tient come into my office for her first visit. After reviewing her file, I asked her what her main complaint was. She promptly answered me with another question, "Do you
do cosmetics?" When she smiled, I understood right away. She had nice teeth, but they were too far apart.
I explained to her that the first thing I would like to see would be complete x-rays, to which she quickly replied, "But I don't have any cavities,
why do you want me to take x-rays?"
It seemed like a simple case; her teeth looked healthy, and apparently, the only thing to do was to close the spaces between them.
She wanted to have cosmetic
CONTINUES ON PAGE 3
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fillings to make the gaps between her teeth disappear, but she didn't want to get xrays.
I explained to her that the x-rays would help me assess her general jaw health and determine the best course of treatment for her.
I went on to say, "Perhaps it is not necessary to place veneers because, many times, when the supporting tissues are healthy, orthodontic treatment is enough to close the spaces and position the teeth more aesthetically, thus avoiding compromising the tooth structure with unnecessary restorations."
I also explained to her that the teeth, in relation to the bones and gums, were like a house that needs to be built on solid ground so that the foundation can support its structure.
Many times, one gets the impression that the problem lies in the teeth, but upon closer examination, it is discovered that the issue is in the "foundation," which refers to the bones. However, the patient decided not to continue with the consultation as she believed that the radiographs were unnecessary.
Two years later, we received a call from a woman who wanted to schedule her first visit. As part of the protocol, we informed her that the radiographic examination and the clinical examination were necessary during the visit.
The person on the line said, "I know, I know, the doctor can't make a diagnosis without an X-ray." My assistant immediately asked, "Have you been a previous patient of the doctor?"
The patient on the line re-
plied, "No, but I know." My assistant found the situation amusing, but she didn't say anything to me.
Finally, the day of the consultation arrived, and the moment I saw her, I recognized her. There she was in front of me, the girl who had refused to take X-rays a few years ago. There she was, all happy and wearing braces. She began by saying, "Doctor, I came here because I decided to get braces on my teeth instead of having restorations, as you advised.
I went to a dentist in my hometown. It has been 4 months now, and all the spaces are closed. I would like you to remove my braces because my teeth are in place." I ex-
plained to her that the best course of action would be for her to return to the dentist who initially applied the braces so that he could evaluate the ongoing treatment.
Internally, I thought to myself, "Complete orthodontic treatment in just 4 months sounds like a miracle." She continued to explain, "My teeth are how I want them, but my gums are bleeding excessively, so I think it's time to remove my braces." She didn't need to say anything more. I realized that she had a significant issue.
I proceeded with the consultation and took X-rays. However, she persisted in expressing her desire to have the braces removed since her teeth were already in the cor-
rect position.
After reviewing her X-rays, I looked at her, and the way I examined the X-rays made her sense my thoughts. She asked earnestly, "What's wrong, Doc?"
I was momentarily speechless because before me was a young woman with more than half of her teeth destined for extraction. The remaining teeth could potentially be saved with intensive periodontal treatment.
The bone loss was extensive, and gum disease had spread to such an extent that the braces were essentially holding the teeth together. Once the braces were removed, the teeth would likely shift again, and many of them could even fall out with the simple act of removing the braces rings.
Like this patient, I encounter many others who still don't believe in the importance of radiographic exams.
If she had followed the protocol for the first visit, her chances of maintaining her teeth would have been much higher because her periodontal problem would have been identified through the radiographs and the clinical examination.
When gum problems are treated promptly, they can be brought under control, allowing for appropriate cosmetic procedures.
Therefore, when it's time for your check-up, please adhere to the protocol mentioned in this article for the initial visit. By doing so, you will increase your chances of preserving your oral health and, consequently, enhance the likelihood of receiving a cosmetic treatment that is best suited for your case and provides long-lasting results. ◙
She wanted to have cosmetic fillings to make the gaps between her teeth disappear.
Seeking not only to understand the doctrine of the Total Depravity of Man, but to corroborate it with the biblical text, abandoning the study carried out in Genesis, chapter 3 (whose account of the Fall of humanity took place together with the Fall of Adam, which, as the head, he represented us and, with him, we all sinned, and fell), we will now delve into the study of chapter 6, of the same book of Genesis.
First, I emphasize the strangeness provoked in most people, many of them practicing and convinced believers, regarding the biblical concept of human depravity.
