Steve Simms's Blog, page 274

A Christian tribute to Stephen Hawking (with quotes)

Stephen Hawking was an inspiration to me and many millions of people. I’m sad to hear of his passing on Albert Einstein’s birthday. I wrote this about Hawking after seeing the movie of his life, The Theory Of Everything.

Did Stephen Hawking think about the concepts in the best-selling book, A Brief History Of Time, or was the book just a result of a physiological data processor called a brain? Hawkins believes that the Universe (and everything in it) is the result of a series of merely physical processes that can be explained in one mathematical formula — the Theory of Everything.

Thus Hawking believes that there is no non-material reality, nothing spiritual, no God, gods, or god. However, his inspirational life glaringly contradicts his beliefs.

The Theory of Everything is also a beautiful, 2014, British movie about Hawking, directed by James Marsh and adapted by Anthony McCarten from the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by his exwife Jane Wilde Hawking. His remarkable life is vividly portrayed in the film.

Hawking is considered to have the best living mind in the world. He has had the terribly crippling and fatal disease, ALS, since he was 21 . . . (Talk about an ice bucket challenge!). His girlfriend married him after the diagnosis and after being told that he would only live for 2 years. She devotedly took care of him for many years. They had three children. Stephen became “the world’s greatest living physicist” and wrote a book that has sold more than 10 million copies.

So many things in Stephen Hawking’s life cannot be explained by his purely materialistic belief system: his astounding courage; his determination, his hope, his creativity, his sense of purpose, his tenderness, his positive attitude, his awe of the Universe, his persistence, his genius, his suffering, his gratitude, his intuitive insights, his love for his family, his mental health, his self concept, his human consciousness, his passion, his curiosity, the love and devotion of his wife, her sacrifice, her compassion, her loyalty, and even his survival for more than 50 years with a fatal disease.

In the January 7, 2012 issue of Scientific American, Katherine Harmon asks the question: “How has Stephen Hawking lived past 70 with ALS?” Harmon writes: “Like his mind, Hawking’s illness seems to be singular. Most patients with ALS—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, for the famous baseball player who succumbed to the disease—are diagnosed after the age of 50 and die within five years of their diagnosis. Hawking’s condition was first diagnosed when he was 21, and he was not expected to see his 25th birthday. What’s happened to him is just astounding. He’s certainly an outlier.” (Outlier is an intellectual term for a sign and a wonder.)

Sorry to tell you this, Stephen Hawking, but your life clearly demonstrates to me that some things cannot be explained by physics or by a mathematical formula! For example you say: “Where there’s life there is hope.” However, you also say that you don’t believe there is a God because you can’t prove His existence by science alone and your naturalistic view allows for no causes but materialistic ones. Applying the same presuppositions that you use about God to hope, you can’t prove hope either. So why do you live by and boldly proclaim something you can’t prove — the existence of immaterial hope?

(I believer that Stephen lived by hope because he experienced faith that contradicted his belief system and that faith gave him hope. For a book that gives hope beyond religion and beyond church click on this link.)

Stephen and I both went beyond church. He went beyond church to materialism. I went beyond church to Christian mysticism. (For more on my journey click this link.)

Some mystical quotes by a beautiful man — Stephen Hawking:

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.”

“The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”

“It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. It’s a crazy world out there. Be curious.”

“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”

“However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.”

“We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.”

“Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.”

“So Einstein was wrong when he said, “God does not play dice.” Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that he sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can’t be seen.”

“ You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.”

“It matters if you just don’t give up.”

And here’s a naturalistic quote from Hawkins that contradicts the way he uses his mind!

“If there really is a complete unified theory that governs everything, it presumably also determines your actions. But it does so in a way that is impossible to calculate for an organism that is as complicated as a human being. The reason we say that humans have free will is because we can’t predict what they will do.”

Before science split the atom, rebellion split the Adam.

Before science split the atom, rebellion against God split the Adam (and his descendants). Let Christ heal the split in your soul! To overcome the universal addiction to sin and self-destruction (as a result of that split) we need to daily live in Christ’s recovery. (Abide in the Vine.)

If we humans were good people, evil couldn’t torment the world. Jesus said, “There is none good but the Father.” The stages of our sin lead from enticement to pleasure to dependency to depression to bondage to denial to despondency. Jesus saves!

As Spring releases a fresh flow of new life in plants, Jesus wants you to surrender and let His life freely flow through you. If Christ isn’t working in your heart and continually changing you, there’s a real possibility that He might not be in you. If we don’t let Jesus live and work inside of us daily, then liturgy are religion are empty. When the risen Jesus is living inside of you, you feel His music soaring through your soul! The greatest need in society today is for us to awaken to Christ and His spiritual life!

Don’t follow your heart when it is leading you away from God! To disobey your conscience is to close your eyes to truth. God is trying to work in everybody. Don’t resist what He’s trying to do in you. There are things you can do that will make you love God more (or less).

