Welcome to my Blog
I plan to use this webpage as a platform to express my opinions not only for my current books, It Is Finished and Daily Devotions for a Healthy Lifestyle, and for my YouTube channel. The first book I published was Clinical Nutrition Case Studies, designed to teach students studying to be registered dietitians. I published four editions of that book over a decade, but it was for a narrow audience, i.e. college students studying to be a registered dietitian. You may still see copies available but as quickly as nutritional and medical information are changing, Clinical Nutrition Case Studies is outdated and is no longer in print.
I am not at all declaring to limit these blogs to just nutrition, whether it be spiritual or physical. There are many ideas I have concerning social injustices and political hot spots that I may use this platform to address in time. I hope to also present human interest stories. From the time I originally wrote this, I have not been adding to my blogs. I am now retired and intend to add to this site more frequently.
I understand that most blogs allow people to respond to the blog and give their ideas and comments. However, I am going in a different direction. If I present something concerning a certain nutritional diet or practice that is greatly misunderstood by the public, but that I thoroughly researched and correctly documented, I know that I will get many comments back from biased people that do not have the qualifications to make scientific comments. As I see it, that will only confuse my readers and perhaps begin an unfruitful debate online. That is not a purpose that I want to achieve.
If you have comments on my blogs, or you have disagreements, my email address is available on this website, and you can write to me personally. As soon as I can I will address your concerns in a personal email, or I will address legitimate concerns and ideas through future blogs. I will not use your name to embarrass you or point you out. I hope you will understand my reasoning for this (you may not agree with it, but I trust you will understand it). I look forward to blogging not because I want to be a dogmatic person and give my opinion, but because I want to provide correct information to help people in many areas of their lives. Thank you for coming to my website and reading this. God bless you. Revised 1/22/25
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Who we are in Christ
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​There are several steps we need to take to learn who we are in Christ. To understand what we need to do to be saved is easy, but to understand the fullest meaning of salvation, a lot is required. First we must understand why God created us, what is sin and how does it interfere with our relationship with God, what is relationship, what is salvation, what does communion (the Last Supper) really mean, why did Jesus have to come to earth as a man, why did Jesus have to die, the blood covenant, what is the complete result of Jesus's death, and what is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, what does it mean to be "Spirit filled", what are the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, and the concept of spirit, soul, and body. Each of these topics require several in depth teachings, all of which I hope to discuss on my YouTube channel (I'm sure I will add some topics as I go along). Below is an introduction to the last topic, spirit, soul, and body.
(1/22/25)
Spirit, Soul, and Body
Part 1
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To help with understanding both of my books, I am posting this message on spirit, soul, and body. Understanding that, as born - again Christians, it is absolutely essential that we understand the concept of spirit, soul, and body if we are to understand who we are in Christ and what power and authority has been granted to them by Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.
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Many people do not realize that we are really spirit beings. Each of us are a three part being, created in the order of the Trinity. We are a spirit, we live in a body, and we have a soul or mind. The soul includes the mind, which houses our emotions, personality, will, conscience, and knowledge. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 it says “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ " (ESV). It is necessary to understand this to fully absorb the meaning of the New Testament.
We obviously do not have to teach that we have a body. We are always in touch with our body. We do not have to define our body. We are in physical reality with our body. We do not have to think “I wonder how my body feels?” If we have a headache, we know it. We do not have to take inventory to see if our head hurts. If we stub our toe, we immediately know it. We can have blood tests, X-rays, MRIs etc., to determine the condition of our body.
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In like manner, we are also in constant touch with our soul, which consist of our thought process, our emotions, and our will. Our soul and our body are connected. Our soul is housed in our brain. When something happens to our body, it could trigger our soul to respond; i.e., if, with our body we see or hear of some tragedy, it could trigger sadness or even depression. We do not have to ask ourselves if we are sad or depressed, we know it. We can also take tests that tells us what our temperaments are, our gifting, our aptitude, knowledge, etc.
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However, our spirit is a different matter. Our spirit is separate from our body and soul. There is no physical connection between the spirit and the body and mind. There is not a set of nerves, channels, or any kind of hook up between our body and soul with our spirit. In John chapter 3 Jesus was talking to Nicodemus when He told him that unless a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3). Nicodemus asked him how could this be, can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? (John 3:4). Jesus’s answer is very important. Part of what He said is: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-6). In other words, the two are entirely different. Being born again is not a flesh thing, it is a spirit thing, and the two are different. When we are born again, it is our spirit that is born again. There is no connection except that our spirit is individualized to our body and soul, but they are not physically connected. Spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh. They are interrelated, but you cannot, in any natural way, feel your spirit. There are no tests or exams that you can complete to determine the condition of your spirit.
