time to relax

so, here we are the last day of 2007. i feel somewhat guilty because i have not taken anytime to write a blog in so long. not that i think i have all that many readers or anything but this blog was created mostly for me to give me an outlet for the thoughts and studies that i do on God and theology. although i do know there are a few of you who do read this blog and so i am sorry i have been so lazy. i would like to make a commitment to blog something everyday in the new year but i think that i would only be forcing myself to write stuff that might not be very well thought out. so, i will commit to no less then one blog a week in the new year. i will however shoot for more. there are way to many benefits in blogging for me to just let it slip off into the "things to do" list of life. so with all that said, i am still going to take the next day or two that i have off work to relax. should i get around to doing a blog i will post it, but more then likely it will be after the new year. which is like a day away! lol! hope ya all enjoy it and stay safe, lots of crazys out there. till 2008 then, may he bless you

Question: Who is Judas Iscariot?

His name:

Judas – the name Judas means “he shall be praised” and comes from Jacobs forth son, Also known as Judah, and Jude.

Though this is a man’s name it was past on with his descendants and eventually became the tribe of Judah and then the Nation.

Iscariot – his last name means “men of Kerioth”. Kerioth being a city of Moab (just a quick side note that I had read that there is a city in Judah named Kerioth as well, but I could not find this in the bible). Is and always has been a thorn in Israel’s side. The name means “of the mother’s father” the people are the descendants of the incestuous son of Lot.

Amos 2:1 “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2:2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet”:

1. Could Judas be from this line and still be a jew?

2. Is the name proof he was an enemy of Israel from the start?

3. could this be a loose interpretation of his name (he shall be praised by the men of Kerioth)

4. What does all this mean?

The son of perdition:

The Lord refers to Judas as the son of perdition, John 17:12 “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled”. The bible goes on to talk about the end of times and what shall take place in those days, 2Th 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”.

Here the son of perdition is also called that man of sin. In the end times scenario the man of sin has another name, the Antichrist! In Rev 17:8 we see the beast (antichrist) will go into perdition. Rev 17:8 “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is”.

Notice also that it calls the beast he that was, and is not and yet is. Judas was (in the days of our Lord’s ministry), he is not (now), and yet is (if he returns and antichrist).

Jesus called him the son of perdition as we read in John 17, we also read that the beast would go into perdition. Now does the bible ever say Judas would go into perdition? No, it does not ever say that. But! The apostles do make a statement that is worth a look. In Acts1:25. “That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place”.

So now we know he was called this by the Lord Jesus him self. We also know the beast or antichrist is called by the same name. we see that the antichrist was, is not, yet is. We know the antichrist will go into perdition, and now we see Judas when he died went into his own place. I think now we should at least be able to see some possibilities. I am in no way saying he is the antichrist, only that there are some verses here that might need farther investigation.

One last note on this point…. When at the last supper Jesus said something like, he it is who will betray me whom after I have dipped the sop will eat of it. Sop… s.o.p, son of perdition!! Hmm?

For my next study I will look at his life as an apostle. I will look at what he saw day to day. See how he lived when under Jesus’ ministry. And muse the question, how can someone so close to life….die so badly

pray!

here is the latest news on this i could find, i find this hard to believe yet nothing shocks me anymore. you would like to think that being raised in a Christian home would make some kind of difference in the way people react. it would seem that the line between the world and Christianity has just become even more obscure.

Gunman had been thrown out of missionary school: police Denver-area man who 'hated Christians' By Judith Kohler, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A police car blocks the roadway leading to a youth ministry dormitory on the campus of Faith Bible Church in Arvada, Colo., early on Sunday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Zalubowski

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The gunman believed to have killed four people at a megachurch and a missionary training school had been thrown out of the school about three years ago and had been sending the place hate mail, police said in court papers Monday.

The gunman was identified as Matthew Murray, 24, who was home-schooled by his family and raised in what a friend said was a deeply religious Christian household. Murray's father is a neurologist and a leading multiple-sclerosis researcher.

KUSA-TV in Denver reported Monday that Murray posted several rants on a website for people who have left evangelical religious groups. The most recent post was Sunday morning.

The station, which did not identify the site, said Murray wrote: "You Christians brought this on yourselves."

"All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you...as I can, especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

The station said Murray's posts were removed from the site after Sunday's killings and authorities were aware of them and investigating.

Police in Colorado Springs were not immediately available for comment on the writings. An Arvada police spokeswoman said she had no specific information about them.

Murray's relatives said they were grief-stricken and baffled.

"Our family cannot express the magnitude of our grief for the victims and families of this tragedy," they said in a statement read by the gunman's uncle, Phil Abeyta, who fought back tears.

"On our behalf of our family and our son we ask for forgiveness. We cannot understand why this has happened."

Five people - including Murray - were killed, and five others wounded Sunday in the two eruptions of violence 12 hours and 100 kilometres apart.

The first attack took place at Youth With a Mission, a training centre for missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada; the other occurred at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, where Murray was shot to death by a security guard. The missionary training centre maintains an office at the 10,000-member church.

"Through both investigations it has been determined that most likely the suspect in both shootings are one in the same," police said in court papers, confirming what investigators suspected early on.

Colorado Springs police said the "common denominator in both locations" was Youth With a Mission.

"It appears that the suspect had been kicked out of the program three years prior and during the past few weeks had sent different forms of hate mail to the program and/or its director," Det. Bradley Pratt wrote.

Earlier in the day, a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said it appeared that Murray "hated Christians."

