Faith strengthens me...

I rely heavily on my faith to pull me through Stage 4 cancer, and the chemo treatments. I hope that what I'm about to write will be of some value, and it won't offend you in any way.  When death is knocking at your door, finding comfort in your faith can be invaluable. I think my battle with cancer has had a silver lining in this one respect. These challenges have brought me much closer to God, which has been a huge comfort to me. I thank God that I've had the opportunity to reconcile my faith with God, whereas so many people die suddenly, heart attack, car accidents, Covid, etc...and they have no opportunity to strengthen their faith, or more tragically, they have no opportunity to find faith in Jesus Christ. Everybody feels that they have the time to get serious with respect to their commitments to God, and I've been no different, until now, until the specter of death from cancer has become a reality to me.

I have survived three years since being diagnosed, and I hope God will give me more time to fulfill my obligations to Him, some obligations that I may have neglected in my youth. I've been a Christian my whole life, but my studies of the Bible commentaries revealed to me over time that I was just paying lip service to the obligations and responsibilities of my faith. I always felt I was saved, and I always tried being a good Christian in many ways, and not so good in others, etc...but I now realize that my commitment to the commandments of Jesus Christ to spread the Word of God were probably lacking. I wish now that I had realized that when I was younger, and acted upon it. 

When I was first diagnosed, it was Stage 4 Colon Cancer, and I didn't know how long I had left on this earth. Well, I recall my very first thought was to start reading the Bible everyday, and to study it to gain a more in-depth understanding. I started out with the modern translations of the Bible, but later, I began reading Bible commentaries. That was three years ago, and I made a commitment then to read the Bible commentaries on a regular, daily basis. I read the Bible commentaries about every night before going to sleep, and it gives me something to contemplate each day. I don't want you to think I'm some kind of religious nut or anything, but my faith has me obligated to spread the Word of God to others, and I want to spread the Word to all that will listen. So, I hope you'll indulge my efforts here, and not be offended by my spreading the Word.

I've got a favorite commentary series that I've settled on, and that's Dr. J. Vernon McGee's "Thru the Bible" Commentaries. Dr. McGee has some very good, down to earth commentaries on each book of the Bible, and they're inexpensive, especially if you have a Kindle E-book reader. The commentaries are available on Amazon.com in printed book form or e-books. They're entitled "Thru the Bible" commentaries by Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Dr. McGee is an expert on the ancient languages, and understanding the bible is made much easier reading his commentaries than trying to read the King James Version of the Bible, which was written in Old English in the year 1620, by King James of England. The King James Version of the Bible is kind of like reading Shakespeare, which can be very confusing, because it's not in modern day language. Of Course, there are Bibles that have been written in modern day language, and they're better, but they don't provide an accurate meaning in the books of the Bible compared with the commentaries. The modern day Bibles sometimes use translations from the original ancient languages that aren't accurate, but just too generic in their translations.

Dr. McGee took each book of the Bible, and he translated the meanings from the original ancient languages into plain English, he also relates the culture of the times, and the sociological influences of the time, etc.. so you can truly understand the various books of the Bible within the context of the times the books of the Bible were written in. Dr. McGee has free MP3 commentaries also available on the "Thru the Bible" website, and they cover each and every book of the Bible. So, if somebody prefers to listen to the commentaries, they don't necessarily have to read the commentaries. But, I like reading them nightly before going to sleep, just for a few minutes, nothing crazy as far as time spent. The Thru the Bible website address is as follows, in case you're interested in checking it out.

https://ttb.org/

I'll warn you in advance that Dr. McGee has a strange, very twangy West Texas drawl that some find strange, and it is, but that always kind of made his radio broadcasts kind of interesting. I used to listen to his radio broadcasts once in a while when I was traveling on the road in my sales territory years ago. I know it sounds like I'm giving a testimonial to Dr. McGee, rather than spreading the actual Word of God, and giving a testimonial that glorifies Jesus Christ. "Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man comes to Father but through Jesus Christ." But, I find that if someone will commit to reading Dr. McGee's commentaries, the Word of God will be spread, which is what I'm commanded to do by Jesus Christ. So, I feel that I've fulfilled my commitments to spread the Word by telling others to check out the commentaries.

Dr. McGee's commentaries are the best thing I've found to understand the true meanings behind the books of the Bible. I just hope that you might like checking it out, and if you do, and you're like me, you'll feel a desire to hear/read more. That feeling inside has strongly motivated me to make a daily commitment to read the commentaries each night, and I do, even if I'm not feeling too well. I can't really explain it, other than to say that after reading a little beginning three years ago, I feel a strong internal desire these days to read them consistently each day no matter how I feel. It's kind of like that old TV commercial that says "I can't eat just one," LOL!😂 

My responsibility to Jesus Christ is to spread the Word of God. I'm not obligated to "convert" anyone.  So, don't worry, I won't brow beat anyone once Jesus Christ's offer of salvation has been made.  

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