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How do you fulfill your stewardship duties without good deeds?

How many good deeds did Jesus perform in his lifetime?

*The Bible does not specify an exact total of good deeds or acts of kindness Jesus performed, but it specifically records 37 distinct miracles during his public ministry. [1, 2]

Recorded Miracles and General Acts

While 37 specific miracles are carefully detailed in the Gospels — such as healing the sick, calming storms, and feeding large crowds — the Bible notes these represent only a portion of his actions.

General Healings:

The Gospel accounts often summarize uncounted acts by stating that Jesus healed "multitudes" or "all who were ill" in various towns.

Theological View:

The final verse of the Gospel of John (John 21:25) states that if everything Jesus did were written down individually, the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.*

Note:

Despite all Christ's good deeds and miracles, it did not prevent the high priests of Jerusalem and Pontius Pilate from crucifying him.

Nor did it stop the Roman soldiers from mocking and humiliating Jesus by:

dressing him in a scarlet or purple robe, 

placing a crown of thorns on his head, 

holding a fake scepter in his hand, 

bowing to him while sarcastically calling him the "King of the Jews," 

physically abusing him by hitting him with their hands and flogging him over the head with a reed,

and humiliating him by publicly stripping him and crucifying him on the cross, which was designed to strip victims of all human dignity, leaving them exposed and publicly shamed.**

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Yet through the ages, people remember Christ’s teachings and his love and kindness, not his humiliation or shame as the Romans intended; instead, they disdain the infamous Roman soldiers, Pilate, hypocritical priests, and Judas who led Jesus to his death.

As in all humiliation, the victims suffering at the hands of abusers are the fault of the abusers, guilty of immense cruelty and sin; and the shame and dishonor rest solely with the abusers, not the victims.

Though the fate of those infamous soldiers is unknown, the high priests Caiaphas and his father-in-law Annas, and their dynasty, died in disgrace and infamy.

Whatever the fate of those involved in crucifying Christ, their ultimate destiny is probably not heaven, for theirs is a life marked by crimes against humanity and the Lord.

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Finally, some argue that salvation comes through divine grace and faith, not deeds; but how can you receive grace as a gift without a heart of service that prepares you to sow the seeds of grace through good deeds?

In other words, without the expectation of earning grace, but receiving it through humble service and good deeds, one may better understand and receive grace.

Conversely, one could argue that if you’re unwilling to perform good deeds or lack a heart of service, how will your heart be open enough to receive divine grace and faith?

Performing good deeds is an essential part of good stewardship and turning Christ's teachings into action.

It is also a key step in fulfilling your purpose in life with a humble heart capable of receiving divine guidance, grace, and faith.

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*Referenced from Google AI search: “How many good deeds did Jesus perform before death?”

**And how Roman soldiers crucifying Jesus also humiliated Christ.

 

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Ephesians 2:10 states, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 

Key Meaning*

The Lord's Handiwork:

Believers are considered God's craftsmanship or masterpiece, created anew through Christ.

Created for Purpose:

Salvation leads to action; believers are designed to perform good deeds.

Preplanned Path:

God established these good works beforehand, providing a pathway for individuals to follow.

Context in Ephesians 2

Saved by Grace:

Verses 8 and 9 affirm that salvation is a divine gift, not earned through human effort.

Completing the Thought:

Verse 10 clarifies that although works do not bring salvation, performing good works naturally follows and is the intended outcome of salvation.*

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Let us clarify: 

Deeds alone do not secure salvation; rather, they serve as expressions of our love for Christ and humanity.  What we give in love restores us in Christ and aligns us with the Holy Spirit's guidance regarding our purpose in life.

For what is our purpose if we do nothing with our talents and treasures and waste time? 

Or worse, if our actions cause harm rather than good, then what is the true purpose of life?

Is it to serve only ourselves through selfish pursuits, accumulated wealth, and power? 

All of which cannot be taken with us at death.

Or is it to serve oppressive autocrats who show no regard for our lives?

Surrendering our dignity, living as less than free individuals, and denying our children the freedom to be true to themselves, safe from harm and oppression, to grow and realize their fullest potential?

Most definitively, should we dedicate our lives to serving the Lord and humanity?

Forging a sacred path for future generations to fulfill their purpose and become the individuals the Lord intended them to be.

Note:

Perpetrating unlawful acts constitutes a crime.

Violating divine law is a sin.

Breaking covenant contradicts the Lord's divine purpose for us, resulting in separation from the Lord, the Holy Spirit, humanity, and our spiritual selves. This leads to the loss of divine protection and invites divine correction or judgment.

