This article is going to blow your mind and hopefully give you some faith…or at the very least, perhaps it will make you think and wonder if there’s not something more out there than what we currently understand through our current level of science.

Part I: The Prince of Peace

Akiane’s painting of Jesus painted when she was only 8 years old.

Have you ever heard the story of Akiane’s Jesus?  Here’s a synopsis of the story:

“Akiane (is the name of a little girl whose) name måeans ocean in Lithuanian.  She and her siblings were homeschooled for the most part and they had no television and few books, so when she began telling her family about seeing visions at age four, they were fairly certain what she was experiencing was not a result of outside influences.

Akiane began to sketch and write poetry at age four, advanced to painting at six and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for $10,000. A large portion of the money generated from art sales is donated by Kramarik to charities. According to Akiane, her art is inspired by her visions of heaven and her personal connection with God. “I am a self-taught painter,” she told Children’s Digest. “God is my teacher.”

Akiane explained to her family that God gave her the visions and abilities to create her artwork and poetry, which must have come as quite a shock since both her parents were atheists at the time Akiane’s painting of Jesus painted when she was only 8 years old.. They later converted to Christianity on account of Kramarik’s paintings and visions. More than art was happening in their home. “Simultaneous with art was a spiritual awakening,” Akiane’s mother, Forelli Kramarik, told Christianity Today. “It all began to happen when she started to share her dreams and visions.”

You can read the entire incredible story here.

Part II:  Heaven is for Real

There was this little boy from Nebraska who had a near death experience and his dad wrote a book called: “Heaven is for real.”  This what happened.  When that little boy had his near death experience his parents started to notice that he’d talk about things that they knew he had never been taught or been exposed to……he was only 3 years, 10 months old.  Little by little his parents realized that he had some kind of heavenly visitation or experience and had seen Jesus.  So every time the little boy’s parents would see a painting of Jesus they’d ask him  “is this what Jesus looked like?”.  Over and over and over again he would say no, no, no….a hundred times he said NO that’s not what Jesus looked like.  Then they showed him the picture of “Akiane’s Jesus” and didn’t tell him where it came from and he said YES, that’s what Jesus looked like.  (By the way, this book has been made into a movie that was released in 2014).

Part III: Can Science Prove Christianity?

The History Channel did a piece last year about the Shroud of Turin….The History Channel and a group of scientists that specialized in developing software that was developed to create

This is the digitally created image that resulted from the analysis of the Shroud.

3D images out of 2D surfaces (such as photos taken of planetary bodies) studied the Shroud of Turin.  They used a photograph of the Shroud of Turn and ran it through this highly specialized software developed by the Air Force and Nasa.  They discovered that the photo of the Shroud of Turin was completely unique and different than any other photo they had ever examined.  They said that the photo looks the way it does because it’s not a 2d picture….but rather it’s the data needed to create a 3d image and so they used the 3d data from the image and created a 3d computer generated image of the man who was covered by the shroud.  (incidentally they said they discovered that the image on the shroud was NOT created with a liquid or paint because of the way that the image sits on top of the threads and they believed that the image was made from some kind of light).  They took every aspect of the event and shroud into consideration and even analyzed how the cloth would have laid on the face of “the crucified person”, etc.   This is the 3D image that they came up with:

OK now look at them next to each other:

The image on the left is is the digitally created image that resulted from the analysis of the Shroud; the image on the right is Akain’s painting of Jesus.

The only difference I see is the color of the eyes and the History Channel scientists were just guessing at the eye color, since that info wasn’t extractable from the Shroud.

Why is it so hard for people to accept the possibility that there’s something more “out there” than what we can prove with Newtonian Physics?  Whoever you are….you don’t have to believe 100%….just try to open the doors to your heart and let in a little bit of “possibility” in from the other side.

Please follow me and if you want to talk to me post a note…..I would be more than happy to discuss this issue with you.  Thank you and God bless you,  Emily

Can we prove that God really did create the heavens & the earth in just 6 days?

The first book of the Bible, as most people know, is Genesis.  Genesis 1:1-31 describes God’s creation of the heavens, the earth and all the things in it including man & woman which it says was completed in 6 days.  Growing up in an agnostic family revealed to me that this is a huge stumbling block for non-Christians.  How could God have created all the intricacies of life and earth and the universe just in 6 days when “everyone knows” the earth was created over billions of years?

