Meditations: Living the Word Daily. In 2016, I determined each day to write a devotional beginning with the first day of the year. This edition contains those daily meditations. I believe there may be one day missing, for which I apologize. The others will keep the reader busy as some of them cover more than one page. Cover painting copyright Dell Belew 2016.
Paperback: $15.99 Kindle $3.99..
Dell Belew, Artist & Creative Director
The Princess Dell Journals: Though I have lived something less than a charmed life, I have certainly had many interesting events, some ridiculous and some sad. I teach a creative writing group at the local senior center, Generation One, and it became a group of people who were interested in remembering and, in some cases, writing down their past life's stories. My own memoirs grew out of my leadership of the group as it is my responsibility to provide prompts, inspirational points for their writing. There is much more than family, personal history here. Readers are known to chuckle at my humorous perspective on life's events. This book has been a favorite even among people who are not family.
Paperback: $15.99 Kindle $3.99
Genesis One Designs
Publishing, Writing, Bookstore, Art/Design, Christian Ministry, Photography .
Books are available through my website,, email at dellbelew@gmail.com, Contact page, or Amazon.com in paperback and ebook. Books ordered directly from this website are shipped FREE in the United States. I am presently offering a FREE pdf file of Who is the Holy Ghost? To obtain your FREE copy, request it on the Contact page. Secure payment should be made through PayPal and assigned to Dell Belew. If you do not have an account, you may create one.
The Fine Art of Worship II: If your church is thinking about expanding the worship experience, this text is an excellent guide for all of the arts: visual, musical, sacred dance, dramatic, and poetry. I am available to come for workshops or seminars with your congregation or for the youth. Although this text has black and white images, the color images are on my website www.dellbelew.com on the Painting in the Spirit page. Paperback B/W edition: $17.99; Sorry, no Kindle edition of this one but the text is in the first edition above in Kindle for $5.99 [There are no images, however.]
The Woman & Her Seed, the abridged edition to a previous longer version. It is an upgrade of sorts in light of ongoing events in life for women and their seeds. To make the study a little less complicated, I removed Part III, which has my research and proof texts. The Woman, The Red Dragon, and The End of the Age has my research in Part III, but I found that many people do want to get into those details. If you are one of those, this text is a little more manageable.
Paperback: $14.99; Kindle: $.99.
The Fine Art of Worship: The aspect of Worship in the church setting is often misunderstood. As a result, the activity that takes place in a sanctuary can sometimes be off the mark. When the sovereign being--the object of worship--is God, the Creator, we should assume that he has given his followers an ability to be creative. And what better place to create than the sanctuary where believers hope to invite the presence of their Creator?
This work attempts to do two major things: teach the meaning of "true worship" and provide inspiration for creating many forms for worshipping God. In the process, worshippers receive revelation knowledge from God. The worship of God involves both adoring Him and drawing others into His presence. Visual, dramatic, musical, and kinetic arts create that space, not only drawing Him but speaking through believers to other believers for edification. The worship experience becomes an interactive and profound meeting between the Divine and man. This text serves as a training manual of sorts to encourage others to use their creative gifts and talents to get further into "true worship" and to bring others into the Father's presence. [This is the color image edition, but the black and white images reduces the cost of printing. That title is slightly different: The Fine Art of Worship II. See below.]
Color edition: $35.00; Kindle $5.99 (without images).
Who is the Holy Ghost? The Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is often the most misunderstood aspect of the Trinity. This text explains the distinctions between the three "persons" of the Trinity in terms of their manifestations in the world and, especially, in the Church today. I have found that church people tend to believe what they are told without searching and researching what the Bible actually says about Judeo-Christian values and doctrines. In this book, I take readers through the maze of the Bible to reveal that the Holy Spirit is much more than we realized but and yet much less than we have given credit. Knowing the hierarchy of the Godhead and the purpose of each of God's manifestations to man is vital to living the Christian life and establishing a right relationship with Him.
Paperback: $12.99 Kindle $1.99
Healing: Miracle or Mystery?: Some simple but profound truths about the Christian's claim to health and long life and why we are living so far below our privilege. Learn what God has done for the Christian and how to appropriate the claims of the Kingdom regarding the most important aspects of life in THIS world and the next. Paperback: $14.99; Kindle: $1.99.
The Woman The Red Dragon, and The End of the Age: The contents of this book first came to me as a revelation in preparation for teaching a class on Revelation 12. For several years parts were added in a way that made me know that the Lord was trying to tell us something. The results took 11 years to organize and finally conclude that it was finished. There are so many major revelations that came about in the process that I found it difficult at times to handle. I am firmly convinced that the Lord gave it to me and then pulled it together. It is divided in sections for simplicity--though there isn't anything simply about this book.
