NSMinistries
August 21st 2004, 09:30 AM
The Journey to the Natural World (http://www.christianity.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID19179%7CCHID119948%7CCIID1848668,00.html)
Welcome to the world of Natural Spirit Ministries we are glad you have taken the time to journey with us for a while. Our faith in the providence of God and guidance of the Holy Spirit assures us your visit here will lend itself to deepening your relationship with the Creator. We are sure you’ll discover on your journey with us that it is God’s world that is Natural and not the artificial world to which we are accustomed.
The world we live in today while having the appearance of being natural when compared with the world, as God originally created it is artificial. Below is a brief scriptural illustration of how the artificial world we now inhabit.
The Natural World
"In the beginning there was the Word. The word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it." (*John 1:1 – 1:5 NCV)
In the beginning there was God.
In the beginning there was Jesus.
In the beginning there was the great abyss.
Then God created the all the universes, all the stars, and all the planets.
Then on a planet called earth God, "took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted in a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil." (*Genesis 2:7 – 2:9 NCV)
The Artificial World
Following the beginning there was God.
Following the beginning there was Jesus.
Following the beginning there was the natural world.
Following the beginning there was Adam and Eve.
Following the beginning there was the devil.
And after giving in to the temptation of the devil, "God said to the man, ‘You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree which I commanded you not to eat. So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work very hard for your food. In pain you will eat its food all the days of your life. The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will sweat and work hard for your food. Later you will return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust and when you die, you will return to dust."" (*Genesis 3:17 – 3:19 NCV)
Another way of looking at the natural world and the artificial world is to see a greenhouse filled with plants suddenly covered up with a heavy black sun blocking tarp and then lighted with incandescent bulbs. The plants would continue to grow but with the artificial light their growth would be adversely affected. Even people who go without sunlight over extended periods are adversely affected.
Jesus was talking of the Natural World when he came preaching the Kingdom of God is at hand. We at Natural Spirit Ministries contend that Jesus is the way to restore the artificial world in which we live to the Natural World. And we further contend that God has provided us with the power of the Holy Spirit, limited only by our faith, whereby we can turn the "artificial resources" found here and in the links provided on NaturalSpiritMinistries.com to assist you on your journey to the Natural World.
I don’t need you God! (A Choice)
One of the greatest gifts given us by God is our freedom to choose to accept him as our Creator and Sustainer or reject him. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden basically told God they didn’t need him. The devil convinced them of two things. First of all he convinced them they wanted to know more. Secondly he convinced them they didn’t need God to supply them the unknown all they needed was to eat the fruit from the tree of Knowledge.
Had we been eavesdropping perhaps we would have heard something like this, "Eve God placed all his knowledge in this one tree. You don’t need to go to God for it all you need to do to is take one bite."
In a way the word sin is short for "I don’t need you God I can do alright by myself!"
Before sending his disciples on a mission trip Jesus told them that if they came across a village that would not accept they were to clean the dust from their shoes and move on.
God will always honor our freedom. If we choose him he’ll be there for us. If you tell him he’s not needed he’ll leave us to ourselves, yet he’ll always be near waiting patiently.
I need you God! (A Longing)
One of the most horrible things we humans must face someday is the fact that our lives will one day end. These bodies made up of cells, DNA, bones, skin, membranes, water, blood, tissue, memories will one day be unable to support who we are and we’ll die. Walking in artificial light can be comforting and provide us with "a great" life but one day the light will begin to grow dimmer and dimmer until it’s goes out.
In a way the word repent is short of "I need you God I cannot go the distance without you!"
Saying sorry to God for wrong deeds committed is not repentance all that is, is saying I’m sorry. God wants more from us then just apologies he wants our allegiance. He wants us to come to him for those things we need. Repentance is more than a one-time statement of allegiance; repentance is a new and better way of life. When Jesus told people to repent and follow him he was saying, "Choose the Father and follow me because I am the Way and the Light and no one comes to the Father except through me."
We at Natural Spirit Ministries cannot repent for you. We can only point out the consequences for not doing so but the ultimate decision and subsequent allegiance to follow Jesus is yours and yours alone. It is our desire to assist you in making a decision to follow Jesus and let the Light of his life show you the powerless, artificial light that now illuminates your life.