There is an attempt, especially among the most literate, to know human nature not through reality, through what can be seen and observed in everyday life.
Much less through biblical reports¹, but through the academic and theoretical framework of sociology, anthropology, psychology, and pedagogy, often nothing more than addicted and, in some cases, delusional men-
tal constructions.
These sciences should not be discarded as an instrument for understanding man², but, however, when abandoning themselves to experiments and directed methodology (often formed on false assumptions), almost always with the objective of confirming or attesting to the veracity of the scheme proposed speculative.
Unfortunately, the human sciences have become, especially in countries dominated by the progressive mentality, a collection of ideological postulates where truth, accuracy, and fidelity to facts have increasingly given way to the artificial exploration of an impossible and unattainable thought, utopian, where reality and the natural aspect necessarily become marginalized and rejected within the methodological spectrum of studies; a way of scaring them away from the possible damage they would do to the dominant intent, conviction or belief of the ideologue.
The knowledge acquired through practice, through studies, through observation
There is an attempt, especially among the most literate, to know human nature not through what can be seen and observed in everyday life.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 4
is abandoned, surrendering to academic training where the principle is not that of neutrality in research, but that of carrying out, to the last consequences, the defense of the suggested assumption (I say, suggested), even if there is, during its investigative course, evidence of its deceit or invalidation.
And that alone would be enough to prove that the doctrine of the Total Depravity of Man is not only credible, but real and indisputable.
The concept of science has been distorted in the last hundred years to the point where, in many research centers, there is nothing more than propaganda, dogmatic marketing, disguised as academicism.
Trying to separate academic works from any relationship with God, humanity got involved in an insane and destructive struggle against reason itself, against nature itself, with humanity itself.
That's why they're nothing more than a lame excuse, with no heads or tails, with the sole purpose of sustaining the unsustainable. It may seem just ignorance, but there is a central objective in all this “scientific” method and effort: to destroy Western civilization and, more specifically, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the formulation of a new social construction, from the destruction of that and values that, at the very least, are the foundation of all human existence.
Instead of there being an incessant search for knowledge, for truth, for knowledge, it appears to be a system of simple reverberation of the postulate, a diffusion of dominant or establish-
ment thought, a dictatorship of academic thought led by a controlling elite, capable of including or exclude, which is to say, guarantee or not the public and private financing, of those inserted or excluded in its ideological organism.
Competence and merit mean nothing, as well as the plausibility of theories and their concrete veracity, the candidate only having to make sure he is colluding and collaborating for the perpetuation of the crime, certain that his mediocrity will not be perceived or repudiated but fed by the tacit agreement of intellectual domestication. And the more confused, hermetic, and delusional.
The human sciences currently produce academics as a plastics factory, generating chamber pots, with the difference that the chamber pots fulfill a
natural purpose, on behalf of humanity, while the so-called scientists ensure, for themselves, a factitious stability in a jammed machine it's useless
As a rule, it becomes a purpose, a type of nobility superior to knowledge, without any real objective of social or humanitarian benefit, limiting itself to being an instrument and means for the control, for the appropriation of bodies and souls.
With that, there is not, on my part, sabotage of the academic system, which is unnecessary, as it oversees selfsabotage, but the verification of the existence of vices that impel it to disaster and prevent it from carrying out its noble mission.
It seems a futile generalization, precisely because I am
not an academic myself, but when I got to know many of them, their inability to practice what they claim to defend is clear and, in fact, they are completely unaware of it.
Not all of them, of course, perhaps not even the majority, but a good portion does what makes it non-existent and inefficient for the world as a whole: non-science or vulgar and corrupted scientism.
A diploma or title is enough for them to be sure of the absolute abandonment of academic rigor. The title brings all the framework sufficient to take it as infallible and inerrant and, from that premise, exclude it from the need to hear, read and think about anything else unrelated to its “deity”.
Even more so if you are anchored by the nomenclature, by peers that give you genius and suitability without the need to prove them. It's like a hypnosis or self-help course: you don't need to see or understand anything beyond what you are told and confirmed as true, even the most sordid and amoral mendacity and quackery.
Contrary to what it should be, many Christians indulge in the absurd thought of recognizing the merit of reasoning not for its content or argument, but for the fact that its interlocutor is a graduate, an authority.
Known as argumentum ad verecundiam, it is a logical fallacy, of the crudest, most improbable, but in which Christians seem to have a special predilection for its mechanism of unquestionability.
