KennethBow's Blog

I admit I am an Apple product fan!

I started way back with the Apple 2e, then the Apple 2c.

When the first Macintosh came out I anted up.

So when the iPhone was announced I planned on getting in line and purchasing one.  I was blessed by Dr. Scheel who bought me my first iPhone.

I remember reading the authorities and gurus.  There were many who said it will never be a major player in the cell phone world.

Their reasons were myriad. It would only serve a small customer base, yada yada yada.

Well they were wrong! To date there have been 51.15 million iPhones sold.  8.75 million sold just this last fiscal quarter.

Then the big discussion on the iPad! All the authorities weighed in.  They hashed and wrote and forecasted!

They said it will have no place in the market, it is a glorified Kindle, etc.

Well they were wrong again!  The iPhone took 73 days to sell one million phones.  The iPad sold one million iPads in just 28 days!  There were 15 million applications sold for the iPad in that time and 1.5 million ebooks!

My point is the so called authorities got it wrong.

Well let me tell you something else they are wrong about….

The Bible says….In the last days scoffers shall come saying where is the promise of His coming?

They make light of Jesus return.

Well they are wrong about that too, because Jesus is coming!

They say it is just christians and their silly pie-in-the sky beliefs.

My reply is ….

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Jesus is coming!

Thanks for reading today!

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Saul.

Samuel anointing Saul

The first king.

No man among Bible men had so many chances to make a success of life and still missed it.

He was humble in the beginning 1 Samuel 10.22.

• He did not tell his own family he had been chosen as King
• He hid himself when the time to be introduced arrived
• He held his peace when the sons of Belial mocked him as a new King
• After his first great victory he showed kindness and mercy to all

Then self will began to surface 1 Samuel 13.12-13.

He became disobedient 1 Samuel 15.11-23.

Jealousy took over 1 Samuel 18.8, 19.1.

He turns to the very things he destroyed as a new King 1 Samuel 28.7.

He ends up a suicide 1 Samuel 31.4.

Apparently Saul never knew the man of God.  His servant knew where the man of God lived, but Saul was unaware.  Saul did not recognize the most recognizable face in Israel.  The whole nation knew who Samuel was and his fame, except for Kish and his son!

It seems his family was totally caught up in raising donkeys!

The Bible says the spirit of God came upon Saul and he also received another heart.  It would seem the spirit rested upon him at times but never got into his heart.  The new heart appears to be the heart of a statesman, not the heart of a man who loved God?

This man who had the opportunity to become a great man in God’s kingdom never made the grade.  The javelin of jealousy went straight to his heart!

As they sang Saul has killed his thousands, David has killed his ten thousands, jealousy hit the bulls eye.  From that moment on he was forever changed!

David spares Saul

These are the tragedies I see in Saul’s life….

1. Saul accused David of thoughts and actions David never had or thought.
2. Saul tried to kill David for these imagined offenses.
3. Saul was never able to see that David was in fact the best friend he had.
4. Saul never saw that David did not take Saul’s life when it was in David’s hand.
5. Saul died convinced the best friend he ever had was his worst enemy!

Are there any Saul’s in your life?

Don’t touch them.

They throw javelins.

They slander.

Saul pulled the javelin of jealousy from his heart and threw it at David!

Thanks for reading today!

4 Responses »

The Gospel of John

The Apostle John

John was Jesus’ first cousin and His best friend for 3 ½ years.  Jesus’ mother and John’s mother were sisters.  No man on earth knew the story of Jesus better than John.  His gospel is a magnificent treatise to the life of Christ and it’s impact on planet earth.

His gospel is different than the others.  Very different! It is written like John is sitting under a shade tree with his feet propped up, just daydreaming about the life of Jesus.  He only selects vignettes, short insights or events, from 20 days in the life of Christ.

John uses the simplest words, and a small vocabulary to plunge us into the deepest mysteries of God.  John uses the vocabulary of a six year old child.  A child learns about 100 words a year and John uses about 600 words in his writing.

