Good News versus Bad News

Good News vs. Bad News

Besides all the Fake news these days, There is still some really good news to be considered, so as not to be overwhelmed by all the day by day bad news! 

First the bad news: gas and food prices are rising dramatically. The Store shelves are becoming scarce, as supply chains are being purposely interrupted. 

Socialism is trending in America. Communism can’t be far behind! Political intrigue suggests complicity of elected leaders with Globalist ideologues hell bent on building a new world order while demonizing Christianity. 

The Bible & Christianity are under attack constant attack. Gods laws are being mocked. His divine institution of marriage is being completely destroyed. Biblical Right has become wrong in our society while wrong has become instituted by government and courts as now being what’s right; as defined by secular humanists!

Now for the good news: Jesus is Coming! He will subdue all of his enemies, He will imprison Satan; He rule the whole world with a rod of iron & usher in true world peace! 

Under the reign of Jesus; There will be no more pandemics, no more taxes, no more lying politicians and no more Devil!

I don’t know about you; but given all the prevailing fake and bad news; and the war on Christianity; I simply Can’t Wait for Jesus to come! 

Revelation 22:20 Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Focus on the Bible

by: Darrell G. Young

An “Anchor” for The Soul

An “Anchor” for My Soul

The soul is the very life essence of the body, and it will eventually be removed from its physical container at the time of physical death. At that time, the Soul departs for its eternal destination!

Job 12:10 informs us that the soul of every living thing and even the breath that sustains it’s earthly presence is totally in the hand of God. 

In the FOB article, “A Living Soul” I reviewed for readers exactly what a soul is. Believe it or not, there is an immense supernatural war raging over the precious Souls of all mankind! And “YOU” are squarely in the crosshairs of this titanic struggle!

Furthermore, the nature of our fallen sin-filled world is in reality a tempest storm of tsunami like proportions. The hellish wrought storms that life in this world encounters converge to beat against us as we are simply easy prey to be tossed about on every wave of demonic intrigue. 

Hanging precariously in the balance of this perpetual natural world enmity against God; is your Soul! We each need a spiritual “Anchor” to stabilize our life and offer us a guarantee of security against the waves. 

Exactly what is an Anchor? Ocean Skippers and sailors use anchors to moor their ships in a port or harbor so they can provide strength, support and stability to their ships even while the waves are crashing all around them. Anchors are typically very heavy, large iron crosses with prongs to dig into deep sand or rocks. 

Much like a storm tossed ship, we human beings need an Anchor for our Soul. Without such “Anchoring” our Souls would be lost in the storms of this world. 

Fortunately, God has provided just such an anchor for our Soul. That anchor is sure, it is solid, and it always holds. That Anchor is Jesus Christ! This anchor offers us Full Assurance for our soul. (Hebrews 6:11)

In fact, Hebrews chapter six further conveys that this Anchor is so Sure, that even God took an oath, (verses 17 and 18) testifying by his own name that it would be a perfect refuge for our soul.

Then in verse 19; God promised us that it is absolutely immutable that our hope in salvation through Jesus was sure and steadfast! It is in reality and an absolute fact that by placing ones faith in Jesus Christ; you can have “An Anchor for your Soul!”

Hebrews 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,

Is it any wonder then, that this sure and steadfast Anchor should be the bedrock of our hope? Psalms 23:2 plainly says: He restoreth my Soul! 

Psalms 35:9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.

Yes; oh yes indeed; Jesus Christ is my Anchor! As I have anchored my Soul in the cleft of that Rock! 

Without Jesus as your Anchor; your Soul could have no Hope. Without him, your life cannot be steadfast nor your soul ever sure. He alone can be the Anchor for your weary Soul.

Focus on the Bible

by: Darrell G. Young

October 14, 2021

A Living Soul

A Living Soul

The soul of a human being is the part of a person that is not physical. It is the part of every human being that can last eternally after the body experiences physical death. 

The fact of the matter is, “You don’t have a soul. You literally are a Soul. You have a body.” The soul is the “real You!” 

The human soul is distinct from the heart. Yet, the Lord has conveyed to us that we are uniquely designed to commune with God with all our heart, with all our mind and with our spirit and soul. 

God created us as a unity of both material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual) aspects. The material component of all humans is obviously that which is tangible and temporal: our physical bodies. The immaterial aspects are intangible: our spirit, our soul, our intellect, will, conscience, our mind, emotions, etc. These exist beyond the lifespan of the physical body.

In fact, Hebrews 4:12 indicates that our ideas, thoughts, plans, views, philosophies, emanate from the heart of man, and are only afterwards practiced from our minds. 

The human soul is created by God. He creates all souls! No one else can create a soul. The soul together with the human spirit, heart and mind reflect the fact that we as human beings were designed and created in the very image of God.

