Many people would rather die than think. Most
of them do.
Who needs God?
Someday in the far distant future, man will unravel the
secrets of life and learn how to
create it from ordinary dirt.
He will feel very proud and god-like and may even dare
to think he no longer needs God.
To this God will reply:
Not bad! Now let's see if you can do it again, using your own dirt.
We have built all sorts of robotic machines that
are installed in factories. These robots have been programmed to build
other machines such as automobiles. A programmer had to spend hundreds or
even thousands of hours developing and testing the code to make these systems
work properly. Evolution teaches that once upon a time there were living things,
that had no lungs. At that time DNA information code for lung manufacturing did not
exist since lungs hadn't "evolved" yet. I was just wondering... Who wrote this program?
Plymouth and Dodge look similar because they were
made by the same manufacturer.
Monkeys and Humans look similar because they were
made by the same Godufacturer.
Very soon most Americans will be liberal democrats.
This will occur right after the rapture.
Neil
Armstrong looked back at the Earth from the Moon
and wondered...
Was the Eagle built by the lowest bidder?
For years the "enemy" told us we did not need to get married.
It was just a piece of "paper". Now he tells homosexuals
they can
never find fulfillment unless they can get that piece of paper.
Programming is a race between software engineers, striving to
create
bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the world, which is
producing
bigger and better idiots. So far, the world is winning.
Intelligent design can be taught in our schools based entirely on
scientific
evidence and without mentioning any articles of faith.
Evolution cannot.
The BIBLE - God's #1 unread best seller.
Why doesn't anyone want to read the instructions?
For almost two thousand years the Bible was only
available to the very rich.
Today anyone who wants one can get one - often for
free.
Maybe this is God's way of proving that the former
situation was not unfair
since most people wouldn't have read it anyway.
Criminal Lawyer is redundant.
A doctor and a lawyer in two cars collided on a country
road. The lawyer, seeing
that the doctor was rather shaken up, helped him from the
car and offered him a
drink from his hip flask. The doctor accepted and handed
the flask back to the
lawyer, who closed it and put it away. “Aren’t you going to
have a drink yourself?”
asked the doctor. “Sure, after the police leave.” replied
the attorney.
Should a convicted murderer be allowed to become a Lawyer?
A controversy occurred recently in
my town when a convicted murderer
(who spent his time in prison and
was paroled) wanted the bar to recognize
him as an attorney. Many local
radio talk show hosts said he should not even
be considered. They ranted
that his past deeds disqualified him because he
was not of sufficient moral
character. One in particular (who is Jewish) was
very out spoken concerning the
issue. I wonder if it ever dawned on him
that Moses was a murderer and yet God chose him to become
the greatest
law-giver and arguably the most effective attorney (in the courts of Pharaoh)
who
ever lived? Certainly God is full of mercy and grace to those who will
turn to Him with a humble heart.
He opposes the proud.
America is mentioned in the Bible
They shall be lovers of themselves
rather than lovers of God.
They parade their sin like Sodom.
They have left the straight way.
These dreamers pollute their own bodies.
The love of many will turn cold.
They are experts in greed.
The merchants of the earth grew rich from her
excessive luxuries.
Her priests profane the sanctuary.
They give birth to illegitimate children.
They... say, "Blessed are they
who have never had children".
The young will rise up against the old.
Women rule over them.
Lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds.
Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.
They deliberately forget that... God created
the Heavens and the Earth.
You have depended on your own strength and on your
many warriors.
You have a reputation of being
alive, but you are dead.
In one hour such great wealth [will be] brought to ruin!
If the right waited for the left to realize the
right was right
there'd be no one left to realize the left was
wrong, right?
This luxury car was paid for by
fees I charged for
killing
babies
Now this is a bumper sticker you won't see on a
BMW parked behind
an abortion clinic, but it might be interesting
to slap one on the "doctor's"
ride when he isn't looking.
If
scientists sent a probe to Mars and found the remains of a fetus, would
they
still insist that it doesn't represent life? Would they still feel it was
something they could just throw in the trash and forget about? Of course
not.
They would treat it like the greatest discovery of all time. It would
be
cherished and protected more than any Moon rock had ever been.
If there
was any chance to revive it they would spend billions to do so.
The
celebration over the expected increase in funding would have no end.
Meanwhile back on Earth, mothers would still be spending money to get rid of
such a
thing. Life would still be so devalued that they would think nothing of
depositing it in the nearest dumpster. I believe that if there is any
intelligent
life out
there, they would be smart enough not to come here.
If evolutionists are so sure that intelligent design is just a
pseudoscientific
disguise for creationism, why don't they try presenting real
scientific facts
to dispute it instead of resorting to childish name calling?
Better yet, why don't they at least try to present "real",
provable scientific
"facts" to explain how even single celled creatures
could evolve
by chance.
Am I the only one that realizes that
creatures have not changed in any
significant way as far back as we
can examine? Mutations are almost never
passed on to ones off-spring.
The DNA of crocodiles has not changed at all.
How dare they say that information science is not real science.
