Mind/Mined Nuggets

Objections to Hell #4

2010-12-08T06:02:00.001-08:00

As we look at the fourth objection to hell, it seems so true at first sound, but like so many other cons, when you look beneath the surface you will discover the very opposite to be the case.

4.God is a God of love…therefore hell cannot exist!

Ask people who say that hell does not exist if they lock their car, house? Do they have a bank account or just leave their money on the front lawn hoping that no one will come and take their money? Do these people have secret pin numbers for their debit and credit cards? If they have children, do these people leave their most prized possessions alone with people who are known pedophiles or murderers?

Why not!?

If we give ourselves the right to protect what is ours, even though everything we have is only borrowed from God. If we give ourselves the right to protect our loved ones, why do we all of a sudden change the rules when it comes to God?

Would it be loving for God to allow wolves into His heaven to prey upon His sheep? No!

Would it be loving for God to force rebels to turn from their sin, against their wills? No!

Would it be loving for God to call all to repent and come to Him for free forgiveness, but those who refuse to come will get what they wanted…an eternity without God and without His pesky people…Yes.

For those who reject the Bible’s teaching about hell because they say it takes away from God’s love…need to answer the following question…how deep is their God’s love?

What does their God do to show His love? What does His love cost…Him?

If God is all powerful then what sacrifice is it for Him to simply zap gifts for people? If God can speak the worlds into existence with a word…then it would be nothing for Him to speak gifts for us…costing Him nothing…because in the end He has an unending bank account.

This last objection tries to protect God’s love…tries to magnify it…but in the end…it makes God’s love something that is superficial…shallow…love in only word…but not in sacrificial deeds.

Jesus suffering was more than just physical…something infinitely more!

The teaching of hell does the very opposite of diminishing the love of God…it shows to us how deep and great God’s love really is…

On the Cross, God suffered the infinite wrath that was due our sins…showing that His love for us is without bounds…and He was willing to do anything to deliver us!

Every gift we experience and enjoy, we do so at God’s expense!

When you enjoy a good meal, a good laugh with friends…or simply enjoy a cool glass of water [remember the rich man in Jesus parable was denied a drop of water]…remember that the only reason why you can do so…is because God is love…and that at the Cross of Calvary…God showed His love by suffering and dying to bring you those blessings…and not just eternal life!

Each sin deserves wrath, not blessing…Jesus took the wrath in order for anyone to experience God’s blessing. If Jesus did not die on the cross there would be absolutely NO good gifts, NO blessings for those who sinned EVEN ONCE!

May our hearts daily trust in this Great God, and may we spend the rest of our days…and into eternity…worshiping Him, adoring Him, and thanking Him for His great love, that was willing to suffer the pains of hell…so that we would not have to!

If you have not surrendered your heart to this God do so today! Look at His unfathomable love! Look at His immeasurable forgiveness! God is abundant in loving kindness and mercy! He doesn’t want sinners to suffer the torments of eternity without Him…this is why He was willing to suffer in their place.

Go to Jesus Today! Today is the day of salvation!

Objections to Hell #3

2010-11-24T05:56:00.001-08:00

Before we read the third objection to hell, ask yourself the following question, “Who do I believe, God or man?” The reason why some objections to hell get off the ground and begin flying is because Christian’s allow the runway for take off to exist. The Bible tells us that God is true, even if every man is proven a liar. If the whole human race says one thing and God says another, who do you believe? God is all wise, all knowing, all seeing! He knows with perfect knowledge the effects that sin has brought upon the human heart. Sin has warped our thinking, it has distorted our judgments. Even our judgments of how we view ourselves! This is why we MUST go to God for our answers, even if God’s answers contradict the whole world of unbelief!

Third Objection. ‘It is unfair to be eternally damned for making a wrong choice, when there are millions of choices. If the stake are so high, then God should make things way more clear!’

If you remember, in the parable that Jesus is telling, He has the rich man in hell asking if God would raise Lazarus from the grave and go warn the rich man’s five brothers about the place of wrath and torment. God tells the rich man that his brothers have God’s word to warn them about hell, and if they won’t listen to God’s word then they won’t listen even if they see someone raise from the grave!

Jesus has the rich man in the parable insinuating “if” things would have been more clear…if he would have had more information…if he would have seen some miraculous event…THEN…he would have never gone to hell!

Has God been unclear? God tells us “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

God tells us that He has clearly shown Himself in the created order. God has clearly revealed Himself through the things He has made.

His finger prints are on everything!

So why do people then reject Jesus and reject the Gospel? The answer is frightening!

Jesus gives us this answer in the Gospel of John, in the most popular Scripture passage in our land.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish [go to hell] but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved! [John 3:16-17]

What an amazing, wonderful truth! God came into the world to save sinners from eternal destruction! So then, why aren’t some saved? Is it because God hasn’t shown Himself in a clear enough way? The passage continues on, and reveals to us the reason why some people don’t come to Jesus.

“He who believes in Jesus is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” [vs. 18]

Now, read the following verse very carefully.

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” [John 3:19]

Light is very clear! It shines clearly into the dark! Jesus is telling us the reason why some people don’t find God is because they don’t want to. They love their sin and refuse to give it up!

These people say that they are open to the truth and are willing to follow the evidence wherever it leads, but in reality they are running as fast as they can from the truth.

In history, Jesus really did raise a man named Lazarus from the dead! Did this amazing feat cause the religious leaders of Jesus day to stop fighting against Him, and begin to follow Jesus? No! Instead they began to plot in how they could kill Lazarus, because his very presence was causing a lot of people to follow Jesus. The religious leaders wanted to get rid of the evidence so that they could continue believing the lie!

And what happened when Jesus Himself rose from the grave on the third day? Did His enemies change their minds? Praise God, some did! But others paid off the guards who witnessed the resurrection! They gave the guards large sums of money to lie about what they saw! In other words, they got rid of the evidence!

In this parable [Luke 16:19-31] Jesus tells us that God has clearly revealed Himself and His salvation in the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New…if a person refuses to bow the knee to Jesus because of God’s Word, then they won’t do so even if they see some miraculous event!

The Bible shows us that God is abundant in loving kindness and mercy. For many He is not only the God of second chances…but of 100’s of chances! But may we not be mistaken! God owes no one second or third chances! God owes no one mercy!

There are times when men and women continue to run away from God, and run into their sin and lies, and God says to them, “if that is where you want to go, then so be it.”

What a terrifying day that would be!

Objections to Hell #2

2010-11-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Now, its time to look at another objection that people have to the place God calls hell. In all truthfulness I am not writing these first and foremost for the unbeliever, in order to convince them. I am writing these to try and equip Christian’s to enable them to answer the critiques and objections that unbelievers give for hell. It can be easy for a young Christian, or a Christian who hasn’t spent much time in the Bible to be pulled away from God’s truths. Of course my desire is also to show the unbeliever that if he or she looks at hell through God’s eyes instead of their own, then all their objections don’t have a leg to stand on.

2nd Objection -- It is unfair for God to send people to hell forever for the sins that they committed in the short time that they were here on earth.

This objection contains several misunderstandings and for times sake I can’t deal with them all at length now.
Let’s look at just a few of them.

1. People view their sin as insignificant and little, why?

Because we sin in thought, word and deed throughout the day…every day…year afer year, for our whole lives.…and lightening never crashes down upon us striking us dead!

God in response shows His patience and grace and continues to pour gifts into rebels lives.

Why does He do this? Showing us that He is merciful, encouraging rebels to turn from sin and come to Him for mercy! But rebels willfully interpret God’s patience and His gifts as God’s acceptance of their sinful lifestyles…and they therefore view their sin as cheap and insignificant! Not every interpretation is correct!

When you and I sin against God, we are dishonoring and violating His infinite character…this means the penalty for this sin must also be infinite in nature.

Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher of the 1800’s, hit the nail on the head when he said, “They must be infinite sins to require an infinite Person to lay down His life for their removal.”

Those who raise this 2nd objection are leaving something else out of the equation, aren’t they? Something very important, did you catch it?

2. If you live your whole life as a rebel against God, willfully sinning against God, willfully rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who do you think you will be when you die?

The Bible teaches that God created man in His own image. Man was to be a reflection of the God who made him.

God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity honored, and served one another in perfect harmony, putting each other before self.

When God created man, it is God who served man. God made the world for man to enjoy. God gave man food and drink. God painted beautiful pictures in the glorious sunrise each day. Fanned man with a cool breeze,. Played music for man with the singing birds and bubbling brooks. God gave Adam and Eve to one another for fellowship and enjoyment, the list is endless.

God loved and served someone that was infinitely lesser than Himself.

God gave man everything in creation to enjoy, except one thing. Adam could enjoy absolutely everything, except one tree that God said was off limits. Satan the deceiver, comes to Eve and Adam with a suitcase full of discontent. He doesn’t want them to see the glass as 99.9% full, he wants them to focus on that empty sliver of space there at the top!

He feeds them the big lie and tell them that if they disobey God and eat of the forbidden tree, then they will become like God.

God warned of death. Satan promises junior divinity. Satan lied. On the day they ate of the tree, Adam and Eve spiritually died. They were cut off spiritually from God [who is Spirit]. Even though they looked the same physically, they were very much different!

Now, man wanted to be a god too…but not like the True God…man didn’t want to focus on others and serve others. Sin made him self centered, self focused, self exalting…

Man would make up his own standard of what was good and what was evil, he would no longer follow God’s ways.

Jesus warned that man’s sinfulness was so deep…so engrained…that the only thing that could change him was to be Born Again! To be born again means to be given a new heart from God. To receive spiritual life, a new spiritual birth!

How does God give sinner’s new hearts? How does God set people free from their bondage to sin and Satan? God’s Spirit works through God’s Word to give people new hearts!

It is important for us to remember that God’s Word itself has a focus, Jesus and His Work of salvation are the focal point of the Bible…this is where God changes people’s hearts!

When God changes a sinful rebel’s heart, He begins the good work here in this life. When a person trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior God forgives the sinner because of what Jesus did for Him on Calvary’s cross. Jesus suffered and died in the sinner’s place!
But God work is not done there! Next, throughout this person’s life, God slowly changes them more and more to be like Jesus, this is the work of Jesus' Spirit working ‘in’ the person’s heart. This work will be fully complete on the day this person dies and sees Jesus face to face. The Christian will fight and struggle against sin throughout their whole life, but this battle will be over when they see Jesus face to face. On that day, they will be completely free from their old sinful nature and will never sin again!

This next part is very important!

God offers His Son, Jesus must be received by faith! The Bible tells us that faith is the “assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things NOT seen”. When we die and face God it will be too late for faith…it is appointed for men to die once…and then the judgment!

God offers the Gospel…God offers the new heart here and now…if a person dies without the gospel and without a new heart…they will have that same sinful, rebellious heart for all eternity! With that heart they will continue to sin against God, and God will continue to justly punish them for their ongoing sin.

In Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in hell, never asks to get out of hell! He hated God in life and he hates God in eternity. He only wanted God for the things He gave in life and that’s the only thing he wanted from God in eternity. The rich man, even though he was in hell still viewed himself in an elevated place. He still viewed himself as a rich master and he still viewed Lazarus as someone lower than himself…someone to serve him.

Even in hell, even in eternity we see that he is self focused, and his being self centered has not gone away.

He was a God hater in life and he will be a God hater throughout all eternity!

Do note that the rich man’s request for even the smallest mercy is denied in eternity.

Those who think they can enjoy God’s gifts without God are going to be greatly disappointed!

Objections to Hell #1

2010-11-08T05:29:00.000-08:00

I know that there are a multitude of objections to the existence of hell, we are not going to try and look at them all, but instead, over the next little while we will try and look at a handful of them...to see if they really hold water or not.

As you read this today please remember that we are dealing with the God who made us and who now governs all things. This God cannot lie…He is Truth. Many of the objections to hell arise from the lies we tell about ourselves and God…and the objections die a quick death when these lies are rejected. Let’s look at our first objection.

1. It is NOT fair for God to send good, moral, and virtuous people to hell just because they didn’t trust in Jesus for their salvation.

The objector goes on to tell us that there are many good atheists and sincere people from other faiths who don’t trust in Jesus. Is God going to send these good people to hell?

A question must be asked at this point;

Good, moral, and virtuous? According to Who’s standard?

The Bible tells us that God is the Creator of all things. As Creator, God is the High King over all His creation [everything]. As King, He is the One who establishes the Law of the Kingdom. God doesn’t arbitrarily make up laws…God’s law is the expression of His own Holy, and unchanging character.

To violate God’s Law is to violate God’s Person!

And finally as King, God is the Judge who will right every wrong done against Him and His people…every wrong! [Isa 33:22].

This leads us to ask the following question, letting the above direct our reasoning.
Can a person be good, moral, virtuous if they break God’s greatest commandment?
Jesus, who is God become man, tells us that Loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, is the Greatest commandment there is!

This means loving God as He has shown Himself!

God’s clearest expression of Himself was shown to us in the Person of Jesus Christ. God became man, He put in a personal appearance!

And God’s greatest expression of love was shown at Calvary’s Cross! God the Father showing His love by willing to send the One He loved most for sinner’s salvation.

God the Son willing to be sent, in order to suffer and die for sinner’s salvation!

Ask yourself this question. If people are so good, moral and virtuous…then why did God have to leave heaven to suffer and die for us?

The Bible teaches us that the greatest evidence that our hearts are evil, immoral and wicked…is revealed by our hatred of the God who made us…and our hatred towards His only way of salvation revealed in the gospel.

At this point we must think clearly and maturely. Hatred isn’t always expressed by someone saying “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!” with their face reddening and their feet stomping on the floor! Jesus made it very clear…He said ‘if you love Me, then keep My commandments’. Jesus is telling us that our love for Him [God] is expressed in keeping His commandments, because His commandments are expressions of Who He is.

Of course the opposite is true.

Hatred is also revealed by ‘indifference’. Someone who lives their life ignoring God, His Word, His people shows their dislike for God.

Someone who is always too busy…purposefully steering clear of God…reveals in their actions that they really have an ax to grind with God…

As we look at the rich man in hell [Luke 16]… Jesus, the God who knows the hearts of all people, is revealing in this rich man, what every human heart looks like apart from God’s grace changing it through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The unbelieving heart is revealed in two types of people. One that never darkens the door of the church, and the other that hides in the church, wrongly thinking that God doesn’t have x-ray vision.

Vs 24, “Then the rich man cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

Note- The heart of those who hate God want nothing to do with God Himself…they only want the good things that God has to offer. The rich man asks God to give him mercy…but notice he doesn’t repent, he doesn’t confess his sin…he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness/pardon…just mercy!

Don't let the important fact pass you by. The rich man never asks to get out of hell! He never says to God... "I want to be with You, I want to love You!" He just wants Lazarus to come to him...to bring him mercy!

When we as sinners come to God for mercy…through the gospel, we are acknowledging that God is Holy, Just and Good…and the only way that we can be forgiven and receive mercy…and at the same time, God remain Holy, Just and Good is by God Himself becoming a man…and fully paying the debt our sins deserved, which is wrath and death!

But when a sinful person asks God for mercy without the gospel…he is saying I do not want to change. I am not asking for forgiveness. God, You change and become unholy and unjust…and give me the opposite of what my sins deserve.

On a side note, do not let the unbeliever define God’s omnipotence [All-powerful], we must listen to God as He describes it.

The unbelieving philosopher will say that if God is all powerful then He can do anything at all, but this is not the Biblical definition…so don’t get sucked into it!

The Bible reveals that God can do anything He wants to do. The Bible also teaches that God cannot lie, cannot be tempted by sin and cannot deny Himself. These things that God cannot do are not a sign of weakness…instead they further magnify His perfection and might!

If God showed mercy on rebels without paying for those rebels sins He would be denying His justice and holiness and thereby denying Himself…something He will NOT do!

When sinners willfully ignore God and His only way of salvation, in Jesus, and yet they still want to receive mercy…they are showing that they are any but good, moral and virtuous…they are showing that they want wickedness to reign unhindered throughout all eternity unchecked by God.

They are saying that God should change and be like them, instead of them changing and being like God! Total wickedness!

For Whom The Bell Tolls

2010-11-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Before we begin to look at some of the objections to hell. It is probably a good idea for us to have some understanding of what “hell” is. Let me emphasize once again that I do not hold to the Bible’s teaching about hell because it fills me with the warm fuzzies. My emotional comfort, my minds understanding is never the ultimate authority in the universe…and I don’t want to rock your world…but neither is yours. God is the absolute!

Today, we will look at one verse and mull it over…

Vs. 22 “The rich man also died and was buried…and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes…”

Jesus’ teaching in this verse stands in stark opposition to much of what people in our culture like to think about concerning death! I have been to quite a few funerals in my life and what I have found out is that it doesn’t really matter what type of life you lived, or what you believed…because…at ‘your’ funeral…not only is some guy going to dress you to the nines, and put make-up on you to make you look your best, physically, but people are going to say all kinds of nice things about you…whether those things were really a part of you or not!

To tell you the honest truth…it really doesn’t matter what the minister and the rest of the people say about me on this side of death’s veil…if it doesn’t match the info that God has about me on the other side of it. In the end…all the nice words that people make up about me and you means nothing if we didn’t really love Jesus and trust our never dying souls in Him!

Our culture wants to sugar-coat death…everyone gets a “get out of jail free” card!

There is a saying that is popular in our culture, “All paths lead to God.”

To a certain extent this saying is true…when we die we will all stand before God in judgment…so all paths do lead to God the judge…but all paths do NOT lead to salvation!

Jesus tells us very clearly that NOT everyone is going to spend eternity in heaven…and the only other option is NOT non-existence…it is going to a place of suffering…or as Jesus said…torment!

What will be the nature of this suffering? The Bible speaks in language of “fire”!

Some Christian’s interpret the fire language to mean “literal” fire, while others believe that the language of fire is speaking in metaphoric language. In either case, both sides believe that the “fire” whether it is literal or symbolic for something else is going to be horrific…and will cause suffering.

If you have never seen Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion” you should rent it. And as you watch it, witnessing the brutal beating that Jesus suffered physically…remind yourself that the worst torment that Jesus suffered on the cross was not due to the physical torture of the nails that were pinning Him to the cross!

While on the cross, Jesus drank the full cup of God’s wrath…the wrath of hell was poured out on Jesus…because Jesus had voluntarily taken the place of everyone who would trust Him, and call Him Lord!

Those who reject Jesus will drink this cup themselves for all eternity! The fire of God’s judgment and wrath will pour upon their rebellion for endless ages!

God is holy and perfect and His nature must punish evil and wickedness wherever it is found!

The Bible tells us that God is a consuming fire!

But…the suffering of hell is not merely going to be external…as horrible as that will be in and of itself…hell will also be, in a sense, self-made.

Hell is also going to be a place where the suffering is within. For all eternity a person’s lusts, hungers and thirsts will ever increase and yet never be fulfilled!

In hell, a person will fully remember every gift they were given by God, they will see their lack of gratitude in full light, they will remember every opportunity that God gave them to turn from their sin and come to Jesus for mercy, and they will remember their hateful rejection of those opportunities!

One of the most horrifying realities of hell will be that there is absolute no hope, no end in sight, no end…period!

Christian writer, C.S Lewis said that on the day of Judgment there will be two types of people. Those who say to God, “Thy will be done!”, and those to whom God will say, “thy will be done.”

If you want to try and understand what hell will like, begin by looking at the God who made us and then start subtracting!

In my first couple years as a Christian I can remember a man telling us to look in the Bible to see what God’s attributes are…here is a beginning list from Galatians 5: 22-23, God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Please note that the Bible doesn’t say that God merely has these characteristics…instead…He IS these things!

Next, this preacher encouraged us to go home and grab a Thesaurus…and find the antonym [opposite] of each of these attributes.

The people who tell God I want nothing to do with you…should really know what they are asking for…here are the opposites of God’s character.

Hell will be a place of undiluted hatred, turmoil, discontent, cruelty, wickedness, disloyalty, rage, and chaos.

Because God is absolutely perfect and holy, He cannot tolerate sin! Those who demand on clinging to their sin are telling God they do NOT want Him.

Now, finally, we will begin to look at some of the objections that people have against the Bible’s teaching on hell…next time.

Identity Theft

2010-10-29T05:49:00.000-07:00

Before we begin to read the following passage it is good for us to understand what exactly we are going to be reading.

First, Jesus is the One who is doing the teaching in this passage.

Second, Jesus is teaching by the use of a parable. In very simplistic terms a parable is a story that uses earthly peoples and objects to point the listener to deeper truths about God’s heavenly kingdom and about God’s dealings with men. When we read a parable we are not reading a story about real people…BUT…we are reading a story that is teaching us about real 'types' of people and the 'real' things that God says about them. Jesus, as the perfect Teacher has made these characters up to teach us realities about everyday happenings in this life, and also what things in the afterlife will be like.

In a later post we will look to see who the rich man is specifically, but today we will try and understand him in a more general way. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the passage, let’s first look at it;

Luke 16:19-31 [NKJV]
There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Then he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment‘. Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’

Our passage opens up [Verses 19-23] showing us the lives of two men, a poor man named Lazarus and a rich man in whom a name is not given. In these two characters Jesus is showing us the lives, deaths and eternal destinies of the whole human race!

Why is it that Jesus gives us the name of one man and not the other? Jesus is showing us that one man had invested his deepest identity in Something that endured past this life, while the other man did not. The reason why Lazarus still had an identity in eternity was for the sole fact that while in this life he had intermingled his identity with Jesus. He had trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins and he had trusted in Jesus for his full acceptance before God and man.

This is the wisest choice that a person can make. To make the Creator of the universe your identity [as He has commanded us to] means that He is our greatest treasure, our deepest passion, our reason for living. It also means that our identity doesn’t end here and now. It means we have a purpose for living in the time God has given us in this life, and it also means that we have a purpose in the eternity that awaits us.

Please notice that Jesus doesn’t give the other man a name. The second man is known merely as ‘a rich man’. Remember, Jesus isn’t just talking about one man! He is using this parable to show us the only two categories that human beings are divided into. The rich man in Jesus parable is a person who makes anything BUT Jesus their ultimate identity. Anything! This doesn’t only mean sex, drugs and rock and roll. It means absolutely any other person or thing, other than Jesus! If you put your ultimate trust in money or power, then you will get your identity from money and power. When you have lots of money and power you will feel fulfilled, successful, and accepted. And if you ever lose all your money, because it has become your identity, you will think your life is no longer worth living. We can see examples of this sad reality when the Stock Market crashes and people ended up taking their own lives because they lost their fortunes. When they lost their money and power they also lost their acceptance of how they viewed themselves as successful,or in other words, they lost their identities.

God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift we enjoy. When we take His gift’s and make them our highest and most ultimate identity we become what the Bible calls idolaters. An idol isn’t only a block of wood or stone that is shaped into a false god. An idol is anything you put your ultimate trust in, a trust that is due to God alone!

Jesus is teaching us something here that we already know, even though we try our hardest to keep it pushed far back in the corners of our minds. What is He teaching? Jesus is saying that no matter who you are. You may be reading this and you are very successful, you live in comfort and have many things in this life, but one day you are going to die and then comes God’s judgment. You may have little in this life, the world may view you as a failure and things may be going hard for you in this life, you also are going to die one day and be judged by God.

As we will see in a later post, Jesus’ teaching in this parable is in agreement with the rest of God’s word. Because God is truth, God’s word will not contradict itself [even though there are places that may appear to contradict at first sight]. The Bible no where teaches that money is evil, or that the lack of it automatically makes a person righteous. The Bible teaches that the love of money is a root of all manner of evil. There are rich people in the world who are trusting Jesus, and there are rich people who are not. There are poor people in the world who are making Jesus their ultimate identity, and there are poor people who are not! Our eternal destinies do not depend on our social status, they depend on our what our relationship to Jesus is.

Jesus is teaching us that if our identity rests in the gifts that God is giving us, and not in God Himself, then when we step into eternity we will be left without God and without His gifts.

God cannot be fooled even though we often fool others and even try to fool ourselves!

You will devote your life to your highest and most ultimate treasure. You will prioritize your time, energy and money towards that treasure. You will make sacrifices for that treasure.

We cannot merely say with our lips that Jesus is our highest treasure...our lives must match this verbal declaration!

The Place That No one Likes To Talk About

2010-10-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched the news, or read the newspaper, and after seeing all the war and destruction, all the blood shed in other countries, you thought to yourself?, “I am glad I live in a country where there is no constant battle going on.” It is good for us to be thankful that there is no public bloodshed going on in our land, but make no mistake! There is a constant battle that rages every day in our land.

It is a battle for our minds!

Satan, the enemy of mankind’s good, is an unrelenting war general…he continually bombards us everyday with his ‘mind’ attacks! And know this, he doesn’t fight fair, he doesn’t play by the rules. He uses his lies and half truths to mislead and destroy! Satan is a brilliant strategist and his propaganda is so persuasive that his lies lured one third of God’s angels out of heaven, and also plunged the human race into sin’s darkness.

Satan and his fallen angels are already damned, there is no hope for them. He realizes that the battle ground for the human soul is won or lost, here and now. But he doesn’t want you to think like this about yourself or for your neighbor. Satan wants to put people to sleep with his lies, he wants them to trust in his faulty, emotionally fueled arguments…instead of the solid truth that is revealed in God’s unerring Word!

With his lies, Satan wants you to wrongfully ‘think’ that how you live today will not matter in eternity…just live for today…or as Trooper wrote many years ago and still sings today, “we’re here for a good time, not a long time”

My friends, every person alive on planet earth today is going to have to give an account of their lives…to the God that IS! We will answer to the Living God who has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures [Bible]…we should busy ourselves shaping our beliefs and practices to God’s will…instead of trying to shape and mold His will to our beliefs and practices…[He is not a lifeless idol…He will speak and Judge for Himself]

One of the lies that Satan is trying very hard to popularize today is that there is not going to be eternal [unending] punishment for those who do not trust and follow Jesus. Remember, Satan isn’t afraid of church! The Bible teaches that one of Satan’s disguises is that of an angel of “light”. Satan knows that if he can begin to get his toe in the church, begin to trickle in his lies, then he will water down the churches ‘saltiness’, making it less of an effective witness to the lost and dying world around it.

The reason why many people struggle with the Bible’s teaching about eternal punishment is because, 1. Their understanding of Who God is, is very small, 2. Their understanding of who man is has been horribly distorted & exalted.

After cutting God off at the knees [in our thinking] and at the same time raising man up on an extension ladder…so both are at eye level…looking each other in the face…as equals…then after this is accomplished…people begin to bring forth their objections to hell…

I do not defend the Bible’s teaching on hell because I find it so soothing to my emotional psyche. It is a teaching that is very terrifying indeed! When my children were all very little we would play hide and seek…and in their immature minds, that were very inward focused, they actually believed if they covered their eyes so that they could not see me, that the opposite must also be true. We live in a day that we have been led to believe that we are the constructors of reality. If we don’t believe in hell, then viola, hell doesn’t exist.

My friends, if God has prepared a place for rebels…then covering your eyes will not make it go away…only turning from your rebellion and trusting in Jesus will make it go away…for you!

When we rightfully understand who God is, and who man is, then all the objections to hell fall lifeless to the ground.

Over the next few days I would like to go over a passage of Scripture that points us to the afterlife…as we look at this passage I would like to bring up some of the objections I have heard from people [over the last 20 years] regarding eternal punishment.

Sister Wives...Really Weird and Kinky...Why So?

2010-09-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying I do not support bigamy...it goes against the foundational beliefs I hold to as dear.

As a Christian I have a worldview that believes in absolute morals...these morals are universal and absolute because they are the unchanging character of the God who created us and Who continues to uphold and govern us.

From the Christian worldview marriage is not just some nice tradition...it points to a deeper reality. Marriage points to the relationship of Jesus Christ [Creator God] and His bride [the church].

When mankind rebelled against God, God did not leave us in our sin...He came and pursued us...He was willing to sacrifice His ultimate good...to the point of suffering and death...in order to bring us back to Himself...

All who turn from sin and rebellion...and trust in Jesus...rightfully surrendering their hearts back to Him and enter the solemn covenant with God [Baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit]...are members of Christ church universal, His bride.

Jesus has one bride, there is one church, with many different members throughout the world.

I have one bride...one wife...and by God's grace I will love and cherish Bonita all the days of our lives together...loving no other but her.

I have a very fixed and set view of marriage and sex.

When I see Reality T.V shows like "Sister Wives" I look at their lives and sadly shake my head. As the years go on I want to grow in humility...I do not want to look at their lives and then arrogantly mock them for their folly...I know that the only reason why I believe and practice whatever degree of truth that I do...is only by the grace of God.

But I do look at the practices of bigamy as something that violates God's absolute standards of morality.

God created sex to be good...to be enjoyed...BUT...it is good and to be enjoyed within the limits that He constructed for it. God created sex to be enjoyed within a life long covenant or contract between one man and one woman...a relationship of mutual love, mutual honor, mutual self investment...a relationship of mutual responsibility.

The Bible teaches that sex before marriage is called fornication...and is sin that will be judged by God...and sex with anyone other than your marriage partner is called adultery and is also sin and will be judged by God.

When I look at "Sister Wives" and view it as weird and wrong...I am doing so from a certain standard...a specific platform...

...but what happens when you don't hold to a absolute standard for sex and marriage...what makes "Sister Wives" so wonky then?

Think about it for a second.

You will have women sitting in front of the T.V laughing and shaking their heads at these stupid women who are willing to "share" a man with other women. But what are they shaking their heads at...the sharing of the man part...or the marriage, responsibility and commitment part?

In our culture sex before marriage is practiced by millions of people! This means that thousands of women watching "Sister Wives", laughing at these poor, brainwashed women...are also poor and brainwashed...only in a different wash tub.

I can totally understand that the concept of one man sleeping around with 4 different women as being abnormal...from my Christian worldview...but why is it so abnormal from the worldview that is propagated in our North American culture?

Go out to any given night club and you are going to find hundreds of young studs seeking out their next conquest. And we have a multitude of young women willing to let the young men have them...with absolutely no obligations, no commitments...and no responsibility.

Many people in our culture with go through dozens of relationships in their life times, some longer, others shorter in duration. During these relationships some people will have a monogamous sexual relationship with the person they are with, while in other situations both parties want the "freedom" to "see" [fornicate] with other people.

So again I ask the question...what are people so freaked out about...what do they think is so strange?

It can't be the multiple sex partner thing...because they too have had...or still have multiple sex partners.

Is it the women "sharing" one man...but don't women in our culture share men sexually all the time? If you are going to practice no commitment relationships...then where do you think your guy is on the nights of the week he isn't with you...and another question is...who are you with on those nights?

Maybe people are queered out by the multiple marriages concept...but here is another area in which many people really aren't that different from this reality T.V.

We have many people in our culture in their second, third, fourth marriages...they go through one relationship and then jump into another...why is it they don't have a reality T.V show on that? Because thousands of people are doing that...its not that weird!

Our culture practices some pretty weird traditions of its own...but because "everyone else is also doing it" it doesn't seem all that weird.

Who wants to watch a T.V show that makes fun of your own life?

No one likes to laugh at their own mess.

All Inclusive Truth Claims??

2010-08-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

All truths and belief systems should be viewed as equal! We need to be totally inclusive! We need to be tolerant of all truth claims. No one belief system should try to convert others to itself.

All of the above beliefs seem to be the air that our culture breathes. It is the pool that we all soak in. Because it is everywhere, the temptation of viewing it as the only truth claim constantly assaults us!