In it, I reorganize the chronology of the Bible and tell the story of the struggle of the woman and her seed throughout history even before time by bringing passages together that are strewn around. These passages indicate the times past, present, and future situations that help explain why humans are here and how we fit into the plan of God. We have been taught that every human has a purpose but few find theirs. I believe the plight of women, in particular, has been the most troubling; however, the evidence I have found indicates that women are not only key in creation, but they have been key in the evil force that has been ledged against humanity. The identity of Evil in the world depends upon believing that the Bible is true. Meeting that condition comes with more understanding of a global view of the war between Good and Evil with the creation of man and Earth caught in the middle. Mankind wins in the end and takes the final prize: ruling and reigning with the "man-child" Christ forever after the final conflict. The book is both a revelation and a warning to men, women, and the Church of the 21st Century. This edition is available only through me presently.
Paperback: $15.99; no Kindle edition available at this time.
ART: The Language of the Soul: The joyful appreciation of art and beauty in nature elevates the soul to higher levels, but it has the potential for much more. Transcendence and inner healing loom on the horizon for eager sojourners in quest of wholeness and the subsequent satisfaction of a life well-lived. The key to these experiences is awareness; first, of the possibility for anyone who seeks, knocks, and asks; and second, of the simple practices that can unlock the doors. Some of these simple practices are described in this text. The book is both philosophical and practical and comes from 40 years of growth and experience as an artist working in all media, including writing.
Paperback: $10.99, Kindle: $1.99.
The UNdiet Book: Using age-old wisdom, I approach the dilemma of diets and exercise programs that are not working. Americans are obsessing on food, the good and the bad kinds, to the extent that the only people making headway are the ones conceiving of the diets, supplements, and videos. With this common sense "Livet" plan is the Biblically founded mindshift in the entire problem of food and what we should be thinking about our bodies and what we put into them. We have bought into the grand lies about food, the good and the bad. This plan advocates a mindshift away from the bondage of diets and exercise programs and to the freedom every Christian should enjoy in the Kingdom of God. The basis for one of the biggest lies is the teaching that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The body was not made for food but food for the body. The book lays out a plan to cut to the chase and get us back to the right mindset about food so that we can eat and enjoy our food without the fear, anger, guilt, and hatred we have heaped upon ourselves over the years. Obesity is growing rapidly among adults and children; now is the time to put a stop to it for our spiritual and emotional well being.
Paperback: $4.99; Kindle: $1.99.
Son Rise Reflectionsis a collection of devotions that cover a wide range of meditations for each of the 40 days of the Lenten season beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter. Most of the readings are accompanied by scriptures and prayers.
Paperback: $6.99; Kindle: $1.99.
Firewalker: A Novel: Dr. Joy Lightner authored 14 books before her last, which was a fictional novel based on her own life. Her last book alerted many who sought to stop her pen at all cost. As the retired author escapes her captors and hides in the dark woods, she retells of her many revelations leading up to the backlash of her most threatening novel. The author and her publicist spend a long dark night in the damp woods before finding refuge in an abandoned church awaiting their fate--and the fate of the entire world.
My first venture into fiction. I enjoyed it so much that I am writing a second. This novel is a blend of fiction and nonfiction as many of the aspects are true; the ones that are futuristic are quite in the realm of possibility and, even, prophetic. Paperback: $15.99; Kindle: $1.99.
The following in the text from a book published on Amazon.com of the same title. Paperback and ebook copies may be obtained from that website.
God-Time: A Think Piece
Exploring the Nature of Time From God’s Perspective,
By Dell Belew, PhD
Published in the United States of America by Genesis One Designs Publishing:
Please see other publications on my website:
www.dellbelew.com
ISBN: 9798877782624
All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents are original except where otherwise noted and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the expressed permission of the author.
Dedication
As an ordained minister and retired English professor, I dedicate everything I think that is noteworthy to the LORD Jesus Christ who is my inspiration.
I knew early in my Christian experience that the LORD was calling me to write because he gave me the passion for it and led me hand-in-hand through the doctoral program at The University of Georgia. From that experience I not only learned to write from reading professionally written literature but I learned through teaching students how to read and write critically about literature.
Everything has culminated in more than 24 books and hundreds of essays and sermons as I served four churches in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Glory be to the Father and to His Son, Jesus Christ.
Chapter One
TIME
Splitting theological hairs is a favorite past time in the Christian church. Unfortunately, we find more things to divide us than to unify us. One such disagreement that creeps into discussions among Christians from time to time is about time
At best, time is a slippery concept. As soon as we give someone the time, it is wrong and it goes from present time to past time. Then there is that elusive future time that never really comes. “The sun will come up tomorrow,” or so Annie claims. We interpret that as a hopeful little song; but it`s really not true and is rather pessimistic in respect to time because tomorrow never comes.
Today is the only tomorrow we will ever know. Only when time ceases will we be fully able to live quality lives today. The whole concept of time trips us up in many ways. We live with regret over the past or look forward to the future too much to enjoy the present moments. Even now I`m so caught up in the notion of time that I`m digressing. What I really want to discuss is the origin of time and the global understanding of God`s time.