I object!
What are they going to say next? That mathematics and
archaeology are
not scientific either? These same "intelligent scientists"
would declare it to be
absolute proof of intelligent design if they received a signal
from outer space
saying something as simple as "roses are red".
And in fact it would!
Do they really expect us to believe
that the exceedingly more information rich
DNA code does not reveal
intelligence and simply happened by chance?
The average man's life consists of
20 years of his mother asking him where
he's going, 40 years of his wife asking the same question; and in
the end
the mourners wondering too.
Good news / Bad news:
My doctor says my
heart will work till the day I die.
Thanks to the government, so will I.
Every true democracy ends up as a dictatorship.
Exercise can extend your life
For every 30 minutes
of strenuous exercise you can expect to add 10 minutes to your life.
However, to get
those 10 minutes, you have to exercise while you are young. Most young people
can think of a lot of things to do that are much more enjoyable than exercising.
In addition, the 10
minute gain is added to the end of your life. That is, at a time when you are so
old you find yourself wishing you weren’t going to live any longer anyhow.
Even worse, because
you used up 30 minutes you have a net loss of 20 minutes.
Maybe having sex is a good way to beat the system?
You get your
exercise and have fun at the same time!
Just make sure you enjoy it in a
monogamous relationship so you don't kill
yourself by catching some nasty
sexually transmitted disease.
But even then you are still adding time to your end of your life so you have to
endure old age just that much longer - usually without the sex.
I guess you just
can’t win.
Food will get you through times of no money
better than money will get you through times of no food.
Freedom is not doing as you please. It is being able to do
what is right.
Whoever sins is a slave to sin.
But, If the Son sets you free, you
will be free indeed.
God doesn't change us so he can love us. He loves us so he
can change us.
Finders keepers, losers weepers is not in the
Bible.
I guarantee, life has no guarantees.
History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.
Question vast conclusions made from half vast data.
Mixing church and state? Why would we want to corrupt the
church?
The more I learn about our "Supreme" Court, the more I forgive
Herod.
Well you wouldn't even wince when they wacked the wierdos in
Waco...
Soon you'll sing a sorry song when they slaughter your siblings
for
something someone saw as strange.
To the "scholars" of the "Jesus Seminar". You think you are
qualified to
sit in judgment of the honesty of men who wrote their accounts
and gave
their lives to substantiate the truth of what they said happened?
Don't you realize that they were 2000 years closer to the facts
than you are?
I suspect that one of the reasons that Pharaoh was having the
male Hebrew
children put to death (Exodus 1) was because he was under Satan's
control.
Satan probably knew a "redeemer" was coming and was trying to
prevent
him (Moses) from being born. The same thing happened when
Jesus was born.
You may recall how Satan had his man Herod slaughter all the
babies in and around
Bethlehem that were two years old or younger. It is obvious
that Satan would
have destroyed God's redeemer if he could have.
Here we are 2000 years later...
If we are, as I and many others believe, in the last days then
that means that the
antichrist will be born in this era. He will be Satan's
"christ". So why would
Satan be killing babies right and left through mass abortion?
What if the antichrist
was "accidentally" aborted? Wouldn't that ruin his evil
plan? Could it be that Satan
knows the antichrist was already born and is waiting in the
wings to be called on stage?
If the antichrist was born just prior to Roe vs Wade he would be
about the same
age today as Jesus was when he started His ministry.
Jesus said, "I
have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me;
but if someone else comes in his own
name, you will accept him."
Sometimes a person needs to have their heart broken before
they will realize they need a new one.
That is exactly what Jesus was trying to do for us when
He died for us on the cross.
Do you realize that all the good works you do to try to get into
Heaven are actually sin? They all are done with a motivation of pride or
selfishness.
(what is not done of the Spirit is sin)
Only the good works you do after you are born again count
for anything.
You can't do enough good works to earn you way into heaven, but
thank God you don't have to do any good works to get there. Nor can you do
so many "bad" works that God cannot forgive you. (the thief on the
cross could do none before he died)
Muhammad was not a prophet
How can I say such a thing?
Well, for one thing he lived around 700 A.D. and the age of the prophets was
over long before Jesus was born.
Hebrews
1
In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but
in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son*, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The
Son* is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is
superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever
say,
"You are my Son*;
today I have become your Father*? Or again,
"I will be his Father*,
and he will be my Son*"
This passage goes on to say that
even God calls Jesus "Lord", "Creator", "Eternal" and even "God".
*The Koran says in Surah 4:171,
"far be it from his (Allah's) glory that he should have a son." So even if
Muhammad was a prophet, he was wrong and being wrong proves one is not a prophet
and demands that they, according to the law, should be put to death.
The Bible is depressing?
Dark? Dreary? God sends his son to
tell us how much He loves us. We kick his butt and try to snuff him out. God
could have said, "To Hell with ya." and flushed his book down the nearest well
where only "Timmy" could find it. But instead he preserved it down through the
ages so we could all find out how much He loved us and could get our butts
saved. Dark? Dreary? That's not dark and dreary.
