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Metaverse Life Outside of Reality

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Life can be tough sometimes, to a point where daydreaming or living outside of reality can be an outlet to not think about the hardships in life, but how far or how long is too much? At what stage do we need to get to in order to realize that living in a virtual world for a lengthy amount of time becomes very unhealthy.

I had a friend who had a boyfriend who would just come over her house and play video games on her large screen TV. Although he was physically present, mentally, he was gone, into the video game. I admit, playing video games can be fun, but just as other things, it can become an addiction. It takes one’s mind out of reality, especially if it involves wearing VR goggles.

Now, instead of a game just being a source of entertainment, Facebook or now, Meta, wants their users to live a life outside of reality. If you’ve seem Facebook’s video where Mark Zuckerberg is introducing Facebook’s transition as now, Meta, he presents himself in a virtual environment with his own avatar. His avatar goes into another virtual space with other avatars, associated with other real people. There’s a clip where other avatars meet up to celebrate a birthday party in virtual reality. What’s a birthday party without a real cake to eat or making goofy memories with friends in person? Will this younger generation be making memories with their avatar friends in virtual reality? The video is very troubling in a sense with the question of, what is this technology going to do to the younger generation? Rather than meeting their friends in person, they will meet virtually, in a metaverse. This virtual world can become a constant outlet to mentally and visually leave reality.

Will their identity be their avatar and the house they live in a virtual home and what happens when they step outside of their virtual world, will it be a blow to real life? I can’t imagine how much damage Meta/ Facebook will be doing to this younger generation, but it doesn’t matter to them, because they will be profiting off the hours that users will spend online and what they will be purchasing to stay in their metaverse. There’s exploration inside a pre-programmed virtual world, but no hands on innovation or creativity. Take the internet away and what are kids left with?

Some forms of technology seem to be taking person to person interaction to a halt. First transitioning from a phone call to texting. Furthermore, virtual reality or via the metaverse where you meet with people with your self-made avatar and interact with their avatar in a fake or made-up world. If you have the funds, you can use some $3000 priced goggles for a better experience.

Being in a virtual world may be a dynamic experience when playing video games, but when it starts to get to a point where you start spending hundreds, thousands or millions on things that will always live in a computer, like a piece of the meta verse, clothes or items for your avatar…I mean…come on…really? Don’t we like to live in a tangible world and receive real hugs, breath in fresh air, watch the sunset, sit by a lake, feel the wind and hear the leaves rustle in the wind?

Starting the Day on the Right Book

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Every morning there’s that first decision of the day. What is the first thing that I should do? Although the first decision or action of the day may not seem so important, there’s one action that sets the arrow in the right direction, which to me is, reading the word of God.

I can’t count the amount of days where I’ve waken up on the wrong foot, looking at the wrong things on my phone, like the stock market, emails or googled something on my mind; then spent the rest of the day putting God last. Those days usually result in very little focus, getting not much done and feeling…eh.

But when I give the first time of my day to God, somehow, I get so much done, I’m very focused and more chipper than usual. There’s more to giving God the first tenth of your paycheck, but giving Him your first few minutes of the day really pays off. Days even seem much longer as if time was extended.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Matthew 4:4 says, “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The King Within

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Transformation of Jesus painting by Vange
Transformation by Vange L.

If you’ve ever watched the movie, The Gladiator, that is one of my favorite movies. What I like about it, is how it focuses on a character by the name of Maximus who went from a commander of an army to a slave; yet although he became a slave, he still had the same ability to lead a team in a fight to victory. He did not loose his identity because he was no longer a commander. He was still the same man that a dying emperor had chosen to take his place. Although Maximus was not a prince nor in the blood line of one, the man on the inside had what was needed to rule a nation and being a slave did not take away what was already embedded inside of him.

Watching the movie jogged my memory back to a story told by my pastor at church. Occasionally churches do outreaches, where they distribute many items to those in need, within or outside of the country. It takes money, volunteers, preparation and time. Sometimes people choose to volunteer their time, others donate money or personal items. The need was announced at the beginning, then at the end of service, a man who wanted to financially help out requested to meet with the pastor. When the pastor first saw the man he noticed his rundown looking clothing and his scruffy facial hair. He could have passed for a homeless man so when he told the Pastor about the amount of money he wanted to donate, it was an absolute shock. The homeless looking man wasn’t just rich, but he was a King from another country.

