John Markum

The Questions You Asked… Part 4

  1. Question: “Is it true that there are spirits among us?” Answer: Yes: Angels. Both good and bad (demons). Are there actually dead people’s ghosts walking among us? No. At best, they are demonic impersonations of people who once lived. The Bible refers to people with “familiar spirits” (meaning the demon) and “mediums” who would do this. No, I’m not crazy. Yes, the Bible does talk about it (Leviticus 19:31).
  2. Question: “Exorcism?” Answer: Like, is it a real thing? Oh, yes. I know people who’ve been part of casting a demon from a woman. Horror movies don’t do justice from what eye witnesses tell me. Just know that as a follower of Christ, we are already possessed by the Holy Spirit of God (1 John 4:4). According to Matthew 7:21-23, just because a person casts out a demon from someone in the name of Jesus, doesn’t mean they have a relationship with Jesus.
  3. Question: “Why are there so many religions?” Answer: Because religion is man’s attempt to reach God. It is based on man’s attempts to please deity/deities. Because of that, there are more religious perspectives than there are people on the planet. Jesus did not come to start a religion – He came to replace religion with Himself.
  4. Question: “Why can I not always hear from God?” Answer: Because the teacher is always silent during the test. Your relationship with God is not based on how you feel. Feelings are fickle. Our faith is not in ourselves. Our faith is not even in our faith! Our faith is in the faithfulness of God to love us and guide us even when it feels as though He’s absent.
  5. Question: “What race was Jesus” Answer: Jewish. Thanks for an easy one.
  6. Question: “Where does our sin nature come from?” Answer: James 1:13-15. The real “enemy” is “in-me”. All sin can be narrowed down to one word: “selfishness.” In other words, I sin when I am more interested in what I want rather than what is right, what is good, or what God wants.
  7. Question: “Why do some people struggle with things that others do not (stealing, addictions, homosexuality…)?” Answer: Great question. I suppose the easiest answer is that we are all different. So we all have different strengths and weaknesses. What I struggle with might be no big deal to you, and vice-versa. Notably, most of us struggle over the same 2 or 3 things over and over again. Satan is not extremely creative, he’s just persistent.
  8. Question: “Who was your favorite Power Ranger?” Answer: Green Ranger! He was like this rogue ranger that the other rangers sort of ran into. His Zord was the coolest! It reminded me of Godzilla. Yes, I was a nerd as a kid too…
  9. Question: “How old is the earth?” Answer: By extrapolating the ages of the first humans recorded in the Bible to the point of a known point in time, we estimate the actual age of the earth to be as young as 6,000 years old up to approximately 10,000 years old. “What about carbon dating and stuff?!?” So what? God made a mature earth. He didn’t plant seeds and wait 200 years for it to grow into a massive Sequoia, He just created big, awesome trees. Science strongly favors a young earth concept of creation.
  10. Question: “What happens to your body during the rapture?” Answer: According to 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, we shall be changed into an immortal body like that of Jesus after He rose from the dead.

The phrase no pain, no gain has been a mantra for athletes and fitness junkies for years. And what they understand about physical pain needs to be broadened to a much more general use in all of our lives. Pain hurts. That's the whole problem. No one enjoys it, and if someone does, we rightfully

The Premium of Pain