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

When the Bible talks about man’s spirit, it is usually speaking of an inner force which animates a person in one direction or another. Human beings have a spirit, but we are not celestial type spirits. 

Our spirit is the element in humanity that gives us the ability to reacquire an intimate relationship with God.

It is the human spirit that gives us a consciousness of our selves. Our human spirit includes our intellect, emotions, fears, passions, and creativity. It is the intangible, unseen human spirit that governs man’s mental and emotional existence.

Albeit, our human spirit was damaged in the fall of mankind. Our spirit, along with our minds, our hearts and our flesh lost its original ability to fellowship with God. 

More profoundly; our fall into sin caused God to lose his close Fellowship and companionship with mankind also. God used to walk and talk with Adam; but that wonderful relationship was lost; as God cannot abide sin.

Of course Adam didn’t immediately die physically that day, but he did die spiritually; thereby compromising the Soul contained within his physical body. And such has been the case for every Soul ever since.

Interestingly, just as the human spirit was divinely breathed into the first man, and man became a Living Soul, so the Holy Spirit can now be breathed back into every repenter; and enable eternal life to every Soul!

The original Hebrew word for “God” used in Genesis chapter one is the plural masculine noun Elohim. Thus when God introduces Himself to us; he used the plural pronouns Us and Our. “Let Us make man in Our image,” communicates a complex and unified expression of God.

 This plural introduction indicates to us that God the Father spoke in the fullness of His divine creative power to the Son and the Holy Spirit. This triune union is the backdrop for our being formed in Gods image as “A Living Soul.”

Only we humans are uniquely created in the image and likeness of God, distinguishing us from all other created beings. We were made like Him so that we could be in relationship with Him. Any good we observe in humanity is merely a reflection of the character of God, in whose image we were created 

All Human beings—both men and women—are made in God’s image. But God is not a sexual being. He does not procreate biologically. But thankfully, he loves to revive lost souls!

When God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, he bestowed on Adam life by sharing His own breath, and imparting to him a soul. 

Accordingly, humanity is unique among all God’s creations, having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit. Having the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms, that we were made to resemble God. Adam did not resemble God in the sense of God’s having flesh and blood.

Having been made in the image and likeness of God means that we are fashioned to resemble and represent God on the earth. Our likeness with God is not a physical resemblance. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only preeminent and perfect image of God. 

Since that first sin in the Garden of Eden, all earthly life became mortal. Our original capacity for immortality (via the tree of life) was compromised. Scripture is clear that, when our bodies die, our spirits are instantly transferred to our eternal dwelling places. 

There are only two potential destinations for our souls after we physically die: heaven and hell. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God; which God alone has the right to destroy!

The soul, as stated earlier, is the very life essence of the body, and it is removed from its physical container at the time of physical death. At that time, it departs for its eternal destination!

The human heart, and mind in its natural condition, is evil, treacherous and deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure; who can know it? 

Jesus pointed out the fallen condition of our hearts in Mark 7:21-23: “From within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 

All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.” The biggest problem then for our Soul, is not external but internal; as all of us have a heart problem. 

In order for a Soul to be saved, then, the heart must be renewed or changed. Thus the heart and mind lie at the core of our individual being, giving us the liberty to choose the best choice for our Soul! 

The good news for a Soul is that when God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the original image of God, creating a “new self, a new man or woman, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24)

Herein lies the truth about the supernatural battle between God and Satan for the souls of mankind! God, desires to grant eternal peace, joy, happiness, justice, and eternal life to all the Souls he ever created!

On the other hand, Satan wishes to corrupt the minds and the heart of mankind so that he can cause the damnation of the objects of Gods immense love; “A Living Soul!”

Focus on the Bible

by: Darrell G. Young 

October 14, 2021

Our Guide to the Truth

Our Guide to the Truth

It is often said that the very first casualty in political debate and warfare is the truth. The truth always suffers at the hands of disingenuous and deceitful players.

Today, we live in a culture where we are constantly being bombarded with dishonesty. There seems to be a systematic attempt to brainwash us about everything. 

So where does one turn for truth? Is the truth really so difficult to distinguish from falsehood? 

As Jesus was set about to depart from this world; he offered some pertinent information to his followers on how to not be deceived by the prevailing lies of this world. 

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

In this discourse, Jesus tells his followers that it was “expedient” for him to depart for a season; but in his absence, a “spirit of truth” would be availed to them, so that they could avoid “spirits of deception.”

Of course this “spirit of truth” is the directing power of Almighty God via the Holy Spirit. It is availed to all the servants of God. Albeit, every servant must generate his own mind towards personal study, intensive research, and daily prayer to gain a deep knowledge of the truth. 

Often times, especially as a research writer and preacher; I am asked the following type of questions: “how do you know that what you write or teach is the real truth?” “Maybe your truth is not everyone’s truth.”