Rejoice!
John 1:5 In the beginning was the
Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of
men. The light shines in the darkness, but the
darkness has not understood it.
Today I read the latest
"bash on Bush" concerning his statement about the creation/evolution high
school curriculum debate. Liberals were ranting: "How dare he suggest that
intelligent design [an obvious cover for religion] be presented along side
evolution [100% scientifically proven] in our schools!" I thought to
myself, "My how they still hate him." Who? Bush? No, Jesus.
By George
"Almighty God...I yield thee
humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved me from the danger of the
night past, and brought me to the light of the day, and the comforts thereof,
a day which is consecrated to thine own service and for thine own honor. Let
my heart, therefore, Gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty
of it, that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and discharge those
weighty duties thou requirest of me. Give me grace to hear thee calling on me
in thy word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation and peace to
the saving of the soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. Grant that I may hear it
with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it with faith, and that it
may accomplish in me, Gracious God, the good work for which thou has sent it.
Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and guide this day
and for ever for His sake, who lay down in the Grave and arose again for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."
-From the Prayer Journal of George Washington
Gosh, it sounds like
the man is actually expecting God to tell him what to do, and how and when to
do it.
He wants God to be his
guide? He must be some kind of a kook. Doesn't he believe in separation of
church and state?
Why he even calls Jesus his Lord -
twice!
Even if we did have a constitutional separation of
church and state, (which we don't)
that would not mean there is a mandated separation
of God and state.
Suppose God has been creating various scenarios and living out the battle
of good against evil many times in the past; possibly for eternity? Maybe
He has been putting the devil in his place over and over again for eons.
Amassing proof that the power of love beats the love of power every time.
The Bible does say God is going to destroy the Earth someday and create a new
Heaven and Earth. Would this be to simply launch our eternity or maybe it
will be to start a new war all over again? Ask yourself, what would you do
to occupy your time if you lived forever? Could it be that God will
continue to press "reset" and start over forever? Has God done this over
and over through eternity past? Could it be that Adam and Eve where simply the beginning of
"this" episode of a series of wars? (Maybe Satan is a slow learner) What if
the our recorded history is not the first attempt at dispelling evil? What
if we are merely "Preparation H"?
Ok, do I really believe this thought represents reality?
The truth is I have no idea. The only way we can learn anything
supernatural is if God tells us. We cannot know anymore than He
chooses to reveal. The human mind loves to speculate. We were wired
that way. Just don't let your imaginations become dogma.
I do not see any evidence in the Bible that the above "theory" is
even implied. We do not learn spiritual truth through meditation, seances,
quija boards, fortune tellers, sorcery, scientific investigation, witchcraft,
horoscopes, the occult or by taking
mind altering drugs. In fact, we are specifically told to stay away from
all such things. God reserves the right to keep His mysteries to himself
or to share them with those He chooses. (Usually that includes anyone who
will ask) He does promise to reveal himself to those who will diligently
seek Him. He does not dish it out all at once. No loving parent
would teach their child things they were not ready to handle. Father truly
does know best.
Doing good works before you are saved is "gold digging".
Doing good works after you are saved is "gratitude".
My wife says she's noticed that I think up most
of this stuff when I first
wake up in the
morning. So now, I'm not allowed to do that anymore.
Salvation is a free gift. If I
gave you a watch for your birthday and you said "Here, let me pay you for
that." I would be offended. On the other hand, if after you received it you
where so thankful (after all it was a Rolex) that you said you would like to
do something nice for me in return that would be good. Likewise, doing
good works before salvation (to get God to give you the gift) is kind
of sickening to God because what you are really doing is trying to suck up to
Him. However, good works done after receiving salvation are not only
nice, but they are a reasonable response to such a wonderful gift.
We love our kids, but would we
really want them to have to earn our love? Would that kind of forced love
even be desirable? Shouldn't we love each of them the same regardless of
behavior? Would it be right for a parent to withhold love to get a child to
perform? Only love given with no strings attached is a desirable kind
of love. Or imagine being in a relationship with someone who thinks you
should love them because they are so "special"... yuck!
Remember the story about the gift
of the Maggi? She cut her hair and sold it to get him a golden watch chain
for his pocket watch. He sold his pocket watch to get her golden clips for
her hair. The sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross was like that. It was a
personal sacrifice. It cost him a lot to give it. That is how we know it was
a gift of real love. As such, we can see it was actually designed to spark a
response in us to want to love him in return. He does not love us because we
are so worthy but rather because we aren't. "For even while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us."
It is easy to give a trinket gift,
bought at the spur of the moment with some pocket change. How much more
special a gift is when it actually costs the giver dearly.
If homosexuality is genetic there would be no homosexuals.
The last I heard the sex practices they engage in do not result in reproduction.
If a person ever had been truly "born that way" they would have been the
last of their breed. God never condemns anyone for a birth defect.
It is not a sin to be born blind. That is how we know that this "life
style" is a choice.
Less than 10% of the population is homosexual...
Therefore, by definition, it is...
