Spiritual Insights

By Jacques Gauvin

"Spiritual Insights" is a collections of my 2016 written works. It incorporates 32 articles, 20 poems and 25 blurbs. I try to keep God in focus in all my writing so this is primarily a religious and Christian book. I use the Holy Scriptures extensively and make every attempt not to divert from the intended meaning of its contents and teachings. Therefore this book will give you a awareness of the teachings and ways of Jesus, by whom all things were created, and His spiritual insights.

This is not a book of fundamentals or of establishing a foundation in Christianity but rather a collection of unraveling and expounding of many random Biblical topics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jacques Gauvin
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370456796

Jacques Gauvin

I took a road less traveled and learned to trust in God. I did not get a university degree but I did get a university education. Through the years I’ve taken courses at University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Dalhousie University in Halifax where I gave three five minute lectures, Algonquin College in Ottawa, Mohawk College, CDI College and McMaster University all in Hamilton. The most significant course I took though was a Bible Correspondence Course through Ambassador College based in Pasadena California. Ambassador College, now defunct, was associated with the Worldwide Church of God which is now toting a totally different religion than when I was affiliated with them. I do not recommend it now. I spent a few summers in army camps during my high school years. Sold bread in the States one summer. Worked for the City of Bathurst surveying for three summers during my university years. Worked one summer surveying for New Brunswick Electric Power Commission in Dalhousie. Worked for a Land surveyor in Fredericton for a few months. Worked for a Land Surveyor in New Liskeard Ontario briefly. Worked drafting for a Land Surveyor in Calgary for five years. Worked as an Instrument Man and Party Chief for a Land Surveyor in Hamilton for over eleven years. Have done computer drafting and calculating for another Ontario Land Surveyor in Hamilton since 1999. I’ve traveled across the country from P.E.I to British Columbia. I have visited England, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Israel. I have also taken numerous trips to the U.S.A. notably to Ohio, New York, Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina, Florida and California. In France I visited the port of La Rochelle where my original Canadian ancestor sailed from to come to Canada back near 1665. I also visited Croix Chapeau where he had lived. In Greece I went to the Acropolis, in Athens, where Paul, Christ’s disciple, was questioned by the Athenians concerning his knowledge. I also walked from the Acropolis to Socrates birthplace, I don’t recommend this to anyone. In Turkey I visited several of the places mentioned in the book of Revelation. I also saw where Philip was buried and where Mary the mother of Jesus lived, or so local tradition has it. In Israel, my most memorable and significant trip, I saw much of the country from the Mediterranean to the Golan Heights to the Dead Sea. I visited Armageddon, Nazareth, Galilee, Jerusalem, Masada and many other places. It gave me a new perspective and insight into Biblical places and events. Although I have had most of my education in engineering and spent most of my working life in surveying, my goals and interests lie predominantly in religion and my relationship with my Creator. I have read and studied the Bible and related material substantially since 1978. I was baptized in 1985. My primary visible work is my website. It can be found by searching for Jacques Gauvin in Google on the internet or at www.jacquesgauvin.com. Not too bad for a schizophrenic I’d say. Thanks for your interest and may your life be prosperous. Hope to see you in God’s Kingdom! Jacques Gauvin

Book preview

Introduction Note:

Thank you for acquiring this book.

This book is a collection of my 2016 written works. It constitutes 32 articles, 20 poems and 25 blurbs. I try to keep God central to all my writing.

May you benefit from it and enjoy it.

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Thank you for downloading this book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and is not to be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you appreciated this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy through their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

ARTICLES

A Biblical Perspective On Religion

At the time of the Exodus the people living in the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendents were of an evil nature. They were an abomination in the eyes of God. They were murderers, fornicators, adulterers, incestuous, children killers, ravagers, thieves, warriors, oppressors, persecutors, generally evil and continuous entertainers of evil much like the people of Noah's time I'm sure. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were examples. There is nothing new under the sun. And how did they justify all these actions and all this evil behaviour? They were idol worshippers, they had false gods, they observed false religions.

False religion, which is evil in the eyes of God, falls primarily into two groups in these last days namely Islam and its branches and the Roman Catholic Church and its offshoots. They both have adherents that number over a billion. They have similarities in their past of wars, oppression, persecution and many other atrocities. They both basically teach and practise lies and deceptions. They are evil. One is blatant the other more subtle today. Check out what they say and do and see for yourselves if it lines up with the Bible.

Today Islam blatantly continues to practise and support those who practise such atrocities with ambition to take over the world. They are aggressively pursuing this goal on many fronts in many ways including wars, terrorism, intimidation, politics, psychology, lies and deceptions. This will undoubtedly facilitate the arrival of a third world war.

The Roman Catholic Church looks very tame at the moment by comparison but it is a beast lurking in the shadows. Its true colours, its true nature, will surface once again in the near future. It will facilitate the establishment of the Biblically prophesied man of perdition, the Beast of Revelation known also as 666, a soon coming head of a European union made up of ten nations, who will rule over much of the earth and will deceive great multitudes.