**Breaking a covenant with the Lord results in spiritual separation, loss of divine protection, and divine discipline, as outlined in Scripture.

Spiritual and Material Consequences

Loss of Protection:

A broken covenant creates spiritual vulnerability by removing the protective boundary God places around His people.

Divine Discipline:

God often responds with corrective measures such as hardship, loss of peace, or material scarcity, intended to inspire repentance.

Relational Distance:

Unfaithfulness and sin hinder the close fellowship and intimacy with God.

Severe Judgment:

Historically, persistent and unrepentant violation of the Mosaic covenant led to significant consequences, including military defeat, captivity, and exile.

[Ultimate Judgment - forever damned to the deepest parts of hell with extreme agonies. ]

Path to Restoration:

Repentance:

Scripture emphasizes that turning away from wrongdoing and returning to God restores the relationship.

Grace and Renewal:

God, described as slow to anger, offers mercy and a pathway to reconciliation through confession and renewed commitment.**

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Each individual has a unique purpose assigned by the Lord.  We must not hinder, disrupt, distract, or impede another's divine purpose, as doing so undermines God's promises of salvation, love, peace, prosperity, and healing.

Therefore, we must respect the universal human rights of everyone, in order that everyone can fulfill their purpose in life. 

And if we can help people to fulfill their holy purposeful deeds in life, we should, because it will make it easier for us to fulfill our own purposes and the Lord's divine will when we work together, and then the Lord's promise will be sooner realized.  

*Referenced from Google AI search, Ephesians 2:10.

**Referenced from Google AI search, Breaking a covenant with the Lord.

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How many times does the Lord smite sinners in the Bible?

*The Bible does not provide a precise, definitive total for the number of times God "smote" or killed people for sin. However, theologians and researchers have catalogued dozens of major recorded events in which divine judgment resulted in deaths, either widespread or individual.

Major Recorded Instances of Divine Judgment

Although individual verses use the specific word "smite" or describe God carrying out direct judgment, these events include both large-scale catastrophes and punishments of specific individuals:

The Great Flood: God destroyed all of humanity except Noah and his family because of widespread wickedness (Genesis 6-9).

Sodom and Gomorrah: Fire and brimstone fell and destroyed the cities because of their depravity (Genesis 19:24-25).

The Egyptian Firstborn: God struck down the firstborn of Egypt during the final plague before the Exodus (Exodus 12:29-30).

Korah’s Rebellion: The earth swallowed Korah and his followers, and fire consumed 250 men. A subsequent plague killed 14,700 people who had complained (Numbers 16).

Nadab and Abihu: Aaron's sons were consumed by fire for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord (Leviticus 10:1).

Ananias and Sapphira: In the New Testament, both fell dead after lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).

Skeptics and scholars who have attempted to calculate the figures estimate that the cumulative death tolls in major narratives reach into the thousands or millions, primarily because of the Flood. However, Scripture presents these events as distinct, monumental instances of judgment rather than as an itemized, cumulative count.*

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Do these major smites suggest that the Lord or the Holy Spirit actually forgave the sinners, particularly in cases involving depravity, turpitude, corruption, and repeated harmful offenses- conduct regarded as blasphemous and unforgivable?

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Once sacred trust is broken, the victim is subjected to desecration and harm. And the grave sin is recorded on the sinner’s soul: an unholy action, thought, or failure to uphold God's law and moral principles that harms the victim and renders the perpetrator’s soul unholy.

This is especially true in cases of depravity, in which the sinner's heart becomes impure and, as asserted here, unable to receive the Holy Spirit and love. Desecrating the victim and the temple of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable and unclean.

Contrary to what some have been led to believe, not all sins are forgivable.

All sins remain recorded on the sinners’ souls until they are fully confessed, repented of, and atoned for.

Any sin that renders the sinner's soul unholy and unforgivable through the desecration of a victim and the temple of the Holy Spirit will not only make the soul unholy, but will also render the heart unclean and, as asserted here, unable to receive the Holy Spirit and love.

In other words, how could sinners who are unholy and desecrating, and who have reduced themselves to the status of cockroaches and parasites, endear themselves to the Lord, their victims, their families, or humanity?

Why would those cockroaches and parasites expect forgiveness while in such a state, without first cleaning themselves up, making amends, and reforming themselves?

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Suppose you are hosting a reception for the world's dignitaries and leaders, and an incident occurs in which guests are harmed. Would the world blame the guests and victims, or would it hold you, the host, responsible?

Who would be left with egg on their face—the guests or the host?

If uninvited guests enter your home without permission, steal from you, desecrate your home without your consent, and violate your wife and children, who would be at fault: the perpetrators or you?

