Tag Archives: Gnostics

Rehab

The term rehabilitation was initially associated with individuals who had lost their battle with alcohol or drugs, needing intervention to break free from addiction.  However, as the medical field expands, anyone who has minor or major surgery is expected to rehab before receiving a clean bill of health.  Unfortunately, not everyone who enters rehab recovers completely, relapsing into back habits or experiencing reoccurring pain from previous injuries.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons, Mark 16:9.

Whenever you research the Bible, you must realize there are various theories which exist.  Sometimes to make their point, scholars can jump to conclusions or reach, trying to validate their belief.  Such is the case of Mary Magdalene whom Gnostics suggest was secretly married to Jesus.  Since Jesus visits her first after his resurrection, surely there must be something going on.  Yet, when you examine the character of Jesus throughout the 4 gospels, Jesus is most likely checking up on one of his former patients like a doctor, making sure her spiritual rehab is going well.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline, 2 Timothy 1:7.

Speculation will always happen, especially among those who seek to know everything.  Yet, from first hand experience, rehab can be grueling.  Following my collapsed lung and two broken ribs eight teen months ago, my body still hasn’t fully recovered.  Laying or moving the wrong way is a subtle remainder of the pain I endure.  However, there is nothing worse than losing a spiritual battle to an addiction, allowing the devil to have a foothold on your life.  This form of rehab can continue throughout life or take some to the grave way too early.  May the promise of 2 Timothy 1:7 help regain control and lead to victory in the near future.

by Jay Mankus

 

 

If God Used Logic…We’d All Be Dead!

Throughout the course of history, a series of cycles retrieve, add to and reinvent old theories about the Bible.  Gnostics build upon the teachings of Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-19 with modern theories like the Jesus Seminars and Da Vinci Code.  Meanwhile, books like the Secret take biblical principles out of their proper context by blending these truths with metaphysics and self-help methodology.  Despite what so called experts may claim, the Bible continues to be an annual best selling book about the creation of earth, the fall of man and restoration of life through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  If you read and study this book you will soon discover, if God used logic, we’d all be dead!

If you were God, how would you respond when your only rule, Genesis 2:16-17,  is quickly broken by your second created being, the first child born on this planet becomes a murderer, Genesis 4, and a few generations later, the only person worth saving is Noah.  Meanwhile, the flood is immediately forgotten by the people of Babel in Genesis 11, your only leader, Abraham, is a habitual liar, Genesis 20:1-2, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were given over to shameful lusts, Romans 1:26-27.  Like a frustrated parent whose children never listen to them, if God used logic, the earth would have been destroyed once and for all in Genesis 19:29.

Fortunately, for all of mankind, God is love, 1 Corinthians 13.  Logically, God should have given up on us years ago, but He loved us so much that God gave us His one and only son, John 3:16-17.  Despite the wages of sin, Jesus paved a new way toward heaven in Romans 6:23.  Jesus left a final reminder of God’s love with his best friend on earth, John.  According to 1 John 3:16-20′ true love today is found today by living out the love of Jesus.  Like the classic country song by Crossway, “Thank God I’m not Jesus!”  Come alive by following the apostle Paul advice in Galatians 2:20.

by Jay Mankus