The story in Genesis that tells of a six-day creation stirs up debates between Christians and scientists, which is understandable. The fact that it is debatable among Christians is less understandable in light of our commitment to believe the Bible. Leaving the scientists` argument for another time, let`s look at the believer`s arguments. Beyond that, let us also leave out the theological “tags” that we wear--tags like “fundamentalist,” “legalist,” “liberal,” “moderate,” and so on. Let`s just look at the words in the text.
The first phrase in the Bible, “in the beginning,” suggests that there was a time when heaven and earth did not exist as we know them because having a beginning implies the start of something. Had it been otherwise, that verse would read “always the heavens and earth existed,” but it wasn`t. Now we should understand that it had a beginning and a maker. That maker is God, who refers to himself as “I AM.” I am is first person, present tense, never changing. It always was and is and is to come simultaneously—another concept that escapes our understanding. When God decided to create what we know of the beginning of everything, He set the world as we know it into motion. End of story.
We cannot fathom an experience that doesn`t change or a Being that sees clearly what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen forever--and all at the same instance. Our memory and imagination faculties are the only way for humans to come close to the notions of I AM time. To remember something from the past and dream of the future are the only ways to live in I AM time, which as it turns out is not psychologically healthy as it confuses our lives and can lead to a warped way of living in the so-called “real.”
So if our Creator does not exist in time nor is He limited by time, why did he establish time for us? My first reaction is that he wanted to limit the time that the Enemy of our souls would be able to torment us, a notion held by many. Adam and Eve were originally created to be eternal with the Life (Zoë) of God in them. Their disobedience led to their accountability, which is a conscience that could ultimately never be satisfied.
Living eternally with God and all his goodness is quite different from living in a state of human ability and responsibility. What did Adam and Eve know about survival without God? As it turned out, death was not their worst enemy; it was living without God in the present. In order to survive the labor and separation, the couple was given a time limit, a “time out” rather than never-ending life without Him.
This fact, in itself, separates our world from that spiritual place where we are saved from damnation where the enemy cannot touch our spirits and souls again. Time, therefore, became their friend by limiting their suffering until deliverance came. Time is a construct that saves us from desolation. Thus, time is actually the enemy of Satan because his time in this kingdom is also limited.
Death is our deliverance as well because Christians escape the human proclivity to suffering. Time limits our years of living in the curse that is still upon the earth and our earthly bodies. Once we are “saved” and set apart for Eternity where time does not exist, Earth-time no longer exists. Even at its best, this life pales in comparison to all things in Paradise.
Imagine if we lived a cursed life eternally, like the mythological Sisyphus, King of Corinth, who incurred the wrath of Zeus for telling a secret. He was cursed to push a boulder to the top of a hill only to have it roll back down upon him again-and doing it over and over eternally. There are many things I would not want to repeat for an eternity. To be honest, washing dishes seems to be that sort of thing!
What about the origin of time? When did it begin? The answer also answers the critics of the six-day creation story. When God turned the light on the dark planet, he established lamps to house the Light by day and night. The sun and moon weren`t the source of Light but controlled the luminosity to give us specified times to work, rest, and govern the harvest of our provisions. The created cherub, Lucifer, had been the source of light to Earth before the creation of the Garden in Eden, so when he was thrown out of Heaven, he failed to bring light back with him. When God looked upon the Earth after the Red Dragon was cast out, He saw that “darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Earth was a dark mass covered in water, which, by the way, the Red Dragon had spewed out of his mouth to drown the Woman of Revelation 12, who had been carried away to Earth for protection.
An amazing fact about the sun is its distance from the earth. Had it been closer, it would scorch us; had it been further away, we would freeze. And who holds it at bay? God, the maker of time and the movement of the sun, the one who controls all global relations to Earth. Had creation time been different than what it is today, as some suggest, the sun might also have been significantly different in its movement and distance from the earth, as in global warming. Someday, the sun will change dramatically and scorch the earth but only when it is no longer the lamp of heaven—and, even then, it will be according to the Maker/Designer.
Therefore, when God said, “And the evening and the morning were the first day,” He was establishing a means by which we would count days. Earth time is measured by days based on the rising and setting of the sun. Ancient civilization followed the movement of the sun for measuring many things. Despite the reference to one day`s being a thousand years to the Lord, He set us up on a sunrise, sunset schedule; and He finished the work of his hands within that frame: “And the evening and the morning were the second . . . third . . . fourth . . . fifth . . . sixth day” (Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).
After He finished the heavens and earth, it was the seventh day, which he set apart for rest. In verse 14, the creation of the lights in the firmament, God further states that the sun and moon were “to divide the day from the night” and “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Gen 1:14). In retrospect, God seems to be creating a system whereby man could have dividing lines with which to organize his life in relation to God and all things given to man whereby he could survive. Most of us continue to live and work according to calendars to mark the days.
So there we have the establishment of time: a day is one evening followed by one morning, each day having specific purpose and expectations leading to a rest period so that we can bear the work. In the darkness of depression, I learned to appreciate a respectable bedtime. In contrast, when life is good, we do not want time to end. That is our promise of Eternity--that the good time will never end. And that is the paradox of time!
