Bøker av Tom Ogren

Many of us that like to read are not necessarily interested in books that take up a lot of time getting to the point of what the writer would have the reader experience as one page follows another. For this reason, books that contain short stories fill a category allowing the reader to put as little or as much time in reading that time allows. This best describes the articles found in this work, The Fall of a Lying Nation.This nation was established by God in the same sense the children of Israel were established, placing them in the promised land flowing with milk and honey. There is no denying the fact that the parallels of these two nations are similar. In the case with Israel, the Bible gives a recorded history of its long existence even to its first inception. The Bible also prophesied its destruction, saying, "Therefore shall Zion for your sakes be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps" (Micah 3:12). God suffered long with His people and was very patient with the seed of Abraham. In the same way, our Father in heaven has been slow to wrath in dealing with the moral decline of this nation as truth is rejected, not just spiritually but now secularly, as a lying nation fills up their cup, awaiting God's indignation. This same God allowed Israel to cease as a nation in AD 70 because righteousness wasn't important to its people or its leaders. This is where we are as a nation. "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter" (Isaiah 59:14). Truth has had a hard struggle in the church for many years. Now that struggle has taken to the streets. Equity is righteousness.

The Bible warns of deceptions. Being deceived in one way or another is something we all have experienced. The Bible has been on this platform of communication between God and man for thousands of years. Like many forms or ways to communicate, there is always something or someone infiltrating that which has been established, making what was meant to be a blessing now turned into an actual curse. Communication has always been essential, something man has always tried to make improvements on, from runners to messaging with flags or smoke to--what we are more familiar with--electronic messaging. Electronic messaging has evolved from the simple tapped-out code across a single wire to what we have available today.Methods of communicating throughout history has evolved and has had its problems. There are many things that can go wrong when getting our point across, even when we think what is said is straightforward. In communication, words that we hear may come to us perfect in every way but, to our understanding, has gotten misconstrued partially or totally. The Bible has stood the test of time in this respect, so it should not surprise us to see it attacked for its righteous character. The Bible does not leave us in the dark on this subject (Matthew 13:13-15). Our heart naturally has an unhealthy fear of God's word. The Holy Spirit desires to transform this fear into a fear of respect. This takes place in an atmosphere of unselfish love. The cross Jesus has been nailed to proves that untainted communication and pure love does exist still waiting our acceptance.

A number of us have been raised in this nation and, to some existent, in the churches that this nation has fostered. Each church has its story to tell that we have traditionally come to accept in the stories handed down as we listened. Much of the knowledge that we have accepted concerning this nation of churches is, for the most part, presumptuous; meaning, we know some of what constitutes the truth, but a lot of what we have acquired to be reliable history of our church has been preempted by what is considered more acceptable version of what''s considered to be true of the church. When this happens in the church, it also spills over in the knowledge of what formed our nation. The Bible is a precise biography of God''s church and its history, giving each of us a view of God''s church and those that desired to be a part of that church by faith and those that sought it on their own terms. The examples are many, as we read through these pages that spell out to us the sad ending of those that thought that their way was something that God should accept, seeming sufficient in the eyes of each beholder. In the reading of God''s Word are examples of faithfulness along with what some considered faith but was lacking in one meaningful way, love to God as their creator while manifesting love to man. This was missing. Something that each of us in our fallen state easily loses sight of. This we do naturally, but what comes naturally to us is not the kingdom that Jesus came to establish when coming to this earth and His church. The short essays that are contained in these pages are to broaden our knowledge of Bible content, while it portrays the life story of those that struggled in one way or another to be, by faith, recipients of that Spirit that reflects the love that Jesus submitted to while selflessly going to the cross. Leaving us His example of what true love will do for those they love, in the name of Jesus.

In John 15:9, 10, Jesus is laying the foundation for His followers to bring into their experience. Jesus is making it easy for us to know how this relationship is to be maintained. These verses read, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father''s commandments, and abide in His love." His commandments to us is the law or character that makes up His kingdom that Jesus was making available to us, as He paid the ultimate price for our redemption. Jesus is making the statement, "Continue in my love," and He is showing us how this will be accomplished. "If ye keep my commandment, ye shall abide in my love." These verses are telling us that Jesus did not have any intentions of setting aside the Ten Commandments that''s been so readily done away with in the churches of our upbringing. Because we have experienced so many years in this nation separated from His law of love, we are living in a nation having the government promoting moral law. This all seems harmless until government law goes contrary to God''s law, as this nation becomes more spiritual but not religious. For a better understanding in all this, continue reading Spiritualism . . . God''s Great Controversy.