In the Garden of Eden disobedience (Genesis 3:6-7) caused humans to be separated from God. From there humanity plunged into a state of total depravity (Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12–21). Our entire being—mind, body, will, and spirit—has been corrupted by the power of sin.

Sadly, humans lost what God had given them-- dominion, divine part of the image of God (righteousness and holiness), the personal relationship with God, and eternal life on this earth--death is instituted.

God gave Adam the responsibility to be fruitful and multiply, to subdue the earth and have control and dominion over it (Genesis 1:28). In essence, God handed over the title deed to this earth to Adam and Eve. The Fall, described in Genesis chapter 3, happens after humans were tempted by Satan to eat a fruit. This seems fairly innocent and does not rank on our radar of crime. However, it was a deliberate choice to disobey God which was a sin and separated them from God.

On our tiny planet many scientists theorize that a human with 37.2 billion cells in his/her body and highly developed brains came through billions of years of evolution. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Copilot describes the theory of evolution as follows:

“Humans started as simple, single-celled organisms like amoebas in primordial seas, evolving into complex, multicellular life forms over billions of years from simple bacteria to fish, then amphibians, reptiles, and eventually mammals. Each step was shaped by natural selection and environmental changes. Feels a bit sci-fi, right?”

(You will find AI’s last sentence above is exactly where reality lands. Even AI questions this manmade theory as sci-fi.)

The very first verse in the Bible is Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. The Hebrew word for create “bara” in Genesis means to make something out of nothing. Using a faith-based literal interpretation of Genesis, 4004 BC is the most commonly cited date for the creation of the world.

A vast number of scientists, astronomers, and cosmologists believe the “Big Bang Theory” was the beginning of our universe with a current estimate of 200 billion trillion stars and planets. (They also put this theory in the context of an understandable “something”.)   Artificial Intelligence (AI) Copilot describes it as follows…

(This article provides excerpts from the book “Journey Through the Bible and Your Story” which will be available on Amazon books later in the summer.)

As mentioned in the previous article on angels, angels are created beings, subject to temptations and flaws. Angels, while given approach to God, are not perfect beings, for only God is perfect. Angels do not share in God's sovereignty and attributes. They are not omnipresent (everywhere present), omniscient (all knowing), or omnipotent (all powerful).  

Ezekial 28:14-15 describes that God placed Lucifer, a created angel, in a high position. “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.”

(This article provides excerpts from the book “Journey Through the Bible and Your Story” which will be available on Amazon books later in the summer.)

Our culture takes angels seriously, if not accurately. A number of popular magazines have carried articles about angels including Time, Newsweek, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and others. ABC aired a two-hour special titled “Angels: The Mysterious Messengers”. The bookstores abound with books on angels. A television series entitled “Touched by an Angel” was so popular that it lasted 9 seasons with 211 episodes. All of these illustrate our fascination with the topic of angels.

What we “truly” know about angels comes directly from the Bible. Psalms 148:2 and 148:5, state that God created angels, “Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts…Let them praise the name of the LORD! For He commanded and they were created." Angels are eternal beings; they are not mortal and do not die, unlike humans. When humans die, they do NOT become angels.

This new shoeleatherfaith.com series will use the book, “Journey Through the Bible and Your Story”, (available on Amazon books later this summer) as an introduction to major biblical characters and themes in chronological order, providing a clearer picture of history, from the world's creation to the end times. Whether you approach the Bible with strong faith or curiosity, you are invited to explore its living and powerful message—one that is essential for navigating this complex and often challenging world.

During these weekly articles we will be taking short excerpts from this book for our journey together. This journey most definitely includes your story which started many centuries before you were born and will continue through eternity.

As this completes the 52 Weekly articles of the Spiritual Nutrition series (all available on the shoeleatherfaith.com website), this most important question needs to be asked. “Would you like to know God personally?”

In John 17:3 Jesus states, “And this is life eternal that they know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” The word “know” in this verse is not to have an intellectual knowledge about God but instead it means to get very intimate with God in a love relationship where we truly know Him with our heart, soul, and mind. This verse gives each of us the primary focus of our Christian life; that is, to develop a more and more intimate personal love relationship with God for eternity.

The worst does come. In life, things do not go according to plan. Catastrophic

circumstances, tumultuous times, and perilous predicaments arrest our attention as they

zigzag across the landscape of our national and individual horizons.

The worst does come. There are bumps in the road. There are detours up ahead. There are problems to go through. There is trouble to go through and there is a death to die.

Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday honoring those who lost their lives in military service. It falls on the last Monday of May, marking a time for remembrance, reflection, and gratitude for the sacrifices made.

The word sacrifice can carry different meanings depending on the context:

In a historical or military sense, it symbolizes the ultimate price—where people have laid down their lives for their country, beliefs, or loved ones, like those honored on Memorial Day.