It happens that they fail in several aspects, mainly because they deposit credibility in the author, a man sub-
The concept of science has been distorted in the last hundred years to the point where, in many research centers, there is nothing more than propaganda, dogmatic marketing, disguised as academicism.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 5
ject to errors like himself, but coated with an almost divinity that makes him infallible, instead of depositing it in the true Author, God.
Hundreds, thousands of years of vivid Christian experience, the testimony of millions of people, endless accounts of an authentic faith, not subject to wavering and change, It doesn't matter if he undermined facts, disregarded evidence, manipulated data, concentrated his efforts on fashioning a disguise, shielding him from recognition of his incompetence or insanity.
Crazy people scream because there is nothing else to do but silence themselves, it happens that this state annuls them; then they bluster, fictionalize, get mad, get upset, threatening to unmask the reluctant as ignorant: “look at that one over there, he's an ass!
He doesn't have a diploma, he's not part of the academy, but he insists on accusing me! It is the typical confirmation of the saying: “win in the scream!”; and there is no mitigation to attenuate the pragmatic tension of authority, other than to accept him and his speech without hesitation.
The accusation is never the fragility or non-existence of the argument, but the threatened individual, caught and cornered in his own mischief, has no choice but to roar and show his teeth menacingly.
Like that child who, after wetting his pants, looks scared at his mother while the hot liquid runs down his legs. She can't say: “I didn't do that”, but the shady academic can say it invested with authority, making it unquestionable, even though everyone can
see his soaked crotch.
Why does the believer insist on molding his faith to science, without first taking care to know if what is presented to him is really nothing more than an imposture?
Why is attention paid to the first new rumor to the detriment of centuries and centuries of experience and confirmation of the truth by the body of Christ?
I believe there is a good deal of vanity and arrogance in making oneself understood of what not even its proponent understands.
Looking smart or smart is easier than being. And if there is a molded structure for the validation of an anachronistic
wisdom, fulfilling the requirements of implausibility itself, why strive for the search for the truth if a mockery of it is easily achieved?
With the answer, you, if you are not too lazy.
Notes:
1- The Bible presents man as he is, without flourishes, without softening him, without fantasies, but portrays him in his most intimate details, which can be confirmed by reality, by the sinful brutality undertaken daily by any of us against the natural and holy order created by the good God.
2- Incomprehensible is the discard that the modern world gives to theology, be-
ing the queen of all sciences, without which any other instrument becomes, at the very least, inadequate, or inappropriate.
3- And why not mention the high degree of madness; to the point of making himself imperceptible to other people's eyes, given the enthronement of his personality?
Heidegger, with his stilted anti-Semitism, inspired the construction of the Nazi-fascistState; just as Marx, and his collectivist delirium, fomented Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol-Pot, and Mao, to name just a few examples, among many others of murderers and tyrants. ◙
Source: Kalamos
It happens that (many Christians) fail, mainly because they deposit credibility in (the Scientist), a man subject to errors, but coated with an almost divinity that makes him infallible, instead of depositing it in the true Author, God.
Some sources indicate how and where the apostles died.
Philippians 1:21
alive into a pot of boil-
oil, but he suffered nothing, God delivered him as he did with the young men cast into the burning fiery furnace. Then he was exiled to the island of Patmos where he received the Revelations of the Apocalypse. He was the youngest of the disciples, and he was the last of them to die, possibly at Ephesus, a natural death.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain".1 – Peter: According to tradition, he was crucified upside down in Rome. 2 – Andrew: According to tradition, he was martyred and killed in Greece. 3 – James: Son of Zebedee, killed by Herod. Acts 12:1,2. The first of the apostles to be killed. 4 – John: Brother of James, cast ing
5 – Philip: According to “Genealogies of the Apostles”, he died a natural death.
6 – Bartholomew: According to tradition, he was put alive in a bag and thrown into the sea.
7 – Thomas: According to tradition, he worked in India and there he was martyred and killed.
8 – Matthew: According to tradition, he died a natural death in Ethiopia or Macedonia.
9 – James: Son of Alphaeus, a book of his time reports that he was stoned by the Jews, in Jerusalem, for
10 – Thaddeus: It is only known that he was buried in Beirut, or in Egypt.
