Tie a yellow ribbon around the...

I heard this story today...it was about a farmer in the U.S.A in the 1930's depression.

All the farmer's discovered that even if they planted their crops they wouldn't be able to sell them in the following year...no one could afford to buy them...

...the result?

...no one planted their crops...

...well...almost no one...

One farmer was seen in his field...planting...

His neighbor approached him...inquiring minds want to know.

"Whacha doin?", he asked, while the obvious answer was being enacted before him.

"Planting my crops", the other farmer answered.

"Why, nobody going to be able to buy corn next year?", the neighbor informed him.

"I know that. I'm not planting corn...I'm planting oak trees.", the farmer said calmly.

"Oak trees, that's crazy...you won't be able to use those trees. They'll take 70 years to grow", the neighbor scowled.

"I'm not planting them for me to use, they are for my grandchildren", the farmer said, as he continued to work the ground.

How often do we make our choices with the thoughts of our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren in mind?

Just like the oak tree our choices of today take time to produce fruit...to the good or bad.

At times, easy choices are also choices made because of lack of faith...not trusting God at His word.

These easy choices seem to bear immediate fruit...like in the case of Sarah and Abraham.

Surely God couldn't bring a child out of an old man and a barren old wife...hey look...Hagar!

Did this choice bear fruit?...oh yes it did!

The battle continues today. Someone in the middle east will likely die today because of that choice made thousands of years ago.

May our fruit be lasting...and good.

No Way Out.

Christians often try to save God from His bad reputation...

...I didn't know God needed to be saved?

...silly me...

...here I was thinking that it was us that needed to be saved...saved from our foolish efforts to make God seem acceptable according to "our" standard of what acceptable should look like.

Remember...God is the standard!

How do we judge an action of God to be unjust, unfair or not good when God is the standard for all of these?

Let's stretch our minds for a minute.

There are some Christians who believe that the Bible teaches that God has predestined everything from eternity...big things and small things.

They believe that absolutely everything that happens...including the good and bad choices of men, was pre-planned by God from before the creation of the world.

To other Christians this will NOT do.

They believe this makes God seem bad...sort of ugly even.

God predestines everything...even bad stuff?...no way Jose!...they say [kind of catchy eh?]

God is good, and therefore He would never bring evil or bad into the world, they say.

Instead of God predestinating everything, these friends of God, have God creating everything, and then having a close watch on everything...adding a pinch of 'good' and touch of 'fairness' to the mix here and there.

But here is the catch. The Bible teaches that God knows the end from the beginning.

Before God created anything...He saw it all. [some would say He knew the end from the beginning because it was His plan to begin with].

Think about it...don't let it go, wrestle with it...

Even if God didn't pre-plan everything...or predestine everything would He still be responsible for the outcome of everything, if He knew what the results were going to be?

Let me give you an example.

If a parole officer released a known killer would he be responsible for the murder?

How about if he knew with absolute certainty that the man he was going to release was going to commit murder?

He has the power to keep him in custody...he has the power to release him.

Knowing full well what releasing the criminal will mean...the parole officer chooses to release him.

Wouldn't you say that he is at least partially responsible for the outcome?

You bet!

You see, trying to make God seem prettier by saying He didn't really predestine everything...instead He just foresaw everything...doesn't really make God look prettier.

God didn't have to create...but He chose to...even though He saw what this would bring about [I am speaking in terms of this school of belief]

To see God's beauty you must look at Him with the eyes of faith He has given us "in Christ".

God has predestined everything...but because He is all good and all wise and all powerful, He is working "all things" out for good.

We may not be able to see or understand how God can use evil to bring about ultimate good...

...but then again we are not all knowing, all wise, all good, and all powerful...we are not God!

... 120 years ago we couldn't see how being stabbed in the heart with a sharp knife could be any good either...and when the knife is in the wrong hands we would be right in thinking so.

But today, when the knife is in the right hands...we call this heart surgery...and it brings good.

I am standing for truth...really I am.

I find it so sad.

Young men thinking that they are defending the truth of God's word...but they don't have to do so in accordance with God's word...or the Spirit that breathed that Word.

Should a young man harshly rebuke an older, even a white haired, older man?

The Bible says... "do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father".

Young men need to defend the truth in the Spirit of the truth...otherwise they will find themselves defending something...not God's honor...only their own.

Sins of the Father

As fathers we need to strive, by God's grace, to get our lives into submission to God and His Word.

Our sons will learn our sin.

Sons need to fight against sin...they need to follow the example of their heavenly Father and not the sins of their earthly father.

We need to trust...that where sin abounds...grace much more abounds.

Terrifying Thoughts

I don't know of any Christian who delights in the Biblical teaching of hell.

Hell is not one of those teachings that make you feel all fuzzy inside.

I have been talking with someone who believes that hell will not be eternal...

...this person is not an unbeliever but someone who professes to trust in Jesus...

I am reading a book she lent me, and will comment on its teachings...at a later date.

The Bible teaches that hell is a reality and that it is eternal!

I can honestly understand why people would want to find a way to make the Bible say something else...because the truth is a harsh pill to swallow.

I believe that the main reason why we find it so hard to believe that God would punish people for their sins...and do so not merely for a temporal duration...but forever and ever...is two-fold.

1. We do not rightly understand the heights of God's holiness.
2. We do not rightly understand the depths of our own wickedness.

I will post more on this teaching...not because it is so light and fluffy but because the Bible speaks more about hell then it does about heaven.


If you go to most funeral today you will learn that most people believe that a person is made right before God by...by...well...by just dying.

No matter what you believed, how you acted, how you treated the Lord Jesus Christ...you will be ushered into heavens pearly gates just because your heart stopped beating.

This teaching is nowhere found in the Bible.

Remember, it doesn't really matter what they say about you at your funeral...what is really going to matter is what God says about you on the other side.

X Marks the Spot

The board room was packed...filled with mid-level demons who wanted to be promoted to bigger and better things.

The instructor entered the room...and looked at his new class with sour displeasure.

...then slowly a small smile crawled upon his ugly face.

"The upper office says we have room for one good demon, but this position isn't going to be handed to you low-life's on a silver platter", the instructor demon announced.

"The demon who gets this position is going to have to work for it!", he shouted violently.

"The big boss wants something that will make men, young and old... USELESS...wasting their time and energy on thin air", he growled while staring at each pair of eyes in the room.

"He wants something to swallow up their time...make them twiddle their thumbs for hours and hours on end... each day...something to turn them into first class sluggards!", he continued to inform.

"But the boss man also wants these vermin to 'feel' like their accomplishing something while they are really doing nothing...something that makes them 'feel' like they are acquiring real skills for real life...something that will even make them 'feel' like they are conquering new frontiers...new worlds...all the while they are only wearing out the seat of their jeans." challenged the instructor.

The instructor then began handing out application forms for the job.

"If you think you have any ideas...if you think you have what it takes to do this job then put your name on the form I'm handing out, and then put an x in the box below to indicate you want a shot at this new challenge." the instructor finished.

The room sat there for a while, no one making any moves...captured in thought.

Then one of the up and coming demons smiled as an idea gripped his mind.

"Something to make men twiddle their thumbs doing nothing...but make them think they are conquering the world." he whispered to himself.

Then his eyes moved down the sheet of paper to the box.

"Just put the "X" in the Box...and the rest will be history"...he said laughing.