Time is both our best friend and our worst enemy. Our experience with measured time tells us that whatever bad thing is happening will eventually pass and relief will come or that whatever good thing we expect will eventually come to pass. We call both eventualities faith. I learned over a dark time in my life that no matter how bad or troubling a situation was that God had it under control. He proved it over and over. Waiting time is not wasted time when we know that the next time will be the answer we need.
On the other hand, time is our worst enemy because we feel the extreme pressures of the material, time-space continuum as a threat against our accomplishing time-related things such as motherhood or careers. As we plan out our lives and project our wishes into the future within a given time frame, we have disappointments when the “time” comes but the expected results do not.
In both the good and the bad expectations come the “due season” of God`s timing. What the writer of 1 Peter meant for us to know is that our concept of time is not God`s limitations--a day is as a thousand years with the Lord. He is neither bound by nor motivated by a phase or stage of human understanding of time.
Prophecy is an ultimate example of God-Time. We see prophecy as future time; but when God speaks about a future experience, He does so knowing it surely will come to pass because He is already there and speaks of things He sees and knows—because He exists in past, present, and future time--and, in fact, has even projected in time. The only difficulty in human terms is discerning whether the prophecy is of God or not. That takes faith and experience in hearing the voice of God. If you glean nothing else from this think piece, get this!
On a more global note, we should zoom out and see another aspect of time that began to seem most important. On another page, I will share some revelations I have had pertaining to the past before the creation in Genesis 1:2 ff, but for now let me say that those revelations have led to time outside of time, that is, before time when beings did not enjoy constant and personal communion with their Maker—only with the ruler of their sphere. It was a civilization much like the Deists believe about God and his world--yet it was not our civilization.
God does not need to keep replenishing the world like He has in the past. He has made a covenant with our civilization that He will be our God if we will be His people. What happened before our time can be a model of what NOT to do.
Prehistory is a time before time in a land before time but for a reason fixed in time, which we do not need to know except for the part that Lucifer, the created cherub, played in its destruction.
Chapter Two
GOD-TIME
We mortals have difficulty understanding mystical experiences and anything we cannot measure or predict. Time can be measured and our lives are doled out in seconds, minutes, and hours; but we cannot fathom a Being who transcends time. More difficult is believing that the same Being keeps time moving to bring to a close all things according to His time table, though He is not governed nor limited by it.
Let us take prophecy for example once again. It is both mystical and mysterious; many people understand it as foreknowledge of something that is scheduled to come to pass in the future. However, from the God-time perspective, it has already happened in the future and we will only “discover” it when we get there.
Getting “there” sets up another mystery. Is time also a place? Yes, because mortals occupy a place at any given time. What that has to do with anything is the notion that prophecy tells of a time and place where certain events will transpire or happen, so time and place are correlated.
In the movie Contact, scientists find a coded message transmitted, they think, from an alien planet called Vega. The alien “Vegans” have an intelligence that far surpasses that of humans or so it seems. The “Earthlings” receive the coded message in several sheets. They try unsuccessfully to break the code but can`t get the sheets to line up at all registration points.
Finally, they discover that the pages do not fit side-by-side or end-to-end but on top of each other in a particular order. When overlapped correctly, the message is clear and the scientists find a design for space travel. In the end, the craft turns out to be more about time travel than space. The human voyager leaves the craft, but the craft never leaves its place.
However, the voyager actually travels to another dimension and arrives clearly in a place outside of earth time and space. I allude to this movie because it is some screenwriter`s conception of the ways in which time and space defy human intelligence and limitations. The writer`s motivation is to show us the possibility of another dimension beyond ours. Of course, we must remember this is a film writer/director’s concept no matter how it may seem to be real.
Some Jungian critics would say that the writer could not even imagine such a thing unless the possibility exists in the first place. Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, called such capabilities “archetypes.” Without going into too many details that will sidetrack my efforts, Jung suggested that there are certain structures that exist somewhere beyond our time that have been commonly used in literature, for example.
He also believed that they are found in the Bible. While this idea deserves more attention, let me clarify that the notion of kings, heroes, victims, and a long list of story lines or plots that appear throughout our culture are derived from cultures far beyond our own. We can see flimsy examples of that in the Hallmark movies. Most of us can predict the storyline or plot scheme leading up to “the kiss” in those movies. Jung would laugh at this example, so you can, too.
Moving back to a more serious note, Plato called them “forms,” that is, things and objects that exist within God-space and appear in the natural world. Thus, whatever we create on earth is a mere imitation of the original, adding to Plato’s theory of “forms.” For example, when we speak of chairs, there is somewhere outside of our natural world a form that could be perceived as “chairness,” from which we create chairs.
Plato also believed that we have a knowledge of those forms that comes through our memory. Therefore, he also believed that knowledge is remembering what already exists somewhere in time and space beyond our own, so we are not acquiring new information. The preacher in Ecclesiastes agrees that “there is nothing new under the sun.”