Deviant: adj.
differing from a norm
or from the accepted standards of a society.
Perversion: n. an
aberrant sexual practice especially when habitual and preferred to
normal coitus
Aberrant: adj.
Deviating from what is normal; untrue to type.
Abnormal: adj. Not typical,
usual, or regular; not normal; deviant.
Unnatural: adj.
Deviating from a behavioral or social norm.
Immoral: adj. contrary
to standards of what is right or just in behavior.
I didn't say it. The dictionary did.
Is it legal to yell "fire" in a crowded theater?
Is it OK for a man to use his freedom of speech to
pervert the minds of children?
Should pornography be protected under the first
amendment?
An interesting test of what is "good" is to ask,
"What if everyone did it?".
Ex. If everyone practiced homosexuality; that
would be the last generation.
Those who say we should not impose our morality on
others ignore the fact that every law imposes someone's morality on others and
to suppress "bad" behavior.
If a Bible principle is "good" what's wrong with
making it a law?
Is it wrong to pass a good law simply because it
coincides with a Bible principle?
If so, you better take the laws against murder and
a host of others off the books.
In fact you might as well endorse anarchy.
Lev. 19:28 " 'Do
not ... put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
Getting a tattoo or putting on body
piercing is like hanging out a sign that says,
"I'm available; take me. Do as
you will. I'll do anything!" And Satan says, "OK."
If left to chance...
It would be easier for a stone to
evolve into a space shuttle than for a virus to evolve into the
simplest one celled creature. That's one reason we know evolution is a lie.
I just read a story about a Democrat that decided to be a
Republican.
Which proves you are not born that way and you can change!
Open question to Tony Blair
I hear you are very proud that England has become so progressive
and has approved gay marriage. Have you not heard that pride comes before
a fall? Did England learn nothing from the demise of the Empire on which
the Sun never sets? Or does England think that turning it's back on God
had nothing to do with God turning it into a 3rd rate power? I can imagine the
mayor having a similar reaction when gay marriage was approved in Sodom.
At one time I thought I heard you were a Christian. I guess not.
It doesn't matter if intelligent design is scientific or
religious. The real question is whether it is true or not. The
evidence is overwhelming that it is in fact true and that evolution is not even
possible. At the very least intelligent design deserves to be evaluated
with an open mind.
A gun with a trigger lock is like a smoke detector wrapped in
cellophane.
You've got two "trees". The evolutionary tree with its
trunk and many concocted branches vs the tree of life in the Garden of Eden;
which God planted (and, by the way, was not forbidden for Adam and Eve to eat
from and obtain eternal life).
Evolutionist never try to explain where the roots and the trunk
of "their" tree came from. Where did the seed come from that grew their
tree? Since information does not occur spontaneously, that seed would have
had to have all the genetic data to make the entire tree and all its "branches"
(representing millions and millions of unique creatures and plants) built into
it when it was planted. So who planted it? Who made the soil in
which it would germinate and grow?
I think evolutionist are barking up the wrong tree. But
then they have not "evolved" much beyond the canine, so that is not surprising.
They don't even believe that the study of Information Science is real science!
I guess they slept through the biology class that talked about all the trillions
of bits of information stored in the DNA molecule. What came first the
trees (plants etc.) or animals? Since animals breath in oxygen and exhale
carbon dioxide and trees and plants take in carbon dioxide and "exhale" oxygen,
they both would have had to exist from the beginning. Otherwise the
balance of gases in the atmosphere would have soon become lethal to which ever
one the evolutionists believe came first.
The Bible says God created them both in the first week.
That is the only way the whole system could get up and running since
everything is so interconnected and dependant on each other.
If the apostle Paul was still alive, he'd be spinning in his
grave when he saw how far
the church has drifted from the truth and what little impact it
has had on the world.
When Messiah comes
Luke chapter 7:18-22
John's disciples told him about all these things. [the miracles Jesus was
doing] Calling two of them, he sent them to the
Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?"
When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the
Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we
expect someone else?' "
At that very time Jesus cured many who had
diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and
report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor.
Here we see Jesus pointing out some
of the miracles He had done and presenting them as evidence to validate that He
was the promised Messiah. (see Isaiah 35:5-6) These astounding
abilities were to be the hallmark of the "One" that God would send to save the
world and were to be a sign that the kingdom of God had finally arrived.
It was assumed that only God could do such incredible things. The Jews had
every reason to believe that anyone who could do them must be the Messiah.
But the prophecies in the Bible often have two fulfillments or dual meanings.
Today we see that these same "miracles" are again being done. Not by the
power of God, but rather by the ingenuity of scientists and bio-tech engineers.
Some of these "miracles" are already a reality and some are on the verge of
becoming so. To date they have been able to help the lame to walk and cure
many diseases. Even the deaf are being given the capability to hear again.
Soon they will be able to repair lost vision (in some cases they can do this
now) and even raise the dead. (CPR & defibrillators?) Could this be
the other half of the original prophecy? When you see these things coming
to pass, should you start looking for the Messiah?