11 – Simon: The Zealot, according to a tradition, worked in North Africa and suffered martyrdom in Palestine during the reign of Domitian, persecutor of Christians.
12 – Judas: Hanged himself after betraying Jesus. S. Matthew 27:3-5.
We could still add Paul, who was not among the twelve, but was called to be an apostle personally by Jesus: He was beheaded near Rome, according to tradition. ◙
Biblia.com.br team
Today I want to talk to you about some concepts we have about God and our life. There are many types of beliefs about God.
There are those who don't believe in God, they only believe in real, tangible, and visible things.
Some believe that God exists, but that he made the world like someone making a clock, winding it up and letting it run until the winding finally runs out.
Others believe that God created the world, but that he has nothing to do with us.
Still others believe that God does not exist and that we are the result of chance or evolution.
We Christians do not believe
We believe that God exists and that He has a relationship with us.
in any of these theories.
We believe that God exists and that He has a relationship with us.
But still, many of us have a misconception about what is secular and what is sacred.
Many think that God cares about our soul, about evangelization, discipleship, missions, churches, prayer meetings, services, church planting, that is, spiritual things.
And that he is not interested in our work, science, business, economics, politics, the arts, that is, physical things.
But if we were to look at the Bible, there are many texts about spiritual matters, but there are even more that deal with economics, business, politics, etc.
Does God not care about us at all? And does He not want to be our Lord at all?
I've heard so many believers saying that they fought
with their bosses, humiliated subordinates, didn't respect teachers at school, were irresponsible with their money, didn't care about who votes, didn't care about elderly parents, beat their children, etc.
Imagine if divorce lawyers were counselors for couples in disguise, or if they were
doctors who spoke of miracles greater than healing, or bosses who were humble and loving, or parents who were role models for children, or workers who were counselors at work, or students fighting injustice at school, etc.
Can you imagine if we stood up in politics to fight for a just
society?
Imagine if all Christians were Christians 100% of our time, and not just when it came to "holy" things?
Imagine if you changed the way you treated others a little, and did what Jesus told us: Love God and your neighbor... All the time!
Let's change our mindset that only missionaries and pastors are full-time workers in God's work, and become full-time workers in God's work in our work, school, home...etc.
Think about it! ◙
Bíblia.com.br
Imagine if you changed the way you treated others a little, and did what Jesus told us: Love God and your neighbor... All the time!
Imagine if all Christians were Christians 100% of our time, and not just when it came to "holy" things?
Let me ask you a question: Do you love yourself?
I'm not talking about loving yourself in a selfish or selfcentered way, but loving the true and only "you" as God created you.
Think about this for a moment. You cannot run away
from yourself even for a second of your life. Wherever you go, you will be there!
Do you remember how bad you felt the last time you spent a few hours with someone you didn't like?
The same principle applies to your relationship with yourself. If you don't like yourself—the one person you're always with—you're destined for a life of great unhappiness.
But when you love yourself, you are able to appreciate life.
To love yourself is to accept God's unconditional love with all your heart, to see yourself as He sees you, to rejoice and be at peace with who He created you to be: chosen, royal, holy, and special (see 1 Peter 2:9).
This healthy self-love is not based on what you do right or
If you don't like yourself— the one person you're always with—you're destined for a life of great unhappiness.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 11
wrong, but on who you are as a child of God.
When you don't know who you are in Christ, you can't see or love yourself as He sees and loves you, or even be yourself.
Instead, you are at the mercy of others' opinions and con stantly feel inadequate and inferior, wishing you could be someone else.
RELAX AND BE WHO YOU ARE
For a long time, I tried to be like so many people that I ended up losing myself.
I got stuck in this vicious cycle, and trust me, that's a terrible way to live your life.
Having been sexually abused by my father, I always felt that there was something wrong with me.
That negative feeling drove me to try to be like other people I admired or who I thought I should “look like”.
I tried to be like my husband, who is my extreme opposite. I tried to be like my pastor's wife, who was also the opposite of me. And I tried to be like a friend who had talents that I didn't.
In fact, if someone even suggested that I do something differently than I was doing it, I immediately felt pressured to change.
Even if they weren't trying to pressure me, the mere thought of someone not approving of what I was doing was enough to send me into a panic. Years later, already married with children, I had a good friend who visited me often.
Sometimes she would sit and talk to me while I ironed (yes,
there was a time when people ironed). One day she asked, “Why do you start at the collar when ironing a shirt? I always start with the body.”