Most Christians take this on FAITH and just try to ignore the fact that their non-Christian friends think it’s ridiculous – but not many of us have a good response to this question when our non-believing friends bring it up. This conflicts dramatically with our God given mandate to evangelize and encourage others to recognize & know the love of God. How do we talk to our “unsaved” family members about this particular (perceived) stumbling point in the Holy Scripture?  Most of us don’t understand why there’s this discrepancy between our beliefs and what modern day science says, but we trust God when He said He did all this in just 6 days and that’s enough for us (and by the way there are a few issues like this in the Bible that Christians take on faith and chalk up to the fact that there are things that we will never really be able to understand until we come face to face with God at the Pearly Gates.  There’s nothing wrong with taking things on faith and as a matter of fact that’s all Jesus ever asked us to do – to just have the faith of a mustard seed).  HOWEVER there is something wrong with that if it keeps people from believing in God and subsequently we need a way to address this as Christians.  So consider this (bear with me please while i give you a few basics about the Theory of Relativity and Time Dilation – I promise there’s a point to this):

Time Dilation theory suggests that gravity and relative velocity influence space time.  Is it possible that God’s position in relationship to man on earth influenced the way time was described and accounted for by Him in the Holy Scriptures?

So to conclude, I admit that I don’t know enough about the Theory of Relativity and Time Dilation to properly debate the subject -but I just wanted to plant a little seed (a mustard seed?) of possibility in your mind about this. After all, all science starts with a hypothesis and I’m just suggesting that we open our minds and admit that there are things in the universe that we don’t yet understand. And if we’re going to debate the issue honestly and intelligently, we shouldn’t close our minds off to any possibility.  So, is it possible that God really did create the earth and everything in it in 6 days FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE?

This was sent to us from prayer partners in Israel.  

As you know the secular media does not usually give us a true picture of what is happening in Gaza & Israel.  

This letter reprinted here to provide another perspective about the Israeli/Gaza conflict:

Dear friends,

We don’t usually talk about politics, but we felt the importance of balancing some of the things you might hear and read in the media in your countries…. So much could be said! But first a small story: In light of the recent

The most controversial place in the world…..literally.

“Operation Protective Edge” two Israelis received the Lord Yeshua in their hearts on the same day during a messianic meeting in Tel Aviv. The moment they came forward to pray the prayer of salvation, the siren went off, calling people to immediately run to the nearest bomb shelter. However, the pastor said, let’s go on: what’s happening here is more important. Then they all heard the rocket being intecepted by the iron dome. To the people meeting there the New Testament word “no weapon formed against you will prevail” (Is 54:17) had just come to life.

Over the past two weeks life changed for all of us and it’s not been easy. Personally, we returned from a summer holiday in Europe last Thursday. We left a more or less peaceful Israel, but returned to war. While writing this, the alarm went off, as every evening, and we immediately had to run to get everyone into the bomb shelter (see picture). We don’t have to tell you that what is portrayed to you in some of the mainstream media is not objective! Why is the war against Hamas so difficult?  Because for years they used money donated as humanitarian aid in order to stock arms and build their tunnels, under schools, kindergartens, hospitals. Warned by the Israeli army to evacualte their neighborhoods/houses because they are going to be bombed (because underneath these houses stocks of arms are hidden) the Hamas prevent their own people to leave, using civilians as human shields. Little children Lia’s age are armed with hand grenades to be thrown at Israeli soldiers. Today the Hamas prevented wounded Palestinians to get help in a field hospital just set up by the Israeli army. Later today they bombed it. They hid themselves in ambulances and shot from there. They abuse their own people for their goals in a fiercefully hateful way, which seems to lack any honor for the value of human life. That’s the real tragedy. We feel so immensely sorry for the Palestinian people, the children, the mothers and fathers, who have been betrayed by their brothers for decades. The Hamas militants mostly hurt their own people because they so hate the existence of a Jewish state. We can only express what Golda Meir so poignantly stated in 1957! “Peace will come when the Arabs (in this case, the Hamas terrorists) will love their children more than they hate us.”