In the Contact movie, the traveler seems to be gone for only seconds in space time; but the Earth-clock time from which she has been gone is 18 hours. I have never even understood light years, so this confuses me; but the encoded message helps me understand something I could not before (which once again shows me the value of art.)
My spirit does not operate on clock time like my body. My spirit has the ability to transport me in many directions in God-time to whatever dimension I need to understand His will at any given time.
One example that comes to mind involves a moment when a previous residence from over 50 years ago popped into my memory bank. At that instant, I was transported to the street corner across the street from that building. I was there as surely as I am sitting in my chair this moment. These faculties depend on both memory and imagination; space and time do not allow me to elaborate further on these concepts.
Along those lines in God-time, we have dreams and visions. All of these ideas are in the Scriptures. In the case of the tower of Babel, God saw the tower that men were building and said,
“. . . [N]ow nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” (Gen 11:6b), confirming the aspect of the imagination elevates humans above and beyond time.
To limit what they could do, he had to breakdown the communication by confusing the language. On the day of Pentecost, He restored a common language. The restoration united imaginations so that the Church can do anything that He puts into our imaginations. Notice, however, this restoration of language was only for believers, so God left those who are in the world confused. (Please see “The Beast, Big Brother, and George Orwell,” which is available on my website: www.dellbelew.com).
Through God`s language, He gives keys to decode the messages hidden in time and scripture. He uses metaphors and patterns overlaid upon Truth that can only be discerned by those to whom He gives the revelation. The idea of forms and patterns is interwoven throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11 pulls the idea together in terms of God`s models that replicate those in heaven---just as Plato says about “forms”
Our greatest replica on earth of a heavenly original is Jesus Christ. He is not only the Incarnation of God, who put on flesh to pay our sin debt, he is also the earthly representative or model of God Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth.
Now, let us return to the Contact writer`s depiction of the overlapping idea in code that leads to the construction of a craft for time and space travel. God, who has everything we need to live both inside and outside of Earth time, has given us a code. What is less clear is the “code” that makes time and space travel possible. Living the Christian life in earth-time requires an understanding of the principles, but living in the spiritual Kingdom of God requires an understanding of overlapping.
Overlapping simply dramatizes God`s ability to be in the past, present, and future times and to be everywhere at once. From our own experience with memory, we can visualize overlapping and a kind of stacking. When we think of the past, our memory fills our mind with images and accompanying information. We have the miraculous ability to see many years of experiences and people`s faces and voices in one instant of time, yet we understand how they have affected us---mostly because the memories come with emotional reactions.
With good imaginations, we can visualize the future. This mode is our way of projecting what we think could happen and what we desire to have happen that gives us hope and motivation. The way the memory and imagination work together is more powerful than anything we can understand with our human minds. Wondrously, both faculties can give us a clear picture of the way God sees us in our space-time warp. I will be mentioning the latest unveiling of Artificial Intelligence technology that is eerily adept at mimicking the human imagination that has been turned into digital information. (I know little or nothing about how it can produce poems and imaginative literature so quickly given that it is the part of the human soul—that is, imagination—so the fact that it can “create” is troubling on a deeply human level.) I digress. . . .
Outside of those human faculties, the closest I can come to explaining the unexplainable is by using transparencies for an overhead projector. If all of human life could be put on microfilm transparencies and divided into three separate sheets representing, past, present, and future, with a fourth sheet for depicting the globe placed over all, we could get a slight sense of God`s time-space presence in more human terms.
Then we need to add a fifth dimension that results from the overlapping of the four sheets. We can call this fifth dimension “the Mystery of God,” which results from a view that zooms out from the human to the Divine. Through the zooming out process, we can see and comprehend the Plan as God sees it. In this dimension is the “knowing.” The only way we can “know” or “see” this vision is through the lens given to us by and through the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps a better analogy of the overlapping is an encyclopedic or textbook reference to the human anatomy. Some biology books have several colored transparencies with the systems of the body. Each system, the nervous, skeletal, muscular, vascular, and epidermal, has its own transparency. As each transparency is turned and overlaid on the previous one, we see the layers and interconnections of these systems in the body. Once the epidermal layer is placed upon the others, we no longer see the systems underneath, just the results when the figure is animated. But we know they are there and, to some extent, what they are, despite the immediate covering. All systems work to make us individually who we are. Our human spirit, however, is invisible to the naked eye but guides us from the Eternal God and our Father when we open our spirits to receive that transmission.
The covering lacks completion from our visual understanding because we cannot know what that figure might be if it moved or how it might be in the future. That is the part that God knows. We can make assumptions based on past experience watching people move and age; however, the only way we can know for sure in human terms is to wait on the full revelation. God, on the other hand, can show us the rest in our imagination through dreams and visions.
If we apply this analogy to God`s unlimited time and space, we can begin to get a grasp of what faith is all about. God sees past, present, and future and shows us as we draw closer to Him. Then and only then can we see through His eyes. We can see all things and know all things that pertain to God`s plan and then walk in it with confidence. Prophecy allows us to see when God chooses. Prophecy HAS to come to pass because it is the revelation of “known” things. Only our fear and carnal understanding can cloud our vision of the great things He has in store for them that love Him.
