Jesus, choosing not to sin anymore is where our freedom of heart really is.

God is Good, So Choose Good

Holiness is the opposite of perversion

... Blessed is the womb that bare thee ... .

Luke 11:27

In so many ways, we're living during a tumultuous, evil time in this world. Faith in Jeesus is the way many of us manage to hope, but there are so many challenges to faith that even some faithful are falling away from those things the Bible speaks to us.

We would be better off if we would only remember a preacher named Paul, who was saved by the Holy Spirit while he was persecuting Christians.

Paul had a revelation, a prophecy, that applies to us today. He said, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Sadly, that makes me think of one sister who came to me after church and, just out of the blue, said I should read such and such a book of the Bible. She wasn't saying I should do so out of the Holy Spirit's call. Instead, she was lusting after something she thought the Bible was condoning. So, she was urging me to read what she had read, with the expectation that I would follow the lusty gossiping way of telling the scriptures.

Far worse than homespun gossip about what the Bible means by one thing or another, some study groups are actually teaching perverse meanings instead of the wholesome, whole truth of Heaven's word to us.

Yes, it's true that the Bible mentions childbirth, as well as nursing during infancy, many times. In the Christian sense, that's a wholesome thing. The Bible values childbirth, and values the mother as nurturer during infancy. But that value was never lewd.

The Hebrew people of times when the Bible word was being written down didn't turn something Heaven-given into anything perverse. They valued mothers: not nudity, and not perversion.

They were accustomed to simple conversation that exalted motherhood.

"Blessed is the womb that bare thee ... ," one woman cried out to Jesus, ironically at a time when He was rebuking evil perversion (Luke 11:23-28).

1 Peter 1:15 says, "Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do."

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers ... ." (2 Timothy 4:3)

Thank the Lord (thank Heaven!) for salvation in Jesus, who brings us away from wrong teaching and grows us in light and truth.

Even in Old Testament times, prophets could see the light of Jesus.

"The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. ... In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey," said the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14-16, 7:21-22) about the time of Jesus' birth, which happened more than 700 years after Isaiah's speech.

In true and wholesome context, we see Jesus was old enough to eat honey and something like cottage cheese when he was weaned away from being nursed by his mother.

... But why does the prophet call the food that nature provides "good," and the food of infancy "evil"? It's because, while motherhood is a blessing, that initial bond isn't good to cleave to. Heaven never meant the human condition to be like insects that spend a lifetime gathering pollen from flowers! (So don't even go there, you fable tellers!)

As to why the Apostle Paul rebuked adults, who weren't mature in their understanding, by saying they needed the "meat" instead of the "milk" of God's word: That's an expression!!!!

How many times did we hear, as children, "You have to crawl before you walk"? No one who said "You have to crawl" actually expected adults to stop walking and begin physically crawling!

So, Paul compared adults to babies. It's not because they were physically doing as babies. It's because they didn't have the spiritual appetite that they needed in order to grow strong in Christ.

At no time, until this week, had I ever come close to thinking Paul meant anything perverse. (Thank you, Jesus.) And it's almost a vexation (spiritual harassment) to have to think like someone else about such a simple word of faith in order to try to reason somebody back into Jesus, back into Heaven.

Lord, help.

Thank Jesus for salvation. Thank Jesus for Heaven's way of delivering us from sins of the past, for giving us grace to be justified, meaning made right in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26). As some church elders used to say, "He clothed me in my right mind."

Verse of the Day!

Eating from the Right Tree

Living through the knowledge of good and evil isn't a good thing

The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:2

First of all, I have to say there's no sin in highlighting verses, and parts of verses, from the book of Revelation, the way I have above.

Some people have fits when there are pieces of Revelation seemingly in isolation, because the prophecy of Revelation says not to remove anything from the prophecy. But I know that that means not to remove something from the text in an effort to suppress the prophecy, or in an effort to mislead people. That does not mean to avoid talking about a scripture from the prophecy, keeping everything in a right context with the prophecy.

In the case of Revelation 22:2, above, the prophecy is about the "leaves" or pages of the Bible. The scripture says the Tree of Life has leaves that are for the healing of nations: those leaves are the Bible's New Testament.

I know, because we have life and eternal life in Christ through the New Testament; and the Bible's book of Genesis tells us that eating from Tree of Life that Heaven provides is to live forever.

But we also know, from Genesis, that there's a type of tree that isn't good to eat from. Genesis calls that type of tree the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

That does not mean that Christians are not supposed to know about good and evil. We're just not supposed to live off of knowing evil, the way Satan does.

To make that more plain: I now know that we cannot eat the fruit that grows from the flower of potato plants. That fruit is bad, or a little poisonous to us as humans.

That fruit looks and smells exactly like a tiny tomato. But a tomato is good and healthy for us, and that potato fruit is not.

In order to know how to eat from a garden, I need to know that some fruits are bad or not edible, and that others are good to eat. There's nothing wrong with having that knowledge.

But I cannot use that knowledge to do harm. Spiritually speaking, THAT would be to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When you know Heaven's instructions and willingly eat in wrongdoing, you do harm even to yourself.

Not eating from the knowledge of good and evil simply means not to try to live doing ANYTHING you know Heaven doesn't intend.

Heaven gives us plenty of plain good to eat from.

Always Consider Your Calling

A note to singer/songwriters

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

Psalm 25:1

Psychology, today, is a fickle thing. Sometimes, it proves how awesome the one and only God of Heaven is. But, often, it's nearly an enemy to faith.

Just when I think I've found THE article to cite in support of magnifying our only Creator and Savior through music, the article takes a turn for almost evil!

