What's life about?

3/4/10

What's life all about? Is it money? Is it good times? Is it fame? Naw...this isn't what life's all about. Life is about peace, harmony, and happiness, and more...

Happiness comes from enjoying peace and experiencing harmony.

And what is peace? Is peace only the absence of fighting and war? Not really. Peace is love without fear. Peace is security. Peace is comfort. Peace is a lack of angst. Peace is looking out for the benefit of others. Peace is pleasant and relaxing. Peace with God is vertical and when people have vertical peace with God, they enjoy horizontal peace with each other.

Harmony adds to peace. For when two or more people live in peace with each other, they enjoy harmony. Harmony is hearing a musical chord that blends perfectly; it's eye and ear candy.

True and lasting happiness comes from godly peace, when one is at peace with God and others who are at peace with God. So what is life about? Can't be things 'cause things perish with the using. Only God's way of life brings on true happiness and it's all that will last forever (1 John 2:15-17). Check it out :).

So go your way this weekend and consider what life is all about and then go about making your life work by helping others make their lives work.

Have a great Sabbath and weekend.~jwa

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Memories of mother

2/16/10

My mother just passed away, peacefully in her bed. She will be missed. God gave her good health and a long life; she lived to be over 100 years old. That's remarkable to my siblings and me, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had a good sense of humor, good character, and gave good advice. Mom loved music and dancing.

Although death is an enemy that God will eventually remove, we will see her in the resurrection. She will stand on this earth once again and all of those who knew her will enjoy her presence once again.

As I get a little "older," I realize more that God loves all people and wants them to enjoy His truths so they can live happy and productive lives and help others enjoy life too. I can't forget that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly before any of us knew enough to repent or change. That's pretty sobering. That shows the love of God. God wants everyone to enjoy their lives now and especially eternal life forever.

My mom had a big impact on my life and I'm not sure she knew it, although I told her enough. Maybe she did. She was humble enough that she would not take undue credit for things she wasn't sure about and then we never heard her boast about herself. She always gave to others and when others did her wrong, she would say, "Well, if they can live with it, so can I." She would also say, "God is big enough to take care of things."

Love your parents while you have them and your families. There's not much going on beyond this. Money and things won't bring us lasting happiness. Recently I read these words: "On one's deathbed, he or she doesn't say, 'I wish I had made more money,' or 'I wish I had risen higher on the corporate ladder.' No, people wish they had loved someone more or given to others more." I thought those were words of wisdom and wanted to share them with you.

All the best. Have a great week.~jwa

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Passover and Atonement: Lesson in Unity

2/9/10

It was in the late 60s when I studied how God's festival days comprised a synergistic system. Synergy is the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Synergy creates an enhanced combined effect. This is the effect of God's 7 festivals (Lev. 23). Each one is important. Each one stands alone. But each one builds on the previous one(s) and the end result is the fulfilling effect of humanity's salvation.

Passover and Atonement, among other important factors, deal with unity. Jesus Christ, our Passover, shed His blood for mankind. His blood justifies us (makes us innocent before God) and reconciles us to God the Father (changes mankind's relationship to God a mutual one). Read John 17 and discover that in Jesus' prayer to God before His sacrifice, He asked God to make human beings one with God. So Passover unifies us to God as physical human beings.

Atonement highlights the fact that a divine Christ Jesus, our Atonement, will one day resurrect His saints to divine life, immortal, and very sons of God. At that point, we are perfectly at-one with God since we will be made of Spirit essence and as sons of God, divine. Both these great feasts focus on unity, first through the blood of Jesus (Rom. 5:8-9), and secondly, through Christ's life (Col. 3:4).

The world is so confused as to its reason for living (raison d'être) that it cannot now be unified. One day it will, after Christ's return, when He will incarcerate Satan and the demons on this earth for 1,000 years. Shortly after, He will pass them through a type of the lake of fire and send them to the darkness of blackness forever (Jude 6, 13).

Unity is coming and with it, peace...permanent peace, not the peace of this world which is often the absence of war.

Have a peaceful week.~jwa

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Personal thoughts and experiences

2/4/10

I've been pretty busy lately with writing deadlines. I'm presently working on two articles for an upcoming GN. Hope things are well with all of you.

Sorry I've not been able to keep up on my web pages over the past two weeks. This past week I visited with the Harold Rhodes family in the hospital, a couple of days, where Harold is now recuperating after a very frightening and deteriorating health condition brought on by a very aggressive flesh-eating bacteria. He is doing better but he still needs our prayers. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

I don't know how you are doing with the deep recession but to me, it doesn't seem to be going away. That's something else we can continue to pray about. I realize that it could be worse and I personally think we were close to a financial catastrophy.

If you own a Toyota Camry like I do, you might suffer from some angst driving it. It just shows that human beings make mistakes and we simply can't expect humankind to be perfect. But I do wish that Toyota would have responded faster. I still haven't had my car repaired as yet; hopefully soon.

The health care bill doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I do think that the health care system can be improved but not the way it was initially presented. The jury is still out on this one.

All the best to you and yours.

Have a great Sabbath and weekend.~jwa

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Shocked by the Bible interview in the March 2010 GN

1/21/10

I'm excited about the March-April issue of the GN. In there, we have an interview, which I conducted with Mr. Joe Kovacs, regarding His inspiring book, Shocked by the Bible. It's in its 7th printing and is now translated in Korean and is in the process of being translated in Russian. No small thing or as someone said, "This ain't chopped liver."

I had an enjoyable time interviewing Joe Kovacs. He's convivial and direct and dedicated. If you read his book (check out Amazon.com) you will think that he's from one of the COGs. He isn't. What he's learned he's learned through his own research, taking what he reads, on the pages of the Bible, as God's inviolate Word.

I have interviewed a few celebs in the past 10 years and none of them surprised me as much as my interview with Mr. Kovacs. It was like "ol home week." We clicked and it is God's Word that put us on the same page. Really good stuff.

I hope you enjoy the interview and the complimentary article I wrote in conjunction with that interview. Let me know what you think.

Have a great Sabbath and weekend.~jwa

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Here's the interview link on Easter on the Alan Colmes National Radio Show

Update 3/23/08

I keep adding material to each page (which moves the interview link lower) and I forget that there are some who haven't heard Alan Colmes interview of me re: Easter. So for those that have asked, here's the link.

http://www.jwaust.com/audio/Alan_Colmes_JWAust_03-14-08_opt.mp3