Wait a minute... suppose the antichrist uses the power of science rather than the power of the
supernatural to perform such feats and then starts claiming to be God? Will
this give the Jews (and many others) the inclination to declare that their
"messiah" has come at last? (Especially when he couples this
with his ability to finally bring peace to the middle east when no one else
could)
After all, many Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah because he didn't bring about
world peace. Even John the baptist had his doubts (as shown above) because
Jesus wasn't concerned with throwing off the Roman occupation. However,
Jesus knew that their real bondage did not come from Rome, but rather from being
a slave to sin. Jesus brought the world an even better peace. The
peace that comes from being forgiven and having a clean heart that is right with God.
(interesting how Rome is still keeping people in bondage to this day, but that
is another story.) If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!
Only one letter different.
I tried to do a word search in the Bible for Hamas
and the closest I could find was Haman.
This name appears only in the book of Ester.
The similarities between Hamas and Haman are incredible. Here is what I
found: Haman was elected to a powerful political position and given a
place of authority. He demanded that everyone bow to him and honor him.
He was very angry that he could not get a certain Jew (Mordecai) to pay homage
to him. In his anger he decided that killing this one Jew was not enough
to satisfy his hatred so he plotted to kill all the Jews in the land. (In
reality Haman was just a puppet in the hands of Satan who has always wanted to
exterminate the Jews) With the king's approval he sent out orders to
execute every Jew; young and old, women and children. Because he received
the kings approval (by trickery) Haman was on a political high thinking he had
achieved his hate inspired goal of eliminating the Jews once and for all.
He could almost taste it. But when Haman tried to strike out at Mordecai,
the tables were turned in a sort of poetic justice and his self-centered
expectation of recognition and glory was given to Mordecai instead. In the
end his immense hatred for the Jews came back to destroy him. The very
weapon he had built to have a spectacular execution of the one Jew he hated the
most (a 75' tall gallows) was used to hang him instead. In the end we see
that God saved the Jews and destroyed their enemies. Just as He is doing
today and will continue to do. Israel will stand; Hamas will fall.
Pride comes before a fall.
Ezekiel 11:17
"Therefore say:
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and
bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give
you back the land of Israel again.'
Curiosity Killed the Country - it started
when we were very young
I was just curious
what it would be like to say "no" to my parents, then to say a "bad" word, then
to steal something, then to shoplift, then to have premarital sex, then to get
drunk, then to drive 100 mph, then to commit adultery, then to smoke dope, then
to beat someone up, then to try cocaine and meth and heroin, then to have
homosexual sex; then to have sex with an animal, then to rob a bank, then
to explore witchcraft, then to watch porn, then to go see a movie about two
cowboys doing each other (you know just to see what all they hype is about),
then maybe to kill some one, then to tell God to go to Hell and see if He
strikes me dead... etc. etc. until
Curiosity Killed the Country.
I'm not afraid of Hell, I don't believe in Hell
And, I don't believe the bullets in your gun are
real, so go ahead and shoot.
(what's worse is when so called christians start
going off on their "name it and claim it" preaching. Or, "if you get sick,
just don't believe it and it will go away!")
Preaching the gospel - use words if necessary
But, what about all the natives in Africa who have
never heard about Jesus?
Well, I guess they might get off, but you
won't.
Even
so, all men are without excuse having seen the creation.
Any man who will seek God with his whole heart will find Him.
Jesus
said:
You have believed because you have seen.
Blessed are they who believe and have not seen.
When "they" politely ignore your message of
salvation, they are not rejecting you,
they are rejecting Jesus.
"Hey buddy, what's that you've got in you hand
there? A fist full of nails? Oh, and a hammer too?" I guess we
know which side you would have been on at the crucifixion.
The main problem with man is not
that he commits sins,
but rather that he refuses to
confess it as such.
Sin is defined by God's law.
It is our responsibility to agree with Him.
It only takes one sin to prove you
are a sinner. The penalty is death.
We must ask God to give us the free,
100% pardon; made available by the sacrifice of Christ in our place on the
cross. (This is what it means, "He died for all.")
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:15
... he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves
but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So we went to war against the terrorist.
We're going to show them who's boss!
Ah, but this war will not be like any war America
has ever been in before.
It is actually a "religious" war*.
Ephesians
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take
your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For
*our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
In the end this war will lead to Armageddon.
The Bible says if Jesus doesn't come back to put a stop to it, no one will
survive.
And now, horror of horrors, we hear that our troops
do not have enough body armor?
"Oh, no!" "Is there anything we can do?"
YES! Here is what they need...
The Armor of God
13Therefore
put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, 15and with your feet fitted with
the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16In addition to all this, take up the shield
of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the
evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Best of all, this equipment is free. It
won't cost taxpayers a dime.
Without it there is no way to win this war and
we are all toast.
While many of our troops already have this
armor, many more are going into battle completely unarmed. The enemy does
not believe any of this stuff is important.
Do you?
You do not get saved by forcing
yourself to do good things for God.
But if you are saved you will
naturally do good things for God.