Repent for the Natural World is at hand!
The Holy Spirit!
Perhaps the greatest mystery in the all the universes in all the galaxies is the Holy Spirit. Even though our finite minds are incapable of comprehending it that does not diminish our need for it.
The easiest way for me to understand (as thoroughly as I can) what the Holy Spirit does is as follows: God would be the electrical power plant, the transmission lines would be Naturalspiritministries.com, I would be the consumer, and the electrical power would be the Holy Spirit.
The amount of power transferred to the consumer depends on two factors 1) the amount of power needed, and 2) the ability of the transmission lines to carry the power. From my Electrical Science days in school I remember that some metals are better conductors of electrical power than other. If my memory serves me right silver has the highest conductivity factor of any of the metals.
We at Natural Spirit Ministries cannot control the amount of power you need from God all we can do is to be sure our conductivity factor is as high as possible. We do that by deepening our relationship with Jesus. It is our pledge to present to you the very best we can and then rely on the power of the Holy Spirit bring us the power we need to illuminate our lives.
In Jules Verne’s The Journey to the Center of the Earth staring James Mason and Pat Boone is a scene in where the adventurers are deep in the earth and their lighting devices begin malfunctioning. The villain of the story tells them to turn off their lights and when they do the cavern they are in suddenly becomes brighter. Somehow mysteriously the inner earth has a natural source of light that far exceeds the artificial light used by the explorers. We at Natural Spirit Ministries encourage you to turn off the artificial lighting of this world and live in the Natural Light of Jesus Christ.
Even on the way to experiencing the Natural World we sometimes can not always tell the difference in what is real and artificial. This is the reason we will always stand by the standard set in the Bible. Over the past years Natural Spirit Ministries has been producing and hosting articles by many people of all walks of life. When an article is challenged as not being scripturally sound we will always take a look at it. Some have even been removed due to this. Yes we are still growing in our greenhouse opened to the light of God, but sometimes dirt clouds those windows.
Written by, Gary Piper and Adam Quigley ( well mostly by Gary Piper :teeth: )
Welcome to the world of Natural Spirit Ministries we are glad you have taken the time to journey with us for a while. Our faith in the providence of God and guidance of the Holy Spirit assures us your visit here will lend itself to deepening your relationship with the Creator. We are sure you’ll discover on your journey with us that it is God’s world that is Natural and not the artificial world to which we are accustomed.
The world we live in today while having the appearance of being natural when compared with the world, as God originally created it is artificial. Below is a brief scriptural illustration of how the artificial world we now inhabit.
The Natural World
"In the beginning there was the Word. The word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it." (*John 1:1 – 1:5 NCV)
In the beginning there was God.
In the beginning there was Jesus.
In the beginning there was the great abyss.
Then God created the all the universes, all the stars, and all the planets.
Then on a planet called earth God, "took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted in a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil." (*Genesis 2:7 – 2:9 NCV)
The Artificial World
Following the beginning there was God.
Following the beginning there was Jesus.
Following the beginning there was the natural world.
Following the beginning there was Adam and Eve.
Following the beginning there was the devil.
And after giving in to the temptation of the devil, "God said to the man, ‘You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree which I commanded you not to eat. So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work very hard for your food. In pain you will eat its food all the days of your life. The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will sweat and work hard for your food. Later you will return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust and when you die, you will return to dust."" (*Genesis 3:17 – 3:19 NCV)
Another way of looking at the natural world and the artificial world is to see a greenhouse filled with plants suddenly covered up with a heavy black sun blocking tarp and then lighted with incandescent bulbs. The plants would continue to grow but with the artificial light their growth would be adversely affected. Even people who go without sunlight over extended periods are adversely affected.
Jesus was talking of the Natural World when he came preaching the Kingdom of God is at hand. We at Natural Spirit Ministries contend that Jesus is the way to restore the artificial world in which we live to the Natural World. And we further contend that God has provided us with the power of the Holy Spirit, limited only by our faith, whereby we can turn the "artificial resources" found here and in the links provided on NaturalSpiritMinistries.com to assist you on your journey to the Natural World.