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It is really important that we understand this. We are in constant contact with our body. We cannot feel our spirit per se. We do not know the condition of our spirit by the way we feel. Yet, when we became born again, it was our spirit that was changed. It is our spirit through which God communicates with us. It is through the spirit that the power of God flows through us. If we do not understand this, and we do not learn how to communicate with our spirit, we will miss our communication with God. Also, if we do not realize that out spirit is in communication with Jesus’s Spirit, then when the Scriptures say that we have the same power Jesus had, that we can do the same works He did, we cannot see that or feel that power with our senses or our body and we cannot fully understand how it could be so. We think that the Word is talking about someone else because we do not see ourselves with that power. This gives place to confusion and an open door for the devil to bring in doubt; doubt is the absence of faith. Because of this we can lose a battle, or not even engage, when God intended for the victory to be ours. We end up saying “It’s not true, I do not have that power.” In our body or mind no, but in our spirit yes. In John 6:63 Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (ESV). It is the Spirit that gives life and that Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is one with our spirit (But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV)
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If we want to know what our spirit is like, we cannot tell by our emotions; instead, we have to go to God’s Word, believe it, receive it and move on. In James 1:23-25 it says “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (ESV). Here James is talking about using the Bible as a spiritual mirror; one that you look in not to see your physical face, but to see your spiritual face. When you look into a mirror you look at your physical reflection.
You look at your reflection to help keep yourself in order, your hair, your makeup, etc. Well, the Word of God is your spiritual mirror. If you want to know what condition your spirit is in, you look in the Bible to see how you line up with what God's Word says. If you line up with God's Word, you can tell when the Spirit is speaking to you. But, if you are not in unity with the Holy Spirit or even your own spirit, you cannot feel it, so you cannot respond in a Godly way. How do you walk in the Spirit and accurately hear the Spirit? By looking into the Word of God and seeing how your spirit is supposed to look and working hard to accomplish that look, just as you work to fix your face, hair, beard etc.
John 3:6 says “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” When we were born again our bodies did not change. If we were tall before we were born again, we were tall immediately after. If we were overweight, we were still overweight after being born again. If we had pimples before, we had pimples after. Our body did not change. We know that, and we also know there are exceptions. Some people are healed in the rebirth process but that is not the rule or a Biblical promise. Nor did our minds change with our salvation. If we were a slow reader before salvation, we were a slow reader after salvation. If we had distracting thoughts, they did not immediately disappear. In fact, the Bible says we must renew our minds: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV). How do we do that? There is only one way, by studying Gods Word.
When we received Jesus as the Lord and Savior of our lives, our spirit was immediately changed to be like Jesus’s Spirit. As mentioned, since there is no network between our bodies or our minds, we could not feel a difference in our spirit and we could not see a difference in our spirit, but only because we cannot see our spirits. God’s Word tells us what we are like or should be like. We have to look in His Word to see our spiritual image, to tell us what we are like, and, as looking in mirror, we have to believe what we see. This is only true if we are looking into the Bible for our reflection. If we look into some self-help book or psychology text to evaluate ourselves, it would be like looking into one of the convex or concave mirrors at the county fair; we see a distortion based on man’s manipulation.
This is what the Bible says about being born again ( 2 Corinthians 5:17-19):
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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (ESV)
Let us examine these verses closer. Matthew Henry's commentary makes a very good point concerning reconciliation. The above Scripture says “….. God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself…”. To be reconciled means there had to be some quarrel or breach of friendship. The breach between us and God was sin. The reconciliation of this breach is offered by God. He is willing to be reconciled to us. He has nothing to lose if we are not reconciled and nothing to gain by the resulting peace of the reconciliation except that His love for us will be manifested.
In case you do not have a powerful command of the English language, I looked up to see what Merriam-Webster had to say about reconciled and reconciliation and found some interesting results. Here are some of the definitions for reconciled and reconciliation from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
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Reconciled
1: to restore to friendship or harmony <reconcile differences>
2: to make consistent congruous <reconcile an ideal with reality>
3: to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant <was reconciled to hardship>
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Reconciliation
1: the action of reconciling, the state of being reconciled
2: the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance
As discussed, we know our bodies were not changed, and we know our minds were not changed. So what is this new creation? If we do not understand the concept of spirit, soul, and body, this verse could cause us some confusion. The devil used this verse in the past to cause me confusion and bring me under condemnation. I knew I was born again, but I also knew that my mind still wanted to go back to old ways and my body obviously had not changed, so what was this new creation? This brought doubt, in that there was a question if I was not totally a new creature, was I really born again?
Our spirit has been totally redeemed. It is in the final form, ready to be in God’s heavenly presence. It will not change for eternity. After salvation, when we sin, we sin with our body or our mind, or both, but not with our spirit. After salvation our spirit is as Jesus’s Spirit. Here are some scriptures to show the importance of this (all ESV):
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Romans 8:6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
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Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
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Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
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Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
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​Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
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1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
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2 Corinthians 1:22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
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Walk in the guidance of the Spirit that is within you! Please read part 2.
1/22/25
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Spirit, Soul, and Body
Part 2
After our salvation experience, our spirit is born again, made into a new creature, and is sealed by the Holy Spirit. "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 ESV
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ESV
As a result of salvation, you have an indelible mark is placed on our spirit that will be there forever. Does that mean we are free to sin as we see fit? Heavens no! Once we realize who we are in Christ, how much Jesus loves us and understand how much He suffered for us, we won't want to sin. But because we are human, we will sin again with our body, mind or both. When we do, we should immediately repent and move on because those new sins are also already forgiven. I suggest you follow my YouTube teachings from the beginning to fully understand this. There are so many facets to understanding salvation that it will take multiple lessons to fully understand our place in Christ.
(Revised 1/22/25)
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