An atheist that I follow wrote a piece about how, to him, all religions look basically the same…blindly accepting their beliefs without any proof whatsoever. He said he just wants proof.

I began to read the comments. I was the only one responding that wasn’t in agreement with him.

Here is part of that exchange

……………………….

Thespartanatheist: I keep hoping somewhere there is someone that reads my blog and goes “gee, I guess this thing I super believe in is just another fake religion in a sea of fake religions.

Nan: Don’t hold your breath…

Me: So, according to your comment, you really aren’t seeking the one true religion, you are just hoping to convince me that mine is fake.

Thespartanatheist: No, Randy. I keep hoping a religious person thinks.

Me: Then I guess I am not religious.

Thespartanatheist : Oh? You don’t have any beliefs in any god’s?

My answer:

You may have a bit of a point that I will concede.

I was brought up to believe in God.

Sunday School and church every Sunday. Every Sunday.

From the time I was in the fourth grader until after I graduated high school, I went to a week long church camp every summer. Every summer.

I was baptized in the fourth grade and became an actual member of the church.

And yet, with all this indoctrination, when I went to school, as I was taught the theory of evolution, the gradual processes of change stretched out over billions of years, I believed it, accepted it as fact, no questions asked.

I never once asked myself how this could be possible even though it completely contradicted everything the Bible taught.

Probably, because, I really didn’t know what the Bible taught.

When. I was twenty six, I had an experience that I call “an encounter with God.” (I know you don’t accept this as evidence, and that is fine. I’m not trying to convince you now. Just telling my story.)

In that moment, I began to believe God. Before, I believed he existed, but, since I had no stake in the claim, that was it.

I had believed what I was taught in school because the schoolbooks had the pictures, the theories, the examples right there in full color to “prove” the theory.

So, in that phase of my religious life, I did not think.

But, after my “encounter”, I began to desire more interactions with the God who had “intervened into my life.”

You might say that, when I was religious (believing in God) I wasn’t really thinking.

WhenI began to believe God, I began to think.

You think about things with the premise that there is no god.

At that point in my life, I began to think with the understanding that since God is real, how does the stuff I learned fit in with that?

The complexity of life, from the tiny cell to the interactivity of the entire universe screams about the Creator. I can’t deny it.

If a tiny cell is as complex as the electron microscope shows it to be, and each one of us is “knit together” with billions of such cells to become a sort of “universe of interactivity between all the different parts of our body”, how could anyone then say that chance and time was all it took to make all this happen.

I keep hoping that maybe I can get an “atheist person” to think.

Romans 12:1-2

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I was at my first job of the day, cleaning windows. I was nearly finished when I came to a window with three red wasps on the bricks beside it.

I emptied the can of wasp spray that I had in my belt. I saw the hole in the bricks that was birthing three more wasps.

I ran back to my truck for another can.

I emptied the can at the new three and into the hole. A few crawled through the foam and died.

I went back for another can.

Three more were flying around the window refusing to land. They seemed angry.

Trying to conserve the spray, I shot short bursts, but they evaded my blasts. As they briefly left the area, I would shoot more into the hole. Four more lost the battle. Three more emerged.

I saw a man picking up sticks in the yard next door. I waved, shouting, “I’m doing battle against the demon hordes.”

“I can see that!” He replied. He had an African accent.

Fighting the hordes cost me a bit of time, but I finished the job, unstung.

End of story?

Three and a half hours earlier:

Our Thursday men’s group was small this morning. Six men. But the time is always powerful.

When we wrapped up, Mike leaned over and said, ” I want you to know, this morning I woke up at four, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I was impressed to pray for you. You work sooo hard. And in this heat?”

I’m always glad when someone tells me that they have prayed for me. I thanked him for following through and for telling me.

Wendy called as I was driving to my first job, and I told her about Mike’s prayer.

“Oh, no! Please be careful! ” I knew she would say this. Three years ago, I received a text from a brother in the Lord, also named Mike, telling me that he had been impressed to pray for me that morning. If you like, you can read about that here. BEHIND THE SCENES

So I went to the job, and, about an hour and a half into it began the battle against the devil’s air force.

I know we don’t battle against flesh and blood, but these rascals can really get to my flesh.

And, they make my blood boil.

When I didn’t get stung, and I finished the job, I began to think about Mike’s prayer, and the way the wasps would circle but not attack.

I began to think back to Mike’s prayer. It wasn’t random, was it?

That still small voice of the Almighty whispered in his ear, “Tell him about your prayer.” He obeyed.

When Wendy called, that still small voice of the Almighty whispered in my ear, “Tell her about Mike’s prayer.” I did.

Listening to that Voice and following it opens our “eyes of understanding” to see the invisible world surrounding the one we see with our eyes.

I realized that I have been leaning on Psalm 91 for the last year and a half. When fear came on me in the early days of the pandemic, I read it. And I have read it again and again and again. I have told Wendy over and over that I believe that these words are intended for us, and with all the lies we have been told throughout the last few years, this book is telling us the truth.

Who you gonna believe?

Are you gonna be afraid for the rest of your life?

As for me and my house, we will continue to dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, and rest under the Shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91.

“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.

He will cover you with his feathers.

He will shelter you with his wings.

His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.

Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.”

Psalms 91:2-6 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.91.2-6.NLT

March,2020

The disease was spreading fast around the world. News reports told of the vast and growing number of deaths every day.

“Stay home for 15 days to help slow the spread. If you have to go somewhere, wear a mask, keep your distance, 6 feet. Wash your hands often. Don’t touch anything or anyone.”

So, Jimmy Don did what he was told.

Fifteen days wasn’t enough. Jimmy Don started questioning the orders. The news reports kept ticking off more and more deaths and infections. “Why is this thing growing if we are wearing masks, keeping distances?” He wondered. “And, isn’t this virus small enough to go right through the mask?”

May, 2020.

Jimmy Don, came across a scripture in his bible, Psalm 91, that talked about not fearing the pestilence and other dangers, but trusting his creator would keep him from harm. Jimmy Don believed these words. Jimmy Don stopped being afraid. He stopped wearing the mask.

October, 2020

People were continually yelling at him, rebuking him, shaking their heads in disgust, trying and trying and trying to convince him how uncaring he was to not care if he was making others sick. “I am not sick. I haven’t had even a runny nose since all this started,” he would respond.

“It doesn’t matter,” they would argue, ” you can spread it even if you don’t show any symptoms. Just wear a mask. Think of others.”

Jimmy Don would reread Psalm 91. He believed Psalm 91. He was not afraid.

He didn’t believe the others were telling him the truth.

January, 2021 VACCINE

Finally, a vaccine became available, and people were lining up to get the first of their two shots, so the world could get back to normal.

Jimmy Don began to wonder if that would still be trusting in the words of God in Psalm 91. The same voices that he couldn’t believe were telling him, “You don’t want to wear a mask? Just take the vaccine. Then you won’t have to wear a mask. TAKE THE VACCINE!”

The same voices that he didn’t believe before, he couldn’t believe now.

So Jimmy Don didn’t get into line for the vaccine.

July, 2021

One day, a doctor was giving Jimmy Don a checkup. He had been forced to wear a mask to enter the hospital, so, when the doctor came in, Jimmy Don asked if he could remove his mask.

“Have you been vaccinated?” the doctor asked. When Jimmy Don said no, the doctor said to keep his mask on. “Why have you not been vaccinated?”

“Long story,” Jimmy Don said.

“Give me the short version.”

So Jimmy Don told him about all the stories that had been told and all the stories that had been hidden and all the questions that weren’t allowed to be asked, and how he didn’t think the masks did any good.

The doctor said this should never have become political, but the vaccine was very effective. When he finished the visit, as he was walking away, he said, “Take the vaccine!”

Jimmy Don never told him about Psalm 91.

A friend said, “ Jimmy Don, if you get the vaccine, you wont even need to wear a mask anymore. It’s such a simple fix. It doesn’t even hurt.”

Jimmy Don was never afraid of the needle.

But, he trusted the doctor.

He forgot about Psalm 91.

Jimmy Don got vaccinated.

August, 2021

“Even vaccinated people need to wear masks when indoors, because an unvaccinated person can give them the virus, and even if they don’t get sick they could pass it on to another unvaccinated person. We need to get everyone vaccinated, so we can finally defeat this disease.”

Jimmy Don let out a moan.

November, 2021

“We have no way of knowing if someone has really been vaccinated, so download this App on your phone, and you can easily prove that you have been vaccinated.”

Jimmy Don downloaded the App.

January 2022

“If you cannot show proof of vaccination, you will no longer be allowed in restaurants, gyms, airplanes, and you must wear a mask whenever you leave your house. If you refuse, you will be fined. You may be arrested. Come on, folks, let’s all work together and beat this thing.”

Jimmy Don started trying to convince his unvaccinated friends to just go ahead and get vaccinated.

December 2022

“ It seems that the phone App has been hacked, and people are able to counterfeit it, and claim to be vaccinated when they are not. To be sure, you will now be required to carry a certified card showing your vaccination status. Failure to carry this card is a very serious offense.

Jimmy Don picked up his card.

June, 2023

“It seems that The Unvaccinated Rebels, TUR, have found ways to counterfeit the card. We will be issuing a mandatory tattoo that you may have on your hand or forehead . You will no longer have to stand in line. We will have scanners distributed throughout the world that will read the tattoo as you walk by. Life will finally be back to normal.”

Jimmy Don got his tattoo in August of 2023. It was very subtle, and he wondered why it had taken them this long to think of this.

January, 2024

“ The Upsilon Variant has begun to spread, and everyone needs to now wear these government issued masks. When we get the next vaccine, all you have to do is have your mark scanned, and all your information will be updated.”

Jimmy Don thought, “Good, so simple.”

Jimmy Don wondered whatever happened to all of his unvaccinated friends as he picked up his government issued masks.

“He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.”

Revelation 13:16-18 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.13.16-18.NLT