Leaving the transparency examples now, let us suspend our disbelief and imagine that God has overlapped time, space, and circumstance in the chapters of the Old and New Testaments. This overlapping we can call by two names: prophecy and revelation. As we study the Scriptures, we can read the prophecies and figurative language with some intellectual understanding. When we combine prophecies with the fulfillment, a subconscious layering takes place, as with memory of our personal past can bring images of our past within the same mental arena without regard for the time or place that they originally occurred.
However, we need special revelation or awareness from God in order to have confidence in God-time. Jesus told his disciples that they would not understand everything he said but that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all Truth (John 16:13 KJV).
Jesus was speaking about matters that involved past, present, and future time events. The Truth about time, I believe, will bolster our faith and open us up to greater, higher levels of understanding.
Truth is locked in time and space until God unlocks or unveils it for us. Prophets spoke mysteries even they did not understand in their day. The reward for believing and seeking diligently is that God comes as his Spirit teaches and leads us into all Truth. Truth is the reward that the writer of Hebrews promises: “. . . anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 10:6b NIV).
When we get too carnally minded, we get stuck in time; we see only the limitations of time and we become frightened. Most intelligent people can decipher surface prophecies, especially those which have come to pass, but it takes the Spirit of God to reveal those prophecies that are layered and interwoven that have happened and continue to have an effect on the present and future or that have not been fulfilled as yet.
If the Bible is inspired by the One who calls Himself “I Am,” how can we miss the fact that the Bible is alive in the past, present, and future all at once? When we can acknowledge that, we can begin to see the world as God sees it. Seeing Truth takes us to levels of life that allow us to go from glory to glory, never fearing what man can do to us. If the Being who transcends time and space is on our side, how can we fear or hesitate to serve Him unequivocally?
Time is on our side so that we can know that our suffering within the material world will ultimately end. Some people believe that the reason God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden was to keep them from eating of the Tree of Life and, thus, protect them. To live eternally with God is one glorious prospect, but to live eternally separated from Him would be an unspeakable horror. As long as we live in a time-limited world, we can make choices as to how we will live in eternity, so time gives us the leeway to choose. Grace and free will become our lifelines if we make the right choices. Sadly, the same time is given for those who do not choose God through His son Jesus Christ.
Having suggested all these things, let me conclude with the great news that we are not limited by time or space if we make the right choices. The spiritual world is the only world that brings peace, love, and joy now and forevermore.
Chapter Three
Bible-Time
If you have been with me on the previous chapters, you will hopefully be able to follow my arguments here. You will also hopefully find my motive for building a case for overlapping and coding at all in terms of Time. I firmly believe that we cannot box God in and insist that the order of the Bible is strictly chronological or that each prophecy or event has a one-time occurrence. In every sense of the word, we are living in past, present, and future time simultaneously.
Now, regarding Bible-Time, it is vital to believe the foundational doctrines of Christianity, namely the Trinity, the Virgin birth, the redemption of the Blood of Christ, our eternal reward for having believed on God through Christ, and that someday Jesus is coming back to Earth to finish the work he began at Calvary.
But it is equally important to see the whole plan of God as it is interwoven throughout the testaments. The knowledge of the plan makes us better ambassadors for the King.
So where do we begin to understand Bible-time? The difficulty with answering that question is the very complexity of the overlapping that I suggest in the previous pages. As a young Christian, I had little knowledge of anything except John 3:16 and Psalm 100. I had no idea that the four gospels told principally the same story from four different perspectives. By the time I made my way from Matthew to John 3, I had a clear vision of who Jesus Christ is and that he is real and very much involved in my life as a believer. I also had the answer for what had happened to me as I read the Gospels. I had been born again, a new creature in Christ Jesus.
I did not understand that the night I committed my life to him; I understood only as I interacted in the Bible through my spirit. No one could have adequately explained how that could happen, but I soon learned that is a matter of spiritual growth as I learned to crawl and then walk through my new life. From that first encounter with God through the Gospels, I branched out into the letters and stopped at the Revelation for some obvious reasons: I did not have a clue what to do with that book.
Knowing what the letters are all about was easy and even the Psalms and Proverbs. Genesis told stories of early civilization and where it all began. The Exodus was easy, as were the other Old Testament historical records. After more than 49 years of reading, I have come to see the Bible in a whole new light. I do not see it as a book for everyone in the world but as a book for the covenant people of God then and now. Though He wants the entire world to be in covenant with Him, not all will be.
God does not tell us everything that happened for all eternity before or after the beginning but He has told us and will reveal to us all that we need to know as Time goes by. For us, therefore, to believe that if a civilization is not mentioned in the Bible, it did not exist is wrong thinking in Bible-time. I go into greater detail in other pages on my website: www.dellbelew.com. For now I want to discuss Bible-time as it relates to where we are presently and how much more we need to be open to possibilities.