The words John selects are powerful words.  He uses words like world, father, light, and truth. He uses the simplest words to paint a profound God and His plan.

Matthew writes to the Jew, so he begins his gospel at the lineage of Abraham.  Luke writes to the gentile Roman world, so his lineage begins at Adam.  John writes to the church, so he reaches all the way back to eternity.  He begins with, “In the beginning”.

.John reaches back to the inky blackness of eternity, before there was the brush of an angel’s wing.  He reaches back before there was the first blazing shaft of light that shattered the darkness.  When there was nothing but God.  In the beginning was the logos, the word, the thought, the intent.  And the logos was God.

John does not cover the same material as the other three gospels do.  The only miracle he repeats is the feeding of the 5000.  He writes to the church about 50 years after the other writers.  The church was facing many challenges.

When John wrote, there were those who said Jesus never really existed.  There were others saying Jesus was not a human, but rather a phantom.  Other views at that time proclaimed Jesus did exist but he was just a man with divinity projected upon him by his disciples.  It was into this morass that John wrote his gospel.

John writes of no parables, and uses 7 signs to build his story of Jesus.  He explains things like no other writer.  When he tells a miracle, he often explains why he used that miracle.  An example would be the feeding of the 5000.  He tells us Jesus is the bread of life.  The other three writers did not explain the connection for us.  When Jesus heals the blind man, John explains Jesus is the light of the world.  It is his explanations that give his gospel an added dimension.

He also includes things of immense importance.  Consider how important John chapter three is to the doctrine of the new birth.  The story of Nicodemas is the bedrock of salvation.  Ye must be born again.  That one inclusion validates the day of Pentecost and the doctrine of the New Testament church.  Chapter by chapter, John gives the church a gospel for the ages.  He delivers the most profound insight into Jesus the man, of any writer of history.

2/3 of John’s book is about the last week of Jesus’ life.  Fully 1/3 of his book is about the last 24 hours of Jesus’ earthly life.  After 60 years, the need was for a complete record of the importance of calvary.  A whole generation had arrived that were not eye witnesses to the events of Jesus’ death.  Someone needed to write it down and John succeeded as Heaven’s emissary.

We have the gospel of John and it is indeed  magnificent!

Thanks for reading today!

5 Responses »

The reason “Reason” is the reason!

There are so many questions today.  Where is America headed?  What is our future? What is the cause of America’s current direction?

Then there is the church.  Where is the church headed? What is the future of the Apostolic movement? What is the cause of the church’s current direction?

Will Durant wrote a series of books over a period of fifty years.  He wrote a volume every five years.  The set is called the Story of Civilization.  The series begins with “Our Oriental Heritage”, and continues through “The Age Of Napoleon.”

This series is what put the publishing house Simon and Schuster on the playing field as one of the major publishing houses in America.  One of the volumes of this series of books is “The Age OF Reason Begins.”  It is the story of the struggle of faith verses reason.

In the big picture of the last three hundred years this seems to me the root cause of this world’s drift and problems, as well as the church’s drift and problems.

It seems to me we deal with a closer view and say things like television, or worldliness, or carnality is the cause of the current drift of the church.  I readily admit these are the visible manifestations of the problem, but I am suggesting the cause is deeper and more long standing.  I am suggesting it has been the undercurrent of the Prince of this world for hundreds of years.

One of the proponents of Reason was the philosopher Descartes.  It was his writings and contributions that played a monumental role in Reason attacking faith.  He began to put forth the idea that free will was mans destiny, not blind faith.  “It is Descartes….who gave us a new method of reasoning, much more admirable than his philosophy” (Will Durant), The Age Of Reason Begins, page 645.

Reason stood up, introduced itself, and stepped to the center of the stage.  It is my opinion it has never sat down.

Reason has produced its many children.  Children like evolution, and abortion are easily identified.  Reason has also had some children that have been bene vixit qui bene latuit, (he has lived well who has hidden well).