Investigators have not said whether Murray singled out his victims. But the two people killed at the church - sisters Stephanie and Rachael Works, ages 18 and 16 - frequented the training centre, their uncle Mark Schaepe, of Lincoln, Neb., told The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

Authorities searched the Murray home on a quiet street in Englewood on Monday for guns, ammunition and computer. No one was home when a reporter visited the split-level brick home early Monday. Murray's father, Ronald S. Murray, is a neurologist who is chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Englewood.

Matthew Murray lived there along with a brother, Christopher, 21, a student at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

A neighbour, Cody Askeland, 19, said the brothers were home-schooled, describing the whole family as "very, very religious."

Christopher studied for a semester at Colorado Christian University before transferring to Oral Roberts, said Ronald Rex, dean of admissions and marketing at Colorado Christian. He said Matthew Murray had been in contact with school officials this summer about attending the school but decided he wasn't interested because he thought the school was too expensive.

Police said Murray's only previous brush with the law was a traffic ticket earlier this year.

Senior Pastor Brady Boyd of New Life Church said the gunman had no connection to the church. "We don't know this shooter," Boyd said. "He showed up on our property yesterday with a gun with the intention of hurting people, and he did."

The gunman opened fire at 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission centre. Witnesses said the man asked to spend the night there and opened fire with a handgun when he was turned down. They described him as a young man, perhaps 20, in a dark jacket and cap.

More than 12 hours later, at New Life Church, a gunman wearing a trench coat and carrying a high-powered rifle opened fire in the parking lot and later walked into the church as a service was letting out.

Jeanne Assam, a church member who volunteers as a security guard, shot Murray, who was found with a rifle and two handguns, police said.

"It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," said Assam, whose hands trembled a little as she recounted the shooting during a news conference Monday.

Assam is a former police officer who worked in Minneapolis during the 1990s, Minneapolis police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said. Garcia said Monday night he didn't know the exact dates of her employment with the force and couldn't comment on why she left.

Boyd said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and estimated that 40 rounds had been fired inside the church, leaving what looked like a "war scene."

The father of the Works sisters, David Works, 51, was in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and groin.

"You can imagine, as parents, losing two children coming to church, showing up for a worship service, not bothering anyone," Boyd said. "This is a very godly family, a family that serves our church. One of the young girls just returned from overseas on a mission trip. They're very committed."

Jessie Gingrich, who had left New Life and was in the parking lot getting into her car, saw the gunman get a rifle from his trunk and open fire on a van with people inside. Gingrich said she cowered in her vehicle, fumbling with the key.

"I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously - by the grace of God - it did not," she told ABC's "Good Morning America."

About 7,000 people were in and around the church the time of the shooting, Boyd said. Security had been beefed up after the shootings hours earlier in Arvada, he said. The church had a total of 15 to 20 volunteer security officers inside at the time of the attack, he said.

Some members of the congregation reacted with compassion and forgiveness, in keeping with their faith.

Ashley Gibbs was getting into a car with David Harris when they heard the gunshots, a sound like someone kicking ice from the side of a car, she said. Harris said he saw the gunman.

"I was in the military for about three years, and the way he was holding the rifle looked just like the way we were taught to when I was in the military," he told NBC's "Today" show.

They stayed in the vehicle and prayed for the gunman.

"It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot," Gibbs told "Today." "I just prayed God would bring him peace."

New Life, with a largely upper middle-class membership, was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who was dismissed last year after a former male prostitute alleged he had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with him. Haggard admitted committing unspecified "sexual immorality."

The two people killed at the missionary centre were identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24.

Johnson, who grew up in Chisholm, Minn., loved working with children and wanted to see the world, said family friend Carla Macynski.

"Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old. She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader," Macynski said as she choked back tears. Johnson had travelled to Egypt, Libya and South Africa with the missionary group.

Crouse, of Alaska, was a former skinhead who went through a dramatic spiritual conversion at 18. He had helped build a foster home at a Crow Indian reservation in Montana, said Ronny Morris, who works with a Denver chapter of the mission.

"Whenever somebody asks me to give a specific situation where a kid's life has been changed or transformed, I always think of Phil, because he had such a radical transformation of life," said pastor Zach Chandler in Anchorage, Alaska.

Youth With a Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, said Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission centre in Boulder. The Arvada centre was founded in 1984.

The Colorado shootings came days after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a busy department store in Omaha, Neb., killing eight people and himself.

short story

a young man moves away from home. his mother did not know at the time but he was rooming with a young woman who was close to his age. the mother then comes for dinner. as they eat he tells her all about his new roommate and assures her that they are just roommates and they stay in their own beds. the mother does not say much about it and soon goes back home. the next day his roommate can not find the gravy dish that belongs to her and starts to wonder if his mother could have passably taken it. he tells her that is a crazy idea and there is no way his mother would do such a thing. well the roommate says that maybe so but the fact is as it was here before she came, and  it is not anymore. so the young man writes his mother. "mom he says i'm not saying you took it, but the gravy dish is gone and the fact remains that it was here before you came and now is missing. a few weeks go by and he gets a letter from his mother that reads, "son, i'm not saying you are sleeping with your roommate but the fact remains that if she was in her own bed at night she would have found the gravy dish i hid there".

ah the wisdom of parents. much like the wisdom of our holy father and we think we pull the wool over his eyes but they see right through us over and over.

rules to live by

Rules to live by


I listened to a message recently (yes by john piper!) that talked about rules that we as Christians can live by to insure your walk with God remains a walk with God. I was asked to post them so here they are.