When loving, Spirit-inspired interaction in the body of Christ was replaced with a weekly lecture, ekklesia morphed into church. Ekklesia was a network of equals. Church became one man’s classroom. When Christ-followers gather to experience the outworking of the inner presence of Jesus through one another, that’s ekklesia! Ekklesia is a open gathering of rebels who have surrendered to Christ.

Christianity is much more about followership than it is about leadership. We are called to follow and obey the resurrected Jesus! Christians are called to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14); not to be controlled by religious hierarchies or organizations. I heard a preacher preaching that everyone has a gift, but they weren’t free to use their gifts in the meeting. Why settle for a preacher’s talk about Jesus when Jesus is speaking directly to your heart? Church is often like hearing the same person’s product review every week, but never trying the product.

Don’t get your mind so focused on a mission that you miss the many marvelous moments that make up the mission. God can do more in a minute than our best programming can in an hour. So why not let God have an unprogrammed minute in church? The God of the Bible can’t be confined to a religious program. To attempt to do so is a form of denial.

Churches tend to honor the “greatest” but Jesus always seemed to honor the “least of these.” No sermon about or description of Jesus can remotely compare to experiencing His presence. If you like to get high you should try mysticism–direct experiences with the risen Jesus!

The existence of life that can read this post proclaims the reality of the impossible. Let Jesus do the impossible in you!

If you were inspired by these thoughts, you will like the book, Beyond Church. Get it at this link.

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Crazy Bible Stuff Tackles Hell!

People talk about hell a lot — about it freezing over or splitting wide open or being on wheels or giving it to people. They even use it as a popular cuss word. Then people inconsistently say that they don’t want to talk about hell. Heck. Hell’s a major topic. So here goes. Jay and I, talk about Hell in our Crazy Bible Stuff YouTube Channel.

Rick Warren diagnosis disunity in the body of Christ

Many walls have torn Christians into tens of thousands of groups and denominations — church walls, doctrinal walls, pride walls, racial walls, organizational walls. However, Jesus wants us to be one. Are we failing at unity?

Recently, while speaking at the 75th annual convention of National Religious Broadcasters, Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life) said: “There’s a theme in Scripture that the church often ignores and that is that God wants His children to get along . . . Friends, we’re failing at unity. The church is more divided, more polarized, there are more tribes, and more splattered, more fractured, than ever before.”

Warren continued to say: “They were in one place, they were of one accord, they were of one heart, they had one purpose, they had one vision …When we have the unity of Acts, we’ll have the power of Acts. We’re just not willing to pay the price for Pentecost. We’re not willing to set aside our petty differences and unify around one thing: the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rick also said: “Revival in America will never happen unless the church is willing to address and fight racial prejudice,” which he called the “most common” sin in the world.

He encouraged his audience with Billy Graham’s example of unity. Warren said: “Not only did Billy Graham insist all of his crusades be integrated with every kind of ethnic background, he also sat everyone at the table. He took Catholics and Orthodox and fundamentals and evangelicals and Calvinists and charismatics, and he put them all on the stage.”

Perhaps we need to do more than talk about unity. Maybe it is time to tear down the walls that have torn Christians apart. So how can we do that?

Take a first step toward tearing down the walls that prevent unity in the body of Christ. Read a practical handbook on Christian unity and healing our divisions. Search the web for ONE: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose From House To House. (Or click on this link.)

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Bible heroes were ordinary people (Moses stuttered)

You’ve probably seen some of these statements about how God uses regular people (like you and me). They are often shared on social media:

Moses stuttered.

Miriam was a gossip.

Jonah ran from God.

Leah was unattractive.

Paul saw himself as the “chief of sinners.”

Peter was impulsive.

Martha was a worrier.

Sampson was codependent.

Joseph was abused.

John Mark was rejected by Paul.

Zaccheus was short.

Naomi was a widow.

Thomas had his doubts.

Jacob was a cheater.

Elijah was moody.

Sara was impatient.

Abraham was too old.

History shows that everyday people are powerful and can do amazing things. Take the last two people on that list:

Abraham lied because he was afraid of the Pharaoh in Egypt, yet almost half the world now looks to him as the father of their faith. Sara, Abraham’s wife, was childless and was so impatient that she gave up on God’s promise (and even laughed at it) and talked Abraham into having a child by another woman; yet God still gave her a child and made her the matriarch of multitudes.

Another example of an ordinary person who God greatly used was Francis of Assisi who lived in the 12th century. Some people actually thought he was a sissy and accused him of disserting the army during the Crusades. Francis was a broken man, but found Christ and began to follow Him and to minister Christ’s love to others. He was never ordained as a priest (so he ways an ordinary “layman”), but God used him to start a mighty spiritual movement that has impacted many millions of people worldwide, even into the 21st century. Watch the amazing movie about Francis called “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.”

So guess what? God wants to use you! A few minutes ago the Holy Spirit put it on my heart to take a picture of a tiny statue of Francis of Assisi along with the book ONE. One of the themes of ONE is about how God wants to use ordinary people to minister the love of Christ to one another.

