Written in Red
December 8, 2025
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Tag: Jesus Christ
Giving thanks to Jesus
November 26, 2025
We are in what is often referred to as the Thanksgiving season. For others, it is black November or a prelude to the Christmas buying frenzy. It is fall and the leaves are leaving the trees in Missouri. In other parts of the country, they have had snow, or the beaches are full. Life goes on.
When I think of giving thanks, I first think of my parents. They gave me life, a home, an education, their love and support, and more than I can express in words. I thank my children for allowing their mother and I to teach them what we knew, not just in words. I believe they picked up the things that we did not say, but showed them.
Without our children, we would not have these twelve grandchildren that seem to occupy our thoughts and lives. When they are all here, they are a wonderful and noisy house full. I could enumerate all the blessings you have brought to us. I think I will save that for a book.
I need to express my appreciation to the churches, pastors, and leadership of all the congregations that I have worked with over the years. Many of these groups and individuals have appeared in other columns. I won’t take the space here to reiterate what has already been said.
The employers I have had also deserve a round of applause. I would not be who I am without you. Some of you just wanted my time and talents, and you received those. Others gave me more than money; you gave me experience, knowledge, and the discernment that I needed to make my way through this world.
Many coworkers and friends have come to me at these businesses. I am thankful for all of you and my other friends that I have picked up from churches and a multitude of other places and situations. You have befriended me, chastised me, and encouraged me, and I am forever grateful for your kindness and companionship.
Who am I leaving out? I’ll get to the most important in a minute. First, I need to thank my country. It is not a person. It is an idea or an ideal. It was established by people I never met and founded on principles I have learned to believe in. It is not perfect because it contains people. The freedom I enjoy here was purchased by the lives of thousands in many ways.
My wife deserves more thanks than I can possibly express. Her love, compassion, and friendship have kept me going and slapped me out of my complacency when I needed it. Without her, I would not have those twelve grandchildren that we love so much. The best way to say thank you to her is 1-4-3. She knows what that means.
Lastly, I must thank my Savior, Jesus, who is called the Christ or the Messiah. Without Him, I would have none of these other people in my life. What wisdom and knowledge I have ultimately must be attributed to Him. He has led me away from paths that were better for me not to go down. At least, when I listened.
God Said it. I Believe it. That Settles it.
March 18, 2025
On the dashboard of my 1966 Chevy Impala Super Sport, there was a magnet that said, “God Said it. I Believe it. That Settles it.” I put that magnet there in 1974 when the Lord called me to full-time Gospel Ministry. I still believe it.
As I began to start studying the Bible at Southwest Baptist College, I made some decisions about what my world view was. At the time I did not know what a “world view” was. I formed in my head what I believed about God. Then I tried to put it into words. I literally found it in His Word.
I decided that He was the creator of everything. I decided that He and Jesus were the same being and they shared a spirit. I later learned they are a triune being. My grammar check wants me to change that to read triune beings. Grammarly is wrong. There is only one being.
Triune literally means three in one. It is different from a trinity. Trinity is three that become one. Many of the religions of the world that worship multiple gods have a trinity that makes three of their gods into a godhead. This is a syndicate. Kind of like a tribunal of gods. Jehovah God is one entity. The deceiver wants you to believe otherwise.
Jehovah is the only creator of the universe. The concept of multiple universes and different realities is as old as time. That is another lie that we can fall for. The creator of all things made chronological time as well. That is what He said in Genesis. “In the beginning God.”
He designed and executed the existence of everything around us. In that book of beginnings, you see that He said, “Let us make mankind in our own image.” And He did. We are also a triune being. We have a soul, a body, and a spirit like He does.
We call Him Father because His bodily form referred to Him as His Father. We are called crazy when we talk to ourselves, but Jesus showed us it is acceptable to communicate with your soul. You must recognize that you have one. We also need to acknowledge our spirit. He told Nicodemus that he must be born again. That is very confusing. There is a physical birth, but Jesus introduced us to a spiritual birth. Satan was wrong when he told Adam and Eve they would not die. One-third of us is dead when we are born.
Accepting the son of God as our Lord and Savior brings us into His family as His children. We become like God in every sense except we cannot create something from nothing. He teaches us how to recreate ourselves into the image of Him that He wants us to show to the world.
Most of the time I mess that up. I keep trying with each new day that He gives to me. Do you? Are you more like Him than you were yesterday? If not, let’s work on it again tomorrow. Oh, by the way, Jehovah created tomorrows as well. The future, the present, and the past are all part of His creation. Isn’t it wonderful? Every morning you are able to begin again.
Jimmy Carter’s Faith
January 10, 2025
With the announcement of the death of thirty-ninth President Jimmy Carter, we are hearing about the man who failed to be re-elected when Ronald Reagan defeated him. He passed away on the twenty-ninth of December 2024 at the age of one hundred.
I remember when this former governor of Georgia first announced that he was going to run. The question was, “Jimmy who?”. Gerald Ford was then President. He had been appointed as Vice President by Richard Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace.
As a sitting President, Ford was a shoo-in for the Republican nomination. I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I have always been nonpartisan. I look at each candidate and decide which I think will be the most effective as our chief executive. I did not vote for either Ford or Carter.
I did vote for Ronald Reagan when he defeated President Carter. It was not because I thought that we needed a Republican. When Reagan was nominated, I decided he was the better candidate of those that would be on the ballot. Most citizens agreed with me.
It wasn’t until after he became a private citizen again that I saw the kind of man that Jimmy was. I read his book, “Keeping Faith” and remembered the man who put Southern Baptists into the spotlight. As a lifelong Holmanite myself I appreciated his spiritual outlook.
Most importantly is the fact that he emphasized his relationship with Jesus more than the fact that he was referred to as a Christian. Christianity is only a religion to some. To President Carter Jesus was his savior and his life. This is why he taught Bible studies every Sunday in church.
The Greek word that we translate as church is ecclesia. It means a gathering of people. Paul and other writers of the New Testament believed that followers of The Way, what would later be called little Christs or Christians, should meet regularly. These are the followers of Jesus.
One of the things that Jimmie always taught was that there were no grandchildren of God. He was a loving grandfather, but he wanted to be sure that all his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren knew Jesus personally. He would not see them in Heaven unless they had a personal relationship with his Lord and Savior.
I ask you to consider if your faith is like that of James Earl Carter, Jr. Have you accepted Jesus as shown in the Bible? Do you have a relationship with Him? Don’t rely on family history or what you mark on a questionnaire to get you into the presence of the Creator God.
Charles (Chuck) Kensinger 