My friend was just making a comment, but from that day on, when she came to visit and I was ironing, I would start with the body of the shirt.
I did what I thought would get me her approval instead of going the way that was comfortable for me.
The funny thing is, she probably didn't even notice how I was ironing the shirts after that comment, so all my effort was probably wasted.
I spent many frustrating years as a Christian trying to please others and failing, until the Lord showed me that the problem was that I had never really received His love for me.
After receiving this revelation, I spent a year studying God's Word, meditating on it, and loudly confessing God's love for me.
At that time, I had a fortyyear history of not liking myself—and loving myself even less—so renewing my mind in this area took time.
At first, I felt guilty trying to love myself because I was so aware of my flaws, but over time I learned that I could love who I am without loving everything I do.
We can all work with God toward positive change in our behavior without rejecting ourselves or seeing ourselves as failures because of our imperfections.
Those around us can be quick to point out our flaws and quirks, and our enemy, the devil, is sure to remind us of them.
To love yourself is to accept God's unconditional love with all your heart, to see yourself as He sees you, to rejoice and be at peace with who He created you to be.
We can all work with God toward positive change in our behavior without rejecting ourselves or seeing ourselves as failures because of our imperfections.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 12
But we don't have to believe everything we hear. We must compare what we believe with the Word of God to see if it is true or not.
God created each of us, and according to Psalm 139, He did so with great care. God makes no mistakes and all his works are wonderful. It means you are wonderful!
Let's take a look at the psalm ist David, who underwent a huge test of his own authenticity just before facing Goliath in battle.
STAY TRUE TO YOUR PURPOSE
The passage from 1 Samuel 17 tells the story of how the Israelite army faced a giant named Goliath, champion of the mighty Philistines.
However, when Goliath went out to fight, the Israelite soldiers were terrified and young David was the only one willing to go to battle (see 1 Samuel 17:1-11, 16).
It took convincing, but when King Saul finally agreed to allow David to fight the giant, Saul dressed him in his own tunic and armor and placed a bronze helmet on his head.
However, David soon realized that he could not go into battle dressed in someone else's armor because he was not used to it. In fact, he couldn't even move inside her.
He took off Saul's armor, took his shepherd's crook, and collected five smooth stones and a sling. Armed with only these familiar items, he approached the giant (see 1 Samuel 17:37-40).
When Goliath mocked David, trying to intimidate him, David responded with the certainty that God would give
him victory over the giant (see 1 Samuel 17:41-45).
Young David then went on to do what no one thought possible. The sling that Goliath had mocked cast a single stone that struck and killed him, and the Israelites defeated the Philistines that day (see 1 Samuel 17:46-51).
David defeated Goliath, but he had to be true to himself to do it. If he had tried to go into battle in Saul's armor, he would not have been able to use the weapons he was familiar with.
His way may have been unusual for others, but it worked because God was with him. And the same goes for you and me.
Always remember that you cannot defeat your Goliath wearing Saul's armor. You can't use someone else's skills, personality or resources to do what you need to do: you have to be true to yourself.
Learning to be you is essential for any kind of victory in your life. Others may not understand your uniqueness, but God does and that's what matters. You have so much to offer the world, and now is the time to start doing it.
This is a new day, a new beginning for you if you are ready to embrace it.
You are God's beloved, and He has big plans for your life, so buckle up and get ready for the journey to authenticity. ◙
When Goliath mocked David, trying to intimidate him, David responded with the certainty that God would give him victory over the giant.
Learning to be you is essential for any kind of victory in your life.
They say that some people came back telling what is beyond life. Are they convinced of what they say? Are we not playing with death?
What happens ten minutes after death? What's on the other side of that mysterious door?
There is now a veritable epidemic of films and plays about death. The current interest in death is close to obsession. Interest in death is in fashion. There are manuals on how to die and death is considered by many to be an achievement!
Twenty-seven students from a state high school built a bier out of pine and gave it to the high school as a memorial. The coffin remains inside the classroom and students lie down inside it to meditate. “Death is beautiful,” they say, “it is as natural as a rose that blossoms and then withers, and then is thrown away.” But what's romantic about throwing away a withered rose? There is nothing beautiful about death. She is cruel; he is an enemy and not a friend; it is a closed door and not a beautiful pas-
sage. She turned our planet into the cemetery of the Universe, a place where everyone dies. Thank God, there is hope and comfort in His Word on this matter. What we need is the truth about the loss of our loved ones and the joyful news that the resurrection day is coming. Before, however, we need to understand why this bewildering confusion exists. Could it be that all this attachment to death is not leading to an attachment to the author of death, the one who turned the Earth into a cemetery?
