Author Archives: Andrew Bernhardt

Be Holy

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Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance; But as He who called you is holy, you also become holy in all conduct, because it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16 The command to be holy is one God always gives to His people. In the Old Testament it was given to Israel. In the New Testament it is given to us believers. We are a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), God’s people, and we are to be like … Continue reading →

Titanic

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The world is like the Titanic. When Adam disobeyed God, we struck the iceberg. At that point the ship was doomed, even though things didn’t look too bad on the surface. But now the end is near. The ship is up-end and sinking fast. The opportunities to get into the lifeboat are drawing to a close. But even with the world falling apart, people are still trying to enjoy the cruise. They’re ignoring the danger and refusing the warnings of those who really care for their well-being. Satan has this world convinced that Christians hate sinners. But we don’t hate sinners. We love sinners. If we really hated them, we wouldn’t warn them of the consequences of their sin. We … Continue reading →

Second-Hand Faith

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“…I am left, I alone…” – 1 Kings 19:10 Hypothetical questions: If the person who led you to Christ suddenly told you, “I’m sorry. I misled you. I was wrong. There is no heaven or hell. Jesus is a fairy tale. God does not exist. … I have proof, and here it is…,” how would your faith fare? What if all of the great Christian preachers, teachers, authors, apologists, radio and TV personalities, etc. you look up to suddenly said the same thing? What if everyone in the world abandoned Jesus and urged you to do so… what would you do? I’ve thought about questions like these off and on for many years as a way of identifying whether my … Continue reading →

I See Dead People

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In the movie The Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis’ character meets a boy who is ‘gifted’ with the ability to see ghosts – dead people. But these dead people don’t realize they are dead. They go on with their ‘lives’, moving around their old haunts, talking to those they knew… all in ignorance of their condition, until they suddenly realize what has happened. The movie is fiction, but the concept is real on a different level. I see dead people every day. I pass them on the highway. I work with them. I talk with them. But they don’t realize they’re dead. They see the stars in the night sky, they hear the birds sing, and the feel the wind on … Continue reading →

Cerebro Consciousness Argument

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(The following is another approach to my argument for the necessity of the human spirit given in More Than Matter, and Independently Conscious. Imagine you are an X-Man like Charles Xavier, but with much more extreme capabilities. You also have a Cerebro-like machine that allows you to see every human being in the world and know everything there is to know about them. With your superhuman powers, you look at Cerebro’s screen and see billions of human beings at once in infinite detail. You know each person’s exact physical makeup. You can see their every neuron firing. And you fully comprehend what you see. You also know virtually every human being on the screen is self-aware. Each has an independent … Continue reading →

Knowing God Through The Psalms

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The path to greater faith is to know God better, for how can you trust someone you don’t know, and how can you trust someone more if you don’t know him more? For the last 9 years I’ve kept a journal of my Bible readings. I keep track of each date, passage, and thing I’ve discovered. My primary focus is to know God better, so when I find something in my reading that directly or indirectly describes who God is, what He does, why He does it, to whom He does it, and so on, I write it down so I can remember for the benefit of my relationship with Him. Psalm 18 is one of those psalms that contains … Continue reading →

God Is Good

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God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. – Genesis 1:31a Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. – Acts 14:17 Paul said that everyone can see God’s power and deity through what He has created (Romans 1:20). I believe you can also add God’s goodness to that. What are some of the practical, everyday things you see and experience that let you know that God is good? For myself I see incredible beauty in what God has created, from the galaxies down to the sub-microscopic details. But more than that, I see … Continue reading →

Praying For Patience

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Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. – 2 Timothy 2:3 (JND) It is not our purpose to seek out suffering, but neither is it to avoid it. It is jokingly said that one thing you should not pray for is patience, because if you do, God is going to send all sorts of calamity to try what little patience you do have. However, patience is a virtue that we need to have. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Patience is a good, godly thing, and the only way to acquire it is to have it tried. To say, even jokingly, that you should not pray for patience focuses on the suffering rather than … Continue reading →

Book Giveaway: How To Gain Victory Over Sin

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It’s been a few months since I published my second book, How To Gain Victory Over Sin. The ebook is free, but the paperback version isn’t simply because it costs money to print books. But from now until May 3, you have the chance to win one of 10 free paperback editions of the book through Goodreads.com. All you need to do is click on the ‘Enter To Win’ button below. If you do win, I’ll send you the book, asking you for an honest review on Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever. (Of course, you don’t have to enter the contest to post a review!) Goodreads Book Giveaway How to Gain Victory Over Sin by Andrew Bernhardt Giveaway ends May 03, … Continue reading →

Abandoning Fleshly Righteousness

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The fleshly nature has two ways of expressing itself. The first is the one we are most aware and ashamed of: it is our desire to sin. But the second way is also bad, and maybe worse because we are not ashamed of it – we’re even proud of it: it is our desire for self-righteousness. When I say self-righteousness, I’m not talking about a holier-than-thou attitude, or a hypocritical righteous facade. I mean sincerely trying to do the right thing through one’s own willpower and determination, but apart from reliance on the power of God. This kind of ‘righteousness’ falls far short of the righteousness God requires for salvation or for living the Christian life. That law-keeping is insufficient … Continue reading →