The one thing that must be hand in hand with all leadership is having a servant’s mindset: in essence, being a servant leader. “It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

A servant leader is someone who prioritizes serving others before seeking personal gain or authority. Instead of leading through command and control, they empower, support, and uplift those around them. It’s a powerful leadership approach that fosters respect, innovation, and loyalty.

Suzanne Werlein is a gifted writer and shares the following article with all of us who have mothers and many who are mothers. Through the ups and downs of parenting, God has given Suzanne a passion to help the next generation of mothers embrace their unique roles as wives and mothers. Suzanne is the founder of Faithbridge Moms, a ministry that strives to provide biblical encouragement, mentoring and Christian community for young moms as they begin their own parenting journeys.

My loving wife of 55 years suffered the last 13 years of her earthly life with nonsmoker’s lung cancer with surgeries, radiology treatments, and chemotherapy. Her last two years were so painful that she begged God daily to bring her home to Heaven.

During those times I was prone to ask God: Why? Why her, she loves You so much? Why must she suffer so much? Why do my prayers for healing seem to go unanswered? Why would someone who has taken such good care of her body with good nutrition and exercising be stricken with such a cruel disease? Why would someone who was used by You to lead so many to Christ have to endure this?

Having just celebrated another birthday, I reflect back on the long journey in my life. Many of the happenings have made little sense in my earthly temporal understanding until I looked back with an eternal perspective (sometimes years later). Jeremiah 29:11 has certainly given me additional insight into God’s personal attention for each of His children; He declares to us, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

In those plans I, along with most of you, mentally believe that a loving Father wants the best for His kids. Where we struggle is in God’s definition of BEST that appears to have some negative temporal components.

Virtually all scholars of antiquity, both Christian and non-Christian, accept that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure and attempts to deny his historicity have been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory. There is just too much evidence to the contrary.

Every major religious movement considers Jesus to be an important religious figure including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Baha’i Faith and Druze Faith. In addition, some high-level Buddhists have drawn analogies between Jesus and Buddhism.

One of the strongest facts of Christ is that he fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophesies including his death. It has been calculated that the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 of these would 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. This is certainly not fiction.

An enthusiastic admirer is the guy who goes to the football game with no shirt and a painted chest. He sits in the stands and cheers for his team. He’s got a signed jersey hanging on his wall at home and multiple bumper stickers on the back of his car. But he’s never in the game. He never breaks a sweat or takes a hard hit in the open field. He knows all about the players and can rattle off their latest stats, but he doesn’t personally know the players. He yells and cheers, but nothing is really required of him. There is no sacrifice he must make. And the truth is, as excited as he seems, if the team he’s cheering for starts to let him down and has a few off seasons, his passion will wane quickly. After several losing seasons you can expect him to jump off the fan wagon and begin cheering for some other team.

I can honestly say I have never heard anyone say that they wanted to be in the middle of a storm in their lives. I don’t recall ever hearing someone say, “I have things too easy right now and I just want God to put me into a storm so life will not be so easy.”

The truth is that storms are a natural part of life both physically and spiritually. We do not always know when the storms of life may come our way, but you can be assured one will. I once heard it said that you are either about to go into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or coming out of a storm because they are a guarantee of our spiritual walk of life.

April Fool’s Day is observed in most of the countries of the world. Although it is not a formal holiday in any country, it’s a day for jokes, pranks, and hoaxes. On April 1st, people “stretch” the truth and then announce, “April Fools.”

Are we trying to fool the one who loves us the most? Are we guilty of trying to fool God? Are we guilty of trying to keep secrets from God? There’s no fooling God. There is no place we can go where He does not see our every move. Proverbs 15: 3, says: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Those who think they have God fooled are only fooling themselves! God sees all things! He hears all things! Nothing escapes His attention!

“Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.” Luke 14:11

Admittedly, humility and the humbling of oneself is out of fashion in today’s world and seems unappealing to most of us. However, as Jonathan Edwards said, “We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity.” Our perspective on humility can be radically changed if we will ponder and meditate on the greatest example of humility in history: Jesus Christ. By the very act of leaving heaven, coming to earth, and taking the form of man, he demonstrated an unfathomable humbling of himself. Throughout his life on earth, Jesus demonstrated a spirit of profound humility, saying that he came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). On his last night with the disciples, he took a towel and basin and washed their dirty feet (John 13:1–11), instructing them to follow his example of servanthood with one another (John 13:12–17). Andrew Murray captures it well, “Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us.”

Time moves so quickly. When you are young, you never give death much thought; then you wake up and you are old. James 4:14 “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” God gives man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.  “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” William Penn

God allows us the choice during this time to live with Him in eternity in Heaven or choose not to. It is through a choice to accept Christ as the only “Way” (John 14:6), “Grasping what the Bible teaches about Heaven shifts our center of gravity and radically alters our perspective on life. Therefore, we should always seek to keep Heaven in our line of sight. Those who know Jesus should realize that death is the gateway to never-ending joy.” Randy Alcorn, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries