Reincarnation aka the art of procrastination

Reincarnation, the idea or belief that when the body dies the sould will leave that body to be bourn into a new one. There are many times I wish this was true, think back on how many times you have thought “I wish I could go back and change that” or “I wish I had done something different there”. I mean my life is riddled with areas I wish I could change. Situations I wish I could have changed the outcomes, love I wish I had chased, time waisted on futile persuits I wish I could have back. I know that who I am today has been shapped by the potter’s hands and I wouldn’t change a moment of it, some lesions are hard learned.

I will give the Buddhist & Hindi are correct when they say “Life [without God] is suffering”, but reincarnation is the art of procrastination. If someone told you that you could go back, you could try again, it would be cool, but it would also say that your choices in this life don’t really matter. So if you do really bad, its not really that bad; adversely this means that the good things done in this life aren’t really good. So there’s no real reason to do good. I mean, let’s look at this logically.

If you believe in reincarnation:

If you haven’t done anything with your life other than sit on the couch, eating potato chips, watching TV, letting the world pass you by then die of a heartattack from clogged artries. Cool, maybe you’ll come back as a physical trainer, climb mount everist, go skydiving, etc

You missed that connection with the girl you really like, maybe you can catch her in another life.

There are those who are lonely, maybe if they kill themselves they’ll have a life with more friends.

There are starving children in Africa. Good, they’ll die soon and maybe they can be reincarnated as an obease American child.

A person was born with a disability or handed a bad lot in life, well maybe they did something bad in their last life.

There’s something in the back of your head screaming “NO! THAT’S NOT RIGHT!”

Reincarnation is a scape goat to free yourself from conviction & responcibility. You won’t feel convicted if you didn’t do something or did do something that wasn’t “right”. It frees you from responcibility of doing the “right” thing.

Conviction comes from God, to ignore that feeling inside of you saying “this is wrong” is to ignore God.

” And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

John 16:8

We need to make the absolute most out of this life. Help as many people as we can. “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Apple

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

Hebrews 9:27

I hope this lights a fire under your butt. There are people suffering out there, they need help.

The end point for a for someone who believes in reincarnation would be “let them die” or “kill them and put them out of their misery”.

The end point for a follower of Christ would be, “They’re dieing. We need to help them.” The proper response is to get up and GO! GO! GO!

Live your life like you’re dieing, cause you are.

The least of these.

This is a poem that was written by a Moldavian orphan.