Before Jesus came into the world, He sat on a throne as king, but He chose to come into the world as a peasant. He did not come dressed as a king with gold and expensive clothing or with a palace. Some came to the realization of Jesus as King by being around Him. Some experienced His miracles and others, His love and grace. He came for everyone: the rich, the poor, the lame, the sinners, even the ones that the world would consider scum. He hung out with a few people that society abhorred, like a tax collector or a woman who once sold herself for money. He touched and healed lepers or what society considered, the unclean. He did not live extravagantly, although He could have by turning water into wine, healing the sick or by being all knowing. He did not need riches to accomplish His purpose, nor clothing to get people to realize that He is the Son of God. People saw that He is Lord, when they looked at His heart. He took the cross as a criminal would and along with it, the sins of the world: the hatred, anger, pain, bitterness and everything else that needed to be washed away in order for us to be clean and right before God. The sin that would have killed us, He took it upon Himself on the cross. With that powerful love comes surrender and worship.

Isaiah 53: 4-5 “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Understanding the Bible

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Many years back, in middle school, I was handed a tiny New Testament book, which is the other half of the Bible, beginning with Jesus coming into the world and God’s message that spread like fire after the death of Jesus. Although, I must add, the other half of the Bible, the Old Testament, written before Christ was born into the world, foreshadows His birth and purpose.

I kept the New Testament in my room, not intending to read it. We had a Bible at home, which was gigantic and heavy. It seemed to just serve the purpose of decoration for the coffee table. No one ever read it, just opened it to look through, the rest of the time, it collected dust.

There was a time when I opened up the tiny New Testament sitting on top of my radio. It was a hard time for me, one of those emotionally heart aching times when It felt like things were never going to improve. It was a King James Version, the hardest version to read with the old English. After trying to understand the few versus I read, I got frustrated and just threw it, and questioned, “Why God?”

My recollection of Bible reading was just watching both of my Grandmas read it. I always thought it was something to read when one gets closer to potentially passing away. I didn’t hear a testimony from either of them about what it does for them and just assumed it was preparation for them before leaving this earth.

Many years I spent without knowing the treasure it contained, that it is like a guide for life. It has been said that the BIBLE stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and that it is. It reveals who God is and answers life’s questions. Although it’s been written decades ago, the words still apply to life today.

The Bible holds the message of faith hope and love, which remains. There are many theories and philosophies about life, but the Bible holds the truth. When something it true, it can never be denied. Of all books, the Bible is the only one that actually reads the reader. It goes hand and hand with a relationship with God. I’ve heard many say that they’ve read the Bible so many times and they cannot understand it. It’s not just any book. It doesn’t matter how intelligent someone might be, the message speaks to the soul, not so much the mind.

When I first started reading it, I had others interpret it for me, but I questioned their perspective of the message behind the words. I question what sounded contradictory. I question Jonah being eaten by a fish and the donkey speaking to a man. There are many stories in the Bible of the miracles of God, but from a world that looks at a dependency on God as a weakness, pride and self-righteousness can be a blindfold to the truth.

It wasn’t until I restarted my prayer life and kept seeking God and His truth and who He is, that the Bible, the Word of God started to seek me. The situations in my life, the confusion or trouble I was facing would be eased as I opened up to the perfect verse in the Bible. When the eyes of my soul started to open up and I started to realize that God is actually speaking me through His word, it started to make sense. Over an over again, consecutively, I would open up to the few words I needed to read at that exact moment. I could no longer deny His existence. I could no longer deny that God didn’t know me by name.

It took me walking out of a totaled car, after God was telling me about it two weeks before it happened and even that morning, that I finally realized who He is. That He loves me. God loves the world as said in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” A year later I fully surrendered my life to Him and was baptized. That day I opened up the Bible and for the first time, I could clearly understand the scriptures. Although some passages can be straightforward, there are many that can only be comprehended by the spirit and not the mind.