These are the children that are hard to see and identify.  Hence these children are not removed for our lives, but remain and consequently grow stronger every generation.

These children of reason hide and hence they live well.  For the last three hundred years men have began to question everything.  They have questioned the universe, this world, laws, but most all authority!  These hidden children of reason gave birth to many movements that continued to have children, then grandchildren, to the present day.

Some of this reason was justified because of the excess of the Catholic Church.  Things were done in the name of God like the selling of indulgences, or the worship of Mary.  The advocates of reason seized these and held them up for the world to see and placed all faith in the same light.  So reason claimed superiority.

The battle of reason against faith continues today bene vixit qui bene latuit.  Yes we see the obvious.  We see the destruction that Hollywood brings, the emergent preachers and their liberal views.  Satan loves his hidden long-range plans of reaching the day where everything is questioned.

Satan longs for the day when every single child of God will question every thing possible.  Satan wants all of us born again believers to question every standard, every value preached across the pulpit.  It is the long-range plan of Satan to cause reason to triumph.

Faith and reason cannot co-exist!  There are simply things God expects us to accept by faith.  God created this world.  That is what faith says.  Reason says evolution is an option.

Faith says there are absolutes in life.  Reason says question homosexuality as right for some people.

Faith says give God ten percent.  Reason says share the wealth with those who do not work.

Faith says ye must be born again.  Reason says all good intentioned people will go to heaven.

Faith says there is a heaven and a hell.  Reason says that went out with the dark ages.

Faith says your gender is how you were born.  Reason says your sex is determined by your choice.

All of these are reasons why “reason” is the reason!

Reason is the reason that the world is out of control and the church is headed for apostacy!

“But without faith it is impossible to please God”

Thanks for reading today!

4 Responses »

Today I just update you on all the gossip! Howbeit, it is good gossip! Is that an oxymoron? A conudrum? You judge!

I am in Beebe Arkansas at Dr. Scheel and Pastor Jason Scheel meeting.  Absolutely beautiful day here.  80 degrees and sunny.  I stopped at a motorcycle shop and asked if they rented, and they don’t! bummer.

Last night Janice Alvear, missionary to Brazil spoke on “The journey of a handmaiden of the Lord”.  It was her personal story of going to Brazil and her 40 plus years there. She and her husband can now celebrate over 10,000 converts to this wonderful Jesus name message.

Today we will hear from Greg Riggen, and Tim Bourn.  Tonight is Brother Bill Davis from Macon, Georgia.

The Scheel family are incredible hosts and their church just does everything to make you feel special! It is truly old time pentecost.  it is so refreshing and contrasting to some of the plastic pentecostal meeting I have attended.

On another note….

We just finished our Anniversary services.  The speakers were “In a Zone” this year.  That is the term when a sports person plays at a level they have never reached before.

Friday night Garry Streeval from Noblesville, Indiana spoke on “Have I done enough?” He challenged us to introspect and face that question.  It was deeply moving.

Saturday night the one and only, inimitable Jerry Rowell preached about “Aware”.  For me to tell you how good it was would be a travesty to that sermon.  Simply Incredible!

Sunday morning, the prince of preachers, Martyn Ballestero, spoke on “God Deviseth Means”.  It was classic Ballestero. Beautifully delivered, annointed, and unforgettable.

Sunday night the cleanup batter was Glen Burgess, and Brother did he ever hit a grand slam!  I still get chills thinking about it. He preached “Keep walking”.  Whatever you do, do not let the title lull you to think it was ordinary.  He made us laugh, then cry, then stand on spiritual tiptoe and say, I will keep walking.  He told heart wrenching stories of tragic failure by people he tried to save. Honestly, I recommend every child of God to hear this message.

FPC was so generous to me this year.  They have been the most giving church I have ever known, but this year was off the charts.  They bought me a trailer for my Harley and Goldwing.

New Trailer FPC gave me to pull behind my motorhome 🙂

I told my friends, because I do not have a wife, I will put a sign on the back of it that says “This trailer has my wife’s clothes and shoes in it, so we can travel in this motorhome”.  We had a laugh about that!

