OLD FUDDY DUDDY

In 1884 Mark Twain's first lines of Huck Finn read: "You don't know about me without readin a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by a Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.” Mr. Twain thought highly of his intellect, even boasting that he told the truth mainly. One of his readers, a Miss Olivia Langdon attended church twice weekly and she was a devoted Christian when Mark Twain came to court her in the 1800's.  As Mark was a well known outspoken critic of religion, Olivia's parents were openly disgruntled when she accepted Mark's proposal of marriage. The young woman believed that by association her husband's heart would soften towards Jesus. Soon after they wed, Mark took part in family prayers and Bible reading. However, over time, Mark Twain's skepticism about matters of faith, hardened his heart and eventually, his wife changed, and also withdrew from her beliefs. He was quoted to say this to his young wife:

"Livy, you may keep this up if you want to, but I must ask you to excuse me from it. It is making me a hypocrite. I do not believe in the Bible; it contradicts my reason." Time passes and Livy becomes depressed over a friends death. Her husband encourages her "Livy, why don't you lean on your Christian faith, certainly that will help you get past your grief." Olivia replies "I can't Mark, I haven't any." God is not an old fuddy duddy when He warns us to not marry those who do not share faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Read Genesis 1:1-27 and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth and give you understanding of what our Creator, Redeemer, Spirit is saying in regard to our relationship to the ONE GOD.  The Amplified Bible reads: "God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of

July 2014 in Sonora

God He created him; male and female He created them."  God said "let us" --- Who was in the "us"? The King James Version of the Bible: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Let us not rely on our intellect to interpret God's living Word, but let us be wise and ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding.  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth....and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Gen 1:2 NIV ~ And God said....and His Spirit filled living Word created all that there is. God expects us to believe in the full Deity, Power and Authority of His Godhead. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with ALL wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the MYSTERY of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment---to bring ALL things in heaven and earth together under ONE head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:7-10 What God says about His Son when He brought His first-born into the world, God said, "In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.  They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment....

but You remain the same, and Your years will never end." Hebrews 1:10 NIV ~ "Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the Builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself."  Hebrews 3:3 ~ The Lord's most beloved disciple wrote these Holy Spirit filled words "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning." John 1:1 --- God said the Word was God, and that He, the Word was with God in the beginning.  God also said "He was in the world, and though the world was MADE through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him."  John 1:10 --- God came face to face with Mark Twain and even as Mark read these words in the Bible, Mark did not recognize Jesus as God, and Mark chose his REASON over the wisdom of God found in the holy scriptures.  Let us not make the same mistake as Mark Twain and deny or profane the Name of God.

"He has a name written on Him that no one but He Himself knows.  He is dressed in a robe dripped in blood and His name is the Word of God." Revelation 9:12-13 ~ As humans who attend church, pray and worship, we will remain empty and wanting unless we return to God, our Father, Jesus our Lord, and submit to His ever present Holy Spirit. God said "I am in Him, He is in Me, and you are "in Christ".  We are not separate when we accept what God says as the ultimate Truth.  Mark Twain relied on what he thought, his human reasoning, and without the Holy Spirit, unfortunately, Mark and his wife were led astray and failed to "get it", to understand Who Jesus Christ is. Jesus is the Word of God, He spoke as God and created the world.