1. Read and meditate on the word of God. Memorize scripture. And set up a time and place to do so, also pick a reading plan that suits you. Do not deviate from your plan or set times to read, EVER!
2. Look for God in your reading, look for Christ in your reading.
3. Do not avoid reading about the wrath of God. (Neh 1:11) “ O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer”.
4. Learn to preach to yourself, (Psa 42:5) “ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” You can see in this psalm a kind of preaching himself back into hope in God. DR. Piper says to stop listening to yourself and start talking.
5. (1Th 5:17) Pray without ceasing. The idea here is to keep an open line of communication with God at all times through out the day. Let him in on your train of thought. I am convinced that a lot of the bad things we do in life can be avoided by involving God. Here John Piper says to do your IOU’S! Meaning prey this everyday.
• I – incline my heart oh Lord (Psa 119:36) Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
• O – open my eyes (Psa 119:18) Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
• U – unite my heart (Psa 86:11) Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
• S – satisfy me my Lord (Psa 90:14) O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
6. fight every known sin in your life, (you will not win but fight anyway)
7. Share your faith everyday – be a stream flowing forth unto life eternal, or risk becoming a dead sea.
8. Spend time with godly people (1Sa 23:16) And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
9. Read bios of the great men and women of the faith.
10. Read Christian/theological books.
11. Eat, exercise, and rest the way your body was meant to.
12. Look to nature and see it for what it is. see the wonder and glory of God in all of it, for this is why it’s there
13. Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others, everyone needs prayer. I do not mean to belittle the prayers you make for others. But it’s the easy thing. the hard thing is going to someone, coming out of your comfort zone and letting them know you care. The hard things cost you more but always have a better return on your investment.

Write these rules across your life! Follow them and you will follow him!

Ok well there they are I hope they are a blessing to someone, enjoy and God bles

warning, maybe???

as of right now this is just hear say. i heard some things about the move the golden compass so i did some Google action and found some pretty hefty clams about it being anti-God and pro atheism. here is just one of the reviews i found. like i said i do not know that this is true but it's worth looking into and a movie with this kind of a shadow i think i will be avoiding all together. kids have enough to worry about these days with out movies about killing God.

the claim - click here

the writer answers - click here

the news - click here

my opinion, with all due respect i think he is full of it. i think you can hear the way he talks about religion and power and close mindedness and so on and see that he is bitter and cold toward the things of God. he is not foolin me with those answers.

with that said the movie it's self looks really cool, i love fantasy movies and would probably really enjoy it, but until i can prove it's not about killing God and promoting a world free of religion.... i will not watch it

please let me know if any one else has any info on this.

cute story

i do not put stuff like this up here cuz i think, though they are cute story's with a point i kinda get sic of the over load of these type of story's. they are in devotions, email, and so on. i fear they have started to over take peoples love for the word. but now with that said i thought this little story was cute and has a great point to it. so enjoy! oh plus i love ice cream!!!!




Two Nickels and Five Pennies... When an ice cream sundae cost much less, a boy entered a coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" "Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. "How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table, and the waitress was impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she said angrily. The little boy again counted the coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream." The waitress brought the ice cream and walked away. The boy finished, paid the cashier, and departed. When the waitress came back, she swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies--her tip. Eph. 5:8b...Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)

forgiveness

fast facts

im not putting this up here and saying its all true, but i had fun reading them so i thought i would share.

fast facts about Religion.

About 50 Bibles are sold every minute.

Christianity is the world's most widespread religion (1,7 billion Christians).

The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.

The Slavonic Orthodox Church has twice as many adherents as the Baptist Church.

The 12 disciples were not were not allowed to carry food, money, or extra clothing.

Delilah was given a few thousand pieces of silver to deceive Samson into revealing the secret of his strength. (NKJV) Judges 16:4-5: "And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, 'Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may over power him....and every one of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver.' "

Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible, and lions 55 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned at all.

The Bible, the world's best-selling book, is also the world's most shoplifted book.

The oldest almost-complete manuscript of the Bible still existing is the Codex Vaticanus, dating from the first half of the 4th century, now held in the Vatican library.

The word "Christian" appears only three times in the Bible: Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16.

Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not contain the word "God."

There are 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

The 66 books of the Bible is divided into 1,189 chapters consisting of 31,173 verses. The Old Testament has 929 chapters, the New Testament 260. (King James version)

The King James Old Testament consist of 592,439 words consisting of 2,728,100 letters and the New Testament 181,253 words consisting of 838,380 letter (total 3,566,480 letters).

The longest line in the Bible is Esther 8:9 - 89 words, 425 letters.

The longest word in the Bible is Maher-shalal-hash-baz: Isaiah 8:1.

The shortest verse in the NIV Bible is John 11:35: "Jesus wept."

The longest book chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, the shortest is Psalm 117.

Obadiah, with 21 verses consisting of 602 words, is the shortest book in the Old Testament, and the third shortest in the Bible.

II John has the fewest number of verses of any book in the Bible - it is the shortest book in the Bible.

III John has the fewest number of words of any book in the Bible.

Job is the oldest book written in the Bible - it was written by an unknown Israelite around 1500 BC.

Malachi, written about 400 BC, is the youngest book in the Old Testament.

James, written around 45 AD, is the oldest book in the New Testament.

Revelation, written about 95 AD, is the youngest book in the New Testament.