Thank you FPC, You have been am amazing group of people to pastor and share my life journey with.

Lastly my blog….

I have been doing this for a little over a month now and over 7,000 times someone has clicked on to read the blog.  I am stunned, amazed, and so thankful.  I wanted to share some of the information with you of who read, and which blogs were the most read.

The biographical blogs have had the most interest.  The blog about Brother Terry and Brother Ballestero have the most reads.

After that the story of my mother’s murder was read the most.  The blog on Athiests also was right there.

The Bible blogs were well read, and I appreciate every one of you who have joined me.

Special thanks to all the men on CAF who have read and commented.  They have been friends and supporters.

From my heart thank you! Get some coffee in the mornings, and let’s blog.

Thanks for reading today!

11 Responses »

Now is your time!

“I am too old.”

“I’m too young.”

Tiger Woods was three years old when he shot 48 for nine holes on his hometown golf course in Cypress, California.

Julie Andrews was eight years old when she mastered an astounding four-octave singing range.

Mozart was eight years old when he wrote his first symphony.

Charles Dickens was twelve years old when he quit school to work in a factory, pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish, because his father had been imprisoned for debt.

Anne Frank was thirteen years old when she began her diary.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was fourteen years old when he enrolled at Harvard.

Jeremiah was 14, Isaiah was 18, Ezekiel was 17, Daniel was 18 when they began their ministry.

Paul McCartney was fifteen years old when John Lennon invited him to join a band.

Bill Gates was nineteen years old when he co-founded Microsoft.

Plato was twenty years old when he became a student of Socrates.

Joe DiMaggio was twenty-six years old when he hit safely in fifty-six consecutive games.

Henry David Thoreau was twenty-seven years old when he moved to the shore of Walden Pond, built a house, planted a garden, and began a two-year experiment in simplicity and self-reliance.

Ralph Lauren was twenty-nine years old when he created Polo.

William Shakespeare was thirty-one years old when he wrote Romeo and Juliet.

Bill Gates was thirty-one years old when he became a billionaire.

Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Coco Chanel was thirty-eight years old when she introduced her perfume Chanel No. 5.

Mother Teresa was forty years old when she founded the Missionaries of Charity.

Jack Nicklaus was forty-six years old when he shot 65 in the final round, and 30 on the back nine, to win the Masters.

Henry Ford was fifty years old when he started his first manufacturing assembly line.

Ray Kroc was a fifty-two-year-old milkshake machine salesman when he bought out Mac and Dick McDonald and officially started McDonald’s.

Pablo Picasso was fifty-five years old when he painted Guernica.

Dom Pe`rignon was sixty years old when he first produced champagne.

Oscar Hammerstein II was sixty-four years old when he wrote the lyrics for The Sound of Music.

Winston Churchill was sixty-five years old when he became Britain’s prime minister.

Nelson Mandela was seventy-one years old when he was released from a South African prison.  Four years later he was elected president of South Africa.

Michelangelo was seventy-two years old when he designed the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Auguste Rodin was seventy-six years old when he finally married Rose Beuret, whom he met when he was twenty-three.

Benjamin Franklin was seventy-nine years old when he invented bifocal eyeglasses.

Frank Lloyd Wright was ninety-one years old when he completed his work on the Guggenheim Museum.

Dimitrion Yordanidis was ninety-eight years old when he ran a marathon in seven hours and thirty-three minutes, in Athens, Greece.

Ichijirou Araya was one hundred years old when he climbed Mount Fuji, 12,388 ft. tall.

Whether you are sixteen or sixty, the rest of your life is ahead of you.  You cannot change one moment of your past, but you can change your whole future.

Now is your time.

Thanks for reading today!

5 Responses »

I will greet this day with love in my heart

Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men.

My reasoning they may counter, my speech they may distrust, my apparel they may disapprove, my face they may reject, yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun.

I will love the sun for it warms my bones, yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit.