Since he was banished from Heaven, Satan has known that he must suffer irreversible death. Hence, he is determined, if possible, to take the whole human race with him into destruction. Satan and his minions paint death as something beautiful, as something not to be feared at all. After all, how else could he lure his victims? That was his strategy in the Garden of Eden.
God warned our first parents that disobedience could result in death. But Satan spoke to Eve through the serpent: "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4).
Since he was banished from Heaven, Satan has known that he must suffer irreversible death. Hence, he is determined, if possible, to take the whole human race with him into destruction.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 14
This statement by Satan means: “You cannot die. In fact, you will be alive in another place, in another state of existence. So live as you like.” At the core of all your plays remains your original lie: you won't die. Why is this move so successful? The answer is very simple. If he can convince you that the dead aren't dead, it'll be easy to convince him that the dead can communicate. And, if you believe that, a well-executed act will give him a direct line to your mind. Satan and his helpers, the fallen angels, are masters of disguise.
They have taken millions of lonely people to seances, where they are easily convinced that they are in touch with departed loved ones; and millions, not having a knowledge of the Word of God, believe in this supernatural manifestation. Jesus warned us about end-time deception: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
Satan and his minions rarely use the direct approach to make their identity known. They prefer to wear a disguise: “For such false apostles are deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder, because Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light ′′ (2 Corinthians 11:13 and 14). When the movie “The Exorcist” was doing great, people who would just watch it would say, “Satan is a really horrible creature.” He loves people saying that, because if they think he's a hideous monster with hooves and horns, then they're totally unprepared when he appears to
them in the guise of an angel of light. Or, even worse, like a loved one who has passed away. That's the problem: millions simply haven't studied God's Word and still question his authority.
Bishop Pike did not believe in an afterlife. But his convictions were easily shaken when a host of appalling phenomena drew him like a magnet to the occult. The tragedy that started this process was the suicide of her son Jim. The sudden death of her son brought her great sadness, especially because he was involved with drugs.
After the tragedy, Bishop Pike appeared on television in Toronto, Canada alongside spirit medium Arthur Ford. During the program, Ford went into a trance and convinced him that he was in contact with his
son Jim. With no faith in the Bible, he was easy prey; he was so fascinated with the game of the spirit world that he didn't see any red flags ahead. Sometime later, in Los Angeles, the Bishop was interviewed while promoting his new book: “The Other Side”. Joe Pyne listened to what he had to say very carefully.
Finally, he turned to his guest and asked slowly, "Bishop, doesn't the Bible say somewhere that the dead know nothing? " Obviously cornered, Pike replied, "I don't know." Then he picked up a pencil and said, "I'll look it up at home." Then, when Joe Pyne opened the program for questions from the audience, a young man introduced himself and started talking: “I just want to say where
the verse is that the bishop doesn't know; is in Ecclesiastes 9:5. Then he quoted the passage correctly: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.”
The bishop did not think it important to learn the Bible's position on the matter. That single passage would have prevented him from being further deceived. This holds true for us too. The Living Bible translates Ecclesiastes 9:5 like this: “For the living at least know that they will die! But the dead know nothing.” God's Word states that the dead, good or bad, are simply sleeping in their graves, where they will remain until the resurrection. When Lazarus died, Jesus said he was sleeping. “Lazarus, our friend, sleeps, but I go to wake him up” (John 11:11). In verse 14, Jesus plainly told them, “Lazarus is dead.” And notice that Lazarus, when he was called from his tomb after four days, had no story to tell about where he had been all that time. Evidently, he hadn't gone anywhere. The apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said that David had not gone to Heaven, even centuries after his death (Acts 2:29 and 34).
Let's let the Word of God clarify this matter further. “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Is that what you learned, or did you think that some of the spirits went up and some went down? What spirit is this that returns to God? “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
The spirit is what keeps the body alive. So, what is this spirit that keeps the body alive? The word for "spirit"
Notice that Lazarus, when he was called from his tomb after four days, had no story to tell about where he had been all that time. Evidently, he hadn't gone anywhere.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 15
in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament is "ruach"; the same as "pneuma", in the original Greek of the New Testament and means "breath".