I pray that anyone questioning the meaning behind the scriptures will start on the path to finding the truth, to seeking out who God is and eventually come to the point of realizing that God is love and He knows your name. I would suggest finding a Bible study to join. I pray it would have a good leader strong in interpretation of the Word. The book of John is usually a good starting point, then there’s the book of Romans and Psalms. There are churches out there with small groups/Bible study groups to sign up for through their church website. May this is a a starting point for many to start walking in the truth and the light of God.

When Looking for Life’s Answers

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Some big events in life can keep us questioning why and sometimes we’ll never know the answers, years later or till the day we leave this earth. However, sometimes answers come as we live life. Sometimes the answer remains a big mystery and can cause us to turn to various sources: astrology, tarot cards, meditation, secret societies, other philosophies or theologies, dark rituals and or various religions. We seek answers on this earth, but the big picture is beyond the universe.

Years ago I believed that there was a God somewhere out there, but I had no faith in His existence. I had no sight of who God is. Anything bad that happened I would call karma if it was similar to something I had done to someone else.

There were times in my early adult years where I learned how to pray the rosary. I thought I was doing something that God would be proud of, along with touching the feet of a baby Jesus statue. I tried reading a King James Version Of the New Testament and ended up throwing it aside frustrated trying to understand it.

I think about the way people lived back in the BC days, some sacrificed babies or humans in front of their community. They felt that God wanted them to do that to heal their land, not knowing, they were bringing a curse upon themselves.

I think about the time I spent at a friend’s birthday party playing with the spirit board and when I went home the next day creepy things started happening in my life. I started having horrific dreams of not being able to wake up or something holding me down while I was half asleep, but I would always wake up after calling on Jesus. When we mess with spiritually dark things, we opening up the wrong door in our lives that allow spiritual torment. Sometimes it can be someone in our ancestry, family or an event that happened in a place we’ve moved into.

After walking through life in darkness, not knowing the “whys” in life, accepting circumstances just as they are without any meaning, living religiously and being tormented with horrifying dreams and thoughts, life finally made a turn when I started to read God’s word, the Bible and finally came to know who God is and that He actually exists. The horrific dreams stopped and eventually, God delivered me from many other things, not just in me, but from the generation passed down to me. The Lord is always at work. After fully placing my life in God’s hands and reading His word, life made perfect sense. I no longer had to search for answers elsewhere. I found truth, peace and joy in life through God.

John 14:6 say, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.”

After reading the Bible, I came across a scripture that speaks against repetitive prayers such as the rosary.

Matthew 6:7 says, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

It also says that God is spirit and He does not live a statues. John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

So praying in repetition and touching the feet of a Jesus statue does not please God. As Abraham went up to the mountain to pray and trusted God so much, willing to let go of his one and only son, his heart was all in. What God wants is your heart, a relationship with you and faith in Him.

Although life still has its hardships, God is still at work on my heart, allowing the hardships to strengthen my faith and trust in Him. Many times I felt angry toward God for my situation, but it’s only because I don’t see the big picture. I can’t see God working behind the curtain, then it becomes a question of, “Am I going to choose to believe that God is good and am I going to continue to trust Him,” and thus far, it’s been yes with a greatness later on. Even in the most devastating loss in my life, I still trust Him and know that one day, I will see my Mother again in heaven.

Having the Lord in my life and growing in knowledge of Him through reading the Bible and prayer, the events in life become the brush painting the canvas of God’s masterpiece and everything that brings it together is like the poetry of life telling a love story God’s undying love for humanity.

Discerning the Voice in Your Head

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In the book of Genesis, God made man on the fifth day. In the second chapter, God made a woman from man’s rib. God also told the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In chapter 3, the serpent came to tempt the woman to eat the fruit.

God says to Adam in Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Meaning dying inside.

But in Genesis 3:5, when the serpent tempts Eve, he tells her “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” She fell for the serpents lies and ate the fruit. Then Adam and Eve realized that they were naked and felt ashamed.