The verse in the exact middle of the Bible is Psalm 117:8. There are 594 chapters before Psalm 117 and 594 chapters after Psalm 117.

St Paul wrote 14 (of the 27) books of the New Testament.

The covering for the tabernacle was made out of ram skins and sea cow hides: Exodus 36:19.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say there were three wise men - Matthew 2:1 only says: "Magi from the east came to Jerusalem" and later they present three gifts. More

The word "Lord" appears 1855 times in the Bible.

The word "God" appears in every book except Esther and Song of Solomon.

The word "grandmother" appears in the Bible only once: 2 Timothy 1:5.

The word "eternity" is mentioned only once: Isaiah 57:15.

Seven suicides are recorded in the Bible.

In Old Testament times the Mediterranean Sea was called the Great Sea.

There are 7 different Jeremiahs in the Bible: 1 Chronicles 5:24; 12:4, 10, 13; 2 Kings 23:30; Jeremiah 1:1; 35:3.

The raven is the first bird mention in the Bible. It appears in Genesis 8:7, when it is sent out from the ark by Noah to see if the flood waters have abated. The second bird was a dove, in verse 8.

Almonds and pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the Bible.

A chariot imported from Egypt cost around 600 shekels of silver (1 Kings 10:29). That would be about $77,000. One shekel was 4 days wages.

The word "trinity" is not mentioned in the Bible.

Methuselah is the oldest man on record: 969 years old (Genesis 5:27).

The 10 plagues of Egypt:
1. Water turns to blood
2. Frogs
3. Lice and fleas
4. Flies
5. Cattle die of diseases
6. Boils and sores
7. Hail
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
10. Death of first-born

The 7 last plagues (Revelation 16):
1. Sores
2. Sea turns to blood
3. Rivers turn to blood
4. People schorched by heat of the sun
5. Darkness
6. River Euphrates dries up
7. Earthquake

The 7 Fathers of the Church:
St Athanasius, St Gregory of Nazianzus, St John Chrysostom, St John of Damascus, St Basil of Caesarea, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Cyril of Alexandria.

During the 6th Century, it was customary to congratulate people who sneezed because it was thought that they were expelling evil from their bodies. During the great plague of Europe, the Pope passed a law to say "God bless you" to one who sneezed.

The last word in the Bible is AMEN.

flavers

so i have been thinking a lot about this emergent church thing. i have read about it, heard a message on it, as well as a long answer about it in a Q&A that i happened to download (it was off topic to and that made it ironic to me). it would seem that for some reason God has put this movement into my sight for the last two days in a row. so i have pondered the things i have heard both Good and bad and thought i would give my thoughts. i think and hope that Christians who are so against the emergents are so because of a total lack of biblical truth in the movement and not because of the way someone might dress or because of the style of worship that goes on. i really believe that there are things we should never depart from, and then there are things that the bible just does not talk about that i think comes down culture and personal likes and dislikes. i see nothing wrong with diverse styles of dress all worshiping together as long as everyone in the congregation is ok with that. i see nothing wrong with using video or modern music in worship. i do not have any problems with there being a different style of Christian. if that where a problem then all the world would have to become Americans to please God. and i think thats hog wash. the bible does not tell us what style to use, or what kind of music (other then psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs). i have to believe that God left the door open on some of these things for a very good reason.

now when it comes to the bible being the word of God, doctrine, and statements of faith i have to lean toward the conservative with a heavy lean. i think there is no room to question the gospel, or God's word. i think there is no room to question how man kind is saved, how we are to serve, and the lives we are to live. the bible is clear about sin, hell, and Jesus Christ being the only cure. for me i think this is where the emergent church has stepped out of Christianity compleatly.

is there a middle ground?
i hope so! and im starting to believe there is. i just heard about a congregation tonight for the first time that is a mix of both. there statement of faith would give most of the Christians i know a heart attack. yet i do not see anything that is against the word of God. also, they believe it is the word they believe in hell, and sin. they seek to live for Christ everyday. yet they will have rock shows on the stage there, and let people come as they are to worship. still they believe in living a moral God exulting life. im not going to say i agree with everything they do but i think we can learn from the way they seek to look past the outward, in order to get to peoples heart. the place where God is concerned with.

here is a clip out of the "who we are" section of their web site. im not going to say who they are for the sake of not promotoing something i don't 100% agree with.

"What We Believe
When it comes to doctrine, culture, preferences, traditions, lifestyles, politics, behavior, etc., blank Church takes a “closed-hand/open-hand” approach. The closed hand hangs onto the non-negotiable tenets of Christian orthodoxy: sin is the problem, Jesus is the answer, the Bible is true, and Hell is hot.

The open hand, however, allows room for differences when it comes to secondary matters; we liberally allow freedom for conscience and wisdom to guide where the Bible is silent. The open hand fosters unity among the diversity of expressions found in the congregation: Democrats and Republicans, soccer moms and indie rockers, carnivores and vegans, trendy bohemians and Microsoft nerds.

Hence,(enter name of church) is in favor of good beer (in moderation), great sex (in marriage), and even tattoos (Jesus has one). But our goal must always be love and concern for our friends so that we don’t enjoy our freedom at the expense of their faith.