We need to remember that the above claims are themselves the byproduct of the humanistic Enlightenment [oxymoron], which was only one truth claim amidst a multitude of others.

But some have adopted this one truth claim and put it on a pedestal. They act as if this one truth claim had absolute and universal authority over all humanity, even though their epistemology does not allow for this type of authority. In their thinking there is no heaven, or knowable heaven, so we can’t have a truth claim with “heavens” authority seal stamped onto it.

The real problem that I have with the Enlightenment's truth claims are they are a farce. They do not even listen to their own commands, and that is hypocrisy!

The Enlightenment ‘says’ that all beliefs systems should be viewed as equal, that we need to accept all truth claims, and we should be tolerant of all truth claims, there should be no monopoly truth claim, and that no one truth claim should try and convert others to it’s beliefs.

Does enlightenment truth claims practice what they preach? Is it totally inclusive? Does it really view all belief systems as equal?

Please stop and think for a moment.

What is the one thing that a totally inclusive belief system cannot accept and still remain totally inclusive?

An exclusive truth claim!

If everyone is massaging each others ego saying all truth is equal, and the new kid on the block comes in and says you are all wrong, can you let the new kid play? Nope, he has to go home, even if he has the ball. If you let him stay then he messes up your motto. The rest of you are all affirming that you are all alright, the trouble maker is saying you are severely confused.
So a belief system that ‘claims’ to be all inclusive really only accepts and is all inclusive with other truth claims that also profess to be all inclusive. The all inclusive camp cannot tolerate the truth claim that is exclusive in nature, even though as we are seeing, this exclusive nature grips everyone.

Everyone having fun yet?

No?

Sorry.

How does the all inclusive camp react towards those who hold an exclusive claim on truth and try and publicly push this view?

Do they quietly tolerate it?

Do they accept it as equal?

No! They vehemently oppose it! Calling it narrow mindedness!

They tell those with exclusive views that they should live and let live and shouldn’t try to push their truth claims on others.

Are your eyes quick enough? Did you catch it?

The person with the so called inclusive truth claim is doing the very thing that he is trying to prevent the person in the exclusive truth camp from doing. He says live and let live and don’t push your beliefs on the public, but then goes on to push his truth claims on the public...trying to convert the person in the exclusive camp into the inclusive camp.

Everyone who holds to a truth claim that is exclusive is supposed to be converted by those who claim to be inclusive, even though those who claim to be inclusive say we shouldn’t try and convert others to our beliefs.

In the end, there is no creature that is all inclusive…it is a mirage, an illusion.

Some people want to continue to display this illusion because it allows them the cover of tolerance…when in reality they are just as intolerant as those in the exclusive camp.

Those in the exclusive truth camp are open about their exclusivity.

Those who claim to be all inclusive really aren’t, in all of their inclusiveness they cannot bring themselves to include those exclude.

But they shoot themselves in the foot...showing that they really aren't all inclusive...they only include those who agree with their foundational presuppositions...the very thing those in the exclusive camp are also willing to do.

God's Glorious Gospel Cord

2010-08-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

If someone was to ask you, “Was Jesus Law motivated…or Gospel motivated…how would you answer them?

… be careful when someone gives you an either or question…the real answer is “YES”

God’s Law, when it is rightly interpreted and applied is no enemy or obstacle to “Gospel Centered living”…for when we look within the Law itself we see the gospel.

In the Law God shows us the forgiveness of sins through the sacrificial system [Temple, High Priest, spotless lamb] all which pointed forward to Jesus!

In Matt 22:34-40…Jesus, the Perfect interpreter of the Bible...because He is the Author of the Bible tells us something very important about God's law.

Jesus said that all the Law and prophets…hang upon, are fulfilled by, the Two Great Commandments of 1.“Loving God first and foremost with your whole being”, and 2. Loving your neighbor as you love yourself.

Take note- Jesus wasn't make up some new thing here...He was quoting the Old Testament [Deut 6, Lev 19]

Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew [Ch. 5]…Jesus said that He didn’t come to destroy the Law or the Prophets…on the contrary…He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets…down to the smallest detail [crossing of the t, and dotting of the i].

When Jesus says that He came to fulfill the Law…what do you think He means by this? If we have slipped away from our ‘gospel center’ then we think that Jesus is simply saying that He came to perfectly keep all the rules that we were to keep. [He never hated, never gossiped, never lusted, never violated one command…and it is true…Jesus was perfectly faithful in all the ways of His Father’s covenant.]

But…Jesus was far more than just “the rule keeper”…and the Law is far more than a set of Do’s and Don’ts [even though we can easily fall into this trap if we understand the Law only to be the 10 Commandments].
Pause…

When we look at God’s Law…what exactly are we looking at?

Some philosophers [skeptics to the Christian faith] tell us that we have 2 options to choose from [remember, don’t let people limit your options…always look for more options].

The Law is something higher and greater than God Himself…God makes right/good choices because He always follows this Law [skeptic goes on to say…we don’t need God…we will simply follow this higher law]

The Law is something that God created/makes up. God decided what is good and evil.

The skeptic says “if this is true then God could have made adultery good and faithfulness in marriage evil, circles could have had 4 corners, & torturing innocent children could have been a virtue…if God decided to make it so.

God’s Law is not something higher than God, that God has to answer to…if this was true then this higher law would actually be the highest authority…it would be God!

And…God’s Law is NOT something that God arbitrarily [on a whim] made up…its not like God was playing fill in the blank…He said ‘love’ your neighbor…but He could have just as easily said ‘hate’ your neighbor.

What is God’s Law then? It is very important that we understand this wonderful truth…and that we sink it deep within our hearts…so that it motivates us in all we think and do.

God’s Law is the expression of who our God is! God has revealed to us that His character is unchanging…the Law is the revelation of our God’s unchanging character!

When God reveals to us the 1st Great Commandment, [love God will all your being], we need to understand that this 1st and foremost is the expression of God’s own heart…

God loves God above all else! For all eternity, before creation God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit expressed this commandment by loving one another with a perfect, harmonious, holy love.

How is love your neighbor as yourself, an expression of God’s character?
The Second Commandment is expressed by God in two ways...
1. Same as the first great commandment [Father, Son and Holy Spirit each loved each other, as neighbor, as they loved themselves]
2. The second way God expresses this commandment…is the very foundation and motivation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God created man [Adam/Eve] in His own image…He created us to fellowship with Himself…and we became His neighbor…and He became ours.

So in the garden when Adam disobeyed God and broke the one prohibition [law] that God had given him…God responded by pursuing man, pronouncing judgment and irreversible curse upon Satan [no mercy]

…then God, as the first preacher, proclaimed the gospel…the seed of the woman would crush Satan’s head…then God showed Adam and Eve that their sin would produce ill consequences throughout whole their lives...throughout human history to all their descendants…but God also showed them forgiveness…God offered the first sacrifice to cover their sins.

This first sacrifice [all O.T sacrifices] pointed forward to the fullness of time, when God would become a man…would suffer and die for our sins…so that we would not have to eternally suffer and die.

God the Son, [Lord Jesus] came and perfectly loved God…and perfectly loved His neighbor [us] as Himself…the 1st & 2nd Great Commands are the fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets…and they are also the motivation and fulfillment of the Gospel!

Are you beginning to see that God’s Law, God’s Love, and the Gospel are all intricately interwoven? They are not meant to be separated!

If we want to become a gospel centered community…then we must understand…and be convinced…that our God is Himself…Gospel Centered…the Gospel is the out flowing of God’s character!

Now, I want you to imagine, for a frightful, terrifying moment…that God’s character was all the parts of the Law that pointed to moral purity, uprightness, and holiness…but…minus the gospel [1st & 2nd Commands, sacrificial system]…how would any of us measure up? How would anyone measure up…period?

Before you answer that let’s keep in mind that God, the Judge that we are going to stand before…and answer to… has absolutely no moral flaws…He is morally pure…so pure that He cannot sin and cannot even be tempted to sin.

This Judge makes our modern day satellite systems [Google map], our computer tracking, and our audio and video surveillance systems look like ancient history, there is absolutely nothing that escapes His eye!

What is the Law’s [Judge's] passing grade?

Gal 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Ps 130: 3 says, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”

Without God’s abundant mercy and forgiveness…who in this room could stand?

The Bible points us to only two places where God’s wrath and fury are unmixed…with not a hint of compassion, mercy, or relief…1. Hell, where those who have not received God’s mercy will forever experience His righteous justice, 2. The Cross of Calvary!

On the cross, we witness the only One who ever loved God with all His heart, soul, strength and mind…and instead of receiving God’s immediate favor…He received God’s curse and damnation…why? Because He was also loving His neighbor, as Himself…loving us to the very end…loving us to death!

When you want a perfect picture of Gospel Centeredness…look to Jesus on the Cross…beaten, bloody, and condemned…the spotless Lamb of God who is blameless and holy in all His ways…and what does He pray and ask His Father to do to enemies who are breaking His Law, violating His very character…in the most heinous way? [murdering God]…He asks His Father to forgive them…for they know not what they do.

If you are trusting in Jesus for the salvation of your soul today…then God has heard Jesus’ prayer on your behalf…you were an enemy…made into a friend…more than a friend…you were made a child of God.

God will reward us for our faithfulness…if not in this life…most certainly in eternity…but remember…all of your blessings…and all of the rewards that God bestows upon you…are gracious gifts…you “deserve” none of them…

Your faith, repentance, forgiveness of sins and your persevering obedience are all God’s gracious, and merciful gifts…given you through Jesus suffering, death and resurrection!

Now, Jesus commands you…as you have freely received…freely give!

There is a More Excellent Way!

2010-06-15T06:02:00.000-07:00

I need to begin by saying that I don’t believe that laws are bad or evil.

God Himself, who is the standard of good has given us “the” Law, which we are told [in His Word] is holy, just and good [Romans 7:12].

But, with this said, I do believe that any law, including laws that God gives, can be used in wrong ways, with wrong motives, and that eventually lead to wrong and unfruitful ends.

I also believe that there is an enormous chasm between God creating the world in an orderly way…and even giving certain laws…and…us being law-driven…or law-motivated people…do you understand the difference?

Because mankind has fallen into sin…this is a distinction that is very hard for us to keep our sights on.

Our minds are very “sticky” when it comes to being “law-motivated/driven”…and…

…very slippery to the idea of grace-motivation…or being grace-driven [grace being defined as unmerited favor].

The law-motivated or law-driven mind looks at one of God’s laws and thinks, “If I pursue my spouse and make them a priority then everything will go well for me. My obedience to these laws will bring happiness and blessing into my life.”

Sure, the law-driven mind might want to obey the law in order to bring happiness to their spouse…BUT…the big question we should ask is does the law-driven mind have the power or the motivation to want to bring happiness to their spouse…even when their spouse is being a jerk…even when their spouse isn’t pulling their weight and investing their 50% of the contract?

Stop and think for a minute. The very nature of a law says if you keep the law…then things will go well…BUT…if you do NOT keep the law…then things go south…and get ugly in a hurry!

With this in mind…the law-driven mind foolishly assumes that when it keeps one of God’s laws then ‘automatically‘…it has merited favor…it has earned a right…and because of this meriting or earning…then…

…God owes me blessings…God owes me favor! God owes me happiness!

And…when we flip the coin over and look at the other side, if I don’t obey one of God’s laws…but instead openly violate that law…then I should expect no favor and no blessing from God.
The law-driven mind feels very secure and joyful when it obeys the law, and very insecure and depressed when it doesn’t.

When the law-driven mind thinks it is obeying…it has the common temptation of feeling very superior…especially over those who are not obeying.

Because the law-motivated mind is trained to think of 1. receiving blessings for keeping the law…and 2. withholding blessings for violations of the law…I hope you can begin to see that this isn’t going to be the source of life and strength in your marriage or pre-marriage relationship!

In a world without sin, where no one was self centered and self promoting, the law-motivated marriage could prosper quite well…

But in the real world…the fallen world in which we live…the law-motivated mind will not bring prosperity into your marriage.

The law-driven mind will not give your marriage the life it needs to grow and flourish…

The law-driven mind will not give you the motivation and power to do good to your spouse…even when they don’t deserve it…because the law only holds out blessings when it is obey...when it is kept...when it is followed...it holds out NO blessings for those who break it!

The law-driven mind does not promote abundant mercy and forgiveness in the relationship…because that is not the function of the law. The law merely points out what must be done in order to receive blessings. If these conditions are not met…then…there is no blessings coming.

This makes for a very harsh, stern and unmerciful relationship…a veritable wasteland…

God made the world! And yes, this same God made a world that contains laws…but this same God has something upholding these laws…

The Creator God is not Law-driven…or Law-motivated…

God’s motivation is infinitely greater than mere law…and God’s motivation is the solid foundation on which all of His laws rest…

We will talk about this foundation…next time…

Laws For A Happy Marriage?…or is there a more Excellent way?

2010-06-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

Over the last month and a half Bonita and I have been helping out with a marriage growth and support group.

It has been good!

In the first lesson, the speaker taught that God has made the world and has made it with certain laws. If you live according to those laws then it will be peace, happiness and prosperity, but if you do not keep those laws... do not expect the peace, happiness and prosperity to follow.

Just as the law of gravity is for all, even for those who do not believe in it. You jump off the bridge, don’t expect to fly upward just because you verbally deny the law of gravity.

The speaker then began to speak about the first two laws that God has established in His creation. The Law of Priority and the Law of Pursuit.

In the Law of Priority he taught that God made the marriage relationship to be second only to the relationship between a person and their relationship with God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God/man. When this law is kept, and the marriage is given the place of priority that it was design for then each spouse sacrificially invests their lives into the life of the other. When the marriage is made a priority…not in word only [easy] but in practice [difficult] then the marriage prospers and is joyous!

The second law he spoke about was the Law of Pursuit. This second law is tied tightly to the first. We will pursue that which our heart deeply longs for, that which we highly treasure. When we first enter a relationship and get married we are constantly trying to impress the other person.

Constantly trying to put our best foot forward, trying to portray our best image.

Why?

Because we want to attain the prize…we want to win the treasure.

Then, unfortunately, unless you constantly invest in your “treasure”, our common mistake is to think we are on a scavenger hunt…and begin to look for other treasure, putting the treasure of our spouse in our pocket, to be taken out when convenient...to our time table.

When we cease pursuing, when we stop investing…then the relationship begins to crumble. No relationship is static…if there isn’t constant investing…then the withdraws begin…feelings of love doesn’t sit in the account…it can’t be stored up or saved.

After watching the first lesson with Bonita…something was eating at me, in my insides!

I really don’t think it was something…I believe it was some One.

What the speaker was saying sounded good…it sounded right…I had heard similar teachings before…but it just wasn’t sitting right.

Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth comes…that He will guide God’s people into all truth…and He [Holy Spirit] will glorify Me [Jesus].

The Holy Spirit’s primary ministry is not to lead God’s people into various laws or principles…it is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ…and the gospel of Jesus and His amazing grace!

I agreed with the speaker that marriage must be made a high priority, and I also agreed with him that we must constantly pursue our spouse, as a life long activity.

Where I disagreed with his teaching, was I don’t think that viewing Priority and Pursuing as Laws is going to give us the proper motivation for a healthy, strong and God glorifying marriage…only gospel motivation can do that.

When I share next time...I will explain why.

Micro-wave Wisdom?

2010-06-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

We live in an age where we want results...not now...BUT RIGHT NOW...or better yet...YESTERDAY!

So, we flip our food in the micro-wave...push a few buttons...beep...beep...and sit down to our fast food at home.

Our technology is advancing at mind boggling rates...only out done by our ever increasing expectancy and impatience...

Our computer's speed and our new high speed Internet is STILL NOT FAST ENOUGH!

When will someone invent one of these things to think my thoughts before I do?!

When we swim in this cultural pool...is there any wonder that we too are soaking wet?

We want to be a knowledgeable and wise people...but we want to be so with very little sacrifice...and no time involvement...and we want it a week ago!

This is not God's way. Listen to the words of wisdom from God's mouth [spoken through one of the wisest kings of all time].

My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding.
Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding.
If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

God, speaking through King Solomon tells us that He is the fountain of knowledge and wisdom...and He is overflowing for all to drink from...

But as you read this passage from Proverbs...notice that God throws in a qualifying word...He throws in a covenant condition.

God says...I am more than willing to give wisdom...to give knowledge...BUT...I will give it to those who view it for the valuable treasure that it is.

To those who seek after wisdom...with the time investment of a microwaved hot dog...will not find wisdom and knowledge.

Mark clearly God's words!

"IF" you receive My words and treasure them...

"IF" you have your ears fixed and focused on hearing My words

"IF" you cry up to Me in prayer...seeking Me for wisdom...because I AM wisdom!

"IF" you see God's wisdom and value it...as others do gold and silver...and invest your life in God...as others do in building their financial empires...THEN...and only then will you acquire wisdom...

Solomon was singing a song that his father David taught him to sing. David who was a man after God's own heart!

David, in speaking about God's word, said; "The law of Your [God] mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver." [Ps 119:72].

David knew that God's word, and the wisdom and knowledge that came from it...was infinitely more valuable than financial treasures!

He knew that financial treasures were only for a fleeting moment in time...whereas wisdom flowed from a relationship with the majestic Creator...Who was and is and is to come.

David and Solomon also realized that wisdom...like a great financial empire...did not come with a day or two of savings...it grew through the years of faithful earning and saving and treasuring and planning...

God is the greatest treasure! Seek His face every day...throughout the day!

Cry out to Him for wisdom...seek His word like a person starving for food...like a dry-mouthed man seeks a cold glass of water!

Don't seek God's face and His wisdom...in order to appear knowledgeable and wise...

...if you try...you will never attain godly wisdom...

God opposes the proud...but gives grace to the humble...

...when you in humility...seek the face of God...to receive Him...and to enjoy Him...then and only then...will wisdom begin to pour into your soul...making you more hungry...more thirsty...for the One who alone is Wise and desires to share this wisdom with all who diligently seek Him.

Sorry...no option C

2010-05-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

If you are a person who enjoys dining at the table of political correctness...proceed with great caution...you have been warned...a new dish is being set before you...and the probability of spiritual indigestion is high!

We are a people who are very prone to think little [or not at all] of God when things are going our way, good health, finances, relationships...BUT...are very quick to shake our fists at the heavens to whatever Mr., or Mrs. Potato Head deity we have invented in our fallen hearts, when things begin...even in the slightest...to go south!

We have no grasp on reality!

We have been fed the lies of relativism for so long that we actually have come to believe that we can think reality into existence...

...at least in the spiritual realm...

...only a nut job would apply his relativism to gravity while standing on the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge...

...once you let go of that bridge...all of your relativistic thoughts are going to become very absolute...absolutely down...as a matter of fact.

All my thinking and wishing cannot make the god of my imagination become reality...I must deal with the God who is.

The God who has revealed that He is the Creator of all things...material and immaterial [spiritual]...and that He is also the constant Sustainer of all things...

This God has revealed to us that every good gift, every perfect gift comes to us...from His hand.

This God is the source of life and every blessing! Mark that in your mind...God IS the fountain of life and blessing!

This God has revealed to us that we as humans are not in a state of normalcy...something terrible has happened!

We as God's creatures have rebelled against Him...we no longer desire to give Him the honor and glory due to Him as our Creator...

...we have reserved this honor and glory for ourselves.

God is greater than man's rebellion!

God entered human history, as a man, to deliver rebels from the power and penalty of their rebellion.

All rebels who throw down their weapons...and wave the white flag of surrender will receive mercy.

God promises that all who confess their sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior...WILL BE SAVED!

God has told us that salvation is by faith in Jesus!

God also tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen.

Faith is trusting God at His word...even when things appear differently by our limited perspective...

But once we die...and stand face to face with our Creator...faith will be no more.

God has given each of us a period of time in this world [a time known to Him...but not to us]...in which we are to seek His forgiveness...and lay hold of the gift of eternal life!

And if we refuse? If we decide to continue in our rebellion and give God the one finger wave of hostility?

This is where some of you might want to grab the spiritual Pepto Bismol...

God tells us that He will not be mocked!

We need to understand...with crystal clear comprehension...that there is a difference between...existence...and life.

Every person reading this [every person ever born for that matter]...will exist forever!

God has created you an immortal being...

But God alone is the source of life and blessing [I am trying to repeat this on purpose]

In my first year as a Christian I heard a man speak about the attributes of God.

He encouraged us to sink these attributes deep into our hearts.

God reveals to us in His Word...that He IS love, He IS joy, He IS peace, He IS patience, He IS kindness, HE IS goodness, He IS faithfulness, He IS gentleness, He IS self control...

This man then encouraged us to go home and find the antonyms of each of these attributes...

What is the opposite of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control?

You see, we have made a serious mistake!

We look at all the good things in our lives and think them things we deserve.

We think them things we automatically receive whether we love and follow God...or not.

God graciously gives us these things now...to show us that He loves us and is willing to forgive and change us...but God is NOT willing for us to remain in our rebellion and hatred towards Him...

Something MUST change!

When we step into eternity we will see God face to face. Those who have thrown themselves upon His mercy...will receive mercy...and will receive eternal life as a free gift that was purchased at a great cost to God.

Those who said that they want nothing to do with God...will get exactly what their hearts greatest desire screams for...an eternity without God.

Unrepentant rebels will want to take hold of Option C...an eternity without God...but at the same time... wanting all the benefits that come from God to continue...

...they are in for a rude awakening!

Instead, they will step into unending time...without a drop of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self control...

Suddenly, the horrible realization will crash upon them...like a wave of unending darkness...existence without God is hell!

Selective Memory

2010-05-19T06:12:00.001-07:00

Years ago I heard about a certain study that was taken. The study had to do with why diets succeeded or failed.

In this study a certain number of victims…er…I mean participants were involved, and these people were going to be studied by a group [equal number to participants] of personal trainers.

Phases 1
Each participant was carefully weighed at the beginning of the study. Then they were told to record absolutely everything that they put into their mouth to eat or drink…everything!

They were to do this for a whole month!

Phase 2
After the first month was completed [remember, no actual dieting has begun yet], the participants, with the help of the personal trainers, are to work out a diet where they cut out 10% of their daily food intake. They were told that with only a 10% cut in calories they would still see a noticeable decrease in their weight over the next couple months.

Phase 3
After their new eating schedules [10% decrease] was written down, the participants were sent home to implement the new diets into their lives, remembering to continue to record every time they ate something.

Phase 4
At the end of the next couple months, they pulled in all the participants. They had them all stand on the weigh scale and again carefully measured each of their weights.

Do you know what they discovered? Do you know how participants lost weight?

Hardly any!

Had the 10% diet failed? No, the study wasn’t to test to see if decreasing calories would cause weight loss…that has been a proven scientific fact for centuries.

The test was to study the reality of self deception.

In the next and last phase of the test…a personal trainer was with each participant for the next 30 days…recording absolutely everything they ate…not what they think they possibly might have nibbled on…possibly, I think…possibly.

After the 30 days of honest recording, they again worked out the 10% decrease, and again the personal trainer lived with the participant for the next two months, recording absolutely everything they ate.

At the end of the two months they had the second “weigh in”.

Do you want to make a guess as to what percentage of the participants lost weight?

100%!!!

The study showed that people subconsciously ripped themselves off. They would not record everything they ate. They were good little hypocrites, living a lie, even though it went against their good.

They had selective memory.

Pursuit Of Happiness

2010-05-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

Knowing your weakness can be the first step to overcoming it.

Ignoring your weakness only gives strength to the weakness.

We all have the tendency to pursue hard after something we desire, focusing on that prize, narrowing all our strength, mental alertness, time and energy, to achieve the treasure.

And...if and when we grasp the treasure and make it our own? Then what?

Sadly...often...we set it on the shelf...out of our reach...out of our sight...and even out of our thoughts.

We pursued...conquered...and moved on.

Countless marriages have ended because of this tendency.

A man and a woman meet...and the pursuing begins...

Each is putting their best foot forward.

They want to impress each other, get to know each other, keep away from things that would upset each other. They spend endless amounts of time talking about the little things of life [which really aren't little...they are life], they want to do things together. They want to look good in the eyes of each other, physically and emotionally.

They plan together...talk about the future together [their future together]...

Then something horrible happens!

The treasure is grasped...and the pursuing stops!

Once the prize is won...for some weird reason [it's called selfishness] the pursing slowly stops.

The best foot is pulled back. Thinking of how good impressions can be made are no longer thought about.

Sweetness of speech is forgotten.

Time spent together slowly fades to nothing.

Thoughts of doing something solely for the sake of the other becomes lost...

Communication becomes surface...shallow...no more discovery...

Future planning continues...but now it is two individuals making plans for their own futures...which eventually separates...

But its not too late...your marriage is vitally important...it is worth prioritizing...it is worth planning for.

Don't try and find time for your spouse...MAKE TIME!

Begin pursuing her/him...plan your life with them in mind!

Observe what they like/dislike and begin to pursue ways to make them happy!

That is the bait you used to catch the fish...that is the bait you use to keep the fish!

The Razor's Edge

2010-04-15T06:07:00.001-07:00

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold…and even though the initial taste may bring temporary satisfaction to your hunger, this satisfaction quickly sours, leaving an empty hollowness in its place.

One of the ever growing duties of my life has been that of shaving. At one time, I only had to shave the front side of my head, otherwise known as my face. A few years back, when my follicle sparseness became unbearable…I began to shave my whole head. At least that way my baldness became a choice and not a pattern of maleness that was forced upon me.

When you shave, the mirror becomes your friend. He helps you see angles that otherwise might go unseen. When you shave, you look ‘face to face’ with the guy in which you are shaving. You look into the face of your alter-ego…your reflected self.

What would it be like to look into the mirror and see, not only your face, but the face of someone else as well? Not just every now and then…but every time the razor drug across your skin, you could not help but ‘see’ the face of someone else at the exact same time. The only thing is, as your face got older, the other face would remain the same, young, and unchanged by the hands of father time. A face of an enemy from long ago. A face that changed your face permanently.

I believe it takes far greater strength and sacrifice to forgive someone of an evil they have done against you, than it is to pay that person back. Justice is giving someone what they deserve. Mercy is giving someone what they do NOT deserve!

When you forgive someone, you are releasing them to God, and at the very same time you are releasing yourself. God alone is the ultimate Judge. He alone can read our hearts perfectly. If we forgive someone and hand them over to God, in the end they will answer to God for that evil, if they never truly repent of that evil then they will answer to God.

If you do not forgive, you will be eaten and destroyed by hatred and bitterness. The Bully who tormented you years ago may have well forgotten all of his tormenting words and actions…but these very same words and actions can eat at the tormented.

This is a lesson I learned later in life…but I am glad I learned it…because it can take a lot of built up hatred and bitterness and send them packing, never to bother me again.

My prayer is that the man who shaves his face each day…and sees my 16 year old face, reflected back at him in the mirror, has also learned this valuable lesson.

Huge changes happen in a boy’s life from the time he is 13 years old, till the time he is close to hitting 17. His body is changing from boy to man. After my summer time beating in grade eight I bought myself a set of weights and began to diligently work out every day. I also loved arm wrestling and found myself “twisting wrists” on a daily basis. Both of these activities, day after day, for three years, packed on around 30 to 40 pounds of lean muscle mass to my young wiry body. Bringing me from 135 pounds up to 175 pounds. During this same time frame I grew in height from around 5’9 to close to six feet tall. The boy from grade eight was gone, and someone new stood in his shoes.

I was now in grade eleven. I found myself at a house party, mixed with some high school kids and also an older group who frequented the rougher bars in the downtown area. As per usual I found myself half cut, but had limited myself to drinking ‘beer only’ because the whiskey really seemed to work a mean streak in me. The party was going along great, music was blaring, people were partying, everyone was having a good time. Across the room my eye caught the familiar face of my girl friend. Neither of us smiled or moved towards the other. We were in the midst of one of our many squabbles. With her eyes fixed on mine, she pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and blew the smoke across the room in my direction. I felt my teeth clench, and my face flush. We had recently made the decision together to stop smoking, and her actions were the equivalent to giving me the one finger wave. With masterful timing, just as my girlfriend was blowing smoke towards me, someone with a bottle of rye whiskey walked up to me and offered me a drink. I had not only stopped smoking, but I had promised my girlfriend that I wouldn’t drink whiskey because of the ugly things it encouraged me to say and do. While not breaking my glare across the room, I grabbed the bottle and chugged down a few big gulps, feeling the whiskey burn down my throat. I whooped, laughed and took another swig. My girlfriend grabbed her friends hand and exited the party. She had seen this scene one time too many. She knew that the potion I was drinking turned me, more often than not, from Jekyll into Hyde, and she wanted nothing to do with Hyde. She made a very wise decision that night for Mr. Hyde was going to crash the party to reveal depths of his monstrous nature never seen before.

After a few more drinks of whiskey a bunch of guys started arm wrestling, the testosterone was beginning to flow. Wanting to prove my stuff I joined the action. After several matches with different opponents I found my aggressive side growing. I was lying on the floor in the middle of an arm wrestle, when all of a sudden I saw a face in the crowd of partiers that stuck in my brain like a knife. It was him! It was the guy who had humiliated me, taunted me and abused me years earlier! He was at the same party! I immediately pulled from the arm to arm combat that I was involved in, to entered into a more violent arena. As I quickly walked up to him, I felt my hatred rage within me. I pushed through other people and stood right before him, with a triumphant grin on my face. He looked at me, seemingly oblivious to who I was. We didn’t play the guessing game. I openly and loudly told him who I was, and why I was standing before him. He wore no bullying grin on his face now. He informed me that he had just gotten out of jail and that he didn’t want any trouble, he didn’t want to break parole. I told him that I didn’t care what he wanted or didn’t want and gave him a violent shove which sent him tumbling backward. No response, no retaliation. I called him out, I called him every dirty and demeaning name I could! Nothing. I was beside myself, hatred was eating me and fueling me at the same time. I continued to challenge him and he continued to refuse. Finally he sat down on a chair, and sat his girlfriend on his lap. I told him what a coward he was hiding behind his woman. He was not going to escape though. As he sat smiling behind the shield of his girlfriend, Hyde snapped. I threw a violent upper cut missing his girlfriend’s face, but catching his directly, sending both of them sprawling backwards onto the floor! The music stopped, the party was silent. My opponent jumped to his feet, looking like he was going to fight, then collected himself and refrained. I called him on, I called his woman crude names, nothing. I told him he was pathetic and turned away from him to re-enter the party. As I turned my buddy handed me a beer and told me to try and calm myself. At that exact moment I felt my head explode! I stumbled one step forward, quickly catching myself. Then the realization hit me. The coward sucker punched me! He wouldn’t fight me face to face, man to man, but the cowardly bully was willing to hit me from behind, again! The summer of three years past, was ancient history. There were no grade eights here tonight. No tail between the legs this time. Everything happened in mere seconds. I turned away, was handed a beer, was sucker punched, stumbled forward, then instinctively, pivoted quickly like a discus thrower, and smashed the full bottle of beer across the face of my enemy. Beer and blood splattered across the room! I saw blood, and Mr. Hyde went berserk! Instead of being horrified at what I had done, my lust for revenge was not satisfied. Instead my rage, exploded like a broken dam, flooding everything around it. The man before me stumbled back, in shock, and there I stood with the broken top half of the beer bottle in my hand. I grabbed this man I hated and began to stab him repeatedly in the face with the broken bottle, his screams of pain only fueling my attack.
Immediately one of the older guys grabbed me from behind, holding my arms behind me, and in a blink of an eye, the man in whom I stabbed repeatedly ran for the balcony and escaped by crawling over. He was rushed to the hospital for multiple stitches. His face would forever hold the scars that would remind him of our meeting that night.

The next day I waited for the police to come. For weeks I was emotionally sick. What had I done. What kind of person could do that to another human being? What was I becoming? The police never came. Sometimes people think that the worst thing that can happen to them is getting caught for their evil deeds. Getting caught often humbles a person and helps them turn from evil. Not getting caught can allow a person to continue to walk in their wickedness…thinking they are untouchable…which is really one of the greatest judgments imaginable against their evil …gradually but continually being transformed from Jekyll into Hyde…until finally the awful day comes when Jekyll cannot be found. When you look in the mirror…Hyde is the only one looking back.

The old saying is true, “You are what you eat.”

Sitting down to dine on hatred and revenge gradually but eventually causes you to become the very evil you thought you were fighting against.

There is a better way!

Thankfully, God is in the business of shattering the image of Mr. Hyde in the mirror [God doesn’t believe in bad luck…or good luck for that matter]. In mercy He pursues rebels who are wallowing in their wickedness. He does this to show them how empty and destructive their evil is [even though they view it as pleasure and even as life itself].

God conquers bitterness with forgiveness…God conquers hate with love…

God is love!

Sand in the Face

2010-03-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

The teeter totter works in such a way that for one side to be up, the other side must invariably be…down!

Pride has two masks. The first mask openly exalts itself by drawing attention to ones gifts, talents and attributes…and thereby trying to exalt self over others…

The other mask is more subtle…by degrading or humiliating others…a person can still exalt themselves. When the other person goes down a level…it leaves the person doing the degrading, feeling like they are on a new elevated plain.

How often did I manifest my pride by bullying other co-students? Trying to elevate myself by bringing them down? Cutting words, hurtful and demeaning actions…leaving the bullied crying and humiliated…and the Bully…feeling “full of himself”.

He who exalts himself will be humbled…as the ancient saying proclaims!

I can barely begin this note by saying “I can remember back to a time when…” because in all honesty I can remember the shell or husk of what happened…but not the fine tuned story…I can’t even honestly remember my allies in this story…but I do remember my tormenters.

Some friends and I were walking across a playground in my hometown.

It was late spring or early summer.

I can’t remember if we all had been drinking or not…but part of the reason why I struggle with memory facts is due to the one fact that I had been drinking…again…

Have you ever heard the saying about being in the wrong place at the wrong time…this is the story of many chapters of my life!

Walking across the playground towards us where two larger figures, males, grown men [in physical stature anyhow]…

Suddenly, the realization of who these men were dawned on my booze dulled brain…and the smile disappeared from my face and the laughter died in my throat…

In our school, one of the grade nine girls had a boy friend who was 17 or 18 years old…this guy had a side kick who was black and was a fairly large guy [at least in a grade eights’ eyes], and to add to his ominous stature he also carried around a big knife.

At 18 years of age, this man was much bigger and stronger than the rest of us 13 years old, even those of us who were bigger than the other grade eights…and he knew it!

This man was a Bully…and wanting to establish his “alpha dog” status he would intimidate, and put down, all up and coming challengers with verbal and if necessary physical force. He would pick out “lesser” Bullies who were trying to work their way up the junior high-school food chain…and remind them of their place!

I can remember many times skulking off in fear…trying not to catch the attention of this ominous duel…who seemed to have a very keen eye for spotting me…pursuing me…and bringing grief into my life.

Of course as someone who was wearing the “tough guy” mask…you couldn’t let other students sense your tremendous weakness…and the fear that was so strong that you could swear it oozed out of every pore in your body…

…so you would try to take your intimidation and verbal taunting with a stiff upper lip…and come unglued at home where no-one could see your fear!

…But now we weren’t on the school grounds…now there were no teacher’s around…

…now it was time for the lesser bully to pay the piper…

I honestly can’t remember much of what happened…I know there was taunting…the challenge was thrown down…to fight like a man…the verbal abuse was thrown fast and furious…trying to provoke me to fight…to be a man…to defend my dignity…

I did none of these things…I took the abuse from the Bullies, listened to their demeaning taunts…swallowed their mockery…felt my face burn with shame…as I knew my friends watched as I did nothing to retaliate…

Then I turned and began to walk away…to slink away…like the dog with his tail between his legs…

…without warning…the next thing I knew, my face was plowed into the dry, dusty ground…

The Bully ran and kicked me in the back as I walked away from him…and now all I could hear was their loud laughter…again my face burned with anger…and shame…but I was so scared…I dared not to fight back…I felt like such a coward!

I can’t remember how many times I got up…began to walk away…and was kicked in the back…plunging me face first onto the ground before me…

Finally the bullying ended…the tormenting laughter died in the distance behind me…as I walked home…defeated and humiliated…

As I walked home, a new goal began to take form in my brain…a goal to prevent this from happening to me again…at least from the guys who bullied me this night…

Often we make decisions when we are young that effect large segments of our lives when we are older…how we think…how we act…who we become…

God has put authority figures into each of our lives…our parents, teachers, police, the government…it is wise to make use of these authorities to protect ourselves from evil doers…

…when we side step these authorities because we are fearful of looking frightened and weak…then we allow evil doers to hurt and torment others after us…

…when we think we will solve our “bully” problems by taking things into our own hands, we become vigilantes’…we become the very evil that we thought we were going to fight against and overcome…

…that night I resolved in my heart to become bigger, stronger…meaner…

…I remembered reading an ad in the back of a comic book…about a guy working out…and beating up the bully who kicked sand in his face and embarrassed him in front of his friends…

I wanted to be that guy…not really understanding…who that guy would turn out to be.

Play with the Bully...and get the horns!

2010-03-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Have you ever picked up something...that at first seemed fairly valuable...but after a long time in your pocket, weighed heavy...proving to be more of a burden than a precious treasure?

Our repeated choices become habits and our ongoing habits [whether they be good or bad] build our characters...

As I write certain stories of my life...it may seem that I pick out the nasty ones...I don't do this to try and make myself appear more wicked then I was...I write these stories because they have stuck in my brain and have asked to be let out. I write them because, for good or bad, they set in motion choices, ideas, habits that influenced future events in my life. I write them as an older man...looking back on some of the events of his life...grateful for forgiveness and repeated second chances.

Have you ever mixed vinegar and baking soda together? If you have, you will know that the outcome is a violent chemical reaction...much fizzle and sizzle...

Somewhere along the line I picked up character traits that mirrored this chemical reaction in my life. There must have been something in my life that cried for attention...and I discovered at an early age that I got more attention being bad then if I quietly sat and behaved...

Being the class clown always drew much attention...good and bad. It drew the laughs of my peers [which I longed for...good attention...I thought]...and it drew the frown and discipline from my teachers [I didn't long for the punishments they dished out...but the attention was still acceptable].

I also found that I received a fair amount of attention by trying to put on the tough guy mask. I wore this mask for many years. It still asks to be tried on for size...even after 43 years. What I regret most about my tough guy mask isn't about the fights I have been in over the years [although I do regret the fights]...what I regret is the "Bully" that I was to many of the people I went to school with. I watch movies with "Bullies" in them to this day...with red-faced shame...thinking back to many of the jerk things I said and did to my classmates. Did I receive their attention?...yes! Did I receive attention from the teachers? Err...yeah...I received that too. I was in the school office so much that my schools had invented speed dial years before it actually hit the public market [joking of course].

I have come to understand after many years that not all attention is worthy of your attention. Some attention is best served when you are full, without the slightest appetite...so that you won't be tempted to even nibble at it. Attention drawn to yourself at the cost of another person's happiness or dignity should be avoided like the plague!

My apologies go out to my classmates throughout our years together...for any unkind, tormenting, or even cruel words and deeds I threw your way!

Did I understand what it was like to be on the brunt end of the Bully's horns?

I did indeed...you see...when you are in school...there are usually older bulls in the pen with you. I found throughout the years, there were times when I was given a taste of what the 'Bullied' felt like. Older, stronger and meaner Bullies giving me a bitter taste of my own medicine. Unfortunately, being bullied didn't wake me up to the reality of the misery that I was inflicting on others. We can often be very keen -eyed when it comes to spotting other peoples evils against us...and literally blind at our own offenses, being dished out in heaping proportions into other people's lives.

With the Lord's help I have relentless torn at the Bully mask upon my face...seeking to do others good...and not harm.

I still find a bit of the class clown in me...that mischievous voice that likes pulling pranks and jokes...I just try to tone it down...hoping that my pranks do not harm others...try and keep it in good fun.

I have one "Bully" story that effected my choices, habits and future greatly...it will be the story that I share next time...

Eighth Grade Troubles

2010-03-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about a guy in my grade eight homeroom class this morning.

I awoke with him on my brain...a troubled dude indeed.

Everyday he would wander into class smelling of booze...drinking again...

At one of our school's dances he came totally hammered! When the teacher at the door wouldn't let him in he snuck around to the back door of the gymnasium...and pounded to get in. When doors finally opened, he crawled in on his hands and knees...only to bump into the legs of the teacher who had not let him in the front doors. At this time the boy shouted and screamed obscenities at the teacher...was kicked out again...and was suspended from school for a time...

Someone in our homeroom class put an A.A pamphlet in his desk...everyone hoped that he would go and get help for his problem...

As the years went on...his drinking continued...fighting continued...troubles escalated...

What ever happened to this troubled young man...well...I have to go shave his face...it has gotten much older now...

Many people may have given up on me...but Jesus didn't...He didn't look at me for who I was in my sinful problems...He looked at me for who I was going to be...He looked at me for the person His love would make me into...

So when I go to preach today...I always have a worthy message at hand...I have a message worthy of all acceptance...that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners...of whom I am chief!

To Hell...with love?

2010-02-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

There are many things in the Bible that cause people great anger...the teaching of an eternal place of suffering is very likely # 1 on the list.

Some people who hold Christ's name on their lips want to side with those outside of the Christian camp on this important area...they think that the teaching of hell diminishes the love of God.

Does the teaching of hell take away from God's love?

Or does it actually magnify the love of God?

What?! How could God sending people to a place of unending suffering "magnify" God's love?

1. If God let unrepentant murderers, rapists, liars, cheaters into heaven...and into the new earth would heaven look like heaven? Would the new earth look any different then it is today? Now add to the equation the concept of eternity. These wicked men and women will have forever and ever to grow in their wicked ways. What kind of haven would this be? If God did not punish the wicked He would be no different then our liberal judges today who let repeat offenders out again and again to practice their evil on the innocents of society. Would you define our city streets as a little heaven on earth?

Didn't think so.

Because God is holy, this means that He must punish all sin. God cannot fellowship with sin...this means that sin must be dealt with!

God punishes every single sin that is ever committed in history...every one!

The Bible tells us that God calls all people to turn from their rebellion and unbelief and to come to Him for mercy...and He will freely give it!

To this, someone might say, "I thought that you said that all sin must be dealt with, that God must punish ALL sin."

Yes, this is exactly what the Bible teaches!

Then someone might conclude that everyone is going to go to hell...period!

The Bible does NOT teach the above...quite the opposite...the Bible describes the number of those in heaven at such a great amount...that a person cannot even begin to count them!

Over the years I have asked people if they believed that you had to be perfect to go to heaven...no one has ever answered yes. Everyone thinks that God is going to judge on a curve...you know the thinking...the good deeds outweighing the bad.

The Bible teaches that unless you are perfect you will be condemned on Judgment day!

This is where the gospel [good news] comes in!

Sinful men and women can stand before the Holy Creator of heaven and earth...completely perfect...BUT...not from anything they have done...its not by their efforts.

God has done it all. God became a man...lived a sinless life...and voluntarily became the substitute for lost sinners!

Jesus didn't have to die...because He never sinned...but He chose to die in the place of rebels. And when He hung on the cross...God the Father poured out His wrath upon His Son...the wrath that rightfully rested upon rebellious sinners.

Those who deny the existence of hell...at the same time...diminish the greatness of God's love!

What they are saying is "that sins debt really wasn't that big of thing"...then they may tip their hat at Jesus for paying the tab...but the tab really wasn't that much...after all.

But when you begin to believe what the Bible teaches about hell [even though it is terrifying]...you also begin to see God's love in a new light.

Jesus came to suffer the infinite payment of hell...a debt that we should have paid.

If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior...then all of your sins have been placed on Christ...and have been paid for at the cross...and His righteousness [death and resurrection] are yours...

If you haven't trusted Jesus...look at His great love for you...a love that is so infinite...so consuming that He was willing to suffer hell's agonies so you could be free to live with God!

Remember...the teaching of hell isn't some tool that has been invented to scare people!

The teaching of hell exists...because hell exists.

Heaven isn't going to be a place that is filled with people who merely didn't want to go to hell...it is going to be a place filled with people who love Jesus!

When we begin to taste Jesus great love for us [a love that is willing to suffer greatly in our place]...at the same time God pours His love into our heart...so that we can love Jesus in return...

My love for Jesus doesn't earn my way to heaven...Jesus paid that price apart from anything that I did...He offers salvation as a gift...a free gift!

The Greatest Love Ever Shown? [Final Test]

2010-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

When someone is willfully in the grips and bondage of error...they will refuse to read the clear evidence. They want a certain conclusion and will accept nothing but that conclusion...no matter what.

All I ask is for you to compare the following loves...and see which one involved greater self sacrifice and self denial...and finally which one was indeed the Greatest love ever shown.

The J.W's say that Jehovah created a being, that he had existed without for all eternity, and sent this being to suffer and die for the sins of mankind. God himself didn't personally suffer, the creature that he made suffered. God may have had warm feelings for this creature, but he had shown from all eternity past that he could get along just fine without this creature.

Stop and ask yourself...why is this the Greatest love ever shown? Now compare this "so called" love to the Biblical example of love.

The teaching of the Trinity, although very mysterious, is the foundation for the true meaning of love.

God is love...therefore God must be Triune. There is One God, and this God has existed for all eternity in a mysterious community [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit]

For all eternity this God lived in a harmonious, unbroken relationship of perfect love. Each person perfectly living for the good and well being of the others. Each seeking to honor and edify the others. Each inseparably joined to the others in a mysterious community of love.

In this teaching, God the Father and God the Son had existed forever together...their love for each other knew no beginning and would know no end. Because of mankinds sin, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit decided to forgive rebels and free them from sins clutches...

...but to do so would involve infinite sacrifice and self denial...it would involve the Greatest love ever shown!

God the Father decided to send His only Son [the Son He had inseparably spent eternity past with], and the eternal Son voluntarily decided to come to earth, become a man, and to suffer and die for His peoples sins.

In the Bibles teachings Jesus Christ is truly God...therefore when He decided to come to suffer and die...God Himself was deciding to sacrifice self, to deny self, for the well being of others [rebellious mankind].

When God the Father poured His wrath upon Jesus on the cross...He wasn't merely pouring His wrath upon some creature that He could live with or without...He was punishing His dear Son, His Son who had done no wrong, His Son that He had spent eternity with.

Over the years I have spoken with many Jehovah's Witnesses...they say they come to my door bringing the "gospel"...which means "good news".

In the course of our conversation I usually tell them that they are going to have to bring me better news then what I am hearing from them...

The Bible's teaching on God forgiving sinners is truly good news...and it is the Greatest Love Ever Shown!

The Greatest Love Ever Shown? [Part 4]

2010-01-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

It is almost time to compare the love of the Jehovah's Witnesses God to the love that is revealed in the Bible...but before we do, there is one more thing we must look at.

When I say the above, the J.W is very likely going to shout...our god is the god of the Bible...but alas...please do not listen to their cultish yells.

Over the years the J.W's have butchered their translation of the bible, it is called the "New World Translation".

Why did they change the bible from the Hebrew and Greek texts? That is easy...in order to propagate their false god.

For many years the J.W's used the King James Version of the Bible...but in the King James Version...Jesus is clearly shown to be the Almighty God, the second Person of the Trinity...so this tranlation....and any other faithful translation...HAD TO GO!

You see, the J.W's hold to heretical beliefs that have been condemned by the Church of Jesus Christ for centuries.

They deny the foundational doctrine of the Trinity, and they deny the doctrine of the Deity of Christ [Jesus is God]...and therefore should NOT be defined as Christian.

Now, this is the interesting thing. The Jehovah's Witness will say that their bible is the true tranlation and all the other tranlations are false [very convenient].

So, who do you believe? Both hold their bibles in their hand and say that this is the real deal...how can you find out which one is telling the truth?

Ask a J.W how many books are in the New World Translation. They will tell you, 66 books, 39 Old Testament books, and 27 New Testament books...the same number as the other translations.

Now, ask them to show you in their bible [not the index, because no one believes that the Bibles index page is inspired by God], where God declared, "Here are the 66 books that are to be recognized as God's Word!"

You will read the bible in vain to find such a page!

God used His church...NOT to make His word...but to recognize His Word...and with God's authority to publicly declare what God's Word was!
False teachers have always been around! Wherever the truth may be found, Satan and his lies are close at hand to try and twist and distort.

False teachers raised their ugly heads in the early church...trying to bring in lies and falsehood. The Church, which is the Pillar of the truth, stood against these lying attacks.

False teachers wanted distort God's truth by taking "God inspired" books out of the Churches Scripture...and wanted to introduce "non-inspired" works!

The Church after many councils, recognized the 66 books that we hold in our hands today to be God's inspired Word!

By the way, these councils firmly believed in the Trinity and firmly believed that Jesus Christ is God, the second Person of the Trinity!

Two teachings that the J.W's vehemently deny!

So, here is my question to the J.W's...why would you accept the books of the Bible that were chosen by a church that you view as so corrupt and filled with falsehood?

The J.W's took the Churches 66 books then began [as Satan does] to take away from God's revealed truth!

Twisting the Scriptures to their own destruction!

The Greatest Love Ever Shown? [Part 3]

2009-12-30T05:19:00.000-08:00

In my last post we looked @ how the Bible defined God's Almighty power.

Remember, God being Almighty doesn't mean that He can do everything...it means He can do anything He desires to do...anything within His perfect, holy nature.

God CANNOT, lie, be tempted by any evil, and God cannot deny Himself [He cannot cease being God, nor can He make another copy of Himself].

Now, that we have this firmly in our minds, we can move on to other things.

The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is NOT the Almighty God. That Jesus is NOT the second Person of the Trinity. That Jesus is NOT eternal.

They teach that Jesus is a created being. Sure they go on to say that Jesus is the greatest "created being", that Jesus is the "highest" of all created beings...BUT...nonetheless...

...they teach that Jesus is a created being...and NOT God!

...then they go on to tell us that Jehovah God sending Jesus to die for our sins...

...Is the Greatest Love Ever Shown!

This is the question that I want us to ask ourselves...is it the greatest love ever shown? If, so...then why?

I do not believe that the Jehovah's Witnesses false gospel is a sign of love at all. I speak in strong words because these people are deceiving many people, and are diligently fighting against the true gospel, which truly is the greatest love ever shown...let me show you what I mean...

We have already seen that the Jehovah's Witnesses teaching on God reveals that He really isn't essentially love...because He existed for all eternity past alone...with no one to love...proving that God isn't love...and He can get along fine without anyone else.

Next, we will see that this God created the first and greatest being of all creation [according to their teaching], Jehovah created Jesus.

The J.W's teach that Jesus is an angelic being!

Now here is my problem. How does Jehovah show His great love...by sending this created being to come and suffer for my sins?

What sacrifice is this to Jehovah? What cost is it to Him? Where is the love?

God creates this being out of thin air...a being that He got along without just fine for all eternity...and sends this created being to come and suffer?

This is where the J.W's will say that Jesus was special, one of a kind. But to answer them Biblically...only God is One of a kind. God CANNOT create Himself...but that is where His restrictions end!

If Jesus was only a created being...then God could create a billion beings exactly like Jesus...with the same look, the same talk, the same personality.

In the J.W's world, Jesus is special, only because they haven't worked out their biblical theology to its end conclusion.

According to the Jehovah's Witnesses teaching God isn't love and He really didn't show any love by sending Jesus to suffer and die for lost sinners.

In their teachings Jesus really is no greater a sacrifice then the millions of sheep that where offered in the Old Testament!

God existed just fine without the sheep and Jesus, for all eternity!

God created the tens of thousands of sheep that were slaughtered in the Old Testament, and God also created millions, if not billions of angelic beings...in which Jesus was just one out many!

The false teachings of the Jehovah's Witness cult actually distorts and destroys the biblical teaching of love.

Next time, we will compare the Bible's teachings on God's love to that of the J.W's...and we will see if there is truly a greater love shown...then that of the J.W's gospel.

p.s- There is a greater love...and it is infinitely greater...truly good news!

The Greatest Love Ever Shown? [Part 2]

2009-12-23T05:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people will play philosophical games when they try and disprove God.

They will ask silly questions like... "If God is All Powerful, then could He build a rock so large that He couldn't lift it?"

The people who ask these questions think that they out thought the ALL Wise God...but they really haven't thought much at all!

They are defining what All powerful means...then they are asking God to jump through the hoops...let me explain.

They define "all powerful" as the ability to do anything...and therefore if God couldn't create a rock so big that He couldn't lift it...THEN...He isn't all powerful!

BUT...if God could create a rock so large that He couldn't lift it...THEN...He would still prove to be NOT all powerful...because He couldn't lift it.

The difficulty with this type of questioning...is that God doesn't define "all powerful" as the ability to do anything...period.

The Bible defines God's Almighty power as the ability to do anything He desires to do.

There are things, that God reveals to us in the Bible, that God cannot do! But when you look at these things...they do not weaken Him...or take away from His great power...but magnify it!

God cannot be tempted by evil, God cannot lie, God cannot deny Himself...these are things that God cannot do...and things that God does not want to do.

God's character is unchangingly perfect...and therefore has absolutely no evil in Him to such a pure state that evil CANNOT tempt Him...

God is TRUTH...He is the fountain of truth...the source of truth...and because this is His character...and His character is unchanging...then we conclude from this...that God CANNOT lie!

God is the sole source of life! He is self existent, totally independant, and has existed for all eternity. God CANNOT cease being who HE is.

God CANNOT...nor does HE desire to cease being God...nor could God create another Being exactly like Himself...who was also equally God [the reasons for this should be obvious, the created being would not be eternal, and it therefore would not know all things...and would not be self existent and independant...etc.]

These are some things that the Bible says God CANNOT do...and they magnify and exalt God's great power!

Other then the things that God Himself reveals...God's power is unrestricted.

It is very important for us to understand this...because it will help us understand how great the love of the Jehovah's Witnesses God really is.

Sorry for dragging this out...but I have to get ready for work...so we will have to continue at a later date...

The Greatest Love Ever Shown? [Part 1]

2009-12-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

A few years back...right before Easter...I found a religious tract in the mailbox.

It was Titled, "The Greatest Love Ever Shown!"...or something really close to that...the one problem I had with the literature is that I knew the religious teachings of the cult that was trying to spread their beliefs.

The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus Christ was a created being. Yes, they say, he is the highest and greatest created being...but in the end...he is a creature...and NOT the Creator God!

So, what is this greatest love ever shown by God...according to the Jehovah's Witnesses?

Before we answer this question...we need to honestly and quickly look at their view of God...which effects their view of love.

The J.W's believe that before God decided to create anything...including Jesus [remember this is their view...not mine]...that He existed for all eternity past...alone!

This is very important...please don't miss it!

The Jehovah's Witnesses...and every other Christian cult...along with the other world religions...deny the Bibles teaching on the Trinity.

The biblical teaching of the Trinity is quickly brushed off by man's proud little mind...because it is a mysterious, wonderful truth that goes beyond man's capacity to fully grasp...apart from faith that is...

The Bible's teaching on the Trinity shows that there has existed for all eternity...One God...and within the Being God...there has existed Three distinct Persons...the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Each of the Persons is fully God...and not one third of God...and yet there is only one God...aaaccckkk...goes the brain...as it snaps with all the tension!

Here's the catch...the Bible also clearly teaches that God IS love. Note, that it doesn't say that God is loving...God reveals Himself TO BE...LOVE.

But...love is an action word...the Bible clearly teaches that it isn't enough to merely talk love...true love expresses itself in doing... giving and doing good to others!

So, here is the big question to the cults...if God IS LOVE...then before He created anything...including Jesus [not my belief, I believe that Jesus is the eternal God, the second Person of the Trinity]...who or what did He love?

Answer- There was nothing to love...God was all by Himself...and shows that He really isn't essentially love...because He existed for all eternity past without loving anything or anyone.

According to the cults...God could be God without anyone else...and therefore is essentially "unlove".

Yes, He might be Almighty...but all loving? Eternity past begs to differ.

I will continue the second part of this thought in a few days...

Green Eggs and Ham

2009-12-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

No, I am not going to share about Dr. Suess...I am still talking about our sin..sorry to get your hopes up.

But we will talk about something that Dr. Suess wrote about...green eggs and ham...but we will come to a different conclusion.

At the end of Dr. Suess' book the green eggs and ham were pretty tasty...in real life...I am pretty sure that we all know that if eggs or ham are green...then this means that they have spoiled very badly...and not only would they taste bad...they would be bad for you!

What does this have to do with sin?

The last time we looked at sin, we saw how the Jews of the Old Testament, who did not live by faith in God's revealed word...and the promised Messiah to come, would have viewed their sins, and God's love as something very small because sin could be paid for by an animals life...and God's self sacrificing love would be small or none...well...because their was no self sacrifice...God just sent an animal.

But many non Jewish moderns...today...should not shake their fingers at the Israelites of old...because they actually have a worse offering to present before God...while at the same time...leaving God, a loveless Being who does nothing to set people free from sin.

Many people today, think that they can sin...and then to try to make it right, they just try to do a few good things here and there, offer a few dollars to a charity, be polite, kind, try and be fairly honest on the tax forms...

If someone offered to cook you a two egg omelet...but you noticed that the eggs were rotten...would you accept the offer?

And if you declined...and the person counter-offered by telling you that they could add a few more eggs...would that make it a more appealing offer?

Of course not! The eggs are bad! Making the offering bad!

The Bible tells that when the first man, Adam, rebelled and sinned against God, that he plunged the whole human race into sin.

He was the human races representative...and as our rep...he blew it!

When Adam fell into sin...all of us fell. This is why no one had to teach us to be selfish...no one had to teach us how to lie to cover our sins...no one had to teach us how to rebel against authority...no one had to teach us to look for number 1 [self]...all of these things come naturally because we are born sinful.

We are not sinners because we sin...we sin because we are sinners.

If I took an apple from my frigde and duct taped it to a pine tree...the pine tree doesn't all of a sudden become an apple try...but an apple tree does produce apples.

So, when we sin against God...and then think that we are going to try and offer our good works before God to undue all the bad stuff...all we are doing is adding more bad eggs to the omelete.

We view our sin as something so little...that we don't even see it mingled in our good works...and again we see God as so unloving...that He doesn't do anything to free us from our sin...He just accepts and eats green eggs and ham...

The Highest Bidder

2009-12-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

How great is the debt that you owe God because of your sin?

If you were an Old Testament Jew...who did NOT live by faith...then you would think the debt you owed God was something...really not that great...very insignificant.

Why do I say that? Because of the payment that you would have to make to bring you back into a right standing with God would be the death of a mere animal!

You buy one sheep to cook for supper, and one sheep to pay for your sins.

Do notice, that the payment for supper and for sin is both within the power of the person...and that the payment for your sins was really no greater than the payment you would make to fill your stomach.

Do also notice that I said that this would be the case only for the Israelite who was not living by faith...an Israelite who lived by faith saw that the animal sacrifices of the Mosaic law system...pointed ahead in time to the great sacrifice of their Messiah.

So, if you were an Israelite not living by faith, you would see your sin as something very small, very insignificant...and you would see God's love as something that was also small and insignificant.

Why would I say this?

If God said that my sin could be atoned for by mere animal blood, then my sin must be something very small...because tens of thousands of animals die daily for food, clothing and other common needs also.

And if God could pay for my sin by creating an animal [remember, God spoke the universe into existence] and have "it" die for my sin...what real sacrifice or act of love is that from God?

So if you were an Old Testament Israelite you would see your sin and God's love both as things that were fairly small...

...but you would be horribly mistaken!

How Much?!

2009-11-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

C.S Lewis once said that before he could truly thank someone for paying a debt he owed...he would first have to find out the amount of that debt.

If a neighbor paid .46 cents to the mailman for a postage due, he would give a courteous "thank you" to that neighbor and then begin to dig in his pockets to pay him back.

But if while he was away, Revenue Canada came with a bill for 10 million dollars in unpaid taxes, and the penalty of 20 years in prison if they were not immediately paid...and the neighbor paid THAT bill...he would fall on the ground before him...kiss his feet and profusely thank him...not even bothering digging in his pockets...because he knows that they aren't THAT deep.

Here is the reality of life. We are all the person who owes the 10 million! But in real life...its really not 10 million...its an amount that is unpayable...not even by Bill Gates!...sorry Microsoft.

Here is another reality of life. Apart from God's intervening grace [by His Spirit working through His Word]...we all view our debt AS IF it were the .46 cents.

We might tip our hat to God...give a nice thanks...have a kind smile on our face...then begin to dig in our pockets to pay Him back...acting AS IF...the debt were something within our grasp to pay back...via our efforts and good works.

We under value the debt we owe in a couple ways;

1. By misunderstanding ourselves.
2. By misunderstanding the God who made us.

As time permits we will look at these important areas of life...and the consequences that flow from misunderstanding them.

Where Is The Love?

2009-11-20T05:10:00.000-08:00

When Jesus taught on love He said "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

Where was Jesus when He taught this...who was He speaking to?

He was at a dinner party, where He was being snubbed...and He was talking to leaders of the religious community of His day...people that other people looked up to as moral, ethical...good folk.

Jesus isn't saying that we can muster up enough love to earn God's forgiveness...please don't try and read this into His words.

Instead, what Jesus is teaching is this...the better, more clear grasp you have on how great your sin is...and how great the payment was for your sins to be forgiven...will directly effect the "amount" of love you have towards Jesus.

If you view yourself as a pretty good person, a man or woman whom God would be lucky to have on His team, a person who really doesn't have too many sins, a person who has a pretty good moral resume...then you will not have a deep, consuming love and passion for Jesus...because you have reserved this love and passion for someone you deem as equal or better than Jesus...yourself.

But...if you...like the sinful woman [possibly a prostitute] in this story, see your sins as something horrible...a debt that you could never even begin to imagine how you could pay it off...if you see yourself as a rebel against God, one who has nothing to offer God...then forgiveness becomes precious...and the One who brings that forgiveness...becomes the Greatest Treasure...

How do you view your sins? How do you view God? What is your understanding of forgiveness...what did it take for God to forgive you?

Over the next few posts I will spend some time looking at these very important questions...if there is anyone who reads these...may they encourage you...if no one reads these...may they encourage my heart to love You more and more Jesus!

Love Machine

2009-11-18T05:42:00.000-08:00

Is love like a virus...you either catch a really powerful one...or a weak one.

One person's love for Jesus is deep, life changing...another's is...well like lip stick...very glossy, sometimes colorful and rests nicely on a person's lips...but goes no further.

Jesus tells us that love can grow!

Jesus was invited to a dinner party...the Host was a religious man. At the party Jesus didn't feel a loving welcome. His host had him into his house...but then kept him at arms length...treating him like a stranger...a party crasher!

Speaking of party crashers...this story has one. We are told that a sinful woman from the city crashes the party...she must have heard that Jesus was there...and had to see Him!

She falls at Jesus feet, and totally pours herself upon Jesus' mercy and grace. The woman pours expensive ointment on Jesus feet and cleans His feet with her hair, she even kisses His feet in adoration...almost totally undone...because of the love and gratitude that she had for the Savior!

Jesus looks at the the cold, aloof treatment he received from his dinner party Host...and then compares it to the love of this "sinful" woman...and tells a story.

He tells of two debtors...one owed a couple months worth of wages...the other one a couple years worth of wages...their Creditor forgives them both their debt...

Then Jesus asks the "religious" dinner host. Who do you think will love the Creditor most?

The religious dude busts himself by his own answer.

He responds...I suppose the one who was forgiven more...

Jesus then proclaims that the one who is forgiven much...LOVES MUCH...and the one who is forgiven little...LOVES LITTLE...

...next time we will look into what Jesus means by this answer!

How long will that take in Sheep time?

2009-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

When you hold the Bible in your hands you may think that you are simply holding one book...but this really isn't the case...you are holding one story...His story [history]...but not one book.

The Old Testament contains 39 books [929 chapters].

The New Testament contains 27 books [260 chapters].

The Bible is God's revelation to mankind!

Now, here is something to wrap your brain around.

The only reason why we have the Bible is because God decided to show mercy to rebels...the Bible points men to God's salvation!

If God hadn't decided to show mercy...then we wouldn't need a revelation from God for salvation...the only revelation we would have is what our sins naturally deserve...God's wrath!

But God did decide to show loving mercy...and the only way that He could take away rebels sin...was to become a man...live a perfect life [in our place]...suffer for sins [our sin...He didn't have any]...and die [the penalty for sin is death]!

When Jesus rose from the grave on the third day...it proclaimed that God the Father accepted His Son's perfect sacrifice...and that all who trust in Jesus will have eternal life!

Even though Jesus stepped into human history only 2000 years ago...we are told that He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.

This means that Jesus sacrifice doesn't only work in forward motion...but that His sacrfice worked backwards...the only reason why anyone in history could be forgiven was because of Jesus' self sacrifice!

This means...the 66 books that you hold in your hand have come to you at an infinitely great cost!

God the Son, gave His life...suffered the holy wrath of God...so that you could receive the revelation of God's great salvation...trust in Jesus...and receive forgiveness for all your sins...and eternal life!

This is mind bloggling news!

But for many Christians this is "old" news...BORING!

Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us to give us His revelation...so that we can know Him...love Him...worship Him...

What really amazes me is that many Christians are too busy to read and study God's word...too busy doing more important things [T.V is pretty important you know?]

Here are some interesting stats...if you read between 3 to 3.5 chapters of the Bible a day [maybe 15 minutes]...you will get through the Bible in a year!

This means if you have been a Christian for 5 years and haven't read thru the Bible...the excuse of too busy is pretty lame. You would have to read around half a chapter a day...to get through the Bible in 5 years...

Oh well...enough of the guilt trip...guilt won't get you interested in the Bible...an overwhelming love for the One the Bible points to is the only thing that will get your nose into the number 1 best seller of all time!

Hands Of Time [The End]

2009-10-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Once again I found myself pausing outside a room in my own house, heart pounding, mind racing, arguing with myself what to do. I had to know the truth, I couldn’t just stand there, I had to open the door. I took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and firmly grabbed hold of the doorknob. I softly counted to myself, “one, two”, and then swung the door open upon the next number, “THREE”! My eyes must have been as wide as saucers as I scanned the room for intruders, my head swiftly moving from one side of the room to the other. After a couple rapid visual sweeps across the room I actually started to breathe again. From where I was standing it appeared that there was no one up in the attic. I looked at my wrist and simultaneously moved my right foot forward, noticing that there was no wire. As I moved unrestrictedly and easily into the attic I realized that I was now in the environment that I so earnestly desired, and struggled so desperately to be in last night. Everything was now calm and quiet; there were no intruders, no actors for the morning performance. I momentarily stood there breathing in the silence and again trying to decipher what exactly had taken place here a mere twelve hours ago. It all still seemed so real to me and so fresh in my mind’s eye. But then as I looked around for one last time, looking for any sign of life or movement [but finding none], I broke the solemn silence of the attic by declaring to myself, “it was only a bad dream”. As I started to turn myself in the direction of the door, to finally give the call for last curtain, that the play was officially over, my eye caught sight of something that caused me to pause. Hold that curtain! Sitting on the old couch was a thin black, hard-covered book, it seemed to be pleading with me to come over and look at it. I felt a nervous tension come over me as I started to walk in the direction of the book, the kind of tension a person has who senses that a well kept secret of theirs was about to fall into the wrong hands. When I finally reached center-stage I stood before the couch and looked down at the dusty book sitting on the worn out cushions. I bent over slightly and picked up the book from its padded resting-place and then substituted my own rear end down in its stead. As I sat on what used to have been my parent’s old couch I rested the book in my lap, just looking at it in deep contemplation. What was the meaning of all of this? In my lap sat my grade eleven high school yearbook. It had been many numerous years since I had leafed through its old pages. As I opened its stiff cover I knew what I was looking for even though I was reluctant to find it. My fingers intuitively began to flip the book’s stiff pages, passing over faces of friends, acquaintances, and even enemies of years long gone by. Then my fingers began to slow their pace as they approached their desired objective. My hands sat still, slightly trembling, when my eyes beheld a face all too familiar to me. I knew what her name was; all too well, but still checked the corresponding name that matched her picture, all the while tears began welling up within my eyes. It was her; it was the young woman who stood before this very spot last night. The girl so troubled with all the grief and hardship of last nights tragedy! I increasingly began to understand what happened last night, what the whole attic performance really meant. One last piece had to be placed in the puzzle for the picture to clearly portray its meaning. I flipped in the book to search for the young man. After a couple pages I was confronted with the young face of the boy who had been intruding in my attic the night before. As I looked at his face I squeezed my eyes shut in anguish, the agony of the truth piercing into my inner most being. A face, in whose image, I had seen a multitude of times before, but not for many long years. I pulled my face away from his so as not to be any longer reminded of the reality of last nights encounter. As my eyes left the book they pointed towards the lonely corner in which the young man stood last night, it looked somehow different; the mirror was now missing. I set the book down on the couch and quickly walked over to the corner to investigate the scene. When I reached the corner of the room I discovered the source of the noise that brought me up to the attic in the first place. The mirror had fallen from the wall and now lay unbroken on the floor. My heart again pounded as I picked up the mirror so as to replace it in its old spot. At first my concentration was directed primarily on the task at hand, getting the mirror back onto the wall. After a little bit of struggle and a few readjustments I finally accomplished my goal and the mirror was firmly anchored back into its old place. It was at this dreadful moment that my focus switched from reattaching the mirror to the wall, to the actual mirror itself. It was also at this very same time that I realized that the night before had not been a miserable dream after all, but was as real as life itself. I stood in the lonely corner of my attic staring into the mirror and the reflection of the young man stared back at me. It had not been a dream. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place, everything “clicked”, everything now made sense. As I stared at the face in the mirror, all I could keep asking myself was “what have I done?”
As I sat at the dinner table that evening, I looked at my four beautiful children and thanked God for each and every one of them. Our supper table had six chairs around it, all of them filled with an occupant. When we bought our kitchen table the sales person threw in an extra chair, ‘just in case one got broken’, an added bonus. For convenience sake we had kept this chair in the corner of the kitchen, in case we had an extra mouth to feed. This evening as we sat, eating and talking, our youngest turned his head and asked me, “Dad, why do we have one extra chair that’s empty?” As I looked into his young, inquisitive eyes I thought I was going to explode. Emotions from deep inside my heart strained and struggled to break loose. How would I tell him that the chair was meant for the “unwanted” child? How could I tell my children of the sibling they would never meet, of memories that were never given the chance to materialize? How could I tell them of the child, who now would be an adult? As I looked at my children and remembered all the phases of their childhood, all the things we did, I simultaneously thought of my eldest child and his/her non-life, all the things that could have been and were not. I fought the back the tears like a mighty dam against a torrent of bashing waves against its walls. As I sat in the defence seat, speechless, no answer coming forth from my lips, my wife suddenly broke the uncomfortable silence with a message sent from above. “We reserve that seat for our most special guest, it reminds us that Jesus is always with us, even when we sit to eat.”
My wife gave us all her usual wonderful smile, not really knowing what her simple answer had accomplished in my heart. A single tear escaped from each of my eyes. One was a tear of regret for the past that I could never change, the other a tear of infinite gratitude for the One who had given me a new start in life, and had forever changed my future. As I stared across the table into my wife’s face, I noticed myself rubbing my wrist where time held me in its grasp, and nevertheless smiled the smile that only a pardoned man could.

Dale Callahan

Hands Of Time [Part 11-12]

2009-10-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

As I lay in bed that night, trying to drift off to sleep, I could not stop thinking about what I thought I witnessed in my attic. Was there any meaning to it or was it a senseless daydream? Who were those two young people? Who was that little baby? As I asked myself these things I was reassured that it very likely had no meaning at all and it would be best to forget the whole thing. As hard as I tried to convince myself of this truth I found my mind gravitating back to these people. My mind inquired easily about the, ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘where’s’ of the girl but I found that questions pertaining to the young man were far more elusive. I struggled, even to the slightest degree, to try and keep my mind focused on him. Every time I tried to think of him my mind would naturally slip away to thoughts of my wife and children, my work or other occurrences in my day to day living. Why was it that I could not seem to get a mental hold on this young stranger? My drifting thoughts about this young couple eventually caused me to drift off into the world of slumber. And when sleep finally overcame my tired mind and body it was deep, and dream-filled.

One of my children lay safely in my arms, warm and sleeping. Suddenly I stumble, a horrible fall, and as I tumble to the ground, my child falls as well. My fall is merely to the awaiting ground, but the child falls through the floor and continues to plunge into the blackness below. As the child falls it screams out, “Save me, Daddy”. My arms flail out to grab the child, but grasps nothing but darkness and thin air. My arms continue to stretch towards the falling child, until the child is swallowed by the darkness.

The next thing that I knew I had suddenly re-entered into the land of the conscious, my body was extremely tensed, soaked with sweat, and I was instinctively slapping my bedside table on which my alarm clock sat, like I did every week day morning. “It was only a dream”, I whispered to myself as I wiped the sweat from my face. Once I muzzled the alarmclock I flopped my feet over the side of the bed, onto the floor, and just sat there for a second, trying to gather myself enough to stand up and walk. Why did I feel so tired, I usually woke up feeling refreshed? It must have been that horrible nightmare. As this first thought of the day was brewing in my mind my eyes caught a glimpse of the alarm clock, it was 5:26 a.m. The kids must have been fooling around with my clock again, I usually didn’t get up until 6:30 a.m. An hour early or not I decided to get up for the day instead of going back to sleep. Quietly I dressed and made myself presentable for the work world. I quietly tip toed downstairs not wanting to disturb the rest of the family. I crept into the kitchen and made myself a new cup of fresh coffee, the smell of it spread throughout the kitchen. As I walked out of the kitchen I spotted my captor of the day before, the grandfather clock, the time was 5:57 a.m. The house was so quiet, so peaceful in the early morning before all the little feet started to patter and the children’s voices began to echo throughout the house. I sipped my coffee slowly as I made my way across the living room floor to the front window. I looked out to the street to where my car was parked and mumbled under my breath, “was there a van out there last night”? After a couple more sips from my cup I turned to head back into the kitchen for some breakfast, when my eyes again were drawn to the time,
5:59 a.m. As I stood there staring into the clock’s face it suddenly dawned on me that something very strange was going on again. It could have been merely a coincidence but as I stood there burning holes into the clock with my eyes I very much doubted it. The times were exactly the same, only twelve hours apart! Every time I had looked at the clock last night he announced the very same times as this morning. Just as this new truth sank into my mind the clock began to gong, it was six o’clock. The clock struck six times then silence once again overcame the house. Just as I was about to laugh at myself for being so silly I heard a thumping sound come from up in the attic. As my feet made for the stairs up to the attic I could feel my pulse pounding in my neck, what was happening up there? I tried to convince myself that I was hearing things, as I opened the door exposing the stairs to the attic. I tried to tell myself that older houses shift and make all kinds of weird noises, as I cautiously made my way up the stairs. But when I stood outside of the attic door and light was creeping out from underneath it I was simply terrified as to what may lay on the other side.

Hands Of Time, Part 9-10

2009-10-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

How long I was unconscious I do not know? All I do know is that when I regained my senses all I felt was the chill of the cold sidewalk throughout my whole body. As I lay on my back on the sidewalk I could hear the sound of course laughing and then the closing of vehicle doors, the vehicle starting, and the vehicle driving away until its sound vanished into the black night. I could not move my body; it and my mind were numb, almost paralyzed. The pain that I felt upstairs, outside the attic, had returned with a vengeance and with double the intensity of my earlier attacks. The only sign of life that my body indicated was the involuntary heaving up and down of my chest as I desperately tried to catch my breath after my exerting race to this final destination point. As I lay on the ground with my eyes squeezed shut, I felt tears push their way out passed the corners my eyes and work their way down the side of my face, depositing finally in my ears. I knew that I would never see the child again, he or she was now beyond any hope of rescue, and my efforts were in vain, too late. I slowly opened my eyes and was confronted with a dazzling display of God’s handiwork, the billions of stars in all their splendid glory were shining on the black canvas of the night sky, and to think my eyes could only taste but a tidbit of this wondrous spectacle. I slowly pivoted my head to the side, so as to observe with my eyes what I already knew in my heart, the wire still binding my wrist. I continued to lie there in the cool night air, sobbing and staring at my wrist and its captor. I prayed with my whole heart that somehow I could be free from the restraint that held me steadfastly to the clock, knowing deep down in my soul that this wish would not be granted. If it were not for this bondage on my wrist, I thought to myself, then I very well could have had the chance to save that little child. But I knew that I was not free, from this impediment that bound me to the clock, and therefore also knew that no matter how great my desire was to save the baby that it was now too late. I moved my body into the seated position and stared at the empty space on the street in front of my house, the spot that just a few moments earlier was filled with the black van. Now, only thing that caught my eyes gaze was my own car that I drove home in. I struggled to stand up, my legs were weak and my body was aching from lying on the cold ground for too long a time. As I turned from the street my eyes fell upon the sight of my house and the thought of my own aches and pains vanished. My thoughts rushed towards my wife and little ones inside the house. My children were still hiding under their beds, terrified. My wife was probably beside herself in fear, thinking that the black van had taken me away, along with the child. As I hurriedly moved to the front door of the house I noticed that light was pouring out from all of its windows, all but one. The attic window was dark and lonely, there was no figure of a young woman there any longer, the light had been extinguished, and the window seemed tightly shut.

Part 10

When I reached the front door I found it locked. My wife probably locked it trying to protect the children. I started groping in my coat pockets, in search for my house keys, when all of a sudden the front door swung open revealing the face of my wife. I felt my knees begin to shake as she looked at me with a peaceful smile, followed by a hearty laugh and the question of how could I have misplaced my keys from my car up to the house? I wanted to turn away from her, running and screaming into the dark night but instead I quickly calmed myself, laughed along with her and shrugged my shoulders indecisively. As I came into the house I noticed that I had my coat on, but how could that be, I had taken it off before dinner over an hour ago? My lips met with my wife’s and then I faked a smiled at her as I began to take off my coat. It was at this moment that I noticed that I no longer had the wire binding me to our clock. “Now, how did that get off” I asked myself silently? I felt my head begin to swim in confusion, my stomach was turning, why was I reliving all of this again, why was I caught in this rerun of events? Was I losing my mind or was all of this but a demented dream? As these thoughts filled my mind I saw my wife’s mouth open to speak to me. Before a single word exited her lips I already knew exactly what she was going to say. When the words came out of her mouth I had to keep my own from flopping open in bewilderment. According to some unannounced cue my eyes automatically turned to look into old grandfather clocks’ face and I noted that it was for the second time this day, 5:26 p.m. This no longer surprised me; maybe I was starting to nicely adjust to my new condition of insanity. Crazy or not I played my part, like a true actor, and told her I couldn’t remember why I was late and didn’t know where I had been. I again spoke my lines, with repetitive accuracy, asking for a few minutes to try and recall my whereabouts for the last hour. Even though this time I really did have an answer to this question. My wife looked deep into my eyes, smiled sweetly at me and then turned her face towards the house’s bedrooms and called the children to the dinner table. My children were not cowering under their beds in terror but were laughing without a fear before me at our dinner table and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Not a mention of the events that went on previously, just hearty laughing, loud talking, and sloppy eating, like all earlier events of the evening had been erased from their memory banks. This time supper went by without a peep of a siren; there wasn’t any loud noises, any van, soldiers or any of the earlier events that interrupted our dinner. As the last of the children excused themselves from the table I heard the sound of the grandfather clock. He was announcing to all within hearing distance that it was now six o’clock. As the last bong of the clock faded into the annuls of history, I strained my ears, trying to detect the slightest noise coming from above. All of my most intense concentration could not generate the sound that I had earlier heard from the attic immediately following the sixth bong from the clock. As the children played in their rooms and my wife worked on one of her fancy art crafts, I sat at the supper table trying to understand what had happened earlier on. Was it a dream, was I losing my mind, I really didn’t know? I strolled over to the front window and looked outside, all that was there was my car, nothing else, no van. I felt my body begins to relax, it must have all been some hallucination or bad dream or who knows what.

Hands Of Time [part 7-8]

2009-10-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

The young woman inched her body towards the open window until her legs were pressed

against its ledge. I again screamed for her not to do what she was about to do.

But my pleas evaporated into the vacuum of expanse that lay between us. The girl

looked down to the child, one last look, and one last goodbye. Her arms

hesitatingly moved towards the open window, but move they did. Soon the baby was

hanging in the black night air, its only support, was mothers’ trembling

arms. “Drop it” I heard some voices call up, in unison, from the ground

below. “Please don’t!” I again yelled to her. I looked at the boy and wanted to

shake him for his unshakable selfishness. All he cared about was his pleasure,

freedom, and future. It was obvious that no other player then himself, in this sad

scene, was consuming his now so focused thoughts. As I watched what happened next I

wished that the young girl’s arms were as faithful to their task as this blasted

wire was that bound me. The wire would not let me go for any reason. In the blink

of an eye the three became two, the girl stood at the window silently weeping, head

down looking at the bundle below. Finally sensing that it was now safe to come to

the girl’s side the boy pulled himself away from his lonely corner and moved toward

her by the window. He spoke to her in an assuring tone, trying to convince the

young woman that what they had just done was all for the best. I could not keep my

mouth closed and barked insults at him. “What do you mean what ‘we’ just did”, I

heckled. “You hid in your corner and made her do it alone”, I hissed with venomous

contempt towards him. As I was about to open my mouth and let another torrent of

hateful verbal abuse pour out, I noticed something that caused me to press my lips

tight together.

Part 8

As the young man stood at the window he was closer to me now then he had been

earlier. With this closer position I could see his face more clearly now. Why did he

seem so familiar to me? I was sure that I had never crossed paths before with this

young stranger, who was now intruding my attic. So why then was there this fleeting

thought in my head that I knew him, that I had seen his face somewhere or at

sometime before? The answer to this question would eventually come to me but for the

time being it would remain out of my mind’s grasp, like the proverbial carrot

hanging before the working horse. In an instant another reality, one that was much

more concrete and urgent, replaced this allusive thought. “The child”! I cried aloud

to myself. The melodrama in my attic had reached its climax, I had been prevented

from joining the earlier acts of this play but maybe, just maybe, I could be an

actor in the last scene of this performance. Maybe I could prevent this play from

truly being, from what up to this point was classic tragedy. Once again I bolted

down the stairs, this time with a driving focus that fueled my body to move like it

has never moved before. In a flash I had hit the bottom of the stairs and continued

to propel past the grandfather clock, turned around the corner and dashed towards

the front door of my house. I was moving in such a fast paced frenzy that I did not

even have the chance to look into the face of Father time to see what he announced.

All I could think of was reaching my front yard and rescuing that child. I would

tell them that the child was not un-wanted, because I wanted it, and hopefully they

would listen and understand. My forward motion was halted, only momentarily, as what

I thought was my last obstacle to reaching the child stood before me. I quickly had

to apply the brakes to my legs to prevent me from slamming face first into the

inside of my front door. Once at the door my hands moved with lightening fast speed

to unlatch the two locks so as to remove that seemingly one last hindrance to my

final goal. Once the door was flung open, I shot out of it like a speeding bullet.

The four men were slowly making their way back to the van; they must have taken a

few last moments to finish their cigarettes and conversations before getting back

into the van with the sole reason for their little visit, in hand. I saw the object

of my hearts’ desire being held in the arms of one of these monsters and this only

enhanced my bodies’ speed and my heart’s determination to rescue the baby. As I flew

off my front porch I had only one thought coursing through my brain and that was the

all consuming conviction that I needed to save that child. Within a blink of an eye

I was upon my target, I was within a few feet of the soldier who was carrying the

child. I stretched out my arms to grab the child, thoughts of victory pulsing

through my mind, when all of a sudden disaster struck, and defeat was my only

consolation prize.

From an onlookers point of view I must have looked like a guard dog in hot pursuit

of its mark, reaching the length of its leash before it had a chance to sink in its

teeth. Instantaneously I went from what seemed like a hundred miles an hour down to

absolute zero. For one moment I could almost feel the warmth of the baby in my

arms, but in the next, everything went dark and silent.

Hands Of Time [Part 5-6]

2009-10-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

The young woman [she was really but a girl] was crying, her chest was heaving up and

down as she sobbed. She was looking into the face of the young man, her tears

making channels down both of her cheeks. She was very afraid; she was telling him

that her father could never know about what had happened, they had to hide it from

him. Because they were across the room I could only make out bits and pieces of

their conversation. So I tried to read their body language and the expressions of

their faces to try to get a clearer story. As I stood watching I could tell that

she wanted him to support her, encourage her, protect her but he did none of these

things. This would have entailed him playing the role of a man, taking

responsibility, doing what was right, sacrificing his wants and needs for hers. But

he was obviously but a boy and lacked the moral and emotional fiber that she seemed

to cry out for. He stood there for a long moment looking very distant in his eyes

like he was trying to find some way of escape. As I looked at his face I saw a

resemblance to the callused, hard-hearted individuals out on the front yard. As the

young man spoke he tried to convince her that he wanted what was best for her but

neither his words nor his actions gave witness to this truth. As I watched this

drama I all of a sudden became aware of another player who had been oblivious to me

up to this point. The young girl was holding a child in her arms, close to her

body. As she spoke to the young man she rocked the child back and forth. My eyes

must have been playing tricks on me in the dim lit attic because at times the child

seemed but an infant but then for a couple split second flashes the child appeared

to be the same age, if not older, then the young girl holding it. I shook my head

and blinked my eyes when this phenomenon happened and suddenly the child appeared to

be but an infant again. Even though I couldn’t catch all of their words I now knew

that the baby was an integral ingredient to what was happening up here. Now the

puzzle began to take shape! The missing piece had been found and the picture was

beginning to manifest its story. The young man did not want the child, nor the

responsibilities and cares that went with it. The young girl also seemed fearful of

all the consequences that this young child would bring into her life. She knew that

this child would severely strain the other crucial relationships in her life.

Relationships that she highly valued and was not convinced would remain the same if

her ties with the child were to continue. It was like floating in a sea of

ignorance and suddenly being hit by the wave of understanding! Everything made

sense; I knew why the death squad was at my house! It was not for my children

downstairs but for this child up in my attic! The young couple embraced one another

both crying in each other’s arms. Their tears intermingled like converging rivers.

Each one’s tear’s was because of the child, although for very different personal

reasons. Their embrace slackened as she pulled her head back from his, so as to

look into his face. Both of the youngsters looked deep into eyes of the other, hers

searching for something that she could not seem to find, and his evading all true

contact at any cost. Then he pushed her away from him, but I noticed that he did so

without the use of any physical force. By his inaction he forced her to make the

first move. As her arms left embracing him they instinctively went again to

holding the child. I again shook my head, how could I have missed the child being

there between them? As she moved away she turned toward the window facing out toward

the front yard. He simultaneously turned his back on her and busied himself,

occupying his energies on not getting involved in what she was doing. There he

stood, like an ostrich, burying his head in the sand, ignorant of all that she was

doing and going through. He slowly moved in the direction that was opposite to the

window. He walked until he reached the far corner of the room. There he stopped

and stood alone with himself. In the corner was an old mirror that hung on the

wall, it was into this that the young man focused his attention, busying himself

with his favorite person.

Part 6

Back at the window she stood, her eyes focused outward and down. She seemed to be

looking at the small gathering on my front lawn. One of her hands left the child and

reached out to grasp the handle on the window. Her face grimaced as she tried to

turn it and open the window. “Hey, What are you doing”, I yelled? She acted as if

she heard nothing. He also did not even flinch at the bark of my voice intruding

their silence; his face did not waver from the mirror. Could they hear me, I

wondered? After a moment of struggle the young woman took her other hand away from

supporting the child and moved it up to help turn the window handle. To my utter

amazement the child remained pressed to her stomach while she used both hands to

manipulate the handle to the desired position. It was if the young girl was

performing some incredible slight of hand magic act for a mere two man audience, one

of whom was willfully ignorant of her every move and the other questioning his very

own sanity. How the infant remained glued to the girl’s stomach while she struggled

with both hands to open a window was a mystery to me. Then without warning the

handle surrendered to the young girl’s manipulation with a loud crack. Her body

lurched slightly forward and to the left, due to the sudden lack of resistance from

the once sticky window. The young woman now momentarily paused, head down,

thoughtfully gazing at the child in her arms. The young man had torn himself away

from his earlier preoccupation and had his head turned to the side, away from the

forward focus into the mirror. He was for a moment trying to watch her next move

through his peripheral vision; his back was still to her. The girl lifted her head

from looking at the bundle in her arms and turned her head to look over her

shoulder, one last look to the boy. As her head moved across the room to observe

him, his also selfishly moved, with masterful timing, back to its position of utter

indifference, facing into mirror. With new tears in her eyes she returned her face

toward the window. In utter silence both of them stood peering out through their

own personal looking glasses. His gave him only a dismal view of his own inadequacy

and because hers lacked the ‘silver lining’ it therefore only pointed out to the

cold, dark emptiness. With resolve in her face she lifted her hand to once again

grasp the window’s handle, momentarily pausing as if almost waiting to hear the

boy’s cry to stop. In that split second I did not waste my breath but with all my

lunges ability screamed for her not to open the window. Her arm was free to allow

her to do want she wanted to, and that was to open the window. I again discovered

that my arm did not enjoy that same freedom. I gave one last attempt to enter the

room, but once again was foiled by that blasted clock. My doubled-over body stood

erect in an instant when I heard new voices in this all too weird play that I had

been observing. I knew immediately who these new voices were. They told her to

toss down the bundle and everything would be just fine. I retaliated with a shout

for her not to listen to their lies, and for ‘the boy’ to be a man and help her.

Both of them ignored me.

Hands Of Time [Chapters 3-4]

2009-10-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

To my horror I see a black van outside of my house. My mind reels at light speed, trying to find an answer to a question that I didn’t know yet. I blurt out to myself, “I love my children”, I want my children, why have they come to my house.” Then I yelled to myself, my hands grabbing the hair on the sides of my head, “this has to be a mistake”! As my words bounced off the front window of my house they seemed to shatter all the noise that was disturbing our world. In an instant, silence ruled the airwaves, you could hear a pin drop, but instead I heard something much louder, the van doors outside slamming shut. I chop my words off so as not to be heard from the intruders outside.

Four men had exited a black van, they were now standing on my front sidewalk, lighting cigarettes and laughing. They were all dressed in black army uniforms with a swastika insignia on both shoulders. Even in their laughter, their faces seem hard, cold and cruel, anything but humorous. Their laughing faces seem more sinister and heartless then comical and jovial. I don’t know who called them but the death squad was just outside of my house. They were here to take an unwanted child from my home and that child would never bother anyone again. But I didn’t have any unwanted children, I screamed in my head. I quickly ran back into the kitchen and frantically looked into the terrified faces of my wife and children. I tell my wife to take my two oldest children into their bedroom and hide them underneath their beds. I then grab my two little ones, one under each of my arms, and run them into their bedroom. When we get to their room, I hug them tightly and whisper into their ears that everything is going to be all right, but they need to hide for a while, and they need to be very quite. They each squirm underneath their beds and I quickly slap the face of the clown on the wall, killing the light in their room. Quickly I run back out into the hallway and look at the clock. What seemed like an
eternity is only a little over a minute, Grandfather’s face now says 5:59 p.m. I look to the front window and instinctively allow my gaze to lead my feet there. My whole body is tense as I await to hear the doorbell ring or pounding on the door, to shatter the silence of my nightmare. But as I reached the window again I see that the men outside are not coming towards my house, but are still smoking, talking and laughing. My head shifts towards my wife and again I ask her why are they outside? She starts to cry again and tells me that she doesn’t know what is going on. Just then the clock begins its hourly ritual. The first gong nearly causes me to jump right out of my skin! Six-o-clock! As the chime’s ring from within the clock they also simultaneously begin going off inside of my head. Recognition! Illumination! Suddenly, it came to me! I understood why the soldiers were here. The clock was ringing for it’s 6th and final time when a loud noise from upstairs brings my attention to the ceiling of the room. For some reason I don’t want to check to see what the cause of this sound is, but my body instinctively begins to
be drawn to the attic door, like a pin to a magnet.

Part 4

As I stand at the door I want to turn and go get my children but instead I slowly open the door and allow my gaze to ascend up the dark staircase. In seconds I too was moving up the stairs, leaving behind me the warmth and light of our main floor and forging ahead into the coolness and dimness of the attic. I moved slowly and carefully up the stairs, my eyes trying to adjust to the new light, or lack thereof. Once at the top of the stairs I was met again with another door, the door leading into the attic. I turned my head down and looked at the foot of the door, light was pouring out from underneath the crack of the door. “What is going on here”, I whisper to myself?
I paused only for a brief moment then slowly opened the door and looked inside. We stored all of our keepsakes and memento’s up in the attic and rarely went up there. Everything was covered with sheets, blankets, and a liberal measure of dust. I blinked my eyes in rapid succession, confusion gripping my mind, I thought I must have been seeing things. At the far end of the room was an old couch and standing before the couch stood a young man and woman, each in their mid teens. “Hey, what are you doing in my house”, I called to them in a stern voice. They just stood there talking to one another, ignoring me. “Hey”! I repeated, louder this time. I was about to tell them to get out of my house, and as I began to do so I took a step into the room. As my head went to pass through the door my body suddenly jerked to an abrupt stop. I couldn’t pass through the door. I looked to my wrist and saw that there was a thin thread-like wire attached to it. I pulled and tugged to get it off but it would not budge. My temper started to flare and I began to violently heave and jerk wildly at the wire, my hands flailing in a semi-spasmodic fashion, trying to free myself from this newly discovered bondage. I quickly stopped this action because each time I jerked at the wire I felt a sharp pain in my body. Strangely enough this pain was not where the wire bound my wrist but instead penetrated into my chest, directly at my heart. “How did this thing get attached to me”, I cried out to the young couple in my attic, both of whom seemed oblivious to my existence. I clutched my aching heart with both my hands, doubled over, then closed my eyes and tried to think about what exactly was happening to me. After a few deep breaths I stood up, opened my eyes and turned my body towards the stairs again. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat”, I mumbled to myself as I rapidly descended the stairs back to the main floor. As I reached the bottom step I saw that the other end of the wire was anchored to the face of the grandfather clock. “What in the world is going on around here” I hissed out in total bewilderment. I wrapped the wire around both of my hands and pulled with all my might, teeth clenched, jaw muscles bulging, but the wire would not come from off of the clock. After two or three strenuous attempts I surrendered to my new oppressor, Grand Father time. I stood before the clock, shoulders slumped, head down, trying to gather some composure. Then I suddenly remembered again my visitors, both outside and inside. I quickly unraveled the wire off from around my hands and lunged back up the stairs. This time instead of trying to yell at them and break the wire I stood like a spectator at a play, watching and listening to the scene before me.

Hands Of Time [Chapters 1-2]

2009-10-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

My dream, or should I say nightmare, always begins the same way. I am at the front door of my house fumbling in the dark for my keys, trying to get inside. Just as my hand is about to pound on the door, in exasperation, it suddenly swings open and light floods out of the house into the ocean of darkness that has encompassed me. My eyes instinctively squint, partially due to fright and partially because my eyes had adjusted nicely to the darkness before the sudden light shocked them with the intense contrast. In the doorway I see an, all too familiar silhouette, that of my beautiful wife. Just as my eyes adjust to seeing her pretty face, she greets me. She laughs and asks me how in the world I could misplace my keys from the car up to the front steps. At this I also laugh and merely shrug it off, the answer obviously eluding me also. I step into the warm, lit house and give her our customary greeting, a kiss on the lips. As I take off my coat she asks me why I am late getting home tonight? As the last of her words were leaving her lips my eye’s quickly dart over to the tall grandfather clock in the hallway, his face announces 5:26 p.m. My mind reels for an answer but I sit there like a computer trying to read an empty disk, no information to display. I usually got home at 4:30 p.m., at the latest 4:45 p.m., why was I so late tonight? I tell my wife that I honestly didn’t know what was wrong with me and confessed to her that my mind was producing a blank. I ask her to give me a couple minutes and hopefully it will come to me. At this my wife looks deep into my soul, smiles at me sympathetically, then turns and calls the children to the dinner table.

[chapter 2]

Suddenly, I am seated at the dinner table with my wife and four children. Even though it is cold and dark outside the atmosphere of the home is warm and bright. The smell of a well-cooked meal, made with hands of love, permeates every inch of the room. I sit and llook at the faces of my laughing children, all talking to my wife and me, as well as to one another, all in some garbled simultaneous fashion. In the distance I all of a sudden begin to hear the sounds of the sirens…this new sound causes my heart to beat faster. Trying to keep my composure I enter into the table conversation, hoping this will distract my ears from that awful noise, of the sirens. I force myself to share of a funny event that I saw on the way to work, my children listening intently and giggling under their breath as they all look at me intently, hanging upon my every word. I want to reach my arms out and pull all of them to myself; my love for them is so great. There is nothing that I would’t do
for them! My beautiful wife shares some of the events that went on in the home that day, both good and bad. The kid’s schooling was going well, intermixed with stories of inter-squabbling and rough housing. The sirens seemed to be getting louder, but this does not appear to disturb anyone except me, everyone else keeps laughing, talking and eating. I keep eating and listening, half to my family and the other half to the ever-increasing sound of those blasted sirens. My heart is now pounding! Why would they be coming to this neighbourhood? Those sirens only come for unwanted children! I felt a bead of sweat break out on my forehead and slowly make its way down the side of my face. My wife looks at me quizzically and asks if I would like it if she turned the heat down? I force a half-hearted smile and shake my head in negation, trying hard to keep my composure.

Finally the sirens reach an almost deafening level as they blare from right outside of my house. “What are they doing outside of our house”, I scream at my wife, in a frenzied terror, trying to be heard over the sirens screeching scream. “Did you call them?” I yelled at her, my face wild with fear! At this she looks at me with a frightened and confused look and then breaks down into tears, shaking her head violently from side to side. I push my chair away from the table and hurry towards the front window. Before I look out of the window I whip my face to meet the grandfather clock’s, 5:57 p.m. As my head turns from the clock back to the window, my heart is filled with dread.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do [Christian Style]

2009-10-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

No matter who you are...skin color, gender, nationality, age...etc...you have been a hypocrite at some time in your life...

...the rest of us already know this about you...so you might as well look in the mirror and admit it yourself...take a deep breath and do it...

...didn't that feel good?...if not...just say it did with a smile and then repeat step one.

Christians can be notorious for the old "do as I say and not as I do"...this is due to the fact that we are sinners just like everyone else...and we should admit [confess] this...instead of trying to pretend that once we came to Jesus that somehow we became perfect...that day will come when we see Jesus face to face...but not before then.

Here is a hypocrisy I see in the church.

Jesus tells His people to preach the gospel to all nations!

The gospel message proclaims what Jesus has already done...Jesus has accomplished the work of salvation...its finished!

God became a man, lived a sinless life...and then as a innocent, perfect man...was willing to suffer and die as a substitute for anyone who was or is willing to trust in Him and follow Him...but the story isn't over...

...Jesus broke free from death's chains...proving He was the Sinless One...proving that God the Father accepted His sinless offering on behalf of His people...and proving that death had no lasting hold on Him...nor will it have a lasting hold on those who follow Jesus!

When we proclaim the gospel to others...we are saying "Go Jesus...and trust in Him for your salvation...the price for your sins has been paid...in Him!"

Because Jesus is the source of Life...and because the world is filled with obstacles that try and hinder people from coming to this source...Jesus focuses our attention to what it means to be His disciple...

Jesus tells us that if anyone wants to follow after Him...then He needs to put Jesus first...even over every other relationship in your life...your mom and dad, brothers and sisters, wife/husband, children...even your own life!

Jesus isn't playing games...He is telling us what is at stake...eternal life or death!

He is saying "I am God"..."I am salvation"...love your family...love yourself...but do not delude yourself into thinking that they are the source of life, happiness and blessings...the reason why they are any of these things...is because of what I did on the cross of Calvary!

Now here is the hypocrisy...we as Christians are willing to tell those outside the faith...that they should be willing to lay every other relationship aside...in order to come to Jesus!

We are NOT saying to lay them aside...but if it comes down to Jesus or anyone else...Jesus should win!

18 years ago, when I made this choice...it was extremely hard indeed! Having family totally think you are a freak...friends and associates totally misunderstanding you...and sometimes forsaking you...is extremely difficult...but God gives you the strength to press onward and upward!

But...how many Christians are willing to practice what they preach?!

How many Christians...when challenged with some of their "pet" beliefs...are not even willing to study books or articles that would teach them otherwise?

Why? Because they know that if they believed something different about "the end times", or about "baptism" or about some teaching from a different branch of Christianity...then their family would freak out...and life would become extremely difficult!

In the end...they are willing to tell the unbeliever...follow Jesus [The Truth]...even if it means hardship from every other relationship in your life...

...but they are not willing...to follow their [and Jesus'] own advice!

How To Make An Airplane Disappear Before Your Eyes!!

2009-09-21T05:03:00.000-07:00

How do they do it?

I can remember years ago watching Illusionist David Copperfield make an airplane vanish...right before the eyes of millions of T.V observers...another time...he made the Statue of Liberty vanish!

Again, I ask...how does he do it?

It is all illusion...Copperfield is a master of making you see [or not see] what he wants...and not what you want.

This also happens in our discussion of God...there are many "illusionists" out there who can actually make it seem like God vanishes...right before your eyes...

these illsionists don't use mirrors...they use faulty arguments!

Let me show you one that many dishonest philosopher use to deceive people with.

In my last post I showed how without God you could have no absolute standard of morality...

Our illusionist philosophers begin by turning things upside down on their head, by saying...if God existed then absolute morality would be impossible!

...and here are the two reasons to prove it! [the audience begins to get drawn in...waiting to hear of the two arguments to make God disappear from the realm of morality].

Reason #1- If morality depended upon the arbitrary whims of a god, the god could decide that torturing people was evil/immoral at one point in time, and then later on change his mind and decide that torturing people was good/moral.

"So, you see"...they tell you..."the very existence of a god would actually destroy a absolute standard of morality."

..."but there is more!"...they explain...as they try and make God disappear.

Reason #2- If you try and respond by saying that God doesn't make up rules...but he himself followers a higher law...a higher law of morality...then these philosophers begin to smile the grin of victory.

They tell you triumphantly..."if there is a higher law above this being called god...and god himself has to follow this law...then we don't need god to have an absolute standard of morality...we can do away with god...and merely follow the same higher standard of morality."

With these two arguments the atheistic philosophers have made it seem like God is not needed to have an absolute standard of morality...in fact...the existence of a god would actually fight against an absolute standard...

But they haven't been honest with you...like the illusionist, they have been showing you...what they want you to see...and not what is really going on.

They have given you two options to choose from...reason #1 or reason #2...could there be a third option?...and within these two options...they have stacked the deck to make you think how they want you to think.

Is there a higher law above God? No!

"Aha"...they shout..."then morality is destroyed because God can make good evil and evil good!"...er...no...

The God of the Bible doesn't make up morality out of thin air...morality is a reflection of God's perfect, good and unchanging character.

God is love...God is morally perfect...so when God reveals to us what is good...He is revealing His perfect character [that does not change]...and when God reveals to us what evil is...He is showing us things that go against His perfect unchanging character.

Over the years I have heard this argument many times...men building up a weak argument...only to tear it down...and try and look like heros.

Interestingly enough...in their argument to try and disprove God they talk about some higher law above God...but never...NEVER...show what this higher law is...how it exists!

The reason for this...is that there is no higher law above God.

Morality is God's unchanging character!

Grab Your Crayon!

2009-09-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

Let me show you what I was talking about in my last post...and it doesn't have to be complicated...so grab a crayon...any color you want...and we will begin...

As a Christian I make judgment calls. I believe that truth and morals are universal [for everyone] and absolute [not want each individual makes up].

Is it enough to announce this? I believe in "good"...I believe certain actions, words, thoughts are "evil"!

I declare this...but does my Christian belief system support this declaration?

Let's find out...

Grab a piece of paper...to go along with your crayon...and we will begin...

At the top of your paper draw a circle and write the letter "G" in it...this will represent the God revealed in the Bible.

Now, below...on the lower part of the page...start drawing little circles...when you get to six and a half billion you can stop [ok, ok...do as many as you want...and pretend it is the full population of planet earth].

Next, draw a line from "G" down to each of the little circles...

The Bible teaches that God has created everything...and as Creator He is Owner...He is the King!

As King...God sets the laws for His kingdom!

And as King and Lawgiver...God will also judge all offenses.

And there you have it...Christianity not only speaks of universal, absolute morality...it also has an overall belief system that explains why?

Here is the challenge for our atheist friend. Take away the "G" at the top of the page...and then try and explain to the six and a half billion little circles why there is absolute good or evil...or truth...

...once God is out of the picture...you have each little circle playing "king"...

...and what gives one circle...or even a group of circles...the authority to tell other circles what is good and evil?

Once God is out of the picture...Hitler's Germany wasn't really evil...it was just one group of circles exercising their beliefs upon another...weaker group of circles...

But murdering millions of people is evil...rape is evil...torturing little children is evil...aren't they?

That's Impossible!!!

2009-09-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you slam face first into a wall!

Not a literal wall...like ol' Wile Coyote from the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour...but a wall in a discussion or argument?

You talk with someone...at length...about your views of reality and finally you and your opponent both come to the realization that each of you is standing upon an ultimate authority that you are presupposing and not proving.

What do you do then?

Do you say..."Well, you have your unproven ultimate authority [or presupposed beliefs] and I have mine...so there is no real way to show who is true and who isn't?"

No, that is no solution!

Instead there a form of reasoning to test to see if your presupposed ultimate authority is true, or false.

Some philosophers called this type of reasoning a "transcendental" argument.

It was reasoning that asked, what beliefs give the "precondition" for reality.

How this might look in a real life situation today is when you have a Christian arguing with a moralistic atheist. Both say they believe that certain things are wrong or evil. Both talk about love, fair play, and morality.

One side says that the Triune God of the Bible exists and that He has created all things and now governs all things...

The other side says we live in a world without a personal God...and that we are here because of random chance...

You can't merely look at what each side says they believe...LOOK DEEPER!!!

LOOK BELOW THE SURFACE OF THINGS!!!

One side presupposes the ultimate authority of the Triune God [as revealed in the Bible]...

The other side presupposes the ultimate authority of man and his reasoning...

Both say they believe in morality, love, good and evil...but what beliefs...actually make sense of these things?

Should the Gov't Enforce Religious Education?

2009-08-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

How do you think the average non-Christian in our nation would react if the Federal or Provincial government announced that they were seriously considering passing a law that would make it mandatory for everyone to financially support Christian education? Are you kidding! You and I both know that the response would be something akin to revolution in the streets. People would fight ferociously against the very idea of this law. Why should they have to pay for an education system that propagates a belief system that they do not hold to? They would view a law like this as a violation against their rights as Canadian citizens.
One woman who spoke against the government funding of religious education said this, “Is it fair to expect the taxpayer to subsidize a belief system in which they may or may not believe?” To this we must answer, no it is not fair to force people to support an education system that teaches a view of reality that differs from their own. But we must also teach that what is good for the goose is good for the gander! If the unbeliever’s hard earned tax dollars should not have to support my religious Christian education system then my hard earned tax dollars should not be required to support his religious humanistic education system. We as Christians have been deceived for too long. We have been told for so long that the public school system is neutral, that many have actually come to believe it.

Adolph Hitler, in speaking about propaganda said that if you say something loud enough and long enough you can have the masses believing that heaven is hell and hell is heaven. May we not fall for the constant stream of propaganda that is being fed to us about the public school system and its ‘supposed’ neutrality. Both Christian and Public education have clear teachings about the universe we live in. Neither of these teachings is neutral and both oppose one another. Christianity teaches that God is the Creator of all things and therefore is the highest authority in the universe. It teaches that all things must be understood in the light of God’s existence, as revealed through the Holy Scriptures.
The Humanistic teachings in the public school deny the existence of God by propagating the teaching of evolution. It teaches that man is the highest being in the universe and is therefore the final authority in all matters of life.
Christians need to wake up and smell the coffee. We can not view the Public education system as neutral just because it says it is. It is a system that is hostile towards the teachings of the Bible, from start [creation] to finish [second return of Christ and judgment day]. Humanist’s may deny being religious but in reality hold just as tenaciously or ‘religiously’ to their outlook on reality [atheistic] as Christian’s do theirs [theistic]. For this reason Christians should view Humanism as they would any other false religious system. Unfortunately it is easy to see that this is not the case with many Christians today. They would be horrified if someone were to suggest that they were to teach the false doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses at one of their Bible camps for the summer, because they could not in clear conscience teach doctrines that were against the Bible. They would be equally horrified if someone were to suggest that their children should go to these same camps to learn their anti-biblical teachings and way of life. But amazingly enough these same Christians will teach in a Public School system that requires its teachers to teach according to the guidelines of the approved curriculum which is foundationally humanistic and anti-biblical. They also send their children to learn in these God rejecting institutions, not for a couple weeks in the summer, but for 12 years of their lives. Why this inconsistency? Because they view the one rightly for what it is, a false belief system and the other they have been deceived into thinking is 'neutral' in its outlook of reality. But the humanism of the Public school system is just as false as the doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses or any other organization that teaches contrary to the Word of God.
The church of Jesus Christ needs to be faithful to the Word of her Lord. She needs to flee from evil and cling to that which is good. She needs to remove her support from any institution that denies her Lord. This removal of support should entail removing her children from under its teaching influence. Also by removing her men and women as being propagators of its false doctrines. And finally removing it’s financial support from any such institution.
Remember that when you opened up your Tax bill this year you were reminded of the reality that you as a Christian are forced to support the ‘religious’ belief system of another. A large percentage of your property taxes go to either the support of the Roman Catholic school system or the Government [Humanistic] School system. Neither of these choices should be acceptable for any Christian because both choices go against the clear teachings of the Bible as interpreted for centuries by the Protestant church. In reality we have received the same choice that Henry Ford gave in regards to the color for his Model T. He said that you could have any color you wanted as long as it was black. Likewise, today we are given any choice we want as long as it denies our religious convictions as Protestant Christians.
The following quote is from one of the men who led the Protestant Reformation. His insights are very wise and discerning. His words are also very timely as he seems to know our day better than millions of Christians who are living in it.

“I am much afraid that the schools and universities will prove to be the great gates to hell unless they diligently labour to explain the Holy Scriptures and engrave them upon the hearts of youth. I advise no one to send their child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution that does not unceasingly occupy its students with the Word of God must become corrupt.” Martin Luther

Sticky Teachings

2009-08-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had someone tell you something...and it stuck...like glue?

I find that many of the things that I was taught...when I first became a Christian had this "crazy" ability to stick to my brain.

At one youth bible study someone raised a very serious and important question.

They asked, "Does a person have to be baptized to go to heaven?"

The teacher did not speak right away...and when he spoke he began his answer by saying, "Before I answer that question it is important to distinguish a person who hasn't been baptized and a person who refuses to be baptized."

Salvation is through trusting in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God/man...Son of God...baptism is the sign of you entering into a covenant of life with God.

Jesus asked some people the question, "But why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?"

Salvation is by faith...and the Bible teaches us that saving faith begins to shape and mold our thoughts and actions...producing works of love to our Saviour and Lord!

As I thought on this old sticky teaching...I thought it was very applicable to people who profess who follow Jesus and yet do not assemble with Christ's body on earth, the church.

God's word tells professing Christians,"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together...as some are in the habit of doing..." [Hebrews 10:24]

We live in a culture that glories in individualism...the self needs nothing...but God's word tells Christians that they are to be shaped and molded by God's word and not by the surrounding culture and its false beliefs! [Romans 12:2]

Jesus died for His church!

Jesus trained His disciples to be the first leaders of His church!

The New Testament tells us that the church is like heaven's colony...on earth.

The church is Christ's kingdom on earth...it is governed by God's Word...it has been appointed with servant leaders...it is a place of life and hope!

Jesus gave a very serious warning! "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." [John 6:53-54]

Jesus isn't tell His followers to be cannibals...remember God's word interprets God's word. At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples that the broken bread was a memorial to His body that was going to be broken for them. And the wine [not grape juice] was a memorial to His blood that was going to be shed.

Life is in Christ! Jesus, the Head of church is in heaven...and Jesus body...is still on earth!

God's word commands God's people to be a part of the heavenly kingdom, to love and serve one another...to be accountable to one another...to be under the authority of godly leaders...who lead as servants...themselves submitting to the Word's of Christ...

...showing that they are partaking of eternal life...and really trusting and submitting to their Lord, by submitting to His word...and by eating His broken body and drinking His blood...at the Lord's Table!

Historically, excommunication meant that a Christian who was rebellious against God's word...and refused to repent...was dealt with by the church and its government.

The elders of the church would excommunicate this person...refusing to admit them to the Lord's Table...which the new testament says is the declaration that this person has no part in Jesus and His kingdom of eternal life...UNTIL THEY REPENT OF THEIR SIN!

How many Christians are there in North America...who call Jesus Lord, Lord...but refuse to do the things He says?

How many Christians refuse to join and intimately get involved in a church...refuse to be accountable, refuse to love and serve other Christians, refuse to submit to godly authority [elders]...

...and have excommunicated themselves!

God warns people that He will NOT be mocked...whatever a person sows...that they will also reap!

There is an almost infinite chasm between the person who can't go to church [sick, in jail] and the person who refuses to listen and obey the Lord's commands!...

...and refuses to become a part of His church!

The Warrior King

2009-08-07T06:15:00.001-07:00

The warrior rolled on the ground with his several opponents, his powerful arms rippling as he skillfully thwarted each aggressive attack from his multiply attackers. The man’s three boys continued to dive at their dad, arms unsuccessfully trying to get him into a choke hold, trying to pin his arms down, trying to tangle up his legs, trying to do anything to win this new wrestling match. The backyard was filled with grunts of exertion, mixed with the medicine of deep and hardy laughter from all participants involved. The boys knew that the power they were facing was being restricted by their father’s loving self restraint, that he could pulverize them in a moment of time with his massive body and his years of training as a warrior. But this was a time of fun, a time of bonding, a time where their father was strengthening their minds, bodies and future fighting skills. Suddenly, the shrills of laughter was cut off, all wrestling instantly stopped, and the father and his boys lay frozen on the ground. The warning horn blared throughout the fortress town! The enemy was back! The horn ended it’s warning blast and silence filled the void. Next, the sound of the back door of the house was heard, creaking open. A beautiful woman stood in the doorway, her eyes of concern meeting the eyes of her husband, who was getting up off the ground, no longer laughing. The warrior walked towards his wife, put his arms around her, caressed her back gently, and kissed her deeply, knowing that it may be the last time they ever touched in this life. The warrior motioned for his boys to come, and the family stood in silence, hugging one another, drinking in the comfort of each other’s presence. Then, the man, broke away from his family and walked purposefully into the house, returning back out into the yard minutes later with his sword, shield and armor. He looked at his family and smiled in such a way that filled their hearts with encouragement, a smile that said, “I will see you shortly”. Then the smile was gone, as the warrior quickly strode to his awaiting steed, mounted, and headed towards the front gate. The courtyard was filled with worried faces, thoughts of imminent battle wore heavily on the people’s faces. The warrior king spoke to his people from his throne of flesh and muscle, encouraging them with his words of courage and strength. Then he raised his sword and shouted the call of victory! At this the gates of the fortress opened, and the warrior king and his army rode out in a fury. The wife watched as her husband left the safety of the fortress. The man who had dedicated his life to loving her, serving her, putting her needs above his own, and she hoped beyond hope that he would return. The boys watched their father disappear, the man who always had time for them, who loved them and who constantly poured his life into theirs, and they longed for their next wrestling match. The people watch their king leave the city, a man who was honest, caring and just towards them, a man who led to serve and not to be served, and they prayed for the quick return of their king.

As the king approached the oncoming enemy, they could see a blaze of fury pour forth from his eyes. The enemy had sworn to destroy this king and all that he held as dear, and the King knew this in the deepest recesses of his heart. The enemy would not taste the Warrior kings gentle caresses today. They would not feel the strength of his battle skills restrained. And the only serving they would receive from the king, was his serving them his anger and wrath, unmixed with mercy, to protect those he loved dearly, so that peace and justice could prevail throughout the kingdom.

Get Rid Of The Bride!!

2009-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

How would a husband respond to someone who really treated him well...but at the same time acted totally indifferent towards his wife...and at times even showing open distain to her?

If he was a man of honor and integrity...and a man who truly loved his bride...then it wouldn't matter how polite and kind the person was towards him...if he rejected the man's bride...then the husband of that bride would not be endeared towards that person.

If someone came to me...and said I really like you Dale...but I can't stand Bonita...or if someone said that they wanted to hang around with me...but really couldn't stand Bonita...that person would be shown the door...and...in a hurry.

I love my wife...she is one with me...if you don't like her...then you don't have a relationship with me...period...its that simple.

The only husband that might let you hang out with him...have a good, solid relationship with him...and yet at the same time show open contempt towards his wife...would be a man who really didn't like his bride that much either.

The Bible tells us that the picture of marriage...of a husband and a wife...is mirroring a greater reality...of Jesus Christ [husband] and His Bride [the Church]...the Bible also tells us that Jesus loves His Bride so much...that even though He knows all of her faults and flaws [because He is the all-seeing God]...He was willing to come and suffer and die...so that His Bride could be totally forgiven and cleansed from her sins...and over time...have all of her spots and blemishes removed...because of His great love for her!

But many Christians today want to have a relationship with Jesus...the Husband...and yet want nothing to do with the Bride [the church]...

How do you think that makes the husband feel? Do you think he doesn't see His wifes little quirks and many flaws? Yes, He sees them all...and yet His great love for His Bride overcomes all these quirks and flaws.

If you ignore a man's bride, speak evil of her, or even show open contempt towards her...do you think the loving husband will be waiting for you with open arms?

The Garden Path

2009-07-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

The sun shone in the brilliant sea blue sky with all the intensity of its power, unfettered by any hint of the curse of true darkness.

The couple walked, hand in hand, through the majestic garden, drinking in all the glorious sounds and smells that flooded in on their senses. A myriad of birds sang in orchestra, each voice intertwining with the other to make the ear delight in their song. The fragrances of ten thousand different flowers perfectly intermixing with one another to produce the most intoxicating perfume.

The man looked into his wife’s eyes...desiring to read her to the inner most depths of her heart. The woman returned her husbands gaze, her heart’s desire to be known, and to know him, in return.

The young couple radiated a relationship of pure joy. Never a word of hurt or scorn. Never an action tainted by the filth of selfishness. Their hearts were joined as one, their goal to bring this overflowing love into the awaiting world, so as to further its wondrous glory.

The future was before them, endless in its promise of blessing and joy…

As the couple moved towards the fountain of life, in the center of the garden…a deadly serpent slinked into the shadows…its tongue dripping with the murderous venom of deception…

Double Trouble [How To Make A knucklehead pt 2]

2009-07-09T05:08:00.000-07:00

Lest we begin to think that males are the only ones at fault and females are only the victims in earths history...we need to look at things with a more sweeping lens.

God made man to subdue, and have dominion over the earth,...that is quite the responsibility...a heavy load indeed!

Man was also given the task of tending [keeping and protecting] the garden that God had placed him in.

God made the woman to be man's equal and to be his helper in this mind blowing goal.

Earth's history shows us that the man began to fumble the ball early on in the game.
A serpent [Satan, the dragon] entered into God's...mischief was in his heart.

The man's responsibility was to confront the intruder [who was contradicting God] and to have dominion over him...to overcome him...and at the very same time to protect all that was within the garden...especially his beautiful bride.

But the first man wasn't up to these lofty responsibilities...he laid back...he didn't act, he didn't confront...he didn't speak against evil...he didn't protect!

He threw his responsibilities into the wind!

And what did the woman do? Did she encourage the male to play the role of a man...the role that God had given him? Did she encourage him to confront, to overcome, to speak truth, to protect...To take responsibility?

No, she was to busy grasping at the wind, trying to snatch what the male had let fly.

The first man sat before his version of the T.V...watching the very first session of Ultimate Fighter...the serpent versus his wife...it really should have been him in the octagon...doing a little ground and pound...but...whatever man.

God had not told the woman to be the primary contender and protector...she was to encourage and coach the man in this role...therefore...as she stepped into the ring, she did so unprepared and untrained...and was beaten down...and killed.

All while her coach potato husband sat and watched! Playing the "whatever" game.

As King Solomon once said..."there is nothing new under the sun".

Males today are called by God to be responsible, they are called to have dominion over the earth, to subdue it.

They are called to submit to the High King of heaven, with all they have and all they are.

This means they are to use their bodies in such a way that honors God.

God created sex to be enjoyed [remember, God made the male and female body]...but this sexual relationship only receives God's blessing when it is exercised within the perimeters that God made for it.

God ordained the first marriage, it was to be a covenant relationship of love, security, intimacy and permanence...and the sexual experience was to be fully enjoyed within that marriage relationship...period!

Knuckle heads today just want sex...they want to receive pleasure from the sexual experience...period.

They don't want love and security and permanence...yuck...they just want sex!

Women, instead of helping the males be men...only add to the problem...

Women in many cases do desire a lasting relationship...but they are fearful that if they say "no" to the males advances [to his lack of responsibility] then she will lose him...and thus throws her responsibility into the wind also.

When the man and woman fell into sin...the man was cursed in such a way that his labour was now going to be toilsome...it was going to be hard to make a living, for his wife and family.

The woman's curse was that now there was going to be suffering in child bearing [and rearing].

Watch how crafty knuckle head is [he's not half as stupid as he looks].

The male whines and cries how hard it is to pay the bills...to make a living for his family.

The female should tell him to "suck it up Princess", encourage him to use his gifts and talents to overcome and subdue the world around him...

Instead, she leaves the children in the care of people who won't love them half as much as she does, puts on her suit...and goes out into the world to take up the males part of the curse.

But now watch this...you know its true...in most cases.

The female takes up half of the males responsibilities...but does it work both ways?

Who still does most of the cleaning, most of the cooking, most of the diaper changing, most of the up in the night with junior, and most of the grocery shopping?

You know...don't you?

Its the woman.

The male sluffs off his responsibility [that is his sin], the female takes up his responsibility [that is her sin...and folly]...and the world falls a part around them...just like in the Garden of Eden.

How To Make A Knuckle-Head

2009-07-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

We live in a culture where many guys are...well...to be honest...real knuckle-heads!

We have guys who are boys in mens bodies!

I can remember years ago hearing a speaker address a room full of men [men who were seeking to be better husbands, fathers...better men]...this guys said...

"you are born a male...but you have to choose to be a man"...his words are so true!

We live in a culture where men are a bunch of self consumed, pleasure seeking, responsibility sherking...boys...but they are packaged in men's bodies.

Many of these guys live like their 19...even though they are now 29, 39...gulp...49!

Sure, many have jobs...but they earn their money so they can spend it on their irresponsibility...buy more toys...do some more traveling...let check out the clubs...maybe find ourselves a few "ladies"!

These guys do not have marriage in mind...ARE YOU KIDDING?!...that would mean responsibility...living your life for the well being and good of someone else...no way!

So they go through life...experiencing girl friend after girl friend...getting older...still partying...still avoiding responsibility...

Mean while...back at the farm...on the woman's side...many of them must fear and dread the idea of marriage. They already see that much of their relationships with guys is give and...give...and...give...but no take.

Why in the world would the woman want to enter into a life long covenant with a guy who lives for self, lives for the moment...and only really wants to take from the relationship?

Message For Brad And Alyssa Wedding

2009-06-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

I did my first wedding a couple weeks ago...for a young couple in our church,
Brad and Alyssa Donovan...the groom [Brad] asked if I would post the wedding sermon on my blog...here it is.

Marriage and the Trinity
June 13, 2009

We hear in God’s Word today from the Book of 1 John 4: 7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Brad that Alyssa, you have each come here today, as individuals, to be joined in holy matrimony, and you have come freely of your own accord…and this is good!

But that is only part of the story! The God who loves you so much that He created each of, loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for all your sins…is the same God who has orchestrated absolutely every detail of your life, down to the finest point, and has brought you both here today!

God’s word tells us that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from our Heavenly Father’s loving hand…this means…that God has given each of you, to one another, as a gift…and it’s a good gift!

Our God is the Master Artist…who will take your two lives, and will join them together to make a beautiful masterpiece.

Brad and Alyssa, today, you two are entering into the Covenant of Marriage…which is also a Covenant of Love.

And God has told you today, that if you really want to know what love is, then you need to look at Him…because He is love.

As we look to our God, we begin to get a clearer understanding of what true love is.

God’s word teaches us that our God has existed for all eternity. Before God ever created the heavens and the earth, He existed forever in three Persons…the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…this is the teaching of the Trinity…and it is foundational to the Christian faith…and to a solid understanding of love and marriage.

God has existed forever in a perfect, harmonious relationship between the Persons of the Godhead!

Each of the Persons [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] living in an unbroken, perfect relationship of Love.

A relationship that is totally void of selfishness, or self centeredness!

Each of the Person’s seeking first foremost to bring good to the others. Each joyful, and willfully seeking the honor and glory of one another.

Within God, there exists perfect communication…each of the Persons selflessly and intimately revealing themselves in love, edification and blessing, and openly and willingly receiving the same.

All three of the Persons within the Trinity are perfectly united in absolutely every aspect of their relationship.

Our God exists, not as an isolated individual, but in an intimate relationship.

This is why, even before sin had entered into the world, God looked at the beautiful, wondrous creation that He had made…and said that something was NOT good!

God said that it was NOT good that the man was alone…that man didn’t have a suitable partner to live with, love with, fellowship with…and shine forth the glory of God with!

So, as God is One…but mysteriously many [three]…God took man [one]…and from him made many [the two]…

God made Adam fall into a deep sleep, and out of his side He brought forth Eve. God hand picked and hand prepared the wife [Eve], for her husband [Adam]…and at the same time prepared the husband also for the wife…God has done the same today…

He has prepared you Alyssa for Brad…and He has prepared you Brad for Alyssa!
But, if we want to understand God’s perfect love in our marriages…we must NOT fix our gaze upon Adam and Eve…for even though they were created by God, to shine forth and reflect the harmonious, selfless relationship of love that existed in their Creator…they did not!

On the contrary, Adam and Eve each acted selfishly…each seeking their own good, each seeking to honor and glorify “self”… not “other”…which brought death to their relationship with God, and brought misery, disharmony and alienation into their marriage relationship with each other.

Instead of looking upon the first Adam and his Bride…I would like to give you words of encouragement by pointing each of you to fix your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the God/man, the Last Adam, and His relationship with His bride…the church…and also His relationship with His Heavenly Father.

Brad, God has called you to be the “head” of your wife, and if God blesses you with children, of your future children also. Jesus tells you that this doesn’t mean that you lord your headship over your wife and children. Look to Jesus, who as God, didn’t come to be served…but to serve, and give His life a ransom for His wife!

By God’s grace, you must learn to be a servant leader, a man who sacrificially lays down his life, for the good and well being of his wife…all the days of your life!

May this sacrificial love not be in word only, as Peter’s was towards Jesus…saying he would lay down his life…but in the end couldn’t even pray for Jesus for an hour.

Learn how to serve Alyssa in the “so called” small things, helping around the house, helping with the children…learning to look into her life and discern where help is needed.

Brad, as the “head” of this marriage…God is calling you to take responsibility as Jesus did. Jesus came lovingly to teach His bride, came to encourage her, enable and strengthen her, to patiently and gently lead and guide her, and to bring healing into all areas of her life…His bride singly holding all the affections of His heart.

Jesus took His bride’s sin very seriously…not condemning her for it…but taking the responsibility for her sins upon Himself…and was willing to suffer for her…so that she might receive blessings.

Was Jesus to blame for His wife’s sins…no!…but He took responsibility for them…and is abundantly merciful and forgiving towards her…do likewise with Allysa.

Brad, learn how to lovingly communicate with Alyssa. Jesus told his disciples that all things that he heard from His Father, He made known to them. Be open to share your heart, dreams and plans with Alyssa.

I encourage you to share willingly and sympathetically, your joys and worries, your successes and struggles, and to be neither conceited by the former nor depressed by the latter. Whichever may prevail, cling closely to each other, that defeats may be met by a united strength and victories by a united joy.

This is very important Brad! Never be too proud to admit your shortcomings and failures. Instead, may you take the initiative to make things right. Alyssa will love and respect you for your humility. Your transparency will not cause Alyssa to distrust you…quite the opposite…she will see your humble heart…a heart willing to submit to God’s word…God’s prompting…and it will cause her trust for you to grow.

Brad, as Jesus is the Prophet, Priest, and King for His bride [church], you also must learn to be so with Alyssa.

As Prophet--diligently bring God’s word into your home, in a spirit of love, humility, patience, and kindness. I know you love to study and read Brad, as you do so come along side of Alyssa and share with her all the glorious things you are learning.

As Priest-- spend time listening to Alyssa as she shares her heart, her struggles, pains, and also her hopes and dreams…learn to really listen…learn to really enter into her joys and sufferings. Spend time daily, praying for Alyssa and with Alyssa, Devote your energies not only to your advancements in the faith…but be equally concerned to see Alyssa grow in God’s grace.

As King--always seek Alyssa’s safety and protection…learning how to protect and shield her from physical, emotional and verbal attacks. As you make plans for your home…remember that your wife is going to be one of your greatest advisors. Work out your life plans with Alyssa…God will enrich your plans with added wisdom, as your wife shares things from her vantage point.

Finally, Brad, remember that the Bible clearly teaches us that God doesn’t love His Bride because of her great loveliness! There is nothing in us that deserves God’s love. Instead, we are told that we love God…because He first loved us.

In like manner, do not love Alyssa, only when you feel she is acting lovely…instead, love her at all times, trusting that your constant love will help Alyssa herself grow and blossom in love.

Alyssa, I also want to encourage you to fix your eyes and heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ…to give you wisdom and strength in your very important role as a wife.

As Brad’s wife you are called by God to submit to Brad’s headship…realizing that Jesus, Himself submitted to the headship of His Father, and He did so willingly and joyfully.
Does this mean that Jesus was somehow “lesser” or “inferior” to His Father? Not at all! Jesus Christ is God the Son…fully God, equal with the Father…but He willingly humbled himself to come to earth to do His Father’s will…to bring glory and honor and praise to His Father’s name…on earth as it was already in heaven.

In the same way, Alyssa, you and Brad are equals, you are not lesser or inferior. As Brad’s equal you are still called to submit to his leadership…humbly and joyfully living your life for his good, for his honor [while he is seeking your good, honoring you]…inter-Trinitarian love!

I will be honest with you Alyssa, there will be many times where submission will come easy…because you will heartily agree with Brad’s choices, and it will be clearly evident that his decision is for the good of all…including yourself.
But at other times…things won’t seem so clear…it will seem like Brad’s plan is bringing much discomfort into your lives. Look to the Lord Jesus, Alyssa, and learn from Him…

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ was greatly troubled…He knew that His Father’s plan involved much displeasure and suffering on His part…what did He do? First, He humbly spoke to His Father, asking/pleading with Him if the plans could be altered, and He did this repeatedly. But in the end, Jesus submitted to His Father’s authority and final answer…in humility saying… Not My will…but Your will be done.

Alyssa, you are called not only to submit to Brad’s headship…you are also called to be his “helper”. Unfortunately, there are people today who misunderstand the word “helper” to be demeaning toward the wife…please do not fall into this trap…for it is truly a badge of honor!

When we read the Psalms God Himself says He is our Helper…and I am sure that the Infinitely wise, loving and powerful God is not demeaning Himself by doing so. Remember, that God’s economy and man’s are polar opposites…Jesus said that the “greatest will be servant of all”.

God has given man the command to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth…and also to subdue it. God has given Brad specific talents, abilities and gifts…and God has also given you specific talents, abilities and gifts.

Alyssa, you must learn, by God’s grace, to use your God-given abilities to compliment, strengthen, and uphold the abilities that God has given to Brad…when you do so…the fruit will be plentiful and long lasting…

To do this, again you must follow our Lord Jesus’ example, who spent much time alone with His Father [speaking with Him in prayer, and listening to His Father’s heart of guidance]…may you “help” encourage Brad to live this pattern out in your marriage. Spend much time together, value and highly esteem your relationship as husband and wife [being second only to that of your relationship with God], share your hopes and dreams with each other, help Brad to work out a Christ glorifying vision for your marriage.

Finally, Alyssa, I want to encourage you in one more area…a very, very important responsibility for you as Brad’s wife. The honor of motherhood, if God so chooses to bless you with children.

Right before His ascension into heaven…Jesus gave His disciples [church/bride] a “Great” commission! Jesus told His bride to get busy making disciples [spiritual children] of the all the nations…baptizing and teaching them all things that Jesus instructed. [The Church is the Mother of all God’s children]

The Bride of Christ is to be busy birthing and raising spiritual children …for her husband…the Lord Jesus…it is her high calling…a great honor.

So too, may you delight in this high calling in your life! Realizing that raising children to mature and love the Lord Jesus Christ, in all areas of their life, is one of the most needed, and most important callings in the world today. It is the future of Christ’s kingdom! Delight yourself in this calling…and diligently give yourself to it.

Brad and Alyssa, God has given me the privilege today, to be able to preach a short sermon…on how the marriage between a man and his wife points to the greater reality of the relationship between the Lord Jesus and His Bride…the church…and also how the love within marriage also points to the inter-Trinitarian love that is within God Himself…

…but now…my sermon has come to an end…and your sermon…is just beginning!

By your marriage you will proclaim a message to the watching world…about God’s great love. As you learn to honor and glorify each other above yourself. As you learn to sacrificially put one another’s needs above your own. As you learn to serve one another…instead of demanding to “be served”. And… as you use your speech and actions to build one another up and promote one another…being singly devoted to one another…the world will hear and see…the love of our Triune God…

May the sermon you both preach in your marriage…be very long…and very fruitful indeed.

Amen!

Has Anyone Seen My Glasses?

2009-06-23T04:57:00.000-07:00

Some people need glasses to see things up close...for an example...to read with...

Others need glasses to see things far off in the distance...for example...road signs.

May God give our culture...especially His Church...a new prescription for glasses!!

We need some good telescopic lenses...please!

Jesus warns His church not to be conformed to the unbelieving culture around them...instead they need to put their glasses on...they need to have their minds [vision] shaped and molded by God's word.

Jesus warned people against "blind guides"...if you follow them...eventually you will both end up in the ditch.

Without God's word we are all dim-sighted! If we choose to leave our glasses off...and follow the world...expect the Humpty Dumpty syndrome.

Does a feminist really care about what happens in our culture...50, 100, 200 years from now? But honest...think about it? She hates men...she refuses to have her body "ruined" by bearing some "mans" offspring...so she has no personal...look in the eye representative of the future.

How about the alternative lifestyle guy or girl? Hmmm, no matter how hard they may try...xx + xx= 00, or xy+xy= 00...which also means they have no vested interest in the future.

How about the millions of other self-consumed people in our culture...who live for money, pleasure and ease...you know...the people who have the bumpersticker on their 140,000 RV that reads "I am spending my childrens inheritance"...do they care what our nation will look like in 100 years...obviously not...they just care about spending everything they've earned...so as to leave their children with nothing!

Christian's need to move away from the world's thinking...and its peer pressure tactics!

The Church needs to listen to the voice of her King...King Jesus! She needs to start have more children...both physical and spiritual...

Almost everyone says they want to live in a free society...well...Islam has its own definition of what a "free" society is...

FREE from infidels!!

FREE from anyone who disagrees with Islamic rule!

Do not judge Islam by how they act as a minority...look to countries where THEY rule!

Look to their religious book to see what their agenda is...

Look at some of the commands from Islam's religious books...

Sura (8:12) - I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them

Sura (9:123) - O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness

Sura (5:33) - The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement

Qur'an (2:244) - "Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things."

Qur'an (4:74) - "Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward."

Qur'an (4:76) - "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allahâ¦"

Qur'an (4:104) - "And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain..."

Qur'an (8:15) - "O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them.

Qur'an (8:59-60) - "And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah's Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy."

Qur'an (9:14) - "Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace..."

Qur'an (9:30) - "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

Qur'an (9:41) - "Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew."

Qur'an (9:73) - "O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination."

Qur'an (47:4) - "So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,"

And finally, my personal favourite:

Qur'an (61:4) - "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way"

As Christian's we are to bring in God's kingdom by love...by submitting to God's ways...and trusting that He will go before us.

The Neighbor's Backyard

2009-06-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

We live in a world where many differing "ultimate" beliefs exist.

All these beliefs or views try to explain what ultimate reality is...they all try and answer the big, enduring questions of life.

In North America, we live an a society that is fast becoming a mixture of differing views and practices.

So we look at all these differing, even competing, views...existing side by side...under a democracy...and are led to believe that they are all... relatively...the same.

Be careful!

Things may not be as they seem.

To get a good idea what some of these beliefs systems are really like [Islamic beliefs for instance]...we need to go to countries where these beliefs are held in the majority...where these beliefs shape and mold life...

...because believe me...they are designed to do just that!

Would our culture look as it does today...under Islamic majority rule?

That could never happen...we tell ourselves...totally blinded to what is going on in reality!

In the Old Testament...again and again God used an opposing nation [who had an idolatrous belief system of its own] to come discipline His people of all the idols they were worshipping...or permiting in their land.

Once God was finished judging His people...He then would judge the nation He was using as a stick to paddle His peoples behinds with...lest that nation thought they were being faithful to God...while too practicing false religion.

As a nation, our fertility rate is approx 1.5 children per couple...less than two!

We are in decline!

Our cultures love for death is shown in the things we fight for.

We promote:

- homosexual lifestyles...which cannot produce offspring!
- We promote birth control...like we were having a population explosion...duh!
- We promote abortion...killing our future.
- We promote easy divorce...throwing the family into such instability that the thought of more children is absurd.
- We lead our women to believe that being a wife and mother are lame occupations...why not get a real career...like being a molder and shaper of the future is an unworthy task...so they go out...make money...but have less children.

--Our culture focuses on these things...thinking that things will go on forever!

But as we practice the things that should be causing our culture's population to gradually decline...it isn't declining!

WHY NOT?

Because of immigration! Much of this immigration is Islamic!

Please note...that I am not being a racist...Islam is not a race of people...it is a belief system that works in and through various, and multiple ethnic peoples.

Stop and think...please!

If our culture...slowly declines [on its own steam]...and another culture comes in...and is multiplying rapidly...eventually..."our" culture...will be "their"! culture.

Then...where will all the heros of our culture be? God will deal with them in due time...either by us repenting of them...or by bringing in "the stick"!

Hitting the Snooze Button...one more time...

2009-06-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

The book of Isaiah in the Old Testament teaches us many excellent lessons...we will look at only one today.

God told King Hezekiah that he was going to die. Hezekiah cried out to God and God heard his cry...and God gave him another 15 years of life.

A distant nation heard of his recovery and sent delegates to bring glad tidings...Hezekiah welcomes in the foreign delegates and shows them all of the nation's treasures.

As the delegates ride off home...God sends the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah...the prophet has a message...a sad message.

Because of the King's lacking discernment...the delegates are going to go home to their King...and tell of all the wonderful treasures they saw...in years to come...this other king will come...and take all the treasures...including the children...the future.

As King Hezekiah hears that this bad prophecy...he doesn't fall to the ground in shock...he makes a reply that sounds very much like us today. He says "the word of the Lord is good...for at least there will be peace and truth in my days".

It was a terrifying, harsh message...but Hezekiah thought that it was a judgment that wouldn't hit him directly...only his descendants [children] would feel it...

Very selfish indeed...much like us today.

We want to cling to our sins...cling to our luxuries and comforts...and practice lifestyles that eliminate our cultures future...but thats all right...it very likely won't effect us...we will probably be able to live selfishly...and not feel the severe judgments of God...but what about our children?

Hezekiah ended up losing his children...an enemy came in and took them away...made them slaves...forced their culture and its beliefs on them...

...is this what is coming our way?

Hero Today...gone tomorrow!

2009-05-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Look at our culture...look @ the things we view as milestone "victories"...the things that go before us...as our freedom fighters...our heros...

...in the end...they are our downfall...

One of the most frightening things in the Bible is in the Book of Romans...it tells us that God gives people over to their sinful desires and lusts...

This means...if a culture gives God the finger...and runs toward the cliff...that God will put obstacles before this culture...but if they keep removing the obstacles...God will not follow suit...and remove the cliff...

...eventually...God says...if you want your sin...I will give it to you...and all the consequences that it brings!

Look at some of our hero's...and the fruit of "death to the future" that they bring;

1. Free choice- We call the murder of unborn babies free choice...do we ever stop and think that these unborn children are the future...no...we are too caught up in our own present.

2. Free love/sex- Look at all the forms of love that our culture exalts...it praises the sexual experience...while trying its hardest to prevent the fruit of that experience...some of the alternative lifestyle choices make the fruit impossible...no fruit...no future! We even name one of our condom brands Trojan...very fitting indeed. [look at last posts]

3. Easy Divorce--Because our culture esteems the individual above the family...we have easy divorce laws. If the individual isn't happy...then let them get out as fast as possible...no matter what damage it proves to bring on the children. When mom and dad get divorced...this brings huge financial and emotional strain on both parties...this very likely encourages less future children...who prove to be financially and emotionally straining at times...again no children...no future...

4. American Dream--This has proven to be a big nightmare. We are so consumed with striving to have more stuff...bigger houses...newer cars...bigger...better...more...more...more...and yet we are a people who need meds to fight off the depression. Are we going to learn...that money doesn't bring joy...strong, fulfilling, self sacrificing relationships do bring joy and peace. We are so busy trying to cling to our money and comfort...and we view children as obstacles to both. If we have more children this will mean less money...less comfort...so we wrongly choose less children...and find that we get less lasting comfort...no joy...and no future.

5. High Self Esteem. God tells us that He resists those who are proud...but He gives grace to the humble. We redefine pride...and call it self esteem...and think that somehow it magically becomes good. God still resists the proud [those who have a high self esteem]. We raise our children...filling them with self esteem [pride]...never discipling the little special snowflakes...and then we wonder why they are little demons. When someone asks us if we are going to have more...we laugh...we can't imagine what the house would look like with 4, 6, 8 demons in it.

Jesus told the people in His day...that if you try and save your life...then you will lose it...BUT if you lose your life for His sake...then you will gain it.

When you don't follow Jesus...and think that you get your cake and eat it too...you will be sadly disappointed...

Doing the Two Step...is really pushing it...!

2009-05-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

I read a quote that said;

If you are walking one step ahead of the crowd...you are a leader.

If you are walking two steps ahead of the crowd...you are a pioneer.

If you are walking three steps ahead of the crowd...you are a martyr...

or in other words...doing the two step is really pushing it...go beyond that and people will want to get rid of you...

But if things aren't going well...it isn't enough to acknowledge that they aren't going well...its a start...but its not the final solution...

...you have to begin to look at your beliefs...and practices...and see if they are the culprits that are causing all the grief...

When you look at the world's demographics...it is more than a little frightening.

Europe and Canada [the U.S.A is on the minimal border line] are way below the minimum border line, in their fertility rates, to sustain the culture.

In other words...if there were no other added factors...we would cease to exist!

But there are other added factors...immigration!

The reality of things is that Europe and Canada aren't ceasing to exist...but what is happening is that much of our immigration is coming from Islamic nations...

The people from these nations are not following our declining fertility scores...they are being fruitful and multiplying!

In other words...it is only a matter of time before much of Europe...becomes an Islamic state.

Islam won't have to conquer by terrorism...by the use of weapons...they will only have to have 4, 6, 8 children per couple...whereas the Europeans and Canadians are having their 1.6 children per couple...

...its only a matter of decades...and the rest is history.

...and again...the heros we pride ourselves in today...will prove to be our downfall...unless we wake up!

Trojan Horse [Part 2]

2009-05-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are a soldier, sleeping soundly, but not safely in your king's heavily fortified stronghold...

Your eyes snap open! The enemy trumpet blares close by!

You run from the sleeping barracks to see what all the racket is about!

As you enter the fortresses courtyard you immediately notice something very, very unsettling...

The massive iron gates that allowed friends in...but kept enemies out...were no longer standing...they had been removed in the night...and taken away!

But who could have accomplished such a feat...it suddenly dawns upon you...the gates could only be removed from the walls...from the inside.

You grab the warning trumpet...and blow it with all your might...the warning torches on the tower walls are also immediately lit...calling all troops to gather for battle!

As you watch the tiny army assemble...your knees begin to shake...where are all the soldiers? There should have been thousands...even millions more...where did they go...how did they vanish while everyone else slept?

Suddenly, you are jolted to attention once again...as the enemy war horn blares from outside the fortress walls...

You quickly run to the gaping hole...where the gates...the protection...once proudly stood...and in utter dismay behold the almost limitless army that has surrounded the city...

Your heart begins to melt within you...as you notice that leading the enemy troops are the heros you and your people had trusted in...the heros you exalted...the heros you followed and listened to...and now...they had removed your gates...they have done away with millions of your soldiers...they have left you weak and vulnerable to the enemies attacks!

All these heros laughed...as they sat proudly on their steeds...the enemy behind them just waiting for them to give the word to attack.

These knights were once very well known...and loved by many. Sir Pro Choice, Sir Free Love, Sir Alternative Life style, Sir Easy Divorce, Sir Much Money, Sir Love Comfort, Sir High Self Esteem...but now you realize that they were the ones who left you defenseless...

...they were the reason why you had so few soldiers to stand and fight with...

Trojan Horse [Part 1]

2009-05-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Do you remember your Greek mythology...remember the story about the Trojan Horse?

Let me refresh your memory...

The Trojan Horse refers to the stratagem that allowed the Greeks to finally enter the city of Troy during the Trojan War. After a fruitless 10-year siege of Troy, the Greeks built a huge figure of a horse, in which a select force of soldiers hid. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the Horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the Horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greek army entered and destroyed the city, decisively ending the war. A "Trojan Horse" has come to mean any trick that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place.

In applying this story to our culture we will have to make a few changes...these changes make the story more intriguing...and these changes make our North American cultures defeat...even more of a tragedy then Troys.

In our story...the soldiers who hide in the Trojan horse...and ultimately open wide the gates for the oncoming enemy...are our own soldiers...the soldiers that many in our culture hail as our greatest heros...

We will look at these heros at a later date...

Where's the Telescope?

2009-05-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Assuming that people really aren't all that stupid in the math department [look at previous posting]...why in the world would we continue to practice a type of lifestyle...that will most certainly lead to an extinction of North American culture as we have known it for centuries?!...

Note...I did not say "that will most certainly lead to its extinction...period!"

We live in a culture that is ultra-individualistic...this means that for the most part...people draw a circle around themselves...and focus on life inside the circle...

Our advanced technology only encourages this individualism...people go home from work [8 hours spent in a little cubical], open their electric garage door and drive right into their garage, avoiding all eye contact with pesky neighbors [who just might want to do the unthinkable...you know...like talk to you face to face]...once they are safe inside their bubble...er...I mean house...then they spend the night watching other people pretend to live exciting lives...screening all calls via their "call display" or answering machine.

No one really pays attention to the bigger picture...no one really looks at ALL of the single child homes and says...hmmmm...what will things look like in the next generation?

And if the next generation...which will be drastically smaller then today's, follows the same...one child for two parent formula...then how dwindling will the population be?

We have swallowed the lie...we have heard the propaganda for so long...we actually believe it.

We are not over populated! We need to wake up! Children are not an inconvenience...they are the future!

Our culture needs a radical U-Turn...before it disappears as it wanders lost in the woods, in it's self centered, present focused, life styles...

I read this quote the other day...it is so true...

If you are one step ahead of the crowd...you are a leader...

If you are two steps ahead of the crowd...you are a pioneer...

If you are three steps ahead of the crowd...you are a martyr

We need people willing to lay down their comforts and luxeries...to ensure that we actually have a future...or all is lost...

Take The Math Quiz...

2009-05-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have to confess right away...I am no math whiz. I never really liked math...in school I was too busy throughing my youth away on drugs, alcohol...and living for the party...

But...even though I went to public school...I still can understand the basics of math...unfortunately...it seems like many other people cannot...

Let's how you do with a simple math problem...think hard now...

Math Problem

A country has 30 million people in it. The population rate is 1.6 children per couple [this means two people, you know...parents...mom and dad]. How long will it take this nation to double its population?

Duh!!

You see the problem don't you? The numbers are moving in the realm of subtraction...not addition or multiplication...

If each couple isn't having at least two children...then what eventually happens to the culture?

Can you say bye bye?

North American Idol...

2009-05-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

We live in a day and age where many Christians define themselves as New Testament Christians...

And...if they read and study the Scriptures at all...they often limit themselves to the New Testament...forgetting the other 4/5's of God's word...that God gave to teach us, correct us, and instruct us in right living...

One of the problems that Christians fall into when they head down this trail...is that they don't have as clear of picture of how God relates to His people...over many years...let me explain.

The New Testament teaches about the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ...then it talks about 1st century history...up to the time just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D...thats approx 70 years of history to look at.

The Old Testament gives us thousands of years of history...showing us centuries of the lives of the people of God...

It shows us the time periods where they were trusting Yahweh...and it shows us the times when they were living in unbelief...living in disobedience...and rebelling against their God...

The reoccurring sin of God's people was idolatry. This usually took form in a couple ways. The first way was they kept God's name...but then they made an idol...shaped and formed it the way they wanted...and worshipped it.

The second form of idolatry was when God's people began to worship the idols of the unbelieving people around them.

Read the Old Testament...it is a real eye opener!

When God's people forsook the Lord their God...then God would discipline His people...to show them that idolatry leads to bondage and death...to teach them this lesson...He painted them a literal picture...

God would take away His hand of protection...and would allow unbelieving, enemy armies to come in and bring His people into bondage...for decades...even for centuries...until His rebellious people turned away from their idols...and cried out to the God of life to deliver them.

Our God is unchanging...He doesn't like idols...North America is no exception...

Food For Thought...

2009-05-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

There are millions of Christians who busy themselves reading and studying the last book of the Bible...the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ...

They read it thinking that John was speaking of things thousands of years in the future...things that are speaking about events that are happening today...

Unfortunately...many of these Christians ignore the first three verses of the book which say:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants---things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Look to the places I have written in bold letters. The Book of Revelations was written telling the things which must shortly take place...for the time is near!

This doesn't mean that we thousands of years later can't learn from this book...because we certainly can!

What I want us to see, is that in the first 3 chapters of the book...Jesus is speaking to the 7 churches which are in Asia...

Jesus is pointing out that these churches has some good qualities...but He is also pointing out their sin...and He is warning them...that if they do NOT repent...then Jesus Himself is going to cause them to cease to exist...

Did they listen to Jesus...by the way...this is a lesson we can learn today?

These churches were located today in the country we know as Turkey...as strong hold for Islam...

These churches did not repent...they continued in their unbelief...their disobedience and rebellion...expecting that God would never discipline them...

They were wrong...and so are we if we have their mindset...

Double Jeopardy Question [Do Dead Men Bleed?]

2009-05-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Philosophy teaches us to think on many things...it even teaches us to think on why and how we think...

For many people...this is silly...a waste of time...but really its not...because in the end everyone practices philosophy to varying degrees...many simply do so...without recognizing it...and therefore set themselves up for "self" deception...

A certain philosophy teacher once told me that our beliefs about things in the world are very complicated...because no single belief or thought sits all by itself...all of our thoughts and beliefs are intertwined with all our other beliefs and thoughts...

Try and paint a mental picture...just for a few moments... that all your beliefs are like a delicate...complicated, intricate spider's web...

Even though we have many different beliefs...not all of our beliefs are of equal importance...some of our beliefs are our "foundational" beliefs...

...these are our most valued beliefs...and by these beliefs...we interpret all our other beliefs...or in other words...by these central, foundational beliefs...we interpret the world around us...

...these beliefs are the center of our spider's web...

Remember, in a spider's web...if you destroy one of the outer threads...the web can still survive...but if you destroy the center...the web is finished!

Now, here is the catch...this is very important!

If your center, foundational beliefs are true...then they will help you with all your other beliefs...help you interpret the world around you...rightly...and they will help you fight against error in your own thinking...

But if your central, foundational beliefs are false...and you are unwilling to even admit that they may be untrue...then you will use these false foundational beliefs to build all your other beliefs upon...

And just like a power saw...with its blade on an angled tilt...you will never be able to cut a straight line...no matter how many times you measure.

The man who taught me philosophy told this story years ago...it really stuck with me...

A man had been going to a psychiatrist for years and years for treatment.
His problem? He thought he was dead. This belief had the man living alone, receiving social assistance, never meeting people, never really living life...which would be natural...if you were dead.

The psychiatrist had tried every possible argument and test that he could think of...but after years, the man was no further along...he still thought he was dead.

Finally, one day, the psychiatrist thought he had the answer. When the man came in his office the doctor sat him down and looked him in the eye.

"Do dead men bleed?" the doctor asked his patient, with a firm but gentle voice.

The patient sat for a moment, really pondering the question. Finally he opened his mouth and answered.

"No, dead men do not bleed." he answered with very little emotion in his voice.

At this the doctor pulled out a pin, grabbed the patience's hand and pricked his index finger...immediately blood began to creep out.

The patient looked at his finger in total unbelief and bewilderment...and then finally broke down and began to weep.

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it...how could I have been so silly...how could I have been so wrong for all these years!", the patient cried out, now standing from his chair.

The doctor began to smile...but it was a short-lived smile...

The patient continued to speak...

"How could have I been so wrong...dead men DO bleed!"

If your ultimate beliefs about reality are wrong...it will effect your singleness, your marriage...it will effect everything you do in this life...and it will effect your eternity...

...be sure that your central beliefs are true...life hangs in the balance!

We're Here for a good time...

2009-05-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

Trooper's song from the late seventies expresses many peoples hearts in our culture today.

They think that we are not here for a long time...therefore live for the "good time".

In many cases...this "good time" is really just another way of saying live for as much personal pleasure as you can attain.

If this pleasure means getting naked with as many people as possible...hey...we're here for a good time!

If this pleasure means filling your body with as much drugs and alcohol as humanly possible...then again...we're here for a good time!

In the end...people will say..."I just want to have fun".

The problem with this type of thinking...is that it is stuck in the present.

It doesn't look to its past to try and learn that all of the earlier attempts to grasp lasting fulfillment and happiness...were like trying to hold onto a handful of water...here...and gone!

And it doesn't look to the future. How many people living like 18 year olds...have lasting joy and real pleasure...when they enter their 40's, 50's, 60's?

With their beauty, and strength and sexual powers slowly diminishing every day...they become a display that they have been lied to...by themselves.

Imagine...if you had lived your whole life in a dark, dank prison cell...and that is all you ever knew. You tried to fill you life with pleasure...eating good food...rats and cockroaches...you tried to fill your day with good things...walking in circles...scratching doodlings on the wall...

How would someone explain to you the feeling of the heat of the sun as it touched upon your skin?

How would someone explain to you the beauty of the sky, of the trees...the glorious refreshing feeling of diving into a clean sparkling lake?

How would someone explain to you the wondrous flavor of the multitudes of foods you have never tasted?

As you looked at the hard stone floor...how could someone really explain the comfort of a soft mattress?

Now imagine that someone has actually broken open the prison door...it is no longer locked...unless of course you refuse to remain inside...enjoying all the pleasures of life.

Jesus promised to give us abundant life...He did so by given His own life...so that we could be set free from our sin...and the destruction it brings to us.

But many would rather stay and enjoy the pleasures of prison...because thats all they know...they have chosen rags...instead of true riches...

And the true sadness...is that we are not here for a short time...this life moves into eternity...the prison cell you cling to now...will be yours forever...and the conditions only get worse.

Where is Waldo? [At the 25th Reunion]

2009-04-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

I am very glad I went to my 25th high school reunion.

I had a chance to talk, laugh and reminisce with some old friends...people who I spent my growing up years with...some of them...all the way back to grade 1!

I read on someone's facebook wall that they were very nerveous before actually going to the reunion...and this was coming from a person who was very attractive and popular in school...and by all appearances on reunion night...things hadn't changed much.

As I read that wall post...I had to admit...that I too was very nerveous about going to see all the old gang...maybe for different reasons...

As a Christian for 18 years...and a church leader/pastor...for many of those 18 years...I have come to understand to varying degrees the sense of not being understood.

I can still remember clearly not being a Christian...and looking weirdly at these people who live their lives for some guy who died, supposedly rose again...and now lives in the sky...it had a creepy feel to it...and then I met the guy in the sky...and everything changed.

So now going to the reunion...you hope that you can have a time of friendship...laughs...enjoying each others friendship...without queering people out...that you were still one of those "Christians"...

But all in all...I felt the night went by quite well...for me...anyways.

I have found for the last couple days...when I think back to the reunion...I am not envisioning the old familiar faces of the buddies I used to party with...I am seeing Waldo...hidden in the throng of laughing and light-hearted festivities.

Imagine going to your high school reunion...paying your money to get in...bringing your wife...and no one saying hi...no one acknowledging your existence...sitting at a table by yourself and wondering what your wife is thinking about you...what she is thinking about this crowd of people that surrounds you...that ignores you.

Imagine being the guy in high school that was labeled "loser" just because you were a little different, didn't have the clothes, the personality and charisma...

Imagine going to your 25th reunion...with your new wife [married two years], hoping to show people that you really weren't a loser...you had a job [bus driver], you have someone who loves you [a wife]...and you have a life together.

Perhaps you were hoping that these people after 25 years wouldn't still have their caste system...perhaps they would give you the time of day.

I will remember for quite some time...looking at Todd Morgan and his wife...sitting alone at their table...people walking by [including me]...seeming not to notice them.

I will remember my own good intentions...gone bad...as I several times planned on going up to talk...and yet always found someone else filling that time slot...

As I watched them go...I am glad I stopped Todd to see how he was doing...even if it does seem today...like too little too late...

I hope Todd finds an extra heaping amount of courage to come to the 30th...I am planning on taking some time to chat...because he is a person who God the Creator made in His own image...and therefore deserves honor and respect.

Good Morning Humanity!!

2009-04-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

Has this ever looked like one of your days?

You turn your head towards the night table by your bed...glance at the alarm clock...

BANG...your eyes instantly explode into full open position...you didn't set the clock and you have 6 minutes to get to work!

You jump out of bed...twist your ankle on some stupid book left by the bed...

As you frantically rush around the dark room...you stub your toe...repeatedly...until you finally grab a brain...and actually come to the understanding that the electric light bulb has indeed been invented...

You stumble down the stairs...mix-matched socks, wrinkled clothes... and hair styled by the Ever Rest mattress company...WHERES MY SHOES?!! I set them by the door...someone moved them!!

After several underbreath death threats...you find your shoes...jump into them...and now the next mission impossible...THE CAR KEYS!!...why can't I learn to hang them up by the door!!...the scavanger hunt continues...finally success...you find them...

You shoot out the door like a bullet exploding from a gun barrel...jump into your car...turn the ignition...nothing...AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!

At this point you notice that the head light knob is pulled out...you left the lights on...the battery is dead....again...AAAUUUGGGGHHHH!!! [as Charlie Brown would say].

You are late, late, late...for work!!!

You go to grab your cell phone to call for back up...grrrrr...you left it in the stupid house!!!

You jump out of the car...rush to the house...phone the AMA for a boost, from your land line...good news...they will be right over!

You slam the phone down...check that you got your wallet, grab your cell phone and rush back out the door...slamming it shut as you fly through.

You stand on your driveway...tapping your foot...WHERE ARE THEY??!! ITS BEEN THREE MINUTES...how long does it take to get across town anyway!!!

Finally, the tow truck guy comes!! You pop the hood...he hooks up the cables...and tells you to try and start you car...

...you break down and begin weeping...you left the keys by the phone...locked in the house!!

Has this ever been a day in your life? Some might say...a day in my life...that is my life?

There are times when we can totally see Murphy's Law [if something can go wrong...it will] working itself out in our daily plans.

Why?

God created the world...and He created it good.

God made men and women on earth to have dominion and to subdue all things. God is the High King...and men and women were the lesser kings under Him.

Adam and Eve [first man and woman] rebelled against the High King...they were not going to listen to Him...they were going to try and frustrate His plans...fight against Him wherever they could!!

When the first man and woman rebelled...they fell from a right standing before God...and their natures became corrupt...rebellious, sinful...

Men and women today...are born with this same rebellious nature [this is why we need God to supernaturally change our hearts...give us new hearts].

To show us how frustrating we are to Him, the High King...God has caused the rest of the creation...that is "under" mankind's authority...to be just a frustrating to them...

So in the end...Murphy's Law...is really God's Law/Jesus Law...

The good news is that Jesus died to overcome man's sin...and is now presently at work...bringing all of creation back under His control.

Things that make your brain go...aeeawwkkk

2009-04-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

I have asked people why they don't believe in predestination...when the Bible says that God predestines...

I have heard some say...that God didn't create robots...and that you can't have a real relationship unless you are given the choice to love...or not to love...

Now, please hear me clearly...I believe in God's predestination...and I believe that man is not a robot...or puppet.

God is greater then us...He can do what we cannot...He can predestine our choices...and do so in such a way that they are freely ours to make...

...some will say..."but how?"

short answer..."Don't know"

But here is something to mull over...meditate on...

God is Triune...God has existed for all eternity, unchanging, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...right?

God never had a beginning...right? Always existed...right?...and unchanging...right?

Was there ever a time where the Father decided to love the Son, and the Son the Father?...or have they always loved each other...they can't remember a time when they didn't [sort of sounds like young children born into Christian homes...a good argument for infant baptism too].

I believe that we are to love God...but I believe the only reason why anyone will love God...is that God first loved them...God gives them spiritual resurrection...and with their new heart they choose God, they love God, they trust God.

Our choice is NOT the primary thing...its Jesus' choice that counts from eternity!

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too...

2009-04-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Does the mention of predestination cause the hair to stand up on the back of your neck?

You get angry when someone starts talking about God predestinating His elect to be saved?

Why does it irk you?

Because its not fair! Why doesn't God save everyone?!

Oh, I see.

So instead, we say that God doesn't predestine...instead everyone has free will.

Hmmm...do you know who is left to their free will...in the teaching of Biblical predestination?

The Bible teaches that when Adam sinned, he died spiritually...and because he was the representative of the whole human race...everyone born after Adam was born with his sin nature.

A nature that loved sin, hated God...and wanted to exalt itself as a god...and tries to remove the True God from His rightful throne.

The Bible teaches that no one seeks after God, they are too busy seeking after sin.

Sinful man wants nothing to do with the Living God...instead he wants to be left alone, left to his own free will, left to make his own decisions as his own little god.

Those whom God saves...He pursues...He seeks them, He becomes a man for them, He enters into suffering for them, and He dies and takes God's wrath for sin upon Himself...for them...and He raises from the grave on the third day...for them!

But remember, even those in whom God has predestined to be saved...don't want to be saved...they too hate God...they too are running from God...they too have used their free will to forsake God, and have exalted themselves instead...

...and here is the irony...God doesn't honor their free will...instead He puts His Spirit within their heart...without their permission [in a sense, against their will...right?]...and gives them spiritual rebirth, spiritual resurrection.

Once God renews them [without asking permission]...then they truly see Jesus for who He is...the Almighty God and Savior...and they then use their will to repent of their sins...trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior...because God enabled them to do so...

But someone still screams...but its not fair!

But wait a minute... you are the one who is demanding free will, aren't you?

Those who reject Jesus' mercy and go to hell will be those in whom God honors their right to continue to use their free will. Those who go to hell will be those who want nothing to do with God...do not want God coming into their lives...do not want God to impose His Lordship upon them at all...and God in all fairness...gives them exactly what they want.

God calls out to these rebels everyday through creation...and He does so in such a clear way that they are without an excuse for their unbelief. God pours His love and goodness on these rebels, giving them life and every blessing...in order that they would see that God is a God of mercy and grace and would turn from their wicked ways. God calls out to these rebels through their consciences...showing them that they indeed have sin and guilt...and that they need forgiveness...they need a Savior. And God sends His servants and His own Son to these rebels to clearly show that the only way of salvation is through trusting in Jesus Christ and His shed blood...and at the same time...turning from being their own little gods...

But the rebels love their sin...they want to be god...they want their free will to rule and reign...so they continue to spit in their Creator's face...

As C.S Lewis once said...there will be two kinds of people on the day of judgment.

Those who say to God "Thy will be done"...and those to whom God will say...before they are sent out of His gracious presense forever..."your will be done".

Those who are eternally lost get exactly what they wanted...and they get what they deserve.

Those who are eternally saved...are only saved because God did not honor their rebellious free will that rejected Him...and instead imposed Himself upon them to change their will...they receive what they do NOT deserve...that is what grace and mercy is...getting what you don't deserve.

Capitalism vs. Socialism

2009-03-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have been in conservative Christian circles for years...it is almost a universal given...that capitalism is biblical whereas socialism is...well...its what the liberals believe and hold on to.

The problem with this type of thinking...like any ideal or philosophy is that it looks good on paper...while you ignore the fact that sinners are involved in both systems.

Conservatives easily see the errors of socialism...but do they see the errors of capitalism?

I have heard many conservative Christians complain about the evils of "big government"...aka..."socialistic governments"...taking our hard earned dollars and giving them to the low life undeservings of our society.

Oh...if we could only get back to the good old days...when we were more capitalistic...when the government kept its ugly hands off of our hard earned money.

But how has the government grown to its ugly size...why is its hands in our pockets?

I heard one Christian philosopher try to explain this problem. He said that God has given the responsibility to feed the poor, cloth the naked, heal the sick, visit the prisoner, look after the widow and orphan into the hands of His people...

...but what happens when God's people become greedy for money...greedy for their own comfort and luxury...and negligent to the needs of others.

Well, if Christians won't voluntarily give of their time, energies and monies to minister in these areas...then God will raise up another arm of His authority and power to look after it...the civil government is also an arm that extends God's authority.

If Christians will not give liberally to extend Christ's mercies into the world then God will raise up another instrument to execute this task...

...but now instead of God's people voluntarily giving generously to help others...they have their money taken from them...via taxes...to pay for hospitals, the poor, single moms and their children...etc.

But wait...there is an answer...capitalism has an answer to keep the big governments hands off of our money...

Is the answer to discern that our present state is a judgment from God...and that we need to repent of our greedy ways...and give more of our time, energy and time to helping the needy and undeserving in our land?

No! Don't be silly.

The answer is in tax loop holes.

You see...you can have a business and make tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars a year...but...you can make it seem like you only make a minimal amount.

This way the government can't get at "your" money. This way it actually makes it seem like you are one of the needy [even though you aren't] and then you can get free government hand outs. Now, you can become like one of the people you have complained about in the past...you know...the dude on welfare who really is able to get a job...but wants a hand out...so chooses to make it seem like he can't work to get a free hand out...ouch...hurts doesn't it.

Capitalism teaches you how you can keep the governments hands off of your hard earned money...but have you really come up with an answer to how we can feed the poor, heal the sick, clothe the naked...etc?

Or have you just found a way to hold on to your money...for your own selfish ends...the very reason why we have a big government to begin with...

The Debt [part 2]

2009-03-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

You would think that the pardoned man would have left the king's presence a different man...wouldn't you?

He had just be forgiven a debt [due to neglect and criminal dishonesty] that he could have never repaid...a debt that would have forever plagued, not only his life, but his families.

But now the weight was gone...the king had paid the debt...he was free...

...and what was the first thing he did, after he finished dancing and singing in the streets?

We are told that he went out and "found"...actually looked for...a fellow servant who owed him money...someone who owed him a debt.

Here is the test...did the servant really understand his kings love and grace and mercy?

Was he looking for his fellow servant to tell him that he too was pardoned...that full forgiveness was being given to him?

NO!

He grabbed his fellow servant and began to pound him, choke him...and demanded payment!

The fellow servant pleaded for mercy...pleaded for time to be able to pay back the debt [note, that the debt was an substantial amount, 100 denarii was worth around three and a half months wages...that is a considerable ouch...even though it was nothing in comparison to the 10,000 talents.

No mercy was shown.

Other servants of the kingdom saw this horrible ordeal and went and told the king...it was Israels equivalent to "America's Most Wanted"

The King was outraged and had the first servant brought back in to His presence...this time mercy is no where to be found.

The servant is again judged by his own merciless standard...and is giving a life sentence for his debt...

The moral of the lesson? When you truly receive God's pardon and God's mercy, you will begin to give pardon and mercy.

There are many people who enter covenant with God, profess to trust Jesus, are baptized, are members of the church...and they never really believe the covenant that they entered.

They don't really believe that God pardoned them graciously...freely...they are like the servant in the story...who in the back of his head thought that real pardon had to be earned...it had to be worked off by the one who owed it.

So these people live outward religious lives...they go through the Christian motions...but they are rigid people who are bitter, hold grudges...and show no mercy to those who really hurt them and sin against them.

On the day of Judgment, if these people do not repent of their unbelief and bitterness, they will not receive the pardon that God's covenant offers...because that pardon comes through faith...and they show by their lack of a changed life that faith is absent from their lives.

The Debt [part 1]

2009-03-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I preached a message on forgiveness...out of Matthew chapter 18.

Jesus tells a story in order to teach Peter and us...what God's forgiveness looks like...and what our forgiveness should look like...in response to God's.

Peter, like us, thought himself pretty good, fairly upright, and holding his own in the area of being merciful.

He asks Jesus...how often should I forgive my brother when he sins against me...7 times?

Peter pitches this question to Jesus...and Jesus cranks it out of the ball park...a homerun...with His reply.

Not seven times Peter...seventy times seven...or in other words...your forgiveness isn't nearly as great as you would like to think.

Then Jesus tells a story...a parable.

Remember, a parable is an earthly story that is packed full of heavenly truth...it teaches us about God, God's kingdom, how God works in and through His kingdom...and it teaches us about us...how we fit should live and act in God's kingdom.

Jesus' story begins with a king who decides it is time to have accounts settled in his kingdom. As the highest authority he has his servants summoned and then brought to him to settle up.

The servants don't come on their own inner stirrings...they are brought to the King!

A man is brought to him owing him 10,000 talents. This would be a sum of money so large that it would take the average worker 170,000 years to pay it back...this guy is in over his head.

It is very likely this servant was a provincial governor, a high official who collected taxes for the king. Because of neglect and dishonestly, he spent and wasted all the kings money.

And now it was time to pay the Piper...the King wants what is due Him!

We must remember that this guy is caught off guard...this isn't a time that he has scheduled...this is a meeting that the King has ordered. This guy very likely deceived himself into thinking that what ever money he hasn't collected yet...or what ever money he has illegally spent [because its not his, its the kings] he will have the time to make up for it.

This guy gets caught in the same trap that many credit card holders do. Spend a little here, spend a little there, keep no records...then at the end of the month, the statement comes in and HEART ATTACK...

Once the King discovers that His servant has squandered the wealth that was put under his care...He commands that the servant and all that is under his authority be sold and some type of payment be made to the King.

The servant has nothing to bargain with...but with empty pockets...throws himself onto the ground and pleads for mercy before the King. But he doesn't plead for full pardon. He begs for immediate judgment to be withheld so that he can try...by his own works...to pay off this infinite debt.

The King responds in amazing grace...total and free pardon. He releases the servant from custody...and He releases him...with His debt fully paid...fully paid at the King's expense mind you.

In this first part of our story Jesus is showing us God's salvation.

Because of our sin...we don't want to come into God's presense...we love the darkness, we love our sin. But God in His mercy calls us to Himself, He draws us to Himself with invisible cords of loving-kindness.

God, by His Spirit, shows us the weight of our sin. We commit sins daily, here and there and every where...and conveniently forget them...but God keeps good books. When we see the crushing weight of our sin we fall down upon before the Lord and beg for mercy...but we still want control of our life, we don't want God to be in control.

So we ask for enough mercy to keep us from immediate punishment...so that we can begin to earn our ultimate freedom. We are so simple we don't understand the debt is infinite and we can never pay it back by our feeble religious efforts.

God in His mercy full pardons us, brings us into covenant with him, we are baptized, which is a sign of our forgiveness and our cleansing from sin through the shed blood of Jesus.

God declares that our sin is paid for...that we are fully pardoned...and how should we respond?

Cont'

Words Have No Meaning...

2009-03-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

We live in a post modern age. We live in a time where we are taught that words are what you make them to be.

Students in the Universities are being told that words are like containers...they are empty until you fill them up. Now, you may decide to fill your container with apple juice, iced tea, or any other number of tasty drinks...but in the end the container just holds the goods...you decide what goes in.

So when you read or hear something...its up to you to give those words meaning...you may interpret the words one way...and someone else may decide to fill up the words [interpret] with something different. We are told that this is all good!

Skeptics of Christianity bring this type of thinking into their critiques of the Bible.

"Thats just your interpretation" I have heard times without number.

We are told that we really can't know what the Bible says...because words are so unreliable to transmit real meaning.

Is this really the case? To find out if something is really legit...try and see if it is consistent with itself.

A teacher tells his/her class that words are unreliable transmitters of truth, knowledge and meaning...but does this teacher really believe this...duh!

If they did, why would they be telling you this knowledge via the use of words?

If words have no meaning and you and I can make words say anything I want...then you and I could never really know the truth that words have no meaning and that you and I can make them say anything we want.

When the teacher says this tripe...he/she isn't assuming the class has just interpreted her words in 100 different ways...ending up with a recipe for a banana split in one students head, and a sequel for Moby Dick in another students thinking...

The teacher chose words that had certain meaning to them, and projected those words to listening ears to lead them in the direction he/she wanted to lead them.

Words have absolute meaning. The Bible teaches us God's truths via words...and these words are what God means in them...and not anything we want them to be.

If a student ever wants to see if the teacher really believes all this nonsense about making words say what you want...then the next time you get a "D" or an "F" on your test...just cross it out and say you interpreted that symbol to be an A+...you will soon see that your teacher does NOT believe his/her own theories...in the real world.

Is Your Marriage Really Over...really?

2009-03-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

I do not want to under estimate the pain and suffering that can enter a couples lives when there is constant fighting and arguing in their marriage.

At times it can seem like the black pit is so deep that you can't even see a hint of sunlight anymore.

It is because of this immense suffering that many people begin to think about "throwing in the towel".

Sure they swore an oath before God, for NOT just the better times...but also the worse...till DEATH alone parts them.

Hey! But when they said those words the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming...and a breeze, with the scent of a multitude of fresh flowers was gently blowing.

And now things are black and clouded, the birds are gone, the hurricane winds are howling...and the air...stinks.

In dark times, our thinking is often clouded...we look at our options and usually see only two.

1. Remain in this marriage, holding true to my oath before God and the other witnesses at the ceremony...and be totally miserable.

or

2. Break my oath, get out...and get happy again.

Unfortunately we live in a day and age where the people who want to choose option two...have many "friends" encouraging them to "get out".

There is option three. Your options aren't only stay and be miserable or get out and be happy.

Stats on divorce are frightening indeed. 50% of first marriages end in divorce...and then it gets worse...into the mid to high 60% for second marriages.

In other words...getting out isn't going to be your guarantee to happiness.

What is option 3? Stay in the marriage and work it out!

Work it out?! But we don't love each other any more!

One of our problems, in North American culture, is that we have fallen for the lie that "love" is primarily a feeling...and its NOT!

Love primarily is a commitment! When I love my wife, I am commited to do her good, all the days of her life.

We have mistaken the byproduct of love to be love itself.

When I love someone I want to be with them, say encouraging things to them, give gifts to them, serve them, touch them...do good to them.

When these things happen...I am investing in the person I love...the more I invest, the more valuable the person is to me...and the "feelings" of love are everywhere!

But often, in relationships...all this investing happens...at the beginning...and then one or both parties begins to take the other for granted...begins to live for self and self interests...stops investing in the other person...and guess what happens?

The feelings of love go away...because the actions of love have ceased.

A failing marriage can be renewed, feelings of love can be restored...it takes investment...it takes work.

If you are struggling with your marriage...rent the movie [BlockBusters] called "Fire Proof"...and get the book called "The Love Dare"...it may help breathe some life into your marriage.

Don't quit...invest...commit...thats what love does.

Are You F*#&ing Brainwashed??

2009-03-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the hint of ugly language...honestly I have a reason...

Years ago...while I still lived in Red Deer...I was holding a chapel service for the guys in jail.

While I was preaching a message...one of the guys...pipes up and shouts out...

"Man, are you F*#&ing brainwashed!"

I stopped for a moment to address this new topic. I told the guy that I was willing to admit that I was brainwashed...but was he?

He had the funniest look on his face when I confronted him with this new idea?

He only thought that so called "religious" people could be brainwashed...

As I began to put him on the "hot seat", asking him questions of why he believed certain things about how he viewed reality...it became immediately apparent that his beliefs did not arise out of careful, non-biased, philosophical study...

...many of the things he assumed and believed were things that he was taught throughout his life...things he never questioned...never challenged...his brain had been washed quite nicely.

I told him that I had been raised in a different religion then the one I was preaching from the pulpit. The religion I was raised in left me in the position of a little god...life was only random chance...I was a byproduct of billions of mutations, I was the highest link on the food chain.

I went to a religious school [public] where they taught their theories as if they were undisputed facts...this religious school had its beliefs on the universe's origin [big bang], where man came from [macro evolution], who man is [highest authority in the universe], where man is ultimately going [eat dirt].

This religious school taught its own form of ethics[there are no absolute truths...except for the truth that there are no absolute truths...lol], and religious practices [be politically correct and tolerant...to all those who hold the status quo].

I told this man that I used to hold to my beliefs...just because that's the way it was. But then I was challenged to question my old ways...and look at God's ways...

By God's grace I was washed of my brainwash. Many people think that to follow Jesus you have to park your brain in the parking lot. Jesus created you with a brain...He wants you to use it. But He didn't create your brain as the highest authority in the universe. God is the highest authority [thats what it means to be God]...for us to truly understand the world we live in...we must submit our reasoning powers to God and His word.

The Running Man

2009-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

Can you hear the foot steps? They are all around you...often the sound of feet striking the ground are your own...

Running, running...but where to?

The answer is frightening...it isn't so much where we are running to...but where we are running from...

God is the Creator of all...including mankind.

Therefore...God is the source of all life, happiness, fulfillment, love, truth, goodness, joy...

God created man to bless man. This blessing was to come via fellowship. As God and man lived in friendship, the blessings of God would flow to the man...

Then Satan painted a twisted, horrible picture of God...and convinced the first man and woman that it was true.

At the same time he began to flatter the couple...lying to them, promising them that if they disobeyed God [the source of life and happiness] that it would actually make their lives better...that they would no longer have to bow the knee to a Lord...but they too could be little gods. They could call the shots, make up their own rules...be their own judges.

One problem with all this sales pitch...was that there really was and is a Living God, who is the Judge...Satan knew this...he just didn't want Adam and Eve to believe and know it...because if they did...they would have never listened to his foolish lies...

But they did listen...they didn't look at everything that God had graciously given to them...instead...they looked at the one thing that God had kept back [this was the test...if they would have passed this test...this with held thing would have also been enjoyed by them].

Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil...and when they did...sin and death entered into the human race.

As soon as they ate of the forbidden tree...they realized the lie...and when God came to fellowship they ran and hide from Him.

God knew they had sinned...and still God pursued them...encouraged them to confess their sins before Him...

This is the story of all mankind. We want to be our own little gods...we want to call the shots. We constantly run...and God graciously pursues.

As people run away from God, which is the essence of sin, they do so to their own suffering and destruction. They are running from life...and the cliff of eternal death looms before them...

And when God pursues sinners...to bring them back to Himself...He does so to His own suffering and destruction...

To bring sinners back to Himself...God had to enter human history...He became a man. As a man, and His peoples new representative...He lived a perfect, faithful life...loving God the Father fully...with all His heart, soul, strength and mind...as we should have but didn't. And Jesus came to pay our debt. The penalty for sin against a holy God [source of life and happiness] was separation from that God...or in simple terms...it meant death and suffering.

Jesus came...lived a sinless life...then as His peoples substitute voluntarily went to the Cross of Calvary...on which God pour out upon Him...the full strength of His wrath and fury [that was meant for us]. Then, after Jesus drank the full cup of God's wrath, on behalf of everyone who will ever come and trust in Him [from earth's beginning to it's end]...He cried out with a loud voice "It is Finished"...salvation was accomplished...and then He died. But the grave could not hold Him...after three days He burst the doors of death...showing that He is the Resurrection and the Life...and all who trust in Him will have eternal life!

If you haven't come to Jesus for life...then you are still running...

The question is...why are you running so fast in that direction...all that awaits you is death and suffering...

Enemy At The Door...and My Favorite Sitcom Isn't Over Yet...how rude!

2009-02-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

As I drove down the street today I thought about our culture diving into a deep recession. But I also noticed all the fast food restaurants...all the stores that promoted entertainment, leisure, and comfort. Our North American culture is literally being consumed by our comforts.

We still try to fool ourselves...hearing stories of our nations [Canada and U.S.A] from years gone by...when people were willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of others...were willing to deny their present comforts for the future of their children and grandchildren...and we think that just because our ancestors had these qualities...for some reason we do too...but things change.

At one time our nation was hungry...it was like a fighter rising up in the ranks...aggressive, hungry for the belt. Then, something happened. We got the belt. All of our forefathers hard work, sacrifice, and self denial paid off...and we became a very wealthy nation. And with great wealth has come many luxuries and comforts.

Here is a strange phenomenon, when you don't have luxuries and lives of comfort you have a goal in front of you...and it drives you on...like that hungry contender...seeking the belt.

But like many champions...victory makes them soft...fat and lazy. They get so used to enjoying the comforts and the endless luxuries that they don't want to have to sacrifice...they don't want to have to deny themselves...they just want to be entertained...they just want to enjoy all their comforts...

And while they slowly grow too fat to fight...another people group...somewhere in the world...is hungering for comfort, wealth and luxuries...

We are much like Rome 1600 years ago. They were so consumed with their pleasures, entertainments and comforts...that they didn't even leave "the games" when Rome fell to the Barbarians...

I wonder...how many Canadians and Americans would even leave their favorite sitcom...if they knew their nations were being invaded...

Do You See What I See?

2009-02-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

As I was walking this week, delivering peoples mail, the thought came into my brain..."I wonder if blind people can see in their dreams?"

I know that I have had dreams where I went places I have never been in real life [to other planets], and have done things I haven't done [fly, without a plane].

I started looking on the internet to see what others said on this topic. There are many studies that say that if a person is born blind, then they don't have images in their dreams.

As I read these studies the thought that crossed my mind was "if I was born blind and have never seen anything, how would I describe my dream 'if' I actually did ever see something?"

How would you describe a blue sky, filled with fluffy white things...if you don't know what "blue", "white" and "fluffy" is. Its like trying to describe to someone that honey tastes sweet...its almost impossible to describe...it must be experienced.

Just some ponderings of a postie.

I Stand In Awe Of You

2009-02-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

In our relationships with one another we tend to be less in awe with someone, the more we know them, the more we know about them, the more we know what they know.

When you are young, you are in awe of a certain athelete, but as you grow in age and in talent, you can still be impressed with them...but the more you grow to be able to do what they do...the smaller the gaps grows between you...and the less awe is felt.

The total opposite is true with God.

God is infinite...He has no boundaries...there are no limits to His power, knowledge wisdom...

The closer we grow to God, the more in awe we become.

I heard of a story about a mountain climber that explains this truth well.

A man began to climb the steep rocky mountain. He saw the the mountain's top was well hidden in the clouds. After a hard climb he noticed that he was half way there, and his heart was filled with pride and accomplishment. After many days of climbing he finally broke through the cloud covering...and there all his pride was shattered. As he peer above the clouds he saw that the mountain had a thousand more faces, each as high as the one he just climbed...and then after that highest face...it too disappeared into the clouds...

Valentine Poem To Bonita

2009-02-14T19:46:00.001-08:00

The snowflake drifted on the winds of infinite design,
Slowly descending from the imagination of unfathomable love,
Its design was wondrously intricate, interwoven with delicate, and marvellously beautiful,
The value of this little floating gem was only increased by closer examination,
Only under close scrutiny could you begin to see its one of a kind design, all of its glorious qualities ordered in a brilliant harmony. The little snowflake floated down, down, down, and finally rested. Waiting amidst millions of others, waiting, waiting, waiting.

The little rain drop fell from the glorious sky, its destination unknown to itself, but not unknown to Majesty.
It plunged to the earth below with precision-like accuracy, falling, falling, falling, surrounded by millions of others, all riding on the winds of design. The little drop hit the earth with the sound of finality, reaching its mark, like an arrow striking the center of a distant target.

The little snowflake and the drop of rain were separated from one another, each blowing and flowing upon the surface of the ground, looking, looking, looking. The little rain drop reached the meandering river, and began to move, to be moved. The glorious Sun broke forth from out of the overpowering clouds, and the little snowflake began to melt. She too was brought to the river that flowed to its predetermined end. The little snowflake and the little rain drop met and were joined together in perfect design, and as they did they were no longer two, but mysteriously became one.
Now they float together in harmony, being moved and guided by the Hand of infinite purpose, awaiting the day that the Sun of Glory will shine on them, ascending them up into the glorious clouds, lifting them up to where the real journey will finally begin…the journey of unimaginable joy!

I love you Bonita, my precious little snowflake, the God of all glory has richly blessed me with you, my wonderful wife.

Love, your husband, Dale
XX00

Good Things To Constantly Remember...Gospel Things...

2009-01-29T06:45:00.000-08:00

I read a quote today that reminded me of the Gospel of Jesus' gracious love.

"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good,
but that God will make us good because He loves us."
-C.S. Lewis

As I read it I was reminded of a similar quote by Andrew Murray...

"God does not love us because Jesus died on the cross for us...BUT...
Jesus died on the cross for us BECAUSE God loves us."

...and last but not least a paraphrase of a quote from Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City.

"The Christian doesn't obey in order to be accepted by God...but because he is already accepted by God, because of what Jesus has already done [suffering, death, and resurrection], the Christian is empowered to obey..."

Man-made religion is what man offers to God, his good works, his efforts, his righteousness...

Biblical salvation is what God does for man...God becomes man, God suffers, God dies, God raises from the grave, God gives us a new heart, God forgives, God empowers, God restores, God renews...God Reigns!!

City Of God versus City of Man

2009-01-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

Have we learned the lesson that Saint Augustine tried to teach Christians 1600 years ago?

We cannot equate the city of man [good ol U.S of A] with the City of God [Christ kingdom/church]...

Rome was beginning to be greatly influenced by the City of God...but it wasn't that City...

Is Rome a superpower today...HA, ha, ha...yeah right...far from it...

And yet the city of God continues to grow...continues to gradually put all of Christ's enemies under Jesus feet.

Do NOT put your trust in the U.S.A's political structure...salvation and peace will not come from there.

Christians need to once again put their trust in the Lord...to invest in Christ's kingdom...the Church...believing Jesus' words that He is building His church and the gates of hell will not be able to withstand the churches onslaught...

This building is accomplished in and through God's people...

The church is built by Christians remembering their Lord's mission...to reach out to a lost world that is dire need of a Saviour...loving the unlovely...being patient with them in all their faults [as the Lord is with His people], befriending them, sharing with them the Bread of Life..

This building is also accomplished by Christians striving for unity within the church...a unity that is founded upon the Truth of God's word...and worked out in the Spirit of that Word [love, gentleness, patience]...

The onslaught of the church will not be the Church exalting herself over the culture...or separating herself from the culture...

The church will triumph by loving her enemies...seeking their well being...serving them and doing them good...just as her Head has done before her...

Where Did The Years Go?