Adam and Eve were living in paradise with all the food in the garden that they can eat and weren’t allowed to eat from any but one tree and yet that wasn’t enough. The serpent knew one thing, to change their perspective of God or cause distrust, meant causing them to hide from God, in other words, breaking communication or connection to their Creator. The serpent twisted it in a way where it made God look like He was holding something good back from them. The serpent wants to establish doubt and distrust in God. He also placed in them, the intent of exhaulting themselves when he threw in, “you’ll be as gods.”

The fall of Satan who was called Lucifer in heaven, started with pride.

Ezekiel 28:17 says, “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground…” He was a beautiful angel who couldn’t handle praise, it filled him with pride and made him believe that he can take over the throne of God, his own Creator. How foolish! Thrown out of heaven and fell to earth, then becomes the opposer, the accuser, the tempter, the one that leads the weak astray. His whole goal is to bring as many people as possible to the fiery pit of hell.

The conclusion has already been set, God has the victory, but everyone has a choice on which path to follow or who’s voice to listen to or who to live for. Everyone has a choice to worship God or idolize people, tangible items, the serpent, other false gods or just themselves. Some think that somehow there’s a lack of knowledge for one that believes in God, but there’s a lack of wisdom for someone who thinks there is no Creator of living beings on this earth. There is a recipe for how living things function, a purpose. Nothing is thrown together, there is no random Big Bang, no random universe. Planets aren’t scattered everywhere, there’s a consistent pattern and each has its place in a galaxy.

There’s a song by Nicole C Mullen that I’m reminded of. In her song, my redeemer lives, she sings, “who taught the sun where to stand in the morning? And who told the ocean, you can only come this far? And who showed the moon where to hide ’til evening? Whose words alone can catch a falling star? Well, I know my Redeemer lives…All of creation testifies This life within me cries….yeah The very same God that spins things in orbit Runs to the weary, the worn and the weak And the same gentle hands that hold me when I’m broken They conquered death to bring me victory.”

As time passes walking on the path of life with God, the knowledge of Him grows and the familiarity of His voice grows that when the serpent comes, lies can be easily detected. Trust or faith in God shall leave no room for the serpent to deceive and will be powerless.

Who’s voice are you listening to and what is influencing your decisions in life? Who are you putting your trust on? Do you trust God or are you being led astray with lies entering your mind?

If you’re tired of walking on a path of emptiness, pain, hopelessness or depression and you’re ready to surrender your life to God. If you hate your life, stop living your life for yourself and start living for God.

You can pray this prayer out loud. Lord God, I’m tired of living my life for myself or others. I surrender my life to you. Take me as I am and show me your powerful love. Fill me with your peace, joy and love to overflowing. Change me inside so I can see that you are a good, loving and a faithful Father who will never leave me or forsake me, a Father that knows my name. Lead me to knowing you personally and bring people into my life that can walk this path of life with me. Thank you for your answered prayers. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!

The Gray Zone

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There’s white or black, light and dark, hot or cold, pain or comfort, but what about everything in between? Which side do you choose when you’re in the gray? This happens most often with what’s right or wrong so how do we determine the boundary?

For one thing, there’s our guilty conscience that doesn’t always work, especially when we’re blinded by desire, like a child acting out of character when crying to get what she/he wants or taking candy when not allowed. Choosing to do what we know is wrong as an adult becomes more impactful and more difficult to undo. Maybe that wrong decision is something that could lead to jail or if not, something that can cause your life to spiral down. One decision can cause a domino effect for your future and bring about depression or a life of constant anger and regret.

Sometimes if you feed that temptation, submitting to it enough times can turn into a lifelong habit, almost impossible to get out of. For some, life is changed when they get arrested, jail becomes the blessing to help them stop and turn their life around, but what about others who have no one to stop them? Friends or family can only do so much to try until they’ve fully exhausted themselves after almost a life long time of codependency.

If we are truly looking for a breakthrough, look no further than the cross. As we can receive an abundance of counseling from friends or family, yet only the Lord can move mountains. When we are broken, the Lord is able to put the pieces together. First things first is coming out of denial and admitting the problem, realizing your powerlessness over it and surrendering it to God.

Start with the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Then invite Jesus into your life to change you into a new person.