From that word, we take our popular tires and airfilled tubes. Spirit or "pneuma" simply means air or breath. When the spirit is missing, the correct translation is “death”, because a body without “air” is dead. The two words, "breath" and "spirit", are synonymous in Scripture. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
Watch the Creator in action: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Lying on the ground, complete in every detail, man has just left the Creator's hands, ready to live, love and act, but he is not yet alive. “And he breathed into their noses the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
He was not given a soul, but he became a living soul, a being, a living person. The breath of God that was placed in man's nostrils, the breath or spirit, separates from the body at death and returns to God.
The body returns to dust. Now that spirit, the breath, cannot think, cannot worship, cannot sing; that spirit returns to God whether the person is a saint or a sinner. Man simply ceases to be a living soul, a living being, until the lifegiver brings the two together (body and spirit) in resurrection.
Illustrations have their weaknesses, but despite that, we'll use them. Imagine some
boards and nails, which we use to assemble a small box. So, we no longer have just boards and nails – we have a box. Where did that box come from? It didn't come from anywhere.
It's just the result of joining the boards and nails. Let's assume we don't want the box anymore. So, we pull out the nails and put them on one side and the boards on the other. Where did the box go? To nowhere, she simply ceased to exist as a cashier. The nails are still there, the boards are still there, but there can be no box until the two are put together again.
In the same way, God formed man from two elements: the dust of the earth and the
breath of life. As a result of the union of these two elements, man became a living soul. When he dies, the two separate, but go nowhere; they simply lose their state of consciousness until the resurrection, when body and breath are united again.
Two questions will help us to clear the mind of doubts. Here is the first of them: Do you believe in the resurrection?
The Scriptures teach that it will occur on the last day, when Jesus returns. But why the need for this resurrection on the last day, if we have already received our reward or punishment when we die?
We certainly would not descend from Heaven, or as-
cend from Hell and enter our bodies again.
Now the second question: Do you believe in judgment? “Of course,” you will say, because God's Word says, “Because he has set a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed” (Acts 17:31).
Matthew describes the distribution of rewards to the good and the bad when Jesus returns. So here's the question: Why a judgment at the end of time if we already have the reward or punishment when we die?
If a person was being burned in hell for 212 years, do you think God would send someone to get him for judgment?
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; I will prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also” (John 14:13).
If we were already in Heaven, what would be the purpose of Jesus returning? No, the Bible does not teach this kind of confusion!
You might think: What about the thief on the cross? Didn't Jesus tell the thief that he would be with him in paradise that very day?
Let's read Luke 23:43: “Jesus answered him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And someone says, “Yes, that's the way I've always understood it… that is, until today!
There seems to be a problem here, doesn't there? Does that one verse contradict everything else in the Bible?
God formed man from two elements: the dust of the earth and the breath of life. As a result of the union of these two elements, man became a living soul. When he dies, the two separate, but go nowhere.
CONTINUING FROM PAGE 16
Death by crucifixion was a long, slow process. Victims usually resisted for several days. So Pilate was surprised that Jesus died so quickly. He did not die from the crucifixion. He died of a broken heart.
Now examine John 20:17: “Jesus said to him, “Touch Me not, because I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brothers and tell them that I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God. ”
On Sunday morning Mary went to the tomb. She searched but could not find her Lord. However, there was someone standing in the shadows of that garden. She thought it was the gardener. “Where did you put Him?” she asked. And Jesus simply said, "Mary."
Immediately she threw herself at his feet and tried to embrace him, but Jesus held her by his hand and said, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father." Jesus himself, on Sunday morning, had not yet gone to paradise, how could he have been there on Friday night?
There is no evidence that Jesus was in any realm that dark Friday. But the thief looked farther down the corridors of time to the day when Jesus would receive the kingdom that rightfully belonged to Him.
And he said, "Remember me when you come into Your kingdom." That was the only expression of faith that reached his ears as he hung on the cross.
And Jesus answered: “I tell you today, you will be with Me in paradise.” Today, when even My disciples have forgot-
ten Me and run away; today, when it seems I shall never have a kingdom; today, when it seems I can never save anyone; I give assurance, guarantee. I say to you today, “You will be with Me in paradise.” Note that the change in punctuation changes the entire meaning of the text. Since there is no punctuation in the Greek text (this was an addition around the ninth cen-
tury), out of respect for the general context of Scripture, the sense of the text must be given as the Trinitarian version did: “Truly I say to you today, that you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
We conclude that death does not mean going to Heaven, hellfire or purgatory, or the spirit world. Death only means the cessation of life until the resurrection.
The apostle Paul describes the resurrection this way: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and those who died in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
What a day! What a hope! For those who have passed away, there will be no sense of time passing in the grave. The next step for them will be to see Jesus come back.
He comes triumphantly to the planet that once rejected Him, scourged Him and crucified Him, but a planet He cannot forget, and as He approaches this Earth He cries out in a voice like thunder: “Awake, you who sleep in the dust of the earth! earth, come to eternal life.” Our Lord offers us reality, not games. He tells us know what He told someone long ago: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (John 11:25).
There is nothing beautiful about death. She is cruel; it is a closed door and not a beautiful passage.
At the heart of all of Satan's gambits remains his original lie: you will not die. That's the problem: millions simply haven't studied God's Word and still question its authority. The Word of God states that the dead are sleeping in their graves, where they will remain until the resurrection. Death only means the cessation of life until the resurrection. ◙
Biblia.com.br team
What a day! What a hope! For those who have passed away, there will be no sense of time passing in the grave. The next step for them will be to see Jesus come back.Susan A. Primo Optometrist, professor, and clinician
You’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes – or you’ve had the diagnosis for a while now – or your doctor keeps changing or adding medications because you just can’t seem to get it under control.
These are common scenarios, and whether you are newly diagnosed or have had diabetes for a long time, there’s a lot of information to take in!
Diabetes is a chronic and often lifetime condition that can be gotten under control,
but it takes effort and focus. There’s no question that a healthy lifestyle is necessary, including proper dietary choices and exercise to control blood sugar. Unstable blood sugar or one that fluctuates can cause lots of changes in your body.
These significant fluctuations are not good for the body and not good for your eyes.
Your doctor has likely also told you to stop smoking, keep your blood pressure under control, and get an annual dilated eye exam.
These are all aimed at preventing serious problems or at least detecting them early enough to be treated.
We also know that the longer you have diabetes, the more you are at risk for some serious complications.
Like the rest of the body, diabetes can affect your eyes and vision in a few ways.
As your blood sugar fluctuates, diabetes can cause blurry vision and even change your eyeglass prescription.
It can make you a bit more
Diabetes is a chronic and often lifetime condition that can be gotten under control, but it takes effort and focus.
els go up or more farsighted as the sugar goes down.
You may notice in your eye exam that we ask you to know your A1c because it’s a sign of your blood sugar levels over time.
The goal is to have stable A1c levels with minimal fluctuation. We ask for a couple of reasons.
ACCURATE VISION PRESCRIPTIONS.
We want an accurate measurement for your eyeglass or contact lens prescription. If we think the prescription will fluctuate, we may ask you to come back for another visit when your blood sugar is better controlled.
We don’t want to prescribe glasses only to have the prescription change a few weeks later.
SIGNS OF POSSIBLE EYE DAMAGE.
Research also shows that elevated A1c levels or unstable blood sugars can contribute to vascular changes in the retina, causing fragile blood vessels to leak or even causing new ones to grow.
These are both signs of
nopathy or diabetic macular edema.
These findings should be prevented at all costs, but if they do occur, it’s best to catch them early so that we can stop or control them before permanent damage occurs.
Cataracts can also develop earlier if you have uncontrolled diabetes.
We will all get cataracts if we live long enough, but cataracts from diabetes can be more advanced.
Follow your eye doctor’s recommendations for follow-up and discuss the potential for surgery when the time comes.
Glaucoma has also been shown to be at a higher rate in people with diabetes.
Just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean you will get glaucoma, but the key is to have that annual comprehensive eye exam, making sure your eye pressure is measured at each visit.
If you do develop glaucoma, follow your eye doctor’s recommendations with treatment and follow-up. ◙
As your blood sugar fluctuates, diabetes can cause blurry vision and even change your eyeglass prescription.
Cataracts can also develop earlier if you have uncontrolled diabetes. Glaucoma has also been shown to be at a higher rate in people with diabetes.