Map showing Israel & the Gaza Strip

In the present war, more than ever, the IDF is very careful about each strategic step and they provide evidence of what is going on by photos and videos, in order to prevent reports like the heavily debated “Goldstone Report“.  From north to south of Israel, our nation has been exposed to rockets, several daily, at any random hour of the day or night. The war fell on the big summer holiday, much awaited by children of all ages. Now, instead of moving about freely on streets and at the beach, children and youth have to stay in or near buildings that provide (bomb) shelter. Summer camps have been cancelled or heavily restricted. In time, the sounds of the alarm and the rockets instill fear into the children and many of their parents.  Again we want to stress that we are aware of and concerned for the great suffering of the Palestinian civilians. They have no bomb shelters to run to. Many homes, sometimes whole neighborhoods have been destroyed. And yet the war of the IDF is against the Hamas terrorists only, NOT civilians, and not the Arab people as a whole.  We appreciate the effectiveness of the iron dome and thank God for His protection, as even after nearly 2000 rockets have been launched at targets across the nation, almost no one has been hurt (Psalm 91:7).

As a fellowship, we haven’t been able to meet on Shabbat for the past two weeks, due to the fact that no properly functioning shelter is available. We met in several homes instead. Besides calling and encouraging each member of congregation, Michael has begun visiting the different home groups. He is planning to also use the newly set up on-line teaching for our own members of congregation. We thank God that through this attack we’ve been more united. People came flocking in yesterday for prayer. During the prayer meeting, God gave us verses from Joel (Joel 2:12-17): We are called to fast and pray as priests of the Most High, on our own behalf first, repenting and being changed, then on behalf of our country, our nation, that their eyes would be opened, and that they would see that their safety and protection comes not only from the iron dome and the strong army; God Himself is the author of our protection and safety. We also proclaim Psalm 91.

We want to heed God’s call and stand in prayer for our country’s leadership. We are still considering how to do this in a collective and organized way, 24/7. We also continually pray for two members of congregation who fight in this war right now. One is serving his obligatory army service, the other has been drafted into reserve duty. The munition held by the Hamas is nothing compared to what Hezbollah holds. The present conflict is a dress rehearsal for what is described in the book of Zechariah, the day of Jerusalem. That’s why this is the time to lay down strife and differences in families, between congregations (over different doctrines) and as a nation (left and right). We must also stop arguing within the congregation and gird ourselves in unity for a holy work of intercession.

If you want to join us, we will be glad if you can pray as follows:

• For the protection of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza, particularly our two brothers mentioned before.
• For protection of the civilians on both sides.
• For all the children of this war who suffer from loss, trauma and fear.
• For the leadership of our nation.
• For opportunities to witness the peace of Messiah to people in fear (John 14:27), that we could be a living letter and witness of His peace and perfect love that casts out all fear.
• That we could soon meet again collectively and that this experience would unite us and we could live as the believers lived according to Acts 2:43-47.
• For the believers in the Messiah in Gaza.

Peace is  not the end of conflict. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. The tree is the Messiah Yeshua, the prince of peace. Real peace will come only, when Jews and Arabs will call on the prince of peace Yeshua the Messiah! On a small scale, this microcosm of peace has already begun.

Every blessing on you

Michael and Marianne

I could talk all day on the subject of pain and fear – because unfortunately I’ve become intimately aware of the former and often found myself fighting against the latter.  Fear and Hate and Anger and the resulting pain is very pervasive in the world we live in.  If you turn on the TV, you are inundated by negative stories that could put even Gandhi in a bad mood.  Despite all that negativity, I DO see beauty wherever I look.  Even when a terrible thing happens, I still see love in it’s wake. I thank GOD for that perspective.  After the Boston Marathon Bomb – passers by were the first to help & comfort the hurt and dying.   EMT’s rushed in to stabilize victims and hospital personnel practically killed themselves working non-stop shifts just to save people’s lives.  Often when something bad happens, people come together to help one another displaying incredible selflessness. And even in humanity’s darkest moments….there is still GOOD in the world.

Fear & negativity don’t get you anywhere, by the way.  I admit that there are many negative things in life that can induce fear – the ideas of death, destitution, hunger,anger, rejection, unrequited love, failure, loss, separation, pain and illness are enough to turn anyone into a Scrooge.  Yes life can deliver some awful things – and most of those things are scary as hell.  For that reason I want to focus on the things that heal and mend and lift us up a little bit each day.

