Discovering that God is Love While in a Nazi Concentration Camp – Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Deutsch: Viktor Frankl (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vitor Frankl was a psychologist who was trained in Vienna.  and was imprisoned in Auschwitz, and other Nazi Germany death camps, as well as his wife and family.

Even though the Nazi prison camp meant facing death, and surrounded by constant threat and hatred, Victor Frankl found the meaning of life there.

From  “Man’s Search for Meaning”- Experiences in a Concentration Camp”

“A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth — that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way — an honorable way — in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words,

“The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

Viktor Frankl

1 John 4:10

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

The Mayan Apocalypse Will Not Occur – But Bible Prophecy Will – Dates Withholding

The Mayan Apocalypse will not be happening on December 21.

I don’t want to make light of what has become a major concern for many, so don’t misinterpret my condensed and direct tone concerning this issue.

I’ve not written on this subject before, but recent events have convinced me it may be a good time to do so.

A side story to the Sandy Hook killings is that the mother of the killer was preoccupied with what has become known as ,”dooms day prepping.”

My main goal is to write to make Christ known.

End times or its formal name,eschatology, is demanding and super involved, and the bottom line in life is, Do you know Jesus as your Savior?

“neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)

So if you have a comment ,critique or a question about anything written on this subject, let me know and I’ll try to get you a reply.

If I put everything into this post I would have a book instead of blog, so even Bible references are withheld unless you request them.

Why I am saying that the Mayan Apocalypse will not be happening on December 21?

According to Biblical prophecy,and my understanding of Biblical eschatology,  the world will endure at least another 1,000 years before God transforms it and the City of Heaven comes down to Earth.

This is also called the end of the age and the beginning of eternity with God for those who have trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

A Little Background First, for those of us who are only now becoming acquainted with this subject of end times eschatology.

Most of my reformed theology friends call this ,”Dispensationalism,” and discount it out of hand.

Incidentally, I have never met one reformed theologian who also had a well-informed eschatology.

The most common reformed eschatology is that Christians will bring about the,”Kingdom Age”, through winning everybody to Christ.

The only problem with that eschatology is that it is based on only a few passages and has to omit and ignore many passages that don’t fit it.

In the words of one well-respected Presbyterian pastor,“Most reformers don’t have a well-developed eschatology because Calvin never wrote a commentary on the book of Revelation from the Bible. Calvin didn’t understand the Book of Revelation.” (That is the main prophetic book in the Bible that foretells times yet to come and the end of the age, also called prophecy).

Some have said that if anyone tells you they understand the book of Revelation they are either fools or liars.

I think that’s a cop-out for those who either follow Calvin and their fellow reformers without question, or are too afraid of the subject to study it.

I’ve seen equal amounts of both.

Problem is, a lot of people are thinking about what may or may not happen concerning the end of the age , but almost nobody is telling people what they need to hear.

That is, except for a few guys who just seem to want to fleece the flock, like Harold Camping did.

Granted, some end times ,”experts,” have made fools of themselves and those that followed them.

Anytime a teacher of the Bible talks more about anything other than Jesus, even if they talk more about Christ’s return more than they talk about Christ, we should be skeptical.

The bottom line in all that involves all of life, death, and eternity is if you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, NOTHING can ever separate you from God.

So how can I know from the Bible that the Mayan apocalypse will not happen?

Firstly, the Great 7 year Tribulation has not begun yet, and it does not get really bad until about half way ,or 3 1/2 years from its beginning.

The signal of the beginning of the Great Tribulation is when a world leader mediates a 7 year treaty between Israel and her enemies.

That hasn’t happened yet either. (All though things do seem to be getting worse in the Middle East, setting the stage for this important end times event).

This mediator will also become the one world leader who becomes possessed by the devil 3 1/2 years into that treaty.

Then all hell breaks loose.

They will call him ,”The Beast”, because he will first try to win over all religions into one, and then he will decide he wants to be worshipped.

Because of this, he will persecute all religions who do not worship him.

I also firmly believe that all true believers will be removed from this world before judgement is allowed to be unleashed on it. (The pre-tribulation rapture).

 So enjoy Christmas on the 25th, because December 21st will come and go, and so will all the other dates that are associated with the Mayan calendar for that matter.

The only warning I will give is the same one Christians have been giving all along.

The times will get dark, but agin,the only prepping that will ultimately matter is ,Do you know Jesus as Savior?

Don’t wait until the night comes to trust  ,”The Light of The World,” who is Jesus Christ.

He died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to show He has power over life and death and has power to give life to any who will place their trust in Him.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

 Seek him while it is day.

Related articles

• Mayan apocalypse (savedbygraceblogdotcom.wordpress.com)

Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? A Audio Sermon By Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Manhattan N.Y.

Suffering is one of the biggest questions facing the human race.

Why does God allow evil and suffering?

The why of suffering is also the biggest accusation for atheists who claim God is indifferent to the plight of mankind.

The cross of Christ proves that God cares and has intervened on our behalf through Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross to pay for our sins and save us from an eternal state of suffering.

The book of Job is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible, yet it is about suffering and loss, and the struggle to maintain hope and belief that God really does loves us despite loss.