The addict laments...
that he wishes he could stop his
substance abuse, but he simply "Cannot help himself."
How true this is! The Bible
says the heart is desperately wicked and who can know it?
While he cannot help himself, God
can perform the necessary adjustments to fix him.
Got itching ears?
Some are now teaching that it is
no longer to be considered using the Lord's name in vain to say, "God damn it."
or "Jesus Christ, you're an idiot" etc. Yet I can't help but feel that
most people would be extremely embarrassed if they were caught using such language;
suddenly realizing that Jesus was standing quietly right behind them listening.
I am convinced that
EVERY outburst of anger is because someone did not get their own way. Think
about this the next time you encounter someone who is expressing anger. Since
people rarely use phrases like the above unless they are angry it can be
observed that they are simply exposing their selfishness. Likewise, since
selfishness is a sin, the above phrases are nothing more than an outward
expression of inner sin. To say that using such phrases is not really
sinning is just picking knits.
I suppose one way to reduce the
amount of sin in ones congregation is to simply redefine it as non-sin.
We are not sinners because we curse, we curse because we are sinners. Thank God we are saved by grace for who can honestly say they are without sin.
Even our good works are as filthy rags in His sight. The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it?
Matthew 12:30-37 "He who is not with me is
against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,
but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man
[Jesus] will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good,
or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its
fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who
are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth
speaks. The good man brings good things out
of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the
evil stored up in him. But I tell you that
men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word
they have spoken. For by your words you
will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a
tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is
worthless.
James 3:8-9 ... no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless
evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.
Still not
convinced? Here is the third of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:7.
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
And again in Deuteronomy 5:11
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
(I wonder how
many people have ever even heard the second half of those verses)
It is interesting
to note that we surely must be in the last days...
II Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a
great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Well the official word is out.
Pope Benedict says that despite
the "newly" authenticated Gnostic "gospel" of Judas, he was most certainly not
a good guy nor a hero.
His deeds had nothing to do with
any plan of God and he was never commanded by Jesus to do what he did.
His interest in money far
outweighed any devotion to Christ and he was more interested in himself than
any mission concerning the preaching of the gospel.
He thought he could use Jesus'
"magic" powers to throw off the shackles of Rome.
He was much more political than
religious.
He would sell out a friend he had
known for 3 years for a lousy $30.
Obviously Judas was a Catholic.
Some of us are living a dream.
Dreams are not reality...
and which is which, each must
choose.
We fix our
eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
In John
6:65 Jesus went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to
me unless the Father has enabled him." 66From
this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67"You
do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. 68Simon
Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life.
I guess determining who is living
a dream depends on whether God is real or not.
Luckily this question is easily
answered by answering this question:
"Who was Jesus?" Lord, liar or
lunatic?
I John
5:10 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart.
Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because
he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11And this is the testimony: God has given us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He
who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have
life.
Some "scholars have presented
alternate time lines for the writing of the new testament. There is
absolutely no basis in history for such wild-eyed speculation. In 3 of the 4
gospels Jesus says (concerning the temple in Jerusalem) that it would be torn
down and not one stone would be left on another. This happened by the hand of
the Romans in 70 A.D. Does it not seem curious to you that these writings
(all written from a 1st person point of view) would not say, "And that is just
what happened!" If in fact the temple had already been torn down by the time
the books were written?
These atheistic, "Jesus seminar"
people love to sit in judgment of those who were actually there, saw Jesus
with their own eyes, heard him speak and even touched Him. How can they
expect anyone to believe that they know better than the "eye witnesses", even
though they are blatantly speculating about things that they know nothing
about; and this, 2000 years later! Notice how many times they use the word
"probably"? Based on what? Wishful thinking? If one has his mind set to
reject God and live his own life, his own way, no amount of "fact" will break
through the barrier of rejection they have erected. God, stands at the door
and knocks. He will not break down anyone's door. These "experts" tell the
lost just what their itching ears want to hear.
A man believes what God says
because he wants to (no one else has the words of eternal life) Such a
man wants to be forgiven of his sins and thus be saved. He admits his sin and
gives God permission to change him without any reservations. He puts his
faith (trust) in the power and goodness of God. Others refuse to believe
because they just don't want to. They don't want to be told what to do. They
put their faith (trust) in themselves. The latter group will get to live
their dream: Eternal separation from God. God will give them that because
that is what they chose. When the time comes, they will find out they do not
have the ability to merit the trust they put in themselves. Alas, too late.
Americans are so stupid
I rattle my saber; the
American government gives me stuff. They tax money from their own
stupid people and send it to me! I love it! My bad behavior is
always
rewarded. But, they say I must promise to stop rattling my saber. I say OK and
they believe me! Later I rattle it some more and instead of calling me a liar
and punishing me, they send more gifts and money and ask me to please stop it.
I say I will, but I don't mean it. I throw a tantrum and threaten to burn down
the neighbor’s house. I act like a spoiled brat. I raise the price
of the oil the stupid Americans buy from me. Now they must dig deeper into
their pockets and send me even more money. I rattle my saber some more.