In this way, we are seeking to simultaneously heed the Bible’s commands to have sound doctrine (1Timothy 4:16; Titus 1:9, 2:1), to love our Christian brothers and sisters (1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:7-21), and to avoid unnecessary divisions (Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 1:10, 12:25; Titus 3:10)."


something to think about....
maybe we just need to except that not everyone is like us, and maybe just maybe we might not have the only way. my pastor once said this. "when i was young i thought we had the only way, as i got older i started to think we have the best way, after a few more years i thought we had a good way, and now i realize we have a way." i know he was not talking about there being another way to salvation. he was talking about how we do church. and i think he is right, as long as you have the big things right you have "a way"

lol

God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts!

do you know him?, or just know him

you know your wife, most would say they know their wives better then most 0ther people. what if i where to say that i bet i know a stranger who knows her better then you. you would more then likely think i was crazy. well i do, you see just about any doctor worth his or her salt knows your wife better then you. they know her circulatory system, her bone structure, how she digests food, even how to fix her when she breaks. they know her better then you. BUT! they don't know anything about her. i think a lot of us end up in that kind of relationship with God. we study theology and eschatology and so on. we read book after book studying about God but never getting to know a single thing about him. what a tragic thing this can be. to wake up one day and realize you spent all those hours in the books, in the class, at the church, and you never met Him. i think this happens most times because we do not see God and we think to study about him is getting to know him. it is a simple enough mistake. God does not want us to only know what he does, he wants us to know who he is. God wants to be the biggest part of your life, the closest of any one to you. don't get caught up as a med student for the rest of your life just learning about how a women works, Get married!

secularism and atheism kills

have you ever heard that more people have died in the name of religion then any other. i have to, the thing is this is just not true. a fast look into history will revel the truth. militant atheism and secularism have always been behind the worlds most horrific massacres. though it is often said to be religion that has been the guilty party. again history proves other wise. according to World Christian Trends AD 30 - AD 2200, by David Barrett and Todd Johnson, the number of Christians killed by atheists is up about one hundred million, that does not include Jewish and other non Christians they have slaughtered. in fact Ravi Zacharias has said that you could take all the people who have been killed by all religions from the start of history till now and it would not exceed the number of people killed by atheists in the last one hundred years. that i can not prove but just knowing who Ravi is i will take him at his word. it is a staggering statement though. history proves over and over that when a government is run by atheists, they come looking for the Christians and kill them.
we know what the bible has to say about the end of days, we know this will not get better. DR.R.C.Sproul says that he believes the time is coming and the church needs to get ready for another large scale persecution. i do not know if that is true but i do know that the more you look around the more you see it's not only ok to hate God..... it's become cool.






this is just a glance at what has become common place in our day. advertisements like this one are printed in your city's papers and all over the web. at what point will we take a stand and say this has become to much!

vanity

Ecc 2:17 - Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

this whole chapter is great! it does a really good job of reminding us that only a life lived for God is a full life. all else is empty and vain...

just a nice movie

lords prayer

ye who have forgotten ye where clean

2Pe 1:2-11 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; or "sin", as the Latin Vulgate version rendered it. all men at some time or other fall in this sense of the word, this does in no way imply a final and total fall from grace. for though they fall, they shall rise again by faith and repentance, through the grace and power of Christ, who is able to keep them from falling: also, while they were exercising the graces within the text, and doing those duties, they will not fall; for these are the means of final perseverance.

perseverance also implied here in Ephesians,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

the earnest (down payment) of our inheritance being the Holy Ghost, meaning he lives within us keeping us until he comes for us or we go to him hence, "the redemption of the purchased possession". the Christian being the purchased possession a purchase made with his own blood.

now, lest we forget the awful case the man is in while he is not performing these graces let us look again to the text as it reads, "he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins". the blind fall in the ditch, they are bankrupt, they have to beg for money just to eat (this may have been true in the new testament days for the blind man as apposed to today, but the spiritual application applies in any time period) and can not prosper in any way. they have forgotten, forgotten they where clean of the former sins. forgotten what God has done in them, they have gone a whoring after strange God's.

Psa 44:20 -21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

he shall search it out, for though we may forget. the LORD forgettest not! let us then praise he who does not forget us, he who has grace enough to forgive us. who goes past just forgiving to actively seeking his sheep and calling them, though they forget him from time to time.

finally, let us think on this; " Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure"
diligence will make our election sure, diligence in what? how do we make our election sure?

" giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity".

a check list of sorts, can your election be sure? it can, but we must give diligence to these things. it would be a worth while study to find out the biblical meaning of each one of these words... don't ya think.

my thoughts today

Jhn 3:27
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

just when you think you can not be forgiven...

we as humans always tend to think of God as one of us, we think that he feels and thinks the way we do. that's incorrect, God is 100% good, and 100% love and righteousness. people are fallen, and flawed at best. there are so many things i can not forgive myself for but i have faith that God has. i can have this faith because unlike people, God loves with out condition. the bible says that while we where yet sinners Christ died for us, you see we had not done anything to deserve to be loved yet he did the most loving act in the history of time. he sacrificed his son for people who hate him. he loved us when we where yet in our sin and rebels against God. we also must not try to reason from our point of view up, but we must try to reason from God down to us. you see, we can not forgive things that God has no trouble forgiving because God loves in ways we can not yet comprehend. when he gave his son on the cross he knew that there was not a single sin that this love could not wash away, no matter what it is, our death giving sin is not so much as even worthy to be compared to to the life giving blood of Jesus Christ. let's think on this next time we can not forgive, ourselves or others.