The biggest question we should ask is, “do I love God for what is in it for me?”

Or do I love God regardless of if I get anything out of  the situation?”  Isn’t that how God loved me?”

Unconditional?

Isn’t that Grace ?

So suffering is the worst kind of teacher, but also the best kind of teacher, because if we can say that even after suffering the bitterness of loss that we still love God, then our love is truly mature and free, and full of the deepest meaning.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Click on the link below for a 30 minute sermon on this subject by Dr, Tim Keller.

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/suffering-if-god-good-why-there-so-much-evil-world

To Run The Race – Forget the Past – Live In Each Moment

I was listening to an interview on the radio about a woman who had a tumor removed from her brain and the affect it had on her life.

Her name is Diane Van Deren and she is,“One of the world’s best ultra-runners (as in races of 50 miles or more)”, according to the NPR journalist who reported about her amazing ability to overcome, “mental barriers.”

Her seizures stopped after having a kiwi sized tumor removed and all seemed normal. Then a while later she had an idea,“why not enter a fifty mile marathon?”

It seems she loved to run but she had never done anything like this before. She won the race.Then she entered the Canadian ,”Death Race”, a 78 mile race through the Yukon wilderness. The temperature was 48 degrees below the first day.

Her running shoes froze, yet she took second place because only 2 runners finished the race.

Then she placed in a 100 mile race through drastic changes in elevation and placed in that race as well.

By that time her family members and acquaintances had notice a pattern of short-term memory loss.

And it all started to make sense her.

She forgets the past and presses toward the mark.

She forgets how far she has gone and how tired she should be.

She has little sense of the amount of time that has lapsed and that does not weigh on her like so many of us, so waiting and anxiety are minimized I suppose.

She lives in the here-and-now every moment she runs.

I don’t know if Diane Van Deren is a Christian, but she is living proof of something that sounds like the same advice from God’s word that the Apostle Paul shared with us !

“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13,14)

And I would like to say that I have a personal application in this.

The Mid-life Crisis – that’s where you realize that you don’t have enough time to make your dreams that you have put on hold into reality.

Living in the here-and-now means that if you are reading this you still have the here-and-now.

So start working on a smaller version of your dream now. Maybe you can make you dream into reality.

How about Marriage or any relationship?– remember the movie,“The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind”?

The couple had a lot of bad memories erased from their minds by a scientific process,(that only exists in the movies),and they were able to love each other totally without the bad memories to hold them back.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead“.

Help me readers. The first application came from me,(mid-life crisis).

Do you see any helpful applications to share here?

Please do.

I know we could all use this in our lives and most importantly, as we, ” press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Read the full article about Diane Van Deren – Click the link below.

http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/mindset/how-to-make-the-miles-go-faster.html?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS

Even the Wind and the Waves Obey Him

“Even the wind and the waves obey Him!”

Christians.

We are the Church.

The Church is a building but not one made by human hands, but by the Spirit of God.

When we meet for the purpose of knowing Jesus Christ or serving Him, He tells us He is present with us.

 ^“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

To further that point, it is also true that Christ is present in all who believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior.

Jesus is IN the individual believer and IN and WITH those who are gathered in His name.

This is also true for our online community.

We are having an impact. People from countries all over the world are receiving the Gospel as a result of the faithful witness of online writers who take the Great Commission to heart and see blogging as an additional resource to meet those needs.

Our ancient foe knows this as well.

Which is why I pray for all my followers and online friends in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I would encourage all who are like hearted to do the same because Satan makes attempts to get us off message in several ways.

If you are worth the devil’s time then you are having an impact!

Keep doing what you are doing and don’t stop.

Find several ways, but don’t stop telling others about Jesus.

(JESUS),”He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”

 ^“He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

 ^“They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:39-40)

Greater Love Has No Man Than This

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

To all who live with the burden of the horrors of wartime, and to those who grieve the loss of loved ones to battle, thank you for your sacrifice.

May you find a measure of comfort in knowing that because of His great love for you,God also knows the pain of sacrifice. Amen

God Loves Us More Than We Love Ourselves-An Anchor For Hope

A Sure Anchor for Hope

We may give up on ourselves.

God loves us more than we love ourselves because He never gives up on us.

Life can be tough and sometimes people give trying.

Hope is the basis for much of this life and also for our eternity.

When people lose hope they stop believing in themselves and those around them.

The outcomes of hopelessness can be devastating to families and relationships, and even end in tragedy.

But if hopelessness leads to disillusionment and disbelief, then hope leads to faith and belief and life.

God, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all will not forsake us.

“if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” ( 2 Timothy 2:13)

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”(Romans 8:32)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Deuteronomy 31:6)

Place your faith in the anchor of your soul, and nothing in this life can touch your hope for eternity.

“while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,”(Titus 2:13)

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Believe in Christ as your Savior.He will come into your heart and will never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

And if He will never leave you then you will never loose all hope.

No matter what happens in this life, even death will only hasten your reward of your eternal hope.

Jesus in you will become Jesus with you.You will be in His presence forever.