Our parents work hard abroad
And have for many years
We have to grow up without them
But this fills our eyes with tears
~~~~~~~~~~
Mother, who will care for me if you are away?
Our home will have no master, father, if you chose not to stay
~~~~~~~~~~
I miss my parents very much,
I am feeling so alone
I want no money or no clothes,
I want you to come home
~~~~~~~~~~
Mother, who will care for me if you are away?
Our home will have no master, father, if you chose not to stay
~~~~~~~~~~
Parents, can you hear us?
We need you to come home
Other people’s slaves were made
When you leave us on our own
~~~~~~~~~~
Mother, who will care for me if you are away?
Our home will have no master, father, if you chose not to stay

This breaks my heart. Where there are those who might not have the warmest coat or blankets for the long, harsh eastern European winter. Where there are those who might not have the best food available to fill their tiny stomachs. Where there are those who might not have the best facilities to house these orphans. The one thing that they want, the one thing that they crave… is love.

I can’t stand by doing nothing while even one of these kids shiver through the night.
I can’t put on my jacket to keep warm without thinking about the little ones who cannot do the same.
I can’t eat one meal without thinking about one of these children who maybe going without.
I can’t look at the place I live, with climate control to keep the cold out, without knowing there are those who cannot enjoy the same.

I can’t live one moment of my life knowing there are those out there who have not been loved. God has shown me love in abundance. I want to take this love to those without.

If you have been moved at all, if your heart breaks, if you cannot stop crying at this thought then do something about it.

Go bring love to these children.
If you cannot go, send others who can.
So that you may know you are helping.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

Matthew 25:40
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Jesus


If you can't go help send me:
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For%20Nic%20Wolfe&tuid=5500301

My lesson in Humility

I must apologize because I realized that my last post sounded harsh. I know that because I follow Jesus people will be offended, but I need to watch out where that offence comes from. It will either originate with their rejection of the truth. For example if someone is lacking on hygiene and try to tell them humbly & politely “I don’t mean to offend you, but you may have forgotten to take a shower today.” This person will either welcome this information and go take a shower, or they could get offended because you called out something they didn’t want people to notice. The other scenario would be the way that you tell someone. If you walk up to this same person and say “Man, you smell like you stepped in dog poo. You need a bath, stinky.” While it may be true this is the proud or arrogant way to do it. So again I apologize and ask for your forgiveness that I was speaking proudly.

I would like to explain this in a more humble way. There are two major ways to sin, omission and commission.

Sins of Commission

To commit, to partake, carry out, complete, or do and act that is against God. I know that most of us are familiar with this. The heart of sin is idolatry. I know what you’re thinking “But I don’t have any statues”. Idolatry is to place something or someone in God’s rightful place as ruler over everything in our lives.  To find out truly ask yourself “Who is in control of your life?” If your answer is “Me, I control my life.” You are prideful and you idolize yourself (James 4:6). Another way to find out is truly ask yourself “What drives my life?” or “What do I spend the most time doing or thinking about?” Is it sex, money, power, religion, morality, missions/ministry? Are these things bad? No.

Sex with your spouse, in a godlily marriage, is a beautiful thing (Song of Solomon), but extramarital relations in thought & action is adultery (Matt 5:27-32).

Power is needed to make global changes (Rom 13:1).

Money is necessary for survival in this world, but do not chase after it because God will provide (Luke 12:6-7; Matt 6:24).

Religion & morality are great when we focus on God and not about relying on it to get to heaven (Eph 2:8-9; 1 Tim 4:1-5).

Missions & ministry are part of what we are told to do (Matt 28:16-20), but if you focus on ministry more than actually spreading the love of God it can become an idol (Matt 10:19-20; James 2:14-26).

There are a lot of good things, but to take them and put them over God is sinful.

Sins of Omission

The immediate reaction to this would be to then lock yourself in a room so that you might not sin by action.

“Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17

And people might say that there are people that haven’t heard what to do, but because of God’s grace everyone has a conscious. So we all know the difference between good and evil, but let me clarify if you may have forgotten:

There are those who are hungry in the world. Feed them.

There are those without water. Drill them a well.

There are homeless. Shelter them.

There are orphans. Love them.

There are those who are naked. Clothe them.

There are those in jail. Visit them.

There are those who are sick. Give them medicine & care for them.

There are those in oppression. Free them.

There are those in despair. Bring them the hope.

There are those in need. Help them.

If you can’t physically do so enable & support others who can and you will go with them.

Matthew 25:36-41

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. 'Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

We are all sinners.  Give in to that feeling, that conviction. Tell God you’re sorry, and actually be sorry. Ask Him to change your heart and give you new motivation for Him. Take His love to others.

More on this can be found here:

Doctrine series “The Fall: God Judges”

Why not just pull the trigger?

EDIT NOTE: before reading please view this post

There are those who don’t know the tragedies and horrors of the world. Like the fact that there are kids dyeing in Africa from malaria, something that is completely curable with very little medication. There are children dyeing all over the world from lack of access to clean water and sanitation. I have no problem with these people, they’re just unaware that these things are going on. Part of what I have to do is inform these people who don’t know. Once people know what is going on they will react one of two ways.

The first is those whose heart breaks. They hear of a little girl being captured by the LRA then is forced to bite to death another little girl and they start crying. They want to find a way to help; it burrows into their soul so deep that they can’t look away. These are the people who will tell others about what is going on. They will make sure that everyone knows. They are the ones who become expatriates to help those in need. They will sacrifice anything and everything they have to help. These are the dedicated ones. These are the ones who care. If your reaction doesn’t quite match this then you probably fall into the other reaction.