sadness becomes joy

... and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

yesterday would have been my best friends 29th birthday had he not committed suicide three years ago. it was a very sorrow filled day. after work i went out to meet his family at the grave site, again much sorrow. but the LORD started to turn things around for me there, the family came to me and asked if i would lead all of them in prayer. it was hard to do but i was happy to do it, also i felt some joy in that the family came to me to draw close to God in this time. the pain and sorrow of the day started to melt. after we went back to his mothers house. we talked about old times and new. through out the conversations i came to find out that his mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and brother in law have all come to know the lord as saviour. they are all in a local congregation and all very excited about their new found faith. the LORD took my sorrow and made it joy!! a thing only he can do.

i miss you john paul, rest in peace brother!

my thoughts on the promised land

anyone who was at f.b.b.c. for the mid week service will remember how pastor used the crossing over Jordan and entering into the promised land as a kind of picture of where the church is now and so on. i heard a different message altogether.

as the children of Israel leave Egypt and enter into the wilderness we see a kind of salvation there, but they have not completed the journey by far. 40 years spent wondering and wondering trying to get it right. i see in this the christian who has come to faith but is also wondering trying to get it right. so then after many years they arrive at the promised land, they cross over and it's easy street from there....right? NO, there is war waiting for them in that land. the difference is that now they have God to help them fight the battles. pastor said here, now that we are here don't just sit down and do nothing. it's time to go to war! time to win the battles. but i just thought of the christian who thinks that when he does find vital reality with God and he finally stops his wilderness wanderings, he thinks, oh man now i can relax, now its easy street. oh no my friends, the bible shows us when we become closer to God when the christian does find his way out of the world and into the light, the battles get heaver and they hit harder. we enter into his rest because now he is there to fight for us, not with us! but for us! for the battles are such as you and i on our own can never win.

how we battle sin

a must see! and please don't let the music and dancing throw you. it's the message that makes me keep watching it. (and i happen to like the song to but we won't go there).

Godtube

oh and this 2

Who is this man?

Who is this man that kicks us when we are down? Where does he come from, and how does he know we have just fallen. Unless? Is he also the man who tripped us up in the first place? That way he can watch as we stumble and time it out just right. How can he time it out with such perfection? Who is this man that will not seem to ever let up? Day after day kicking and kicking. Does he ever tire of all this toil? Does his foot ever hurt after such long bouts of thrashing and stomping? Who is this man that knows the right way to kick? Where did he learn this talent of such precisely placed pummeling’s? Maybe it’s instinctive. Who is this man who kicks us when we are down? Will he win? Or will the man who picks us back up again win? And who is this man who picks us back up again? Where does the man come from? Is he always there waiting for the dust to settle so he can reach down and scoop us up? Who is this man who knows when you are hurt, who knows when you have taken your final blow? This man who thinks not of himself, but of the well being of battered souls. Does he get tired of reaching down and lifting us up? Or does he tire of hearing the one he lifts complain and curse concerning the beating he just took? What of his feelings? Does he not desire well wishing for good deeds done? Will he ever get them? Who is this man and who is the other, one in the same or one in another?

down for the count!

i have not updated my blog, not out of laziness like normal. i just got home from park ridge hospital. i was admitted there Monday morning. last Friday as i was leaving work my ears where just a bit tender and achy. by the next morning i knew i was getting at least one ear infection and maybe two, off to the dr. i go. he tells me "you have two outer ear infections" oh boy super just in time for the holiday weekend right! by that night i knew i was in for it, both ears where draining and this nasty yellow stuff was running down both sides of my neck. it was sic! but as sic as it was it was better then when i woke up in the middle of the night both ears 100% plugged nothing coming out anymore and pressure you would not believe. by Sunday a.m. i was a mess, the left side of my face was all puffed up, my ear looked like i had been a wrestler my whole life (cauliflower ear i think they call it) well it looked like one any way. the pain was unreal, i have had these in the past and they are always bad but this was not like anything i ever had before. there was no way to stop it for any amount of time. but other then the pain the deafness has been the worst part, i knew something was wrong when i went to take a shower and i could not hear it at all. it's a strange thing you feel very weak, almost helpless with out your hearing. i got scared cuz i thought i was going deaf forever, but i stayed home one more night of utter agony. Monday i was going to the hospital. at this point i had been taking all the meds my doc gave me sense Saturday a.m. and it has gotten worse and worse like i never took a thing. off to the e.r. i stumble, driving around like a drunk im shocked i did not get a dwi on the way. but i made it, they get me in not to long, and get a cat scan to see whats going on. the infection had gone from the outer ear (where it was on Saturday) to the inner and the boney part with the fancy name, and out of the ear to the area around it, down into the jaw and was threating to enter into my bones. the guy came back and goes hey dave don't plan on going anywhere for some time. i thinking oh boy, what does that mean? are they going to start operating on me or what? so anyway, no cutting. just a whole lot of bags of antibiotics and tubes to open the ear canals to get drops in and all that fun stuff, and three days later im home and as deaf as can be. yup still deaf, still wanting to hear anything other then the ocean and my own heart beat. not fun things when your trying to sleep by the way. but, im ok. funny thing how i was so out of it but my dad came up from p.a. to see me and i swear from the second he walked into my room and woke me up i snapped out of it and have been getting better ever sense. strange how Gods timing is.