To be legalistic and fundamental keeps people tuned in to the Biblical mandates about faithfulness and sinfulness, but legalism can become a mental trap that forbids our openness to God`s revelation knowledge. As I have mentioned before, if we are to walk by faith and not by sight, we need to learn what the invisible parts of our existence are all about, that is, invisible to us until we need to know.
The world in which we live has become more and more corrupt every day until we have become embroiled in things personally that sabotage our faith in Christ. The miscommunication in our era is so subtle that it darkens our spirits without our realizing it. Many, in fact, have grown cold to the Bible and to the message of the Gospels or they think it is beyond our ability to know it.
A new wave of evangelism is sweeping the world as things become more corrupt. I am revising this text in 2024 and our world is beginning to crumble before our eyes. The timing of this wave is not man`s; it is God`s for He knows that time is short and the days are becoming more evil. I have more to say about that in the book I am working on now: Aliens and Otherworldly Creatures: Where Are They Now?
People who study prophecy can give much better details than I from recent past and current events to prove that prophecies have been fulfilled in our lifetime. What I offer in this section is the idea that we may be looking for more visibly graphic things than will occur, so we need to look for more subtle fulfilments in order to become more aware as to the Bible-time.
An addendum:
Let me say a very important word about our living in all three spheres: people who have already gone on to their final destination CANNOT come back either in bodily form, dreams, voices, or speak through a medium! Do not seek those experiences as they are familiar spirits, that is, they are familiar with your loved ones and can imitate their voice and mannerisms devised to snare you and keep you from moving on in this life. Seeking information about them or your own future through Ouija boards, palm readers, or mediums of all kinds is a trap laid for your soul. If you have done so in the past, seek deliverance from someone who knows his/her authority against the wiles of the devil.
I have lost 2 siblings within a 4-month period, so I know too well that people long to communicate with their loved ones after they have gone to be with the LORD, but the Bible warns against it. Doing so opens up so many windows for the devil to mess up your life—although it cannot take away your salvation if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior.
Last Words:
Let me end on a happier note. When life gets hard and our world gets darker, we can look up for our redemption draws near to us. Our future is right ahead and it is a happy one for an eternal home with the one who loves us no matter what we have done, what we look like, or where we have been.
Time, God-Time, and Bible-Time makes us know that no matter what happens in this life-time, we are right on Time with our Savior and the plan for which we have been called now and forevermore. Amen!
About the Author
I began my search for Truth in 1975 as I committed my life to Jesus Christ. That commitment ultimately led to my pursuing a college degree for the purpose of ministering the Gospel. Thinking that meant pastoring a church, I ran full speed into the education I had rejected when graduating from high school.
Throughout those next years, the ministry that would reveal itself first was in my writing as a freshman, actually in my first class, Political Science. My first professor gave me my first “A” and commented on the very first paper that he “liked my style.” I did not know I had a “style.” I just remember groping for understanding and the words to write about Democracy in America, at that time, thinking it was the most boring book ever written. I had no idea what I was reading or how to complete the assignment without being discovered as a naïve student, although I was 31 years old at the time.
Later as a seminary student, one of my professors commented on a paper that he prayed that whatever I decided to do in ministry that it would be writing. About the same time, I was actually teaching English at Brewton-Parker College when one of my colleagues, a Psychology professor, told me basically the same thing—having read some of my writing. At that time, I had a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art, a master’s and doctorate in English and was well on my way to completing a master’s of divinity.
If I seemed to be a bit confused about what I wanted to do, as many people still believe, let me say with assurance that all of my education has paid off. I taught not only creative writing, but English (that is, writing and literature,) World Literature, World Religions, and Humanities (which is World Cultures). As I sit here at this moment, this information makes me tired; but I am sure that being forced to read/study all of that stuff was for the purpose of writing what I have on the variety of subjects. Like my former English professor said, I know where to find the information especially after having been exposed to it.
My degree in Studio Art has played a major role in this journey as I learned the history of art that also contributes to historical information about cultures and the way in which people think and create in addition to the practice.
Let me hasten to include a statement that the English professor told the class of students overwhelmed with all that we were expected to do even as freshmen: “We don’t expect you to remember everything you have read but where to find it.” Having the skills to research, comprehend, and then write about what the LORD was leading me to know was the crowning achievement of a life well-lived. All of the glory goes to him.
I am presently retired from teaching and thought I had written my last book after the 23 were published. The times in which we are living calls for drastic information transfer to Christians who are concerned about the dramatic revelation of our world gone very wrong. I could not lay down my pen.
This, however, is not the primary book that is presently in the works. My first book was The Woman, The Red Dragon, and The End of the World, which was published in 2006. It is out of print in that title. I revised and published it under The Woman and Her Seed, a very right-now book about the satan’s revving up his scheme in 2024 leading up to what he thinks will be our destruction.
My present work is titled Aliens and Other World Creatures: Where Are They Now? Check them all out on Amazon.com and through my website. Thank you for visiting. I encourage reader responses to dellbelew@gmail.com.