The other reaction people will have is that they don’t care. These are the people who hear about a little girl in Cambodia being sold by her grandfather to a sex slave trafficker and say “Oh that’s sad, someone should do something about it.” Then they assume someone else will take care of it. By standing by and doing nothing it enables those who are committing these acts to continue. It is saying that it is ok for these things to happen. It is to stand beside these genocidists, fighting for them. Enabling & empowering them. These are the people who would sit idly by as someone beats a child to death or rapes a defenseless woman. This brings up a good question.

How do you react?

This isn’t a question that is just answered by words it is answered by action.

The words that you answer with are in prayer & commitment. Pray that things change and make a verbal commitment to help. This is followed by action.

The action response is to sacrifice; the sacrifice of your life, to go and physically help in any way possible. You leave all that you know and all your comforts to help those in need. I can understand that not everyone can do this; in fact I know that very few will be able to. So those who cannot go need to enable those can.

To enable those who go, with money and time. Giving time to learn about what is going on and keeping up with it and telling others what is happening, so that no one may be ignorant of the suffering and the help that is needed.

Or you can react with those who do not care… but remember who you are killing when you say you don’t care.
 

A message of giving

Luke 1:1-4
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

I love this passage for multiple reasons, aside from the fact that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” this passage speaks volumes. There were many people in the 1^st century that wrote about what Jesus did while on earth, 4 of which were picked by God to persevere the ages to bring us the words of Christ. The Gospel of Luke was written by a well educated (within the top 1% of the populous) doctor. He left his practice to investigate ineptly the works of this Man, Jesus of Nazareth. Through the investigation and testimonies of eye-witnesses it was shown that He was the God-Man, savior and redeemer of mankind.

Both Luke & Acts open with an address to a Theophilus, which means “loved by God”. It is presumed that both books were commissioned & paid for by this man. This means that he funded Luke’s life & travel during the writing of these books. If Theophilus had decided that there were enough gospels written or that someone else would take care of it not only would we not have the Gospel of Luke, but we also wouldn’t have the information listed in Acts. So even though Theophilus didn’t pen either book they would not have been possible without them.

But like Luke I will be making sacrifices. Luke being one of the better educated people in that day had the opportunity to be a very wealthy man, most likely leaving behind a home & possessions, but he spent his life perusing Jesus. This is what I plan on doing; I will give all that I have to be able to go. I ask that you would become part of this ministry. I would ask that you be my Theophilus and enable me to go through prayer & donations. Anything given is greatly appreciated, if you can spare $5, $10 or more I would appreciate it. I would ask that you remember everyone who would be touched by this mission.

Donations can either be made directly to me or through the following site:
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For%20Nic%20Wolfe&tuid=5500301
(all donations made through the site are tax deductible)

You don't have baggage, you are baggage.

Imagine this.

You find a program that lets you live abroad for very little cost. They let you know that part of this program is that you work while you’re in these areas. You prep yourself for a year long trip, get all of your documents in order, get your contact’s information, and set your flight. You’re excited as the plane lands Heathrow in London. You take a cab to the flat where you’re supposed to meet your contact. You’re welcomed in, set your stuff down. You start chatting with your hosts, share a few drinks. You start to feel groggy & pass out.

You wake up in a much different side of town. A very shady flat where the wallpaper is falling off the wall, you have an old, stained mattress on the floor. You have no idea where you are or where your stuff went. Your “host” informs you that it’s time to start paying back for your trip. You immediately protest to what they have done to you. This man who brought you here beats you and tells you that you’ll do as he says or he’ll kill you, after all he did pay a good amount of money for you. You’re kept in this place for a few weeks, nightly getting beaten & raped. This man brings over other people to do the same thing to you.

One day you see an opportunity to escape. Knocking out your captor and run for it. You run for blocks until you find a police station. Out of breath you try to explain to the officer about what has been happening to you. The officer listens and they take you into the back. After some time the officer asks you for your identification. You think about it and you know it’s with your belongings, wherever they are. They are more interested in your citizen ship, rather than what has happened to you. They label you an illegal immigrant & throw you in jail for being in the country illegally. Your captor finds you and pays your bail and you’re back in their custody.

This is the story of an estimated 2.5 million people. This is what it is like to be a victim of Human Trafficking; some people get tricked into this by promises of moving from a 3^rd world country to a developed country for a better life. Others, normally children or teens, are sold into this by their parents. There are quite a few that are kidnapped and forced into sex trades or manual labor. The majority of people are 18-24, although 1.2 million of its victims are children.

This is normally a rare situation for an American citizen, as there are things that can be done, like going to the US embassy in that country. There are many people who cannot do this, they are normally tracked down by the trafficker and forced back in.

The Adventures in Missions organization has programs that are a safe haven to these people. One of the things I could be doing on the World Race is helping out with this program of counseling and ministering to these victims.

I would ask for your prayers on this trip, but any donations would be helpful. You can donate at the following link:

Click here

God give me strength

I feel God calling me to some dangerous places, He has given me courage to no fear the things that would destroy the body. He has broken my heart for a lot of things.

To help those affected by the LRA in Uganda, DR Congo, Central African Republic & Sudan.

To help & encourage the persecuted church in any and all ways possible.

To help those who have experienced human trafficking.

Through the World Race program I am able to go to Uganda, China, Cambodia. and other places. I will always ask that you pray for me as I go do these things. I ask that you wouldn't pray for my safety, but pray God's will would be done on this trip.

Any finical contributions would be greatly appreciated. You may donate at the following link:
Donate