A few years ago I was working on the “V-Chip”project and was contacted by the office of the Vice President (which at the time was Al Gore).  They wanted me and my father (an incredible entrepreneur & inventor named Andrew Andros) to demonstrate a product we had been working on that would give parents the ability to control the amount of violent and perverse TV shows that their children had access to  (something we take for granted now, but there actually was a time when this wasn’t an option).  My father later testified about Violence in the Media before the Senate Commerce Committee.  At that time people were starting to wonder if children were being influenced by violent images in the media.  To bring our product to market (the “TV Guardian”) I did a great deal of research on the subject and found that the images we see DO influence our bodies in very much the same way as the food we ingest.  Think of it this way….if you wake in the morning and eat a bag of salty corn chips….and did the same for lunch and then for dinner…..How do you think you’d feel?  How healthy would you be?  The things we eat  influence how healthy we are.  BUT do the things we SEE influence how we feel and think?  Unless you’re a sociopath I’m sure the last scary movie you saw scared the hell out of you.  When the body senses fear a whole series of chemicals are released in the body to prepare us for fight or flight.  OF COURSE if you consistently ingest negative images (scenes of hurt and anger and fear and greed)you are going to influence your own body chemistry in the same way.  There’s a great deal of research out there that talks about how stress affects the human body.  There are also studies that support the idea that what we THINK influences what we are and how we feel.  If you don’t believe me, read my blog posting called “Messages from water & beyond“. With that in mind try to take some extra time each day to look for the beauty and joy in life…..heal your heart by stopping to smell a flower or snuggling with and loving your children or pets.  Think about the people out there that volunteer to help the homeless or people who sacrifice their lives caring for the sick and helpless.  Love and hope and joy ARE out there.  Surround yourself with beautiful art, music, laughter, joyous people and all the things in life that heal us.

I want to remind your heart….your inner child…about something.  I think we all had a sort of wisdom about truth when we were younger and as life goes on that truth gets fainter and fainter each day.  We forget where we came from and as the world loads us up with all the reasons to be afraid, we have to make a point to reach up….to look up and seek the hand of God and rediscover that we’re not alone.  We have to remember that the glue that holds the whole big universe together is love; and nothing is more important than love.

I don’t understand any more than anyone why bad things happen to good people, but I do believe with all my heart that there IS a creative designer and that He sent us here to live these human lives to learn something – to seek and rediscover love in all its different forms.  God does exist and there’s more to life than the years between our physical birth and death.  Jesus promised us this and science is discovering proof of this more and more each day.  Knowing that death is not the end helps us to trudge through the muck. Knowing that we will some day be reunited with those we’ve loved and lost and knowing that we’ll reunite with the one central love of GOD, puts all the pain in perspective.  Think about it – if you KNEW for sure that there was life after death and that “death” wasn’t really the end…..but rather some incredible, beautiful, enlightened and brilliant new beginning…a gateway into the divine…..then that would help us to put death into a different light.  It doesn’t do a whole lot for the suffering part, but the death part really becomes way more tolerable.  That’s why I thank God for the perspective He gave me…..it’s a great gift just to be able to see the beauty (but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop that skill, either).  I realize this is a stretch but it does remind me of all the highly over publicized court cases that are beaten to a pulp in the media.  People are frequently bitching because “so and so wasn’t convicted of that crime.” And then the media finally releases one last little tid bit of information that makes sense out of everything…..and we all collectively say “OH well why didn’t they just tell us that?”

For some reason GOD has veiled our minds and hearts from the truth about death.  Yes, He’s thrown us a bone here and there, but He’s essentially mandated that we live our lives in a sort of amnesia.  He’s set things up so that we live our lives blinded from the truth for the most part, in a sort of “life long test” to see if “unaided” we can find love & truth.  I still believe (with all my heart) that someday the veil will be lifted and we’ll all collectively say “OH, well why didn’t You just tell us that?” (but by then we’ll be so thrilled that we’re enveloped in the love of God that we’ll most likely be speechless and in awe of God and completely unable and unwilling to bitch about anything at all).

Meanwhile…..we live and laugh and cry….and we seek and love and listen and we do what we can to uncover the truth from the heap of “life” that truth is hidden under.  I hope that just thinking about….and knowing that the good is out there helps you to find it in your own life.   I may not know you but I know you’re out there…..and I’m sending love your way.

If you find anything of interest here, won’t you please feel free to talk to me about it?  I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than talk to YOU about what you think.