The Blood Often called a "slaughterhouse religion," Christianity is rich with Blood, the Life-giving source that is rarely understood by those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. In this text, I attempt to explain in sometimes simple detail all of the aspects of the Biblical understanding of God's ordinances and Jesus' shedding of Blood at Calvary. I cover the first instance of God's giving mankind his Life Blood and then man's loss of that vital aspect. Finally, I explain why Jesus' blood was sufficient to redeem a fallen race back to a Holy God.
Paperback $5.99 Kindle $2.99 .
The years 2021 and, now, 2022, have been banner years for God's provisions during personal sorrows from loss of family members. Just as I was finishing up this latest text, the LORD spoke an awesome and most comforting word for my daughter-in-law about the death of her son. That word alone convinced me how important it is for the Body of Christ to awaken their senses to the ways in which God speaks directly to our souls. I had to go back to the printer and revise the text to include that information fresh off of God's press. The book speaks to all of us about the adoring relationship we have with our on-time and all-encompassing Father who wants us to know exactly what is happening in our lives so that we are not distracted nor dismayed by the events that threaten to encompass us with dread and fear. The book became a spiritual autobiography with stories to which we all can and should be able to relate.
Available in paperback and ebook from Amazon.com and from me. [dellbelew33@hotmail.com)
I suspect from past experience in teaching Christians that many of them are unaware of the dangers the devil (whose proper name is Satan) presents in their lives everyday and at every turn. Ignorance is bliss doesn't even cover the problems associated with not knowing that he exists and, especially not knowing what he is up to. In this text, I begin with the encounters with Jesus after his [Jesus'] baptism. If we do not know who our enemy is, we are without hope and help in the world. Therefore, searching out the information that we are given in the Bible is the second step; the first is in acknowledging that we NEED to know.
Available in paperback and ebook through Amazon.com and me (dellbelew33@hotmail.com).
God-Time:A Free book that is for sale on Amazon.com.
In Full Bloom. Of all of my creative endeavors, poetry was one of the last ones to appear in my life. When I say "appear," I mean that it almost sneaked up on me. I had written some poetry on occasion when an event or sight had stirred my imagination; but it wasn't until I was stirred deep in my soul by a movie that I was inspired with a sense of urgency to write down my feelings and thoughts.
As I was writing the second line, I had the thought, "This is a poem." Every person who has ever given any thought to what a poem is will have a different definition. Mine is quite simple; a poem comes from the stirring of the inner soul that requires expression. The expressions in my poems range from the ridiculously silly to romantic meanderings to the sorrowful, cathartic reflections during a dark time in my life.
Paperback: $5.99 Kindle $.99
My first memoirs under this same title was a hit even among people who didn't know me very well, which always amused me as most of what I was recording could come under the heading "You had to be there!" There were some serious essays in which I was expounding on whatever was irritating me at the time. Some stuff was just funny. Book II is very similar in that I pick up with the stories I was writing for my writing group as examples--seems people don't think they have much to tell unless they hear other people's stories. One of the participants in the group did the same thing with her stories.
Available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.com or through me @dellbelew33@hotmail.
Leaving and Cleaving: The Biblical Guide to a Happy Marriage.Through the years, I have officiated at many weeding. When I agree to ask God's blessings upon a couple, I insist the couples attend at least 4 premarital counseling sessions with me. Recently, it occurred to me that having something in writing might make the counseling sessions more memorable and also provide a refresher after the marriage when the stars in their eyes have begun to lose their sparkle. The book incorporates Biblical guidelines in addition to some modern interpretations given the ways marriage is being conceived in the 21st-century.
Available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.com or through me @dellbelew33@hotmail.com
Money, Money, Money: After a lengthy discussion with a good friend about how I survived for 10 years without a job but maintained an excellent credit rating, she said, "There's your next book!" In the process of writing this one, it occurred to be that the best use of the book would be in my marriage counseling sessions with young people who are about to marry and begin their financial lives together. I include many excellent suggestions and helpful but necessary information about having, using, and not having money. All of my experiences come from my life beginning with childhood issues and through to lean years as a divorced and later unemployed single mother. Most are very practical and some may seem a bit foolish but trust me when I say, they work. I am a living witness to all of this.
Paperback: $11.99 Kindle $2.99
Prayer Gardening: Prayer is a subject that concerns all humans regardless of the entity with which they are attempting communication. As Christians, our relationship to God begins with prayer, the prayer of confession for salvation. After salvation, the Christian has a "hotline" to the Throne of God through which we learn and grow in our relationship with him.Knowing how to access that hotline is the key to a successful communion with the Almighty. Our awesome relationship to the God of the Universe is like no other religion, so doing it properly brings results and nourishes our faith to live Godly lives and also to bring others to the Throne.In this text, I cover all of the aspects of prayer that not only plants seeds of faith but waters them. Our growth in faith leads to a closer relationship to God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Paperback $12.99 Kindle $3.99