I don’t need you God! (A Choice)
One of the greatest gifts given us by God is our freedom to choose to accept him as our Creator and Sustainer or reject him. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden basically told God they didn’t need him. The devil convinced them of two things. First of all he convinced them they wanted to know more. Secondly he convinced them they didn’t need God to supply them the unknown all they needed was to eat the fruit from the tree of Knowledge.
Had we been eavesdropping perhaps we would have heard something like this, "Eve God placed all his knowledge in this one tree. You don’t need to go to God for it all you need to do to is take one bite."
In a way the word sin is short for "I don’t need you God I can do alright by myself!"
Before sending his disciples on a mission trip Jesus told them that if they came across a village that would not accept they were to clean the dust from their shoes and move on.
God will always honor our freedom. If we choose him he’ll be there for us. If you tell him he’s not needed he’ll leave us to ourselves, yet he’ll always be near waiting patiently.
I need you God! (A Longing)
One of the most horrible things we humans must face someday is the fact that our lives will one day end. These bodies made up of cells, DNA, bones, skin, membranes, water, blood, tissue, memories will one day be unable to support who we are and we’ll die. Walking in artificial light can be comforting and provide us with "a great" life but one day the light will begin to grow dimmer and dimmer until it’s goes out.
In a way the word repent is short of "I need you God I cannot go the distance without you!"
Saying sorry to God for wrong deeds committed is not repentance all that is, is saying I’m sorry. God wants more from us then just apologies he wants our allegiance. He wants us to come to him for those things we need. Repentance is more than a one-time statement of allegiance; repentance is a new and better way of life. When Jesus told people to repent and follow him he was saying, "Choose the Father and follow me because I am the Way and the Light and no one comes to the Father except through me."
We at Natural Spirit Ministries cannot repent for you. We can only point out the consequences for not doing so but the ultimate decision and subsequent allegiance to follow Jesus is yours and yours alone. It is our desire to assist you in making a decision to follow Jesus and let the Light of his life show you the powerless, artificial light that now illuminates your life.
Repent for the Natural World is at hand!
The Holy Spirit!
Perhaps the greatest mystery in the all the universes in all the galaxies is the Holy Spirit. Even though our finite minds are incapable of comprehending it that does not diminish our need for it.
The easiest way for me to understand (as thoroughly as I can) what the Holy Spirit does is as follows: God would be the electrical power plant, the transmission lines would be Naturalspiritministries.com, I would be the consumer, and the electrical power would be the Holy Spirit.
The amount of power transferred to the consumer depends on two factors 1) the amount of power needed, and 2) the ability of the transmission lines to carry the power. From my Electrical Science days in school I remember that some metals are better conductors of electrical power than other. If my memory serves me right silver has the highest conductivity factor of any of the metals.
We at Natural Spirit Ministries cannot control the amount of power you need from God all we can do is to be sure our conductivity factor is as high as possible. We do that by deepening our relationship with Jesus. It is our pledge to present to you the very best we can and then rely on the power of the Holy Spirit bring us the power we need to illuminate our lives.
In Jules Verne’s The Journey to the Center of the Earth staring James Mason and Pat Boone is a scene in where the adventurers are deep in the earth and their lighting devices begin malfunctioning. The villain of the story tells them to turn off their lights and when they do the cavern they are in suddenly becomes brighter. Somehow mysteriously the inner earth has a natural source of light that far exceeds the artificial light used by the explorers. We at Natural Spirit Ministries encourage you to turn off the artificial lighting of this world and live in the Natural Light of Jesus Christ.
Even on the way to experiencing the Natural World we sometimes can not always tell the difference in what is real and artificial. This is the reason we will always stand by the standard set in the Bible. Over the past years Natural Spirit Ministries has been producing and hosting articles by many people of all walks of life. When an article is challenged as not being scripturally sound we will always take a look at it. Some have even been removed due to this. Yes we are still growing in our greenhouse opened to the light of God, but sometimes dirt clouds those windows.
Written by, Gary Piper and Adam Quigley ( well mostly by Gary Piper :teeth: )