One writer for a mainstream psychology magazine (not one of the scholarly journals) highlights how scientific studies hint that the human brain is meant to respond to music the same way birds were created to communicate in "song."

The writer says some birdsong is apparently romantic, meant to draw a mate, and there may be a similarly in us humans.

The writer even hints that the human brain may respond negatively to some sounds in music, just as certain sounds from one male bird to another may garner a fight between birds.

But, because that writer is somebody who feels we should all "experiment" with all kinds of music — instead of being "Pollyanna" about music — and says some melancholy music can be soothing, I can't cite that article in good conscience.

And I can't cite an article from a scholar who feels like jazz music is the stuff we're meant to live on. This man tells of how he went from club to club as a 19-year-old, soaking in jazz over a beer with friends. His life story is supposed to help all of us recognize jazz as balm for the soul. He loves programs that indoctrinate kids into loving jazz, kind of like others who write that bluesy music can improve students' sense of identity and well-being.

Thankfully, Heaven has shown me what a wrong path of life that is!

Admittedly, I made that same mistake as a young person, thinking jazz is so full of expression that kids should learn from it. Today, while I think there are some things we all can learn from jazz, I'm thankful to have divorced myself from a strong interest in it.

After I got saved, after I realized my salvation in Christ, one of the things I happily turned to was the joyful sounds of church songs — not just joyful songs from my childhood, but new ones, too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey0P2nV-Mhg).

Having that new life in Christ, I just wanted to rejoice. There was even a new song at that time that kind of expressed my heartfelt farewell to years when I'd given my heart over to jazz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIIrLMQ-B6E).

Scholars tend not to want to say this, but based on my life's experience, I know the depressed brain gets trained to seek certain sounds for solace. There is a reason "blue notes" (notes that are bent between major and minor musical notes), coupled with slow rhythms, are in country music, bluegrass, the blues, jazz, and gospel music. Blue notes may well have their genesis in the anguished songs sung by Antebellum slaves, and that may be a wonderful fact for nostalgia; but blue notes coupled with slow rhythms seem to almost universally express sadness.

As a child sang in a commercial for a macaroni-and-cheese product, "I've got the blues."

I'm convinced that musics that have a lot of blue notes can even train the brain to accept sadness as joy. From a spiritual standpoint, that can be sometimes appropriate. But it's not good as a steady musical diet. And, in context of blues expression, it may not be so good to bring up children on.

One scholarly article, written by Swathi Swaminathan and E. Glen Schellenberg of the University of Toronto, says that children don't begin to distinguish happiness from sadness in song (other than through tempo) until after around age six, but that happiness and sadness in song is almost universally understood (regardless of anyone's spoken language or nationality) as people gain in age.

So, maybe it's a fair idea, on my part, to say that bringing up children on lilting rhythms coupled with blue notes is kind of setting them up to seek sadness in life.

One study links the way we perceive life to how we respond to music, noting that people who listened to "happy" music tended to see neutral facial expressions as happy, while people listening to "sad" music tended to see neutral facial expressions as sad. Wow.

Similarly, one of the first articles that I said I cannot cite admits that musical experimentation helps people create a sense of reality that transcends what we see.

Again, from a faith perspective, that can be good. But that's not so good, if the result is going to be kids seeking a shade of life that Heaven doesn't intend.

The Bible says raise up a child in how to live life. Give young minds seeds of joy that can begin to grow at some point in their Christian walk.

I know that, when I got saved, I was thankful for seeds of joy from my childhood! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u4hftALkDM

Amen.

***

Revelation 15:3, KJV: And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Colossians 3:16, KJV: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Colossians 3:23, KJV: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.

Matthew 26:30-32, KJV: And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

Psalm 30:11, KJV: Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness ... .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=BBe-ocBcTnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7owFiihXgg

About this last song:

The love of Jesus never will ignore our young people. Heaven sees every one. And Jesus hears their heart, their cry. ... The Bible says Heaven has a plan for every one who is believing on Jesus:
to bring each one forward, out of the dark, into the light of Christ;
to call each one His Lamb of God (even though Heaven knows every name of birth!).

***

Postlude
About my cry of heart for our young people:

It seems like a thousand years ago now, but I remember being lost and in the dark. I remember going to the club and actually thinking the club was a good place and that I wouldn't mind if Jesus or someone from the church were to meet me there. There was music there that must have been orchestrated in Heaven, I felt, because so much talent went into the music. There was a real hug there, people who cared. And, one time, there was agreement in laughter.

But, then, amazing grace how sweet the sound! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arutp6bfDHo What a revelation it was that an adult choir sang "I'm Going to Sing When the Spirit Says Sing" (in church), and another adult choir sang "Jesus, What a Wonderful Child" (in a shopping mall one Christmas), at a time when I was trying, deliberately, to find my way back to the the Lord. There had been an interim pastor who had begun to lead us back. He left us, but not without sparking, in me, an awareness that I needed Jesus.

I was lost but I got found.

All over the world, there are masses of people familiar with the song Amazing Grace: both Muslims and Christians. But does anyone stop to consider what it really means to have been lost?

In Jesus, being lost means you do belong to Heaven, but it means you've simply strayed away.

Sometimes, God has a purpose in allowing people to stray (Psalm 107:40).

Moses fled into a wilderness in an obvious way. Nebuchadnezzar went crazy and was sent into a wilderness in an obvious way. Isaiah contracted a venereal disease from "one night's [ungodly] pleasure," which he lamented before going crazy and straying into an obvious wilderness. But, sometimes, the straying isn't so obvious. And, sometimes, the straying involves whole flocks, who are trying to console one another through very worldly means [think about the underground illustration from one of the Matrix movies] instead of turning, one by one, back to the voice of Jesus.

Lord, help us.