Well, the truth of the matter is, the things that I write or teach are simply not proclamations of my personal integrity. They are in fact things that the Holy Spirit itself has taught me as a consequence of my labors in study and research. 

There are several important things people should know about the search for Truth:

1-God is the source for all truth! He and only he knows everything! 

2-Jesus is defined as the Truth, whereas Satan is defined as a Liar! 

3-Anyone’s search for Truth, if it is to ever be personally discovered, must begin with those two fundamental facts!

4-God does not wish for anyone to be ignorant of the Truth; or to be in a perpetual state of confusion about the truth. He wants us all to be highly informed and educated.

5-For the reason stated above; God availed his “spirit of truth” to be our personal “Guide” on the road of “truth discovery.” But even so; you have to be motivated to travel down that road of discovery. 

6-The “spirit of truth” will only reveal as much of the “deeper truth” as you are able to bear at any point on your road of discovery. (John 16:12 Jesus said: “I have many more things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now.”)

7-Our Holy Spirit Guide can lead you to “All Truth.” It will never hold you back. In fact, it will prod you onward to more and more of Gods Truth!

8-Gods “spirit of truth” will never, never ever lead you towards False Information! Titus 1:2 indicates that God cannot ever lie! Therefore the Holy Spirit that God sent in his Sons earthly absence cannot lie or deceive either!

9-The Holy Bible is the best book in all of the world for researching the Truth! It is, after-all a book supernaturally inspired and relayed to us by God himself! 

10-The Truth is “unchanging.” It is like God himself; unchanging! There cannot ever be two versions of truth! There is only One Truth and there is only One God!

Luke 11:9 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you

Focus on the Bible

author: Darrell G.Young

October 12, 2021

Satan’s Desire

Satan’s Desire

For us as Christians, and indeed really for all of humanity; we have a vicious enemy! This enemy is cunning, deceitful, powerful, intelligent and hellbent on absolute and total victory!

I am often asked; “why does Satan hate us so much?” My honest assessment in answering this question is: “because God loves us so much!”

You see, before God ever created anything, even the angels; he planned ahead to manifest himself in bodily form into the human race in the event that mankind might fall into mortal ruin via sin. 

Satan was uniquely positioned to observe all of Gods creation, and was keen to note that “mankind alone” was created in Gods own image; and that God had programmed a means of restoration for mankind, should he exercise the freedom to rebel against his own maker.

This lofty angelic position enabled Satan to witness the praise and worship demonstrated towards God by all the host of Heaven! He became envious, prideful, and determined that he would defeat and replace God.

His very first strategy in this conspiracy against God was to recruit a vast celestial army, (1/3 of angels) and having accomplished that, he plotted to entice mankind into joining his rebellion!

With that heavenly and cosmological backdrop; we need to assess ten points of Satan’s Desire!

1-Satan desires to be like God! (Isaiah 14:14) In fact, Satan wants all the host of Heaven as well as all of mankind to usher praise and worship upon him alone. He desires the absolute total submission of all of creation for himself.

2-Secondly, Satan desires to “possess you or have you for himself.” In Luke 22:31, Jesus informed Peter that Satan desired to “have him.” In the event that Satan could “have” anybody is in essence an effort to take them away from God; either through deception or by playing on ones ignorance. 

3-Satan’s earnest desire is blind us to the truth. He doesn’t want anybody to know that God is love; in contrast to the fact that he (Satan) is evil and a liar as well as a murderer. 

4-Satan’s great desire is to “devour” us! He is a conniving destroyer of the things all that God has providentially established. Whether it be truth, love, peace, goodness, honesty, order, purity, righteousness, purpose of soul, or life itself; Satan desires to devour it! I Peter 5:8 describes Satan, our chief adversary as roaring, angry, devouring lion, and so he is!

5-Satan also desires to divide us into various kinds of warring camps, so as to conquer us through many covert means. He incites wars, controversy, chaos, envy, and troubles of many kinds. (James 4:1)

6-Satan desires to cause us all to be discouraged! Satan hates Christians who are strong in their faith, and are exquisite examples of loyal Godly servant hood.

7-Aside from Satan’s desire to discourage us, he also wants to distract us from Godly service and to become disengaged from God altogether! 

8-Satan is always scheming to cause us to become an embarrassment to God. He desires to destroy any public testimony that we might be exhibiting. Satan hates Christian who might have any “curb appeal” so to speak. 

9-Satan desires to break down any “hedges of protection” that God might have arranged for us to have as our defense against Satan! This is most uniquely demonstrated in the narrative between God and Satan concerning Job’s integrity. Satan hates the fortress that God supplies to us through prayer and his word.

10-Satan desires to “sift us like wheat.” Satan never gives up! He is relentless! He would desire nothing more than to “separate” us from God! And he will stop at nothing in his attempt to violently shake us away from God.