Desiring God

so, I'm reading the first book from the shipment of books i got from John Pipers ministry www.desiringGod.com they had a $5 all book sale and lets just say i took advantage. well so i thought i should start at the start, reading Desiring God. i am and it's has been such a blessing in just the first 50 pages. Piper starts out with how he became a Christian Hedonist, then goes right into what that means. it's really just a shocking way of saying God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. what has really stood out to me is not that so much; but that glorifying God is what it's "all" about. Piper says "the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever" a play on the words of the original, and "the chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself forever". that grabbed me, is God really so stuck on himself? again a piper quote "nothing pleases God more then God", and "he delights in his glory above all things". well i must say the first thought i had was "i object!" but i read on, he said he received much help from Jonathan Edwards in his book, the end for which God created the world. any one with a major objection to this thought is directed there. he goes on, "God's own glory is uppermost in his own affections, in everything he does his purpose is to preserve and display that glory." he poses the question i had thought of, "can he still be loving if this is true?" how can a loving God be so enamored with self? 1 cor 13:5?? in my own words, yes God not only can be loving and have his own glory be the uppermost in his affections, but furthermore that's the most loving thing he can do. all through out the bible God commands we praise him, again is this just some cheap way of getting glory from man? no! because God is the most wonderful, glorious, most good in all of creation and beyond; he has to first, love himself and have his own glory uppermost in his own affections, and second demand the same from us because to love that which is ultimately loving is the most loving thing. to demand we praise that which is ultimately praiseworthy is the most loving thing. for us and for God we must have God and his glory be the uppermost of our affections, anything less is idolatry. God can not love anything less then himself the most, and to command the same from us is the most loving thing he can do for us...or something like that, it's pretty deep and I'm just starting to scratch the surface. if it is true that Gods glory comes first and is why he does all things, it makes a huge difference in the way we view the things God has done through out history.

a time to play!

so, i have not added any posts to my blog in some time and just thought i would update it by telling where i was. i went to fair haven n.y. camping and then to the renaissance festival. the camping trip was great, i have never camped there before and there was so much to do i never had a dull moment. as for the festival, it was neat in many ways yet i do not suggest anyone go with a family. there was some drinking going on as well as lots of references to the occult. it put a damper on the day and made me wish there was a Christian renaissance festival, though i'm not sure what that would look like because from the way it looks the renaissance was all about getting drunk, eating, and witchcraft. i did get a super cool quill and ink well so it was all worth it!!! all and all it was a super trip and i got some very well needed time away from everything. the day i got home i slept for 14 hours and have had so much energy sense it has made this week fly by, if you have never slept a whole day and night away give it a try some time....its good!

thoughts on God at 2 am

i often marvel at God, day by day asking why God do you do things this way or that? take for instance me. why am i a Christian? why me when i know so many others much better then i who are so lost. i have nothing to offer him. i have few skills, a major lack of patience, a temper, and so on. a man who at the very depths of his soul is purely wicked. yet he loves me so, yet he died for me then found me when i was lost and brought me to him. why? why not others? if it is their choice why do they not choose it? how could i have done that? (i really do mean to pose this question im not leading into anything that has to do with theology here). men with twice the mind and schooling are perishing as this fumbling moron hears from God day by day. he tells me his plans and all about his nature and his love for man kind, we have a very close relationship. still at this very moment their are men with doctorate's in divinity who think he is some kind of angel.
when i ponder these things i tend to get down on my self because i really am all those things and i really feel there must have been someone other then me who could have made better use of this salvation. the only answer that comes is that he uses the base things of the world so he gets the glory. and i praise him for that daily! i do not want to sound like thats not a sufficient answer for me because it is the perfect answer!! amen and amen!!! still, it overwhelms me that he can work through such depraved people. he is so great and i am so meager and he wants to be close to me. how, why, it can't be it seems, how can men refuse a God such as this?

witnessing

i have been witnessing to a girl in Texas over the web - here is one of the longer e mails i sent. anyone who maybe seeking answers to big questions, please read all of this!

Hello, so glad you replied. I will take your answers one at a time and do my very best to show you from the words of God himself the answers. This is going to be very long, but please I beg you take the time to look through it. There is nothing that is more important in your life, and there never will be.

You said – “I believe in something bigger than myself and bigger than
humanity, yes. Is it God, I don't know. If so, it is only a glimmer of God. It gives comfort and hope, but not forgiveness, peace, or joy.”

Is there a God –(Heb 11:3) “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Act 17:24) “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth); just by using common logic we can easily see in the world that nothing never makes something. It can not mathematically or physiologically happen. When in life we see things that have been created we know with out ever seeing him who created it, that there is a creator. Therefore when we look at the creation as a whole we know there must be a creator, even though we see him not. If I where to go on a walk through the woods and came upon a painting the last thing I would ever say is, that painting just evolved into a painting. No no! I would say well then a painter was here. If I came upon a building in the woods, though I saw no man it would matter little, I would no doubt say a builder was here. So, we look at creation and say, a creator must exist. The first words of the bible say , (Gen 1:1) “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” We must believe this before we can even read another line and get anything from it. If we read that and say, “well im not sure but ill read on” it will almost always be a waste (not always because the word is quick and powerful able to give life). Hebrews says “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is” and “for with out faith it is impossible to please him”. Ok so before you can really truly worry about anything else you must believe that he is.