In these scenarios, who would need forgiveness and be forgiven by the Lord and the Holy Spirit?

And would those perpetrating unforgivable sin be forgiven by the Lord?

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*Referenced from Google AI search: How many times in the Bible did the Lord smite sinners?*

Do you know the shame of repeated unclean, unholy, desecrators of the victim and the temple of the Holy Spirit is beyond the depths of hell?

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Doubt.

Do you doubt that the world is filled with counterintuitive constructs and systems?

What about the phrase “men are from Mars, and women are from Venus”?

Do you think this is an outdated stereotype that exaggerates gender biases and ignores personal traits?

Or do you agree that men and women have fundamental psychological differences in how they think, communicate, and handle stress?

Do you intuitively understand your partner, never feel as if they might be an alien from another planet, and find that nothing they do is counterintuitive to you?

What about the phrase “The Lord works in mysterious ways”?

Do you intuitively understand how the Lord works in your life, or does the mystery of life come as a surprise to you?

Still doubt that the world, especially its mysteries, mostly runs in counterintuitive ways?

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The date was December 4, 1965. Two planes collided because one pilot suffered an optical illusion, an upslope effect caused by cloud tops, that made him believe they were on a collision course.  

His evasive climb inevitably steered them directly toward the other plane, causing them to clip each other.  

Though both damaged planes managed to make their incredible emergency landings, 4 people of the 112 occupants tragically died.  

Optical and sensory illusions are common in flight.  It happens when visual references to the horizon or ground are lost, obscured, or distorted.

Types of optical illusions*

False horizon:  

A pilot mistakes a slanted cloud layer, a geometric line of ground lights, or a starry sky meeting a dark shoreline for the actual horizon.

The Black Hole Approach:  

When landing at night over dark, featureless terrain or water with nothing but the runway lights visible. Without peripheral depth cues, pilots feel they are higher than they actually are, causing them to fly a dangerously low, shallow approach.

Runway Width & Slope Illusions:  

Narrower-than-usual runways make a pilot feel too high, causing them to fly a dangerously low approach.

Upsloping runways or upsloping terrain create the same "too high" illusion, prompting a premature descent.

Autokinesis:  

When staring at a single, stationary dim light (like a distant star or ground light) against a dark background for several seconds, the light will appear to randomly move or drift.  

A pilot might mistakenly try to align or "follow" this moving light.

Atmospheric Distortions (Haze and Rain):  

Rain on the windscreen refracts light and lowers the horizon visually, making the pilot feel higher than they are.  

Atmospheric haze makes the runway appear much farther away and higher up than it actually is.

Vestibular & Somatosensory Illusions (The Inner Ear)*

When visual references vanish (like flying inside a cloud), the brain relies on the inner ear, which is easily fooled by forces of acceleration and turning.

The Leans: 

The most common illusion in flight. If an aircraft enters a slow, gradual turn, the inner ear fluid doesn't move, so the pilot thinks they are flying straight. 

When they look at their instruments and correct back to level flight, their body strongly feels like the plane is banking heavily in the opposite direction, causing them to lean in the cockpit.

Somatogravic Illusion: 

Rapid forward acceleration (like a jet takeoff or a go-around) stimulates the inner ear in a way that feels exactly like the aircraft is pitching straight up into a steep climb. 

If the pilot reacts to this sensation instead of trusting their instruments, they will violently push the nose down into a catastrophic dive.

The Coriolis Illusion: 

Considered one of the deadliest illusions. It occurs when a pilot moves their head rapidly (like looking down to grab a chart) while the aircraft is in a prolonged constant turn. 

This activates multiple fluid canals in the inner ear simultaneously, creating an overwhelming, sickening sensation that the aircraft is tumbling, rolling, and spinning on an entirely different axis.

Graveyard Spiral: 

A pilot in a prolonged turn stops feeling the turn. When trying to level the wings, they feel like they’ve entered a turn in the opposite direction and will pull back on the yoke to stop a perceived descent. 

This actually tightens the spiral, causing the plane to lose altitude rapidly while the pilot believes they are climbing.

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The only way to defend against optical and sensory illusions is to ignore their physical sensations and trust the aircraft's flight instruments, which feels completely counterintuitive.

The point is that much of our broad-scope interactions are counterintuitive, and if you do not rely on the instruments of intelligence, knowledge, and proven economic, scientific, physical, and metaphysical laws, then the likely result would be catastrophic, tragic, and deadly.  

We cannot rely only on our instincts, or we will fall prey to false horizons and idols with grandiose illusions of grandeur, tripping on power along unsustainable paths of ruination and destruction.

*Referenced from Google AI search:  What kind of optical and sensory illusions in flight.

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