Together Islam and the Roman Church are deceiving billions of people; every one of their members, supporters and sympathizers, for examples those who support Obama and those who celebrate Christmas. These deceived people will not attain salvation in the first resurrection at the return of Jesus Christ. In order to attain salvation you must deny yourself, repent, confess Jesus as Lord of all, pick up your cross and follow Jesus in obedience and righteousness, in deed and in spirit. The old self and its evil ways must die and the new self of the spirit of God must take up residence within you and govern. So for many salvation may only come at the great white throne judgement a thousand years after Christ's second coming. Others will be condemned.

So how can we let God govern in our lives? Let us examine God's will, true religion. Jesus, God's spokesman, instructed Israel of old when they came into the promised land. And here is what he said a few years later.

Judges 2:2–3 (NKJV)

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’

Our western leaders, notably the USA, Germany and Sweden, are making covenants with Islam left right and center. By so doing they lose the protection of God, they suffer the evil these relations bring and very possibly lose their salvation.

Deuteronomy 18:9 (NKJV)

When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

This was what God instructed them to do from the beginning thousands of years ago. And now that we are in the land that God has given us we should not learn to follow the abominations or false religions of those nations of old which are infesting our nations as you read.

Deuteronomy 12:2–4 (NKJV)

You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.

The will of God is still active and alive today. He has not changed His mind. We are still to obey His commands and not allow such practices to take place in our land. Our governments are increasingly acting against God and therefore against our better interests.

Deuteronomy 9:4–6 (NKJV)

Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

So if you turn to doing wickedness and to allow wickedness to be practiced in your land then expect the wrath of God to be stirred against you. You will be treated as the enemy of God according to your deeds.

Deuteronomy 9:7–8 (NKJV)

Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry enough with you to have destroyed you.

Because God has blessed us with much land, and wealth do not think that He will not take it away if we neglect our responsibilities like justice and respect and obedience to God. When we disobey we provoke God to wrath. When we break His covenant made with our forefathers we stir God to wrath.

Many take refuge in Jesus. But they make Him out to be figments of their imaginations. They do not take heed to what He taught, what He said and what He did. Listen very carefully to the following words that Jesus spoke.

Matthew 10:34 (NKJV)

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

And Paul said in

Philippians 3:13 (NKJV)

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

And he explained the words of Jesus in

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV)

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

This concept is further explored in

Hebrews 4:12–13 (NKJV)

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight (that is God's sight), but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Jesus also states His intended meaning in

Revelation 2:16 (NKJV)

Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

In other words his words were formed by His tongue and were like a two-edged sword. John also understood the power of the word of God and of Jesus.

John 17:17 (NKJV)

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Revelation 1:16 (NKJV) states,

out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,

Let take a condensed look at what it means to be Christian, to following the one and only true religion.

2 Corinthians 6:3–10 (NKJV)

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Ephesians 1:13 (NKJV)

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, (which is) the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

The word of truth, is the gospel of your salvation.

Colossians 1:5–6 (NKJV)

because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

2 Timothy 2:15–16 (NKJV)

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

Finally John points out that good deeds and truth of the scriptures are more important than stating that you love in your own words of mouth.

1 John 3:18 (NKJV)

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

If you know Jesus you know that He was the God of the old testament, the Father's spokesman, the Word of God and co-creator with the Father. To understand Jesus and what He is doing and what He expects from us remember this as revealed in

Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The problem is in getting people to believe and obey Him.

Do you know the gospel? Do you know the word of God, God's voice? Do you know truth when you hear it? Do you know true religion when you see it?

{Back To Table Of Contents}

Action Plan By Steps

From my limited insight into the understanding of Bible readers it seems that there are some, if not many, who think that the apostle Paul preached a different message than Jesus. This is in fact a fallacy. Paul preached what Jesus preached and what Peter preached, that Jesus is central to the plan of salvation of God and that the whole plan revolves around and involves Him. All the apostles were in agreement with Jesus and each other although every single issue had not completely been resolved.

Philippians 2:1–11 (NKJV)

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2 Corinthians 2:12 (NKJV)

Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,

Romans 15:19 (NKJV)

in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Matthew 24:14 (NKJV)

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:16–20 (NIV84)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

A couple of areas contained conflicts. Paul had to straighten Peter out on the subject of circumcision, circumcision was first and foremost of the heart and was not necessary in the flesh any longer as a new covenant had been established and the Levitical priesthood along with some of its rituals had been superseded by Jesus (see Hebrews) and His transforming powers. Circumcision represents the removal of the unnecessary sinful nature of man. It was and is a spiritual issue and not so much a physical issue.

Colossians 2:11 (NIV84)

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,

Romans 2:25–29 (NIV84)

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

John 6:44 (NKJV)

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Philippians 3:20–21 (NKJV)

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

On another point, Jesus stated that divorce was not to be allowed except when adultery was present in the marriage. Paul however allowed divorce in some other circumstances primarily due to the hardness of the hearts of some married people. Aside from these two examples little else of much significance comes to mind as being conflicting in theology or doctrine.

Matthew 5:32 (NKJV)

But I say to you that whoever divorces his