Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”    So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 
Genesis 1:26-27  (NKJV)

Sublime thought!  Almost unbelievable!  Can you imagine, reader, that you and i were created in the image of the omnipotent God?  If only the human race would sense their divine ancestry, their lofty lineage, their affiliation with god, their royal Progenitor, what a difference there would be in our attitudes toward God, ourselves, and everybody else.


Can you imagine what Satan has done and is doing to wipe from men's minds the thought that we are made in God's image?  Man is not a two-legged animal.  Man is not, as Mark Twain said,  "the only animal that blushes, or needs to."  Man is not "a great, mischievous baboon," as Dr. William Harvey, discoverer of the circulation of the blood, calls him.


Rather, man is a special, unique, created being.  Our text today takes away any mysterious conjectures about who and what man is.  It states plainly and unequivocally that man is not an animal and that he is not here by accident.  Rather, he is the product of God's thought, design, and power.  "Man was to bear God's image both in outward resemblance and in character." -- Patriarchs and Prophets.  p 45

God's creation of man in his own image is strictly a Judeo-Christian concept.  Other ancient nations have their corrupted accounts of the origin of man, some of which are vile and ridiculous, but none compare to the Bible's lofty description.

For instance, Buddhism teaches that the original source of all was a nameless being, devoid of all qualities and thus indistinguishable from nothing.  If this be true, what does that make man?  Absolutely nothing!  But man was something -- in fact, everything -- to begin with.  He was made in the image of God!  He was created perfect and upright, with noble traits of character.  This high concept focuses on the whole man, his mental, physical, and spiritual aspects.  No part of man was cast in an inferior mold.  Let this concept be held in your mind constantly.  Your ancestral line is important not because of some earthly blue blood, but because of your heavenly Father's will and design in creating man in His very own image!


taken from: First Things First
                      February 17
                 by: Bob Spangler

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians  6:12  (NKJV)


The reality of the conflict between Christ and Satan over the human soul is a concept that is difficult for most people, including myself, to grasp.  World War II began during the last years of my college experience.  Sensing the reality of that war was not difficult.  The aftermath found millions dead or wounded, cities devastated, and nations agonizingly resurrecting themselves from ruin.


But the idea of spiritual warfare, in which we are all involved, sometimes seems fictitious.  In this battle, we don't feel ourselves being blown up; we hear no bullets whizzing by.  In fact, we can't see the generals or the troops of either fighting side.


For this very reason, Paul says,  "Our fight is not against any physical enemy."  Thus, our warfare is all the more dangerous because of its subtlety and illusiveness.  No one denies the existence or the reality of psychological warfare.  But many deny or ignore the greatest war in the history of the universe, a war that for thousands of years has never ceased for a moment in its fury.


The sun is shining, and the children are dressed in their Sabbath clothes.  Dad has on a new tan suit, and mother wears a lovely summer dress.  A Bible and Sabbath school quarterly are in the hands of both parents and children.  What a lovely sight to behold, as they get into the car and head for Sabbath school and church services!


But tragedy strikes.  No, not an accident. Nobody guns them down.  Dad and mother get into an argument over some silly point, and one finally shouts to the other,  "Shut up!"  Six-year-old Jimmy begins to cry, and older sister Mary is dumb with bewilderment.  Mother and dad glare at each other.  The scars of that spiritual accident will last as long as that family is alive.  "We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world."


You can understand why Paul urges,  "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  Ephesians  6:11 (NKJV)


taken from: First Things First
                      February 7
                 by: Bob Spangler

“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Because your heart is lifted up,
And you say, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods,
In the midst of the seas,’
Yet you are a man, and not a god,
Though you set your heart as the heart of a god    Ezekiel  28:2  (NKJV)

Some years ago, mind scientists carefully tabulated the number of times mentally ill people used words such as I, me, my and mine.  these unfortunates used one of these words referring to self in every twelve words of conversation.  the same scientists tabulated the speech of so-called normal people.  this tabulation showed that one of these words referring to self was used in every thirty-six words.  The mentally unbalanced referred to self three times more often than those who were normal.  Could it be that much of the mental illness we see today on every hand is a direct result of insecurity brought on by self-will and self-seeking?

It is extremely important to understand that Satan's program of rebellion has suppressed or perverted the historical background of his own existence.  To acknowledge that God was his Maker would naturally have ruined his revolt before it could have gotten started.  Recklessly he made the defiant claim,  "I am God."  The prophet Ezekiel, in our text today, uses imagery that far transcends the prince of Tyre.  He was specifically referring to none other than Lucifer.  Imagine Satan claiming that he was God and that he sat in the seat of God!  Such profane pride is jarring to the Christian  mind!

The gorgeous apparel of Lucifer is described in verse 13 of Ezekiel 28, but note carefully the seven concluding words, "in the day that thou wast created."  And those seven words of the Almighty are supreme proof that the Lord, not Satan, is God!

Everything Satan had before he fell was his only by gift and not through his own works.  In short, Lucifer's existence was his by gift and gift alone.  Satan's only claim to anything was through the loving, creative power of God.  If this was true of Lucifer, how much more is it true of the human race.  Let us talk less about self and more about our Savior.  It is what He can do, not what I can do! 

taken from: First Things First
                      February 10
                 by: Bob Spangler