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.

I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart, yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul.

Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I search for excuses to gossip.  When I am tempted to criticize I will bite on my tongue, when I am moved to praise I will shout from the roofs.

It will lift me in moments of despair, yet it will calm me in time of exultation.

And how will I confront each whom I meet?

In silence and to myself I will address him and say I Love You.

Though spoken in silence these words will shine in my eyes, unwrinkle my brow, bring a smile to my lips, and his heart will be opened.

Most of all I will love myself.  For when I do, I will zealously inspect all things which enter my body, my mind, my soul, my heart.

Never will I overindulge the requests of my flesh; rather I will cherish my body with cleanliness and moderation.

Never will I allow my heart to become small and bitter.

From this moment all hate is let from my veins for I have not time to hate.

If I have no other qualities I can succeed with love alone.  Without it I will fail though I possess all the knowledge and skills of the world.

I will greet this day with love in my heart.

Thanks for reading today!

One Response »

It was about 5 in the morning.  I was flying out of the Houston airport.  I had just turned the rental car in. It was like a graveyard.  No one anywhere, walking or driving.  I was sleepy and tired and on my way home to Seattle.  I got on the shuttle, went to the back seat to avoid conversation with the driver who looked a bit weird through my unfocused bleary eyes.

He got in and we started toward the airport.  I was the only passenger. That is when it happened.

He looked at me in the rear view mirror steadily until I acknowledged his stare. I thought he wanted to know what airline I was using.  As I tried to focus on his small image in the mirror, he said it.

He meant it.

It was not a joke.

Shivers ran down my spine.

I thought, uh oh, I am in this van with a nut!  Very loud and with absolute conviction, almost like a challenge, he said…

“ELVIS IS ALIVE”!

I froze! If I laughed he might shoot me.  If I ignored him, he might go crazy.

I will tell you one thing, I was no longer sleepy!  I was wide awake.  In a millisecond I decided the safest way to navigate these dangerous waters.  I decided to act like he was perfectly normal and everyone knew good old Elvis was alive.

I said, “How do you know?”

When he spoke there were now shivers on my shivers.

His piercing stare looked at me and he said, “Because I have seen him”.

Well, about this time, I am desperate.  Can I jump out of a moving shuttle before he tackles me?  Is there an emergency cord I can pull?  Should I fake a heart attack? Maybe tell him Elvis is my first cousin to win him over?

So wanting to laugh at this incredibly absurd situation I am in with this nutcase, half scared, I replied, “How does he look”?

I am not sure what happened in his mind, or what was left of his mind, but he stared straight ahead without any more utterances or sounds.

When we got to my terminal, he placed my suitcase on the ground and stepped back.

It was then the “Martyn Ballestero Syndrome” kicked in my devious brain toward this lunatic who had robbed me of some valued sleep and scared me pretty bad.

I looked into his glazed eyes and said, “Elvis is my cousin.  Tell him you met his cousin Ken, and say hello for me”.

I turned and walked off.  After about 30 steps or so, I looked back.  He was frozen in stupefied awe and adoration to know he had met Elvis’ cousin.  That is the last I ever saw him.

I try not to rent cars in Houston.

I hate to disappoint the Elvis fans out there, but honestly, Elvis died and was buried.  Just like every other mortal man who has ever lived.  Just like Budda and Confucius and Mohammed.  Just like every politician, leader, guru, shaman, and great man.

But there is one….one who died, but didn’t stay dead!

He got up!

After three days He rose from the dead, made His bed, and left the door open so the whole world would know that He got up and left!

His name is Jesus, and I actually do know Him!

If you have never met Him, He would like me to introduce you to Him.

He told me to let you know that tomorrow somewhere near you will be a church.

He will be there and would like to meet you personally.

Thanks for reading today!

8 Responses »

Is it because I am depressed over the economy?

Am I heartbroken because of Americas freefall?

Nope…none of that…the real reason is…..

This is the real reason folks...see you tomorrow!!!

9 Responses »