2008-12-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

I have been a Christian for 18 years now...

...I am not sure of the exact day...but the day I first cried up to Jesus to save me and change me was somewhere in the first week of Jan, 1991...wow!

Jesus, in His unending love and mercy drew me to Himself, showed me that my radical self-centeredness was never going to produce the joy and contentment that it promised, and at the very same time, revealed to Me His love, forgiveness and beauty.

Jesus pulled me out of the darkness that surrounded me, the darkness that had penetrated my heart to its very depths...and He opened my spiritual eyes so that I could see Him for who He really was...The One and Only God come in human nature to save those who could never save themselves.

It was pretty early on in my walk with Jesus that I found myself in roles where I was ministering and teaching others about God's amazing grace.

God tells us in His word that not many should desire to be teachers...for they will receive a more strict judgment...it is truly humbling to be called into a place where you proclaim to others the words that come from God.

It is humbling...because you know that you still struggle with pride, with various lusts, with coldness of heart towards the Saviour...

But it is this on-going battle that should continually drive the Christian back to Jesus and His amazing grace...

Each year I am reminded [by my own sin] that I need Jesus just as much now...as when I first met Him 18 years ago.

Has my life changed? Yes, very much so.

Jesus, by His Spirit, began a work in me 18 years ago, where He has been shaping and molding me more and more into His image...He has given me His strength to overcome sins that I couldn't overcome on my own.

But if you were ever to ask me...that even in my best moments...if I would want the High and Exalted God...the Holy One...to judge me according to my thoughts, motives, words and deeds...I would quickly decline.

My only hope is Jesus! Only Jesus loved God with all His heart, soul, strength and mind, and only Jesus perfectly loved His neighbor [us] as Himself...

Because Jesus is the One and Only God...become man.

As God the Son, Jesus knows what it is to love God with all of heart, soul and mind and strength...because He has been loving God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit perfectly for all eternity...

And only Jesus truly loved His neighbor as Himself...because even though He had no obligation to save us...He chose to leave heaven...and to come to earth to save us.

...Jesus never sinned...Jesus died because we continually sin...Jesus is our only hope.

...Jesus rose from the grave...proclaiming that His sacrifice for our sins [His death on the cross] was received and accepted by God the Father...

...and that all those who come to Jesus, seeking forgiveness and new life...will receive this forgiveness...will receive new life...will receive eternal life!

...Even after 18 years...there just isn't a better story in town.

Good Little Tax Payer

2008-12-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

Amazing grace...how sweet the sound..that saved a wretch...like me.

God's grace...as revealed in the Gospel...the message of the Cross of Jesus is truly amazing!

It is also something that scares the pants off of people.

If you ask "why is that?"...maybe you need to look at God's grace again.

The reason why so many people like to think that their "right standing" with God as something that involves their good deeds or their works is because if salvation depends upon us performing for God...doing what He requires...

...then God becomes our debtor.

All of a sudden we view ourselves as tax payers...we have done as our government has said...and now we have rights...there are limits on what God can ask of us...

But...

We our debt is so great...

...that we could never pay it...

...and God came and paid the price for us...

...then there is no limit to what He can ask of us...

Amazing...and sobering...

Christmas Bubble

2008-12-24T05:40:00.000-08:00

Did you know that 80-85% of the world’s wealth is enjoyed by 5-10 % of the world’s population? As Canadians we are living in a protective bubble that other people in the world can not even begin to imagine. In some parts of the world starvation and death are daily events. Fresh drinking water is a rarity. Food is so scarce that meals aren’t experienced on a daily basis.
But I am not telling you something you that you don’t already know. Because of the electronic media we are now aware of the “bubble” we live in, and of the horrible reality that some people call “life”.

We Canadians, will spend multi-millions of dollars this Christmas, but where does all this money go? Does getting into the Christmas “spirit” merely involve putting up the lights, preparing and feasting on tasty food and drink, and exchanging gifts with friends and family?

At the first Christmas we see God entering into human history, being born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus Christ was the first and greatest gift ever given!

God became a man, so that He could rescue humanity from their self centered sinfulness. He came to turn them away from loving “self” first and foremost… and to turn them back to loving God and loving neighbor…like God had first planned in the beginning.

As the Creator of everything, God owned everything. Everything that man possessed was only on loan. This meant that man had nothing to offer to God. Add to this equation that man had rebelled against his Creator and was very content on being his own little god and you have a very sad tale indeed.

So what did God do? Did He look for people who loved Him, and then poured gifts upon them? There was none who loved Him. Did He look for those who could give Him gifts in return, and then pour gifts on them, awaiting the return load in the future? What would be the point, He owned everything anyways.

Instead, God sent His greatest gift, His only Son, to those who were so utterly bankrupt that they could never pay Him back. Why would He do that?
Because that is what love is, and that is what love does. God doesn’t love mankind in order for what He will receive, but for what He can give.

Before we ever ask God why He allows people to live in poverty, hunger and nakedness, we better first look in the mirror. Why do we allow this? Has God given North America such abundance merely for us to spend it on ourselves? Or does God want us to mirror His loving, sacrificial giving so that those who have little can be helped by those who have much? May God bless us with a very Merry Christmas, as we give to our family and friends, and also give to those who will never be able to return the favor.

Treasures For The King [Part 3]

2008-12-12T06:01:00.001-08:00

Immediately upon entering the cave I began to plunge into its depths. Surrounded in a darkness that was so complete, so hungry that I could actually feel it groping at me, trying to seek out any tidbit of light it could get its teeth in to, in order to consume and devour it into its black pit of despair. I slapped my hands at the darkness like a helpless child, trying to knock it away, but it resisted all my defenses and continued to tighten around me like a vice.

I wasn‘t merely falling, I was tumbling, spinning, flailing as I descended down the depths of this enormous monster‘s throat. My arms desperately swung around me, seeking something to grab on to, something to stop me falling, but nothing was there. As I spun end over end, faster and faster, my mind began to scream in confusion, my stomach lurched unendingly, promising to expel all of its contents but never being true to its word. Every fiber of my being began to feverishly cry out for the descent into confusion to end, begged and pleaded to meet the inevitable bottom of this horrible pit, but it didn’t come. The constant high pitched siren that echoed off the invisible walls of this horrible bottomless chamber, was my own voice screeching as I plunged into ceaseless destruction. In the crushing blackness, with no markers of space, distance or time, with pain consuming my thoughts, gnawing on every nerve fiber with an insatiable appetite, I fell. Whether I suffered for a millennia, ten millennia, or twenty minutes I did not know. All standards to gauge such things had been banished from this black hole. The ever allusive bottom of the pit beckoned me to it with horrifying tones of eternity in its voice.

Without warning, a noise with the force of a thousand water falls, exploded into the blackness of the cave. A voice with such power as to make the walls shake, the ground quake. This voice stopped my descent with such rapidity that I actually thought I had hit the caves bottom. In a blink of an eye, my body was instantaneously catapulted in the opposite direction, hurling up the cave with such speed as to make my head swim. At this very same instant the darkness of the cave folded in on itself, vanishing completely. Left in its place was a light so brilliant, so dazzling, that it pierced my eyes with burning intensity. I was blinded by the light, racing towards the sun.

Give me a pill and everything will be just fine…really.

2008-12-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

The easiest lie ever told is one that the receiver desires to believe.

The lie is told.

The lie is received and believed.

Put the seal on the deal.

But its not over.

Ideas have consequences…

Whether they be good…

…or bad.

Many people long to believe the lie that says “a person may do horrible, wicked, and evil deeds…but deep down inside they are still a good person.”

We want to believe this…we really do.

Jesus said that a good tree will not produce bad fruit…and a bad tree will not produce good fruit…

Hmmm…that doesn’t sound like the lie we like to have tickling our ears…does it?

We live in a culture where people want the freedom to live as wickedly as they please…

BUT…

They don’t want the consequences that come from those beliefs and actions!

They want to be able to lie, cheat, steal, be the town whore [without pay], use their tongue to destroy people, live in worry and hatred…

They don’t want any of this Jesus crap…God’s love, confession of sin, forgiveness, reconciliation…

That’s just a waste of precious time and energy.

But their conscience is killing them…they feel like they are in a black pit of despair…that is slowly sucking the life and joy out of them…

So how do they stop from feeling bad?

Do they cry up to God to forgive them, and to give them the new power to change…to stop doing evil…to repent [change of mind and life]…

Do they stop feeling bad…by stop being bad?

Naw…

They take a little pill that numbs their conscience…that way they can still feel good without having to stop being bad…

But don’t be fooled…that little pill packs a terrible little secret…it isn't a cure for depression...it only holds down the monster...for now...but as wicked deeds accumulate...the monster grows...gets stronger.

Treasures For The King [Part 2]

2008-11-28T05:04:00.000-08:00

The trees began to drift past me, and my feet continued their forward progress as they followed the broad straight path that cut through the forest floor. My journey continued on, seemingly unending. Days, drip by drip, flowing into weeks and then years. Over time my treasures couldn’t be contained in my pockets any longer and I had to carry them in a large sack slung over my shoulder.

My steps had become much slower, the journey was much more toilsome, and the sack of treasures was becoming a great burden indeed. The journey had sucked much of the life from my bones and I found with each new waking day, a little of my self lost somewhere on the trail behind me. Another ingredient that added to my lack of desire to move on was the uncertainty of the journey itself. For as long as I had been on the road I never had seen any sign or marker indicating that I was heading toward the Great City. This aimlessness occasionally brought mild levels of discomfort into my heart, intermingled with varying degrees of loneliness and anxiety, but not enough to turn me around, never enough to turn me around, or even to ask counsel of others for differing routes of travel.

Finally, I came upon the end of the road. But it didn’t end at the gates of a Great City. Instead it ended at the mouth of a dark and dreary cave. The rumors were true. Over the many miles, various travelers talked of this cave, and spoke in hushed and dreaded tones of the monster that laid within its walls, lurking in the darkness for its prey. They said that it was the last enemy of the journey, and its power was so great as to swallow a man whole, stifling his screams of pain and fear as he disappeared down its black hungry throat.

At earlier points in the journey I used to scoff at the idea of this villain, thinking that if ever I had to face him, I could resist him in the full strength of my being. But now I looked at my feeble legs and my withered skinny arms and doubted that I was any match for the monster that loomed before me. This enemy had placed itself at a very strategic spot where all of its victims were weak, tired, and spent from their years of near endless striving. I tried to see into the cave, but from the distance I stood at, could see nothing but its black murky darkness. What I could see was that the path I traveled on changed subtly in two ways. It slowly descended down into the caves yawning mouth, and as it did so, it narrowed to the point where only one man could enter at a time. You would have to face this last enemy, and you would have to face it alone.

Fear wrapped its ugly clutches around my heart and began to squeeze. There were many things in life that I did not know, but the one thing that I did know was that I did not want to meet this last enemy. Just as I had settled this decision within my hearts inner counsel and was purposing to turn and begin walking back along the trail, I noticed that the mouth of the cave was opening, was getting larger, like it was readying itself for a new meal. Then it dawned on me, the mouth of the cave wasn’t getting larger, I was drawing closer. My feet stood motionless and yet I continue to move towards my awaiting enemy. The path was slick as ice and I could not resist its downward pull. In desperation I tried to grab onto something to keep me from being swallowed up, but the surroundings of the cave were bleak, barren, and lifeless. With one last effort I turned my back to the cave and threw my body onto the ground, screaming for help and clutching my fingers into the rock hard ground. My downward progress did not stop, I was slowly being dragged, feet first, to meet this last hungry monster. As my feet slid into the cave I could hear the enemies heavy breathing, could smell the monster’s rotting fumes of death, and suddenly felt its claws and fangs upon me. My body disappeared into the darkness, loud gulping noises could be momentarily heard, then all was deathly silent.

Treasures For The King [Part 1]

2008-11-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

As I straightened my back, it snapped and cracked in protest. I had been looking so hard for little treasures that my back had grown accustomed to its new stooped position. Looking for treasure was not an easy task but at least the path on which I was looking for it had become much more pleasant, much easier to walk on, and with many more people to talk with. As this thought flitted inside my head, like a little bird, my eyes lifted to the path from where I had just come from a few weeks earlier. Up it wound the mountain, steep and treacherous was its incline. Thankfully, a kind guide I met on the road, had told me that the “short cut” route to the Great City had become the destruction of most of its travelers‘. With a gentle smile on his lips he then pointed me to this longer route, that was far less dangerous, but would also eventually lead to the Great City. It must have been a trick of the landscape, but my mind just couldn’t foresee how these two paths would meet up, they very much seemed to be heading in opposite directions. I quickly shooed these last pesky thoughts away, and again lowered my eyes gaze towards the earth, so as to find more treasure to give to the Great King. No sooner had my eyes spotted a wonderful gem of a treasure, I heard a voice that caused my hand to quickly snatch the gem and hold on to it tenaciously.

“Treasure for sale, priceless treasure for sale”, the voice boomed along the forest path.

When I looked at the upcoming owner of the voice, I had to stifle the snort that was trying to force its way out of my mouth. The man who selling “priceless treasure” was nothing more then a beggar himself. He was clothed in rags, and looked like he hadn’t seen a bathtub, stream, or any kind of clean water in quite some time. In his hands rested a plain looking jar made out of earthen clay. Since he had nothing else in his possession I assumed that this was his “priceless treasure”. This thought triggered the geyser in the depths of my stomach, and I had to hold down the impolite laugh that was again wanting to explode out of my mouth. The beggar didn’t seem to acknowledge the battle that was going on inside of me, he slowly kept limping closer to where I was standing, and at the same time continued to announce the sale of his priceless treasure. My eyes quickly scanned our immediate vicinity and realized that I was the only other person around. When the beggar got within a stones throw distance from me he stopped. There he stood motionless, staring at me through eyes that were so wrinkled they seemed half closed. His mouth was no longer smiling, it rested in a straight line and was almost impossible to detect with the myriad of lines that intersected the map of his face. How many years had that face seen the sun, wind and rain? He looked like an old piece of raw hide. Soon, the silence became very uncomfortable, something had to happen, someone had to make a move. Slowly and as inconspicuously as possible I lifted my hand and put it in my coat pocket, dropping in the gem. Then I pulled my sweaty hand out, empty, and wiped off the remaining signs of nervousness on my pants.

“What are you selling, old man?”, I asked, not so much out of interest but out of desire to shatter the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped us.

At this the old man gave a knowing smirk as his eyes seemed to bore into the depths of my heart.

“What I sell, you do not hold at present in your pocket.”, he replied with a riddle-like tone to his answer.

Had he seen me pick up the gem, or was he trying to discover what I had in my pocket by making me think he saw what I picked up? Well, I wasn’t falling into that old trap.

“What is the price of your priceless treasure”, I questioned through grinning teeth, proud of myself for returning the old fools riddle with one of my own.

The old man didn’t answer quickly, instead he stood his ground stewing in his answer.

“The treasure will cost you nothing you own, and everything you possess”, he replied softly, while lifting up the jar of clay toward the sky.

I repeated the old man’s words to myself, under my breath, hoping that magically the answer to his riddle would shine into my ignorance. My hoping was in vain, no answer was blazing into my consciousness. I fixed my attention to the old man, the breeze had blown his ratty white hair into his face, giving him the appearance of a large white rabbit. A rabbit who seemed to be luring me down into its hole. I took another nibble at the bait.

“How can something cost me nothing and yet at the same time everything”, I asked mockingly.

At this the old man simply stood looking at me, to be more specific, he stood there staring at my coat pocket. The pocket in which my gem rested.

“Famine has the power to make the worthless, priceless and the priceless, worthless”, the old fool continued on with his unending philosophizing.

“Can’t you just speak plainly”, I growled at him, my teeth now clenched firmly together.

I had grown tired of this old beggar, it was time to keep moving on towards the Great City. I had treasures to gather before I met the Great King. I began to walk towards the old man, not because I wanted to grow further acquainted with his odd riddling, but for the reason that he stood between me and the goal to my journey’s end. As I grew closer to him I began to smell a putrid, rotting smell. I held my breath as I passed him, to keep from retching. He positively reeked! I had passed him by four or five paces when he called out to me.

“The Great King is pleased with only one treasure”, he announced with all the authority of a palace high official.

At this I whipped around to face him, ignoring the repulsive smell that seemed to hit me like a wave of the sea.

“And how would you know what the Great King likes and dislikes, accepts and refuses, you old begging fool?”, I lashed out at him, spitting my words out with hateful force.

I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I had already given him far too much of my time already.

“You’ve grown feeble in the head, old man. The Great King is not going to be thrilled over that silly jar of clay.”, I educated him, as if I knew what the King would accept or not.

The old man shook his head sadly.

“One has to look past the jar of clay to see the true treasure. Come, look within and all other treasures will dim in comparison.”, he pleaded with me, as he moved to pull off the jars lid.

I watched through furrowed brows, as the old man wrestled with the lid, and after a few moments wriggled it free from the clay jar. He pulled the lid back slightly, cracking the lid up just a sliver. Whatever was inside must have been truly brilliant indeed as I could see its glow from where I stood. For a moment I felt like my curiosity was going to get the better of me. My legs twitched as if I was going to close the gap between me and the old man, to check out his priceless treasure. My legs didn’t move. Instead, my eyes shifted downward to my pocket, and my hand moved upward to grasp the treasure I was already in possession of.

In blink, I turned to continue on my journey, leaving the bad company behind me. As I walked I could hear his shouts getting more and more faint. The last words I could make out before I headed into the dark forest were:

“All that glitters is not gold”

As I disappeared into the myriad of trees I took one last glimpse at the gem nestled in my pocket‘s bottom, its luster glittered brilliantly up at me. I laughed at the old fool behind me, the self appointed treasure inspector. As if he had ever laid eyes on gold of any considerable quantity.

In the Beginning...

2008-11-12T06:07:00.001-08:00

The Christian faith tells us where we have come from...where we are going when we die [Two options]...and it tells us why things are the way they are inbetween these two points...

Many religions [like Buddhism] tell us that there is something drastically wrong with life...suffering is all around us...but it doesn't go any further back...

When the question is asked..."why is there suffering in the world" we are told that we shouldn't even ask that question...huh?

Why not!

The Bible tells us that our lives are filled and surrounded by suffering...but it also tells us the reason why.

God, the Creator is the source of all life...all blessing...

God created the first man...Adam to be the representative for all mankind...God created him will all the faculties he would need to resist temptation and to do good...but the first man...our representative chose to use his God-given faculties to rebel against God...instead of to trust God, obey God and honor God...

God had warned Adam that if he sinned against God...he would surely die...

God does not lie...when Adam and Eve sinned...they died.

They immediately died spiritually...this means that now they no longer loved God...no longer wanted fellowship with God...no longer understood God...

And they also died physically...the process of death began the second they rebelled against God...even though the end result wouldn't be seen for years to come.

Just think about it...this is what sin does today...remember...the Bible tells us that death is unnatural...it is an enemy...

The second you were conceived...life began...but alas...it was also the very first moment that you began dying...

Could Obama Be The Next Hitler?

2008-11-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine the horror of having another Hitler getting into the position of “Presidential” power!

The smile, the speech, and the charisma…the full package deal…putting everyone’s defenses down…

Even many of the religious thinking this new man is the man for the hour…

What would America do…if this President began to murder its citizens…as Hitler did decades ago?

Are you thinking Obama?

Do not fear…and go back to sleep Christian…

The President I am speaking about came into power 40 years ago…and under his leadership a law was passed to begin the systematic murder of millions of unborn American citizens…his name is Richard Nixon.

Question- What is the difference between the Democrat President that supports abortion…and the “Christian” Republican President who doesn’t…BUT…who keeps his beliefs out of the public square?

To the babies being murdered…nothing…because in each case the murders go on…and on…and on…

The Pounding Continues...

2008-10-31T06:07:00.001-07:00

Today, many people celebrate “Halloween”…and to do so they celebrate a theme of fear and death!

Jesus is Lord over fear and death…He has the keys of hell [what more fearsome place then this] and death!

But Oct 31st announces another celebration…

On Oct 31st 1517 a Roman Catholic priest had some questions he wanted to debate within the church…

He had 95 points of debate…and he nailed them on the church door at Whiten burg…

The pounding knocked kings off their thrones…popes off their high seats…

…the pounding is still heard today…almost 500 years later…

…the pounding reminds us that Jesus is the Head of the Church…that salvation is only in Jesus and His finished work on the cross…

…the pounding reminds that that God’s truth will conquer all of its foes!

…but the pounding is also a reminder for our prayers…

…the pounding reminds us that God’s unifying work [John 17] isn’t yet complete…

…the Reformers didn’t want to split the church…they were wrongfully removed…

…as those who are always reforming…may our hearts be praying for the day when the Body of Christ is again unified…

…not unified in some spineless ecumenical “fellowship”…

…but unity…that as we all move closer to Christ [the Truth]…at the same time we will move closer together…

The pounding sounds on…

No Option C [part 1]

2008-10-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

People are beginning to open up to the idea that we don’t live in a merely materialistic, physical universe…

…in other words…people are becoming spiritual…they are beginning to look into “spiritual” things…

…as they do…they begin to seek out many avenues of thought within the occult…

T.V shows examine a multitude of spiritual experiences…even exorcisms…

Think about it…people are watching T.V shows about other people who are demonically possessed! They are not watching a movie…they are watching reality T.V!

What are they thinking while watching this poor soul on the tube…this person who is under the control of satanic forces?

The Bible tells us about Satan…he is a fallen angel…a created being with much cunning…

How did Satan become…Satan…the enemy of God and all that is good?

It is a sad story indeed.

God created Satan [his name is Lucifer]…and He gave him great beauty, talents, power and abilities.

There came a time…when Lucifer’s eyes left the fact that God [Jesus] was the source of his existence, beauty, talents, powers and abilities…and he began to see himself as having all these things…from himself…he began to be proud…trusting in himself.

He began to think that he didn’t need Jesus [God the Son] any longer…that all the great and mighty things that made him who he was…were not gifts…they were just who he was.

Satan’s persuasive powers are absolutely incredible, and should not be taken lightly by anyone!

Jesus called Satan the father of lies…and a murderer.

Satan murders through lies and deceit.

Satan’s lies are often subtle to the point where they look like the truth…

Through his lies Satan persuaded one third of God’s angels [spirit “Beings”] to follow in his rebellious ways…

Think about it for a minute!

Satan was so charismatic…so energetic…so compelling in his lying arguments…that he actually convinced one third of the angels that he had what it took to dethrone the Almighty!

How do you overcome One who spoke you into existence…?

How do you dethrone One who continues to sustain your existence by the sheer pleasure of His will?

The answer? You don’t!

Satan was cast out of heaven like lightening [words from an eyewitness…Jesus Himself]…that is a very fast fight.

Satan lost the battle in heaven…but in his mind…the fight wasn’t over yet…

His next scheme was to attack the pinnacle of God’s creation…mankind…

As we see how this battle turned out…it should cause us to be very careful in our assumptions…

Don’t Worry God Probably Doesn’t Exist…

2008-10-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

I was watching the tube the other day and saw something that caught my eye…it was called “Ungodly Advertising”…

The news clip was informing the listeners that atheists have come to the conclusion that God shouldn’t get all the best “Ad” space…and that they [atheists] were going to start getting their fingers into these areas as well…

As the talking head told us of this news story…the camera focused in on a city bus and then got a bit more specific and showed us the buses side…where an advertising was proclaiming its message…the message read…

“Don’t worry…God probably doesn’t exist…so be happy and live your life”

I talked to Bonita [my wife] about this ad…telling her that I can’t imagine that this Ad really gave an incredible amount of peace to the person who read it…especially to a person who really thought about its message…

The first thing I noticed was the Ad was trying to rid all onlookers of the any anxiety they might have about God’s existence…

…isn’t that sweet of them?

But why is it that they suppose there may be a point of anxiety…a point of worry?

Are they supposing that the readers may be troubled…may be stewing over guilt in their conscience…may be struggling with failures, short comings, and wrong doings?

Why do they suppose this?

Neither Europe [where these Ads were being projected] nor North America are Christian governed lands any longer…we can’t use that old excuse…it just doesn’t work anymore…

…Why…in cultures where atheistic, humanistic naturalism, and Darwinian evolution is ‘religiously’ taught in our government schools…teaching us for 12 of the most influential years of our lives…do we still struggle with the concept that we have done bad things…and that we fall short of some universal, higher standard?

Why is it that the teaching…that “truth is relative“…even though it is “drilled” into us from a multitude of angles…throughout our school years…through the media, through the entertainment medium, through our Universities and Colleges…just doesn’t seem to catch?

Could it be that we are made in the image of God…that God made us and our very make up is drawn towards our Creator.

He made us and we know we are accountable to Him…no matter what any one else tells us.

Let’s move on…

Why shouldn’t we worry? Here is where our ad experts were at least truthful…even if they weren’t effective…because God “probably” doesn’t exist.

The Ad expert knows enough “philosophically” to understand that atheism cannot make a universal negative about God.

For the atheist to say…that God doesn’t exist…with 100% knowledge would in effect make the atheist God…because for someone to make a universal negative…would mean that they knew all things…the very “Being” they are trying to refute.

But why should I not worry? The atheist doesn’t know God doesn’t exist…why is he telling me not to worry?

Where is he getting support for his “probably”?

Not from ethics…we just talked about that.

Certainly not from science…Darwinian evolution is itself a dinosaur that is on the verge of extinction…not even coming close to giving an explanation of how an organism can evolve into higher life forms…when to do so highly complex and inter-related systems would all have to appear at the same time [in other words…how does an organism evolve…when its circulatory, respiratory, lymphatic, digestive, etc, systems all are multi-leveled and all need each other for survival]

Certainly not philosophically…one of the most devastating arguments against the atheistic worldview is that the atheist uses “probability” in order to try and promote atheism and debunk theism…and yet…the atheistic worldview cannot even justify the concept of probability.

To use probability…a person has to believe in the uniformity of nature…that the future is going to be like the past…but the atheist doesn’t know the future…and doesn’t claim to know anyone who does…

The Christian can justify his use of probability because his world view is governed by the God who created the world and rules the world…he knows that God has created an orderly world…where day time and night time exist…constantly…where seasons exist…constantly…where the uniformity of nature exists…because God the Creator exists.

In the end the atheist should worry…as his conscience warns him.

He can’t really be happy…no matter how many lies he tries to fill himself with…because God’s truths keep shining through…

He can’t even say God probably doesn’t exist…because in his world probability doesn’t exist…and he can’t say God doesn’t exist…because in his world view there is no such thing as an universal negative…

This leaves us with the truth that God does exist…Jesus is God…and God will accept all rebels who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration…

The Bus Ads will encourage those who like “sound bite” teaching…they already believe the lie…and just need a short…all be it…false…message to hold them on their destructive route.

May God give them the grace to get off the bus they are on...before it reaches its final destination...

What Flavour is your self righteousness?

2008-10-23T16:10:00.001-07:00

Most religions of the world…including beliefs that don’t define themselves as “religions”…fall into the thinking that righteousness is something that men offer to God…or if they don’t believe in God…then righteousness is something they offer to themselves and to the society they belong to…

Christianity is the one exception…

The Bible teaches us that men do not seek for truth…and if they did…what exactly are they looking for?

Instead…Truth came looking for them…

Righteousness is not something that man offers up to God…but what God graciously gives to man…as a free gift.

I have heard people who aren’t religious make the comment that religious people are very self righteous…and at times they are right…

We who are religious must take this judgment against us seriously…because we are prone to be self righteous…whenever we take our eyes off of Jesus…and forget that our salvation is not in ourselves…but only in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection…

But the unbeliever must also understand that he is also “self righteous”…he is trying to get through life on his own merits, he is judging the religious person…thinking somehow he is better then him…he is trusting in his own merits…this is why he gets so upset when someone comes along and tells him that his righteousness…his efforts and merits are not good enough…

He gets upset…because he thinks highly of his own righteousness…his self righteousness.

In the end…both religious and non-religious people can be “self righteous”…the only way you can be freed from “self righteousness” is to believe what God tells you about it…

God says that He compares man’s righteousness to used menstrual rags and piles of dog crap…not very flattering is it?

The same men who cling to their own righteousness often are also quick to quote “to err is human…everyone makes mistakes.”

Does everyone make mistakes? God doesn’t.

For man to fellowship with God…he needs to be without sin…he needs to be perfectly faithful in this righteousness…

Only Jesus [God/man] was perfectly righteous…and only His righteousness will be accepted at God’s judgment…

Thank you Lord

2008-10-17T05:56:00.001-07:00

One of the great blessings of being able to preach God's word to others...is that first you need to preach it to yourself. As you prepare the sermon...at the same time...the sermon is preparing you.

I am so often blessed by the Lord as I think and rethink through different passages of Scripture...praying on how does this apply to me...and how can I encourage God's people with it...and as I meditate on God's word...the Holy Spirit teaches me many wonderful truths...and my heart soars...as I see Jesus more clearly...see a little bit more exactly how loving, how wonderful...how great He really is.

What is the difference??

2008-10-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

Last night I went into the Young Offender center…it was Bible study night…and it was my turn to teach…

…we are going through the Gospel of John and this week we were at chapter 14...

In chapter 14 Jesus tells His disciples something that is really, really politically Incorrect…a real narrow, intolerant teaching…or so our culture tells us…

Jesus tells His disciples not to be troubled…because He was going away to prepare a place for them…

…Jesus was knowingly about to be executed in the most cruel and torturous way…and not only suffer the wrath of the cruel Roman cross…but also drink the cup of His Father’s fierce wrath [so that His people wouldn’t have to]…

…and He is encouraging His disciples not to be troubled? He is truly the Great Shepherd…concerned only for His sheep.

His disciples are confused…if Jesus was going to prepare a place for them…then they needed to know the way to that place…but they don’t know the way…

Jesus answers them…I am the way, the truth and the life…NO One comes to the Father except through Me.

WHAT!! HOW INTOLERANT AND NARROW is that?

Jesus says that He is the only way, the only truth, the only life…that there is only ONE way to the Father [eternal blessings]…and that was through Him…and our culture of open-minded and tolerant folk go absolutely ballistic…

They say that its beliefs like that which make the world a hateful…ugly place…

They say that people should accept all views…and that no one has the right to try and say that their way is the only way…and then try and convert people to their way…

Doesn’t that sound more tolerant? It is actually a fancy work of magic…where the words are quicker then the brain…

Watch closely and I will try and uncover the trickery.

Let’s ask a few questions.

Do these people accept all views of truth? Are you kidding…just think deeply for a minute.

What is one view of truth that this type of thinking cannot accept? They say that all beliefs are equal…all beliefs are valid…all beliefs are the same…but they cannot accept certain beliefs…

…those beliefs that say that they are the only way. They cannot accept these beliefs into their circle…because they spoil the rest of the batch…the only people they receive into their inner circle is those who agree with their definition of truth…the rest are excluded.

Then they become very intolerant towards those who they view as intolerant…and they proclaim into the public square that no one has the right to tell someone else that their view of truth is wrong…and everyone must accept everyone else’s view of truth…

What they are doing is telling those groups who say that our way is the only way… “that your understanding of truth is wrong”…and now you need to shut up about your way…and be converted to our way of thinking…

…you can keep your beliefs about Jesus to yourself…

In the end our culture has just as narrow, just as intolerant views about truth as the Christian. Our culture is very aggressive in converting all people to its way of thinking…

Don’t get me wrong…the Christian is just as narrow…and also is trying to convert people to the only way…to Jesus…

The real difference? The Christian admits it.