I rattle it so loudly that they forget about the price of their gasoline.
What a bunch of 'fraidy cats! I raise the price of my oil again.
This is such fun! Imagine how many nice things they would give me if I had a real saber!
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
"The beauty of doing nothing is that
you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost
impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are
contributing nothing to society except their constant criticisms can feel both
intellectually and morally superior."
Thomas Sowell
Evolutionists could believe this!
Once upon a time, long long ago
there was a man who cut off his left arm. He hoped he would have a better
chance of survival because he would be able to run faster due to the reduced
weight. He also reasoned that because other men now had more flesh than
he, they would be seen as more desirable targets and would be eaten first by the
wild carnivores. Of course with his new found speed he could also simply
out run them.
He had grand dreams of his children
being born with only one arm making him the patriarch of a new more advanced
species. To every ones surprise and in spite of the fact that these kinds
of mutations are never passed on to the next generation, he actually did
have a one armed child. (who grew up and killed Dr. Richard Kimble's wife;
no just kidding) Actually a whole new branch of homo sapiens (homo
unidextrius) was spawned. One of the great great great great great grand
children actually invented the suit of armor. Never mind that hammering
out a suit of armor would be nearly impossible if you had only one arm because;
given enough time, anything can happen etc. etc.... And of course he built
his contraption to accommodate only one arm.
The grand child soon discovered that
he could wear his suit of armor and be protected from almost anything. He
was fast, undesirable and had a tough external shell like an armadillo. It
was, however, difficult to move and do any kind of meaningful work so he turned
to a life of crime. He found he could rob people at will and there was
nothing they could do about it. Sadly though he had to wear his suit of
armor all the time to insure his survival. Lo and behold, he wore it so
much that, when he had children, they all came out wearing a suit of armor too!
(don't ask how he was able to have intercourse, just shed a tear for the mother
who had them)
So now we have another branch of
homo sapiens representing the ever improving upward spiral toward perfection.
(Homo ridicalus)
Some years later this entire group
migrated to North America to an area we now call the desert southwest. The main
motivation was to escape the relentless efforts by law enforcement to thwart
their lives of crime. They built a large warehouse for shelter and sat
around wondering how they were going to make a living. Then one day a
young man happened to wander into the warehouse to escape the heat.
Now, this particular young man had a
father who always loved telling him to "pull my finger", then the father would
fart and give the kid a quarter. Remembering these "fun times", the young
man grabbed the arm of one the homo ridicalus's and pulled it down. At
that same moment some of the money these mutants had stolen (and stashed away
inside their suits of armor) fell out. The young man ran out of the
warehouse, shouting to all his friends to come and see what happened. Soon
the whole place was filled with people pulling down on the arms and scooping up
the money that fell out of these "one armed bandits".
And that's the logical truth
according to the laws of evolution!
Eventually we
will all evolve into cyborgs. Survival of the fittest demands it.
Warren Buffets billions
Salvation by grace
vs
Al Gore is right concerning global
warming
Psalm 68:6 ...the
rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
Isaiah 30:25 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be
seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days...
Luke 21:25 26
There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in
anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men's
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
II Peter 3:7 ,10,12 By the same word the present heavens and earth are
reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly
men.
The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire,
and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. That day will
bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt
in the heat.
James 1:11 for the sun
rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its
beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even
while he goes about his business.
Revelation 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun,
and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire.
II Peter 3:17 -18
Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so
that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your
secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Tax the rich - till they tip the game board over,
take their jobs and go home.
So you think the
rich are getting too much of a tax break. It's just not fair! You
say they should be required to pay more because they make more. (well
there goes the businessman's entrepreneurial incentive right out the
window) Has a poor man ever offered you a job?
Be careful what you
wish for. There is currently a huge movement to impose global taxes (yes,
on Americans too) so that, among other things, the UN can have its own
army. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, you are not paying
attention. This movement has gained such momentum that it probably cannot
be stopped. You simply would not believe how close we are to having such
an evil thing come to pass. The central power of your political universe
is about to move out of Washington D.C. to ...? to who knows where. Won't
it be fun when you have to file a state, federal and global tax return?
It is my prediction that since the war on terror is global in scope, that it
will provide the excuse that some dictator has been craving to propose globally
unity to fight it.
When the time comes,
don't be too surprised at the amount of crow you will have to eat when you
realize that the rest of the world considers you to be one of the "rich".
So of course you will have to pay more. (back peddle, back peddle)
This is the same logic that has America paying the lions share of foreign aid
and the United Nation's expenses even now. Hold on to your wallets and
don't expect your politicians to go to bat for you. You are about to see
real "taxation without representation". You don't expect this to be a
moral, just, freedom loving government do you? Look at the "constitution"
of the EU.
Well hold your
tongue smarty pants; you are the one that threw the hissy-fit when the
Republicans passed the Bush tax reductions and included the "rich" in the plan.
So you do not have a leg to stand on. And you probably won't have a pot to
pee in when massive global taxation is forced upon you. How does 50-90% of
your income sound?