After taking that picture, I turned on my computer and went to Twitter. The very first thing that I saw at the top of my feed was the second picture below. How unlikely is that! I don’t believe seeing that flyer with St. Francis in bold print, was a coincidence. I believe it was conformation from God that He wants to boldly use YOU! And NOW is the time! Will you LET HIM?

To help you get started, pick up a copy of ONE in Kindle or paperback. Simply search the web for ONE by Henry Hon or go to this link.

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Now heeere’s how we met Jesus!

Talkin’ from your heart ’bout Jesus is more powerful than sermon-hearing

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” What a great honor to be invited to speak for God!

I believe that the Bible teaches that Christians are to gather together and learn how to minister in the Spirit, to one another. Then they are to go into the world and preach the Gospel in their daily lives.

Go tell it on the mountain (letting it flow from your heart like a fountain) what Jesus Christ has done! People learn to testify about Jesus by talking from their heart; not by listening to sermons.

It’s much harder to walk a preacher’s talk than to walk your own talk. Speak up for Jesus!

Sermon-hearing is fine, but when you speak from your heart, your own words about Jesus, it’s much more powerful! Try it!

Preaching can introduce us to Christ, but it can’t train us to obey Him. That requires interaction with Christ in a Spirit-led environment. The early Christ-followers called that ekklesia.

Christians are to called to follow the living Jesus; not a preacher, a church, a denomination, or a religious organization. We are called to surrender our self-will and to live out the will of God on earth as it is in Heaven!

John the Baptist decreased so Christ could increase. Let’s get out of the way so the living Jesus can actively control of His body.

True Christ-followers share a supernatural unity in the Spirit that we often overlook.

We never know how bad we are until we’ve tried our very best to be really good! Thank God for mercy! If you’re lying, you’re not living in the real world. Why not let go of your cover-ups & live in reality?

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What’s your favorite way TWO read ONE?

There isn’t only one way to get and to read ONE. There are acutally THREE ways TO read ONE!

1) You can read the whole book for free on your phone or computer. Just click on this link.

2) You can get a kindle version of one and enjoy it on any devise. Simply google ONE: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose Amazon or go directly to http://amzn.to/2t9AKiu.

3) Or you can be old school and order a paperback copy from Amazon. That way you can underline and mark it up as you read. (I still prefer physical copies of books.) Here’s the paperback link: http://amzn.to/2GUkVyz.

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Any way you slice it (oops, I mean read it), ONE will B a great blessing TWO U. It’s a ONEderful read!

Why not text this post to some friends? Or share it on social media? And if you have been blessed in any way by ONE, will you write a review on Amazon? Thank you.

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Some religious things Billy Graham didn’t do

Billy Graham didn’t go to seminary, but look how God used him. He wasn’t a pastor or an official in a church or denomination, but he sure let God him.

Too many church leaders are grasping the throat of the body of Christ and not letting the Spirit speak through the members. Authority that needs to rely on titles, hierarchies, and offices isn’t true spiritual authority. The greater a person’s spiritual authority, the less her/his need to control or manipulate others.

Billy Graham didn’t tack a tacky title to his name, but look how God used him. He had no positional power in an institutional church, but he sure let God use him. Billy rejected formality if people called him Rev. or Dr. and said, “Call me, Billy,” and look how God used him.

To rise up and obey God, like Billy Graham did, is not rebellion against a church or pastor. It’s a normal part of spiritual growth.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Churches think sermons are. Listen to Jesus and do whatever He tells you. Don’t let church hold you back.

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Bonus thought:  If you’re pretending, you’re not living in the real world. Why not let go of your cover-ups and live in reality? Learn how to go beyond church as usual @ http://amzn.to/2CkW4Wb.

What if church set people free go and serve God?

Is Jesus the controlling Head (Lord) of your church or has He been put into honored retirement? Too, often church is like a football team that always keeps their quarterback on the sidelines. Bring Jesus off the bench!

It’s one thing to conduct a church service about the Lord Jesus. It’s something different to let Jesus be the Lord of the meeting. Instead of following a program, church could meet & follow the living Jesus.

Churches tend gather people and keep them dependent on a preacher instead of sending them out to change the world. Church needs to empower and release people; not keep them entangled in outdated & ineffective programs.

Jesus is as ready to manifest His presence & power in the 21st century as He was in the first. Let Him! Jesus wants to liberate & bring light to sin-influenced minds. Christianity began as a Spirit-led Jesus movement, not as a religious organization.

It’s hard to read the New Testament and not at least wonder what happened to the passion and power, that “turned the world upside down.” When I read the New Testament, the awesome power of early Christianity stirs in my heart and I long to see it restored in our day!

Some Christians say that God stopped doing miracles when the apostles died. That seems like a rationalization for unbelief. To say miracles stopped when the apostles died, ignores many Scriptures and millions of miracles Christ has done for 2,000 years.

Some Christians say that God stopped doing miracles when the apostles died. That seems like a rationalization for unbelief.Christians say that God stopped doing miracles when the apostles died. That seems like a rationalization for unbelief.ome Christians say that God stopped doing miracles when the apostles died. That seems like a rationalization for unbelief.