But, thanks be to God, “Satan’s greatest desires” will never be realized! He will never defeat God! He will never overtake Heaven! And he cannot separate me from the love of God. 

Romans 8:35-38 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Focus on Bible

author: Darrell G. Young

October 11, 2021

An Appointment With God

An Appointment With God

An appointment is a scheduled arrangement to meet someone at a certain time at a certain place. 

Do you have any appointments today? We all daily live our lives scheduled around a myriad of appointments, don’t we?

We have set schedules for school, for work, for meetings, and a whole host of other appointments almost everyday throughout our busy lives.

I have always tried to keep all my scheduled appointments. I try hard to never be late or miss any of them. Sometimes though I do get behind. These days though, it seems that the hurrier I go, the more behind I get.

But there is a scheduled appointment that I have that I can’t miss, and I can’t even arrive late for it. It is an “appointment with God.”

You also have an appointment with God, although it may be set at a different time. 

Imagine it; an actual appointment with almighty God, the all powerful, all knowing creator of everything that exists! I actually have an appointment with him! Mind boggling, is it not?

I can’t arrange for an appointment with the President; but yet I have a scheduled, and standing appointment with God himself!

God has predetermined that everyone of us shall meet him someday. In the meantime, our life in this world is short and full of trouble. And when our earthly life comes to an end, we will each be individually set for an appointment with him.

Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 

Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 

You may ask; what is this grandiose appointment with God all about? Why in the world does God require our presence at his appointment table?

Romans 14:10-12 “for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Herein it is bluntly stated, by God himself, who vows with an oath, as the great giver and sustainer of life itself, that “all” shall stand before him, bend their knee and “confess” that Jesus Christ truly is the Lord of Gods beneficent salvation, and that if we have rejected this truth; we will be held personally accountable for all our sins! 

I don’t know about you; but when my time for this appointment with God comes about, I want to be absolutely certain that I can plead for Jesus to be my justified freedom from guilt; so I won’t be personally accountable to God for any discretions against him. 

This is why the Bible says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord! So, on my appointment day, although I will certainly be awestruck by meeting God; I can also rest assured that my Savior will insure that my appointment with God is a joyous occasion!

Focus on the Bible

author: Darrell G. Young

October 10,2021

A Firm Foundation

A Firm Foundation

 Foundations are important. This fact is quite obvious in the building up of any structure.

 Foundations are always the first part of any construction. They are incredibly important to the durability of a building, and if not completed correctly, they can affect the strength and resilience of the building once it is completed. As some builders are often known to say…”a foundation is meant to last forever.”

 During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a story about two men: one who built his house upon a rock and another who built his house upon sand. The house built upon a rock weathered the storm, and the builder is called wise; but the house built on the sand collapsed during the storm, and the builder is called foolish.

 Luke 6:47-49 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. 

 The meaning of this parable is quite obvious: proper foundations are necessary. With a literal house, it is unwise to build on sand, because the foundation will be unsteady and the house will eventually suffer some kind of damage. 

 This would of course waste resources, and all the time and work put into building the house in the first place will have all gone for nothing. 

 In contrast, it is wise to build one’s house on a “sure foundation;” anchoring to solid bedrock that will enable a building withstand the test of time.

 As it is in the construction of any building, so it is also in the building of a nation, a home, a family, and it is especially true in the lives of every individual. They each need, and can only last with “a firm foundation.”

 In the case of our lives, the Bible lays out very plainly the groundwork for anyone having a “sure foundation.” That foundation is God, his law and the rock of salvation; that is Jesus Christ!

 Psalms 62:7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

 So then, for the life of any individual to be able to withstand the trials and storms of this world; we need this firm foundation. The same is also true of any society! For a nation that forgets God will fall into ruin, decay and disrepair! 

 To try to live ones life without God and his commandments is like building a house without a foundation, or like blindly starting construction without any knowledge of the impending cost. 

Luke 14:28-30 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 

 This Biblical analogy about foundations has very serious consequences for our United States of America too! America was founded upon a solid spiritual foundation, as it was built upon a reverence for the Creator and his law. 

 Sadly, America has not only destroyed its original foundations, it has repudiated the building blocks that formed its structure. The Bible poses a pointed question for people and nations that allow the erosion of their time-tested foundations:

 Psalms 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 The obvious answer to this question is very little; or at its worst, Nothing! In a nation that has endeavored to uproot the Christian spirit of its foundation, even the righteous left living in that nation are in peril, and will likely see the whole building collapse!

 But even as the perilous times of worldly storms blow all around us, we can still be optimistic about the future. For this world, even our nation is not our eternal home. 

The foundation of the Christian hope rests in our precious corner stone, and the sure foundation, that is in Jesus alone! He is Our Firm Foundation!

 Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

 Psalms 71:1-3 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. 

How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he has said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Focus on the Bible

author: Darrell G. Young

October 9, 2021