And you thought the
capital gains and the death taxes were fair for the rich. How are you
going to feel when they decide to take your property and everything you've
worked so hard for, "for the good of the planet"?
But you say, "I only
make minimum wage." Gee, then by their standards, you are really rich!
God created Evil?
Some believe that because God
knew we would commit evil and because He allows it, He must have been the
creator of it. Not so. Evil is an action, not a "thing" so it
cannot be created - only committed. For example, you may know that as
soon as you turn your back, your child will swipe some candy even though you
told them not to. (You just know how children are.) That does not mean you
caused their disobedience/evil. You may even go so far as to allow the child
to take the candy so you can use that as an opportunity to apply the "paddle
of correction".
Certainly God knew He was risking
that evil could happen when he created us with free will; giving us the
right to say "yes, I will" or "no, I won't". In fact He knew it would
happen. There was no way to have one without risking the other.
Consider that you cannot create darkness. You can only create light.
I see a spiritual lesson there.
The following is not Biblical and
is undoubtedly fiction, but sometimes I imagine Satan, (after he
fell), pointing a finger and trying to blame God for his own prideful
disobedience/evil. Saying "Well, you created me this way, it is all your
fault." Obviously God would not buy that argument. So He may have said
something like this: I will prove to you that I can create beings with free
will, who will choose to obey me and love me entirely of their own choosing.
Satan said, "Ha! No way." So God created man and then we fell. Boom! I am
sure Satan said, "I told you so! I win." But God said, "not so fast.";
Unbeknownst to Satan, God had a plan to come and die for our sins and redeem
us. Now many of us have demonstrated that God was right. Beings with free
will can accept and obey their creator by choice out of love. Evil is
not inevitable.
Maybe another way to look at it is
- gravity. God created gravity. And that is a good thing. Otherwise we
would all float away into outer space. Of course God knew when He invented
gravity, He also "created" the possibility that people could fall off a cliff
and die. In fact God knew that some people would die this way, but
He did not push them. In the same way God does not cause people to "do"
evil. He merely sets up the game and the rules and then sort of acts as the
referee. We are the ones playing the game - either choosing to abide by the
rules, or not. Keeping in mind that breaking the rules has consequences.
The wages of sin is death.
I am sure Satan could never have
imagined a referee who would die to save players that were deliberately
breaking all the rules. Amazing grace!
Before I close this topic I would
like to touch on a related question which is "Why did God put us in such a
dangerous environment?" Simply put, if everything was perfect, who would
ever feel the need for God? He knows we are but dust and like sheep need
a shepherd. What kind of a loving God would abandon his sheep?
Certainly we normally choose to run away from Him. Because he gave us
free will, He won't force us to come to Him for help. But dangers are a
good way to help us "choose" to do so. I know that someday the machine I
call my body will need a complete overhaul. I don't know anyone else who
can do the work. Do you?
Do not try to argue a person into
Heaven. That never works.
Only the power of God (as Jesus
demonstrated) can expel demonic influence and cleanse people.
Even if you could convince someone
that God IS real it would not get him to repent. Even the demons believe that
God exists, and shudder in fear.
I really believe that it is God's
mercy that keeps man from really - really believing prior to repentance.
Imagine if you KNEW that God was real
and HELL was real and you were headed there because you were not saved.
I don't think a person could handle
that knowledge and remain sane. So they are kept in the dark where they can
pretend it isn't true.
The fool has said in his heart there is no God, but
God has deliberately designed His plan of salvation to seem like foolishness
to those who are perishing in order to make the wise (in their own minds)
prove themselves to be fools. He says His plan is a stumbling block to the
Jews. Why would He want them to stumble and fall?
Because they need to fall from their lofty perch
before He can lift them up - as is also true for us.
The proof of the Bible vs other
"holy" books is fulfilled prophecy. None of the other books, stories,
religions etc. have that authenticating feature.
Some say, "I will believe it when
I see it", however with Christianity you must believe before you can see,
(seeing is not believing)
Look how many people saw the
miracles Jesus did and still did not believe. Even Thomas. He had to believe
first and then he could bow and proclaim Jesus as his Lord and God.
Being able to see "how" God
authenticates himself to man is information reserved for believers. He did
not show me His "proofs" until after I surrendered to Him.
He will not waste his time trying
to prove himself to the lost, and neither should we. Apologetics is meant to
bolster the often times shaky faith of immature believers.
In the end, every knee shall bow. There are no dead
atheists.
God did NOT tell the Jews to just go in and murder all
the current residents of the promised land like some like to believe. He
would have been violating His own commandment; "Thou shalt commit no murder"
if He did. He gave those
people 400 years to repent and they would not. They were some of the most evil people on Earth; like
a cancer that needed to be taken out. He gave the people of Noah's day
over 900 years to turn around. Sometimes God executes judgment directly
as in the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. Often times God allows a nation's enemies
invade and carry out his righteous judgments. Consider Rome, Germany and
Japan.
I wonder how much time American has left?
Ghouls - at
least they only feed on the dead.