The glimmer –

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

When God created man he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (I will touch on this again), God gave man a living soul so that we are in his image. God is one being in three persons or parts. We are one person in three parts. body, soul, and spirit (do not let this confuse you or get to stuck on the difference between the soul and spirit right now as it is not something you should focus on yet). The point is he has put something in you to be a kind of witness of himself. We have something in common with him and so we are sort of tuned in to feel God around us and in the world. Sin is the problem, it cuts the line of communication from God. (Rom 5:12) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

Moreover; God has written his law upon your heart so that you are with out excuse. Did you ever notice how that no matter where you go in the world all of man kind have almost the same morals (on the grand scale that is), things like don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t rape. Even an island in the middle of the ocean will have people who know and try to live by the 10 commandments almost to the letter. Why is this? (Rom 1:20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (Rom 2:15) “Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Romans 1:20 says that we are made in a way that when we look around us we should know that God is there, “clearly seen” is what it says. And so we who never give him the glory, honor, and credit for it are without excuse. Romans 2:15 says that we all have his law within us and this is why men are different from dogs. We care about morals because God does and has made us to care. If we came from the earth and just evolved over time this would not exist. I’m off topic sorry. So to recap, you feel a glimmer of God because he made you that way. Jesus is the light that is lighting you, God made you able to see the creation and see him in it, and put his law in your heart.

You said – “I believe in the
soul, but I'm not sure I believe that my soul is a single, discrete thing. More like... maybe, hopefully, there's this miasma of Soul-ness (if you will) from which I and all others came, and to which I will maybe hopefully return. But then again, I have felt the presence of a soul I know to be a single being, so what does that mean?”

Man, a living soul – (Gen 2:7) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” We are a very specific being created in such a way that we mirror God. I hear people talk of the spirit world and how all things are one, that all is connected and so on. This is an eastern religious belief. Reincarnation and so on, It is very far from the teachings of God’s reviled word. We are given one soul and it is an eternal thing that never goes away. we shall go with it to death eternal in hell, or life eternal in heaven. (Psa 86:13) For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell” )Pro 23:14) “ Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell”. (Mat 10:28) “ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

There is an afterlife, and it will be spent in hell, or in heaven. All who die in trespass and sin shall see destruction in hell. As we said, God has given his law to us, we are without excuse. The judgement looms over us everyday, (Jas 4:14) “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” We are not promised one more day, and (Rom 14:12) “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

(Rev 20:11) And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

(Rev 20:12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

(Rev 20:13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

(Rev 20:14) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

(Rev 20:15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Please do not be confused when it says he judges according to works, that is only for the lost who are being judged for all their sin.

Will you go to heaven? –

You said -
As for Heaven... No one gets a free pass there. So no, I will never believe that I
am going, because to believe that is to grow complacent, and complacency leads to
sin. Now, whether or not I believe in Heaven at all is a different question. I've
always tried to take a kind of Pascal's Wager view of religion, but it's never
worked for me because you can't truly Believe if you're only doing it to improve
your chances…..and - Heaven is not a goal in my opinion. It
is a reward for a life well lived…..and - you earn it….

Please do not take this the wrong way, im not trying to be mean, but! You could not be more wrong. Wait! Don’t get mad! Ill prove it!

1^st no one gets a free pass? That’s just what it is! A free gift of God

2^nd complacency leads to sin? That’s a catholic view, its called the sin of presumption. It’s false, or the apostles where is sin.

3^rd believing to improve your chances – your right in a sense, but you can improve your chances, and go a step farther by knowing for sure by believing.

4^th you earn it? Oh no my dear, this is your most deadly mistake. Everyone and every religion in one way or the other thinks this way. They only earn their way straight to hell.

1 – men are fallen we can not do anything good in God eyes until we are reborn. Rebirth is a free gift, salvation is free!!! Rom 6:23 “ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom 5:15 But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

2- can we know we are going to heaven? 1Jn 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” John 20:31 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

3 – this will answer it’s self in the others.

4 – can you earn it? No.

Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved;) this is saying you are dead in sin, but he can make you alive forever through Jesus by his grace.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. You see it’s a free gift from God, not of anything I can do for if I could do anything I would boast of my salvation in myself and not in God. I boast, but only in Christ for he saved me for free! It cost me nothing. It cost Jesus everything!!

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: all are the same without Jesus, under sin! But!

Rom 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

Amen amen amen!!!!

This is what it all comes down to right here, we are dead in sin. We can feel God only because of his grace and love towards us in that he made us this way. Still, we must respond to him. We are not able to work our way out of the sinful state we have worked our selves into, so. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not parish but have everlasting life!!!!!!!! There is nothing we can do of our selves, Jesus did it all on the cross. His blood paid the price of sin for all the world. All we must do is trust in him, confess, repent (turn from sin to God, fight sin everyday and draw closer to God through his word and prayer and going to worship at a bible based church), tell him we trust in his sacrifice for our salvation. Call out to God today and tell him you’re a sinner who needs salvation, call out for mercy and he will give it!

(Rom 10:13) “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

I do hope this has helped, I know its long but it is the most important thing you will ever do in your life!!!! Please reply with any questions, or comments. And may God bless you as you seek him!

Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

true or false

i read this the other day and I'm not sure what to think about it. should anyone feel up to it please let me know what you think.

is this true or false, and why do you think so?

If God and man have nothing similar between them; there is no common basis for communication between them.

Colossians 1:14-17

Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

in whom we have redemption, or apolutrōsis:
1) a releasing effected by payment of ransom
1b) liberation procured by the payment of a ransom

where as our eternal life was being held ransom by the fall of mankind Christ paid for (or) redeemed it with the price of his own blood, the just for the unjust!!
the forgiveness of sin was necessary for it was sin its self that held us in derision from God. whereas sin entered the world and death by sin.

the image of the invisible God:

not invisible to Christ but to us, man having no way of seeing God in his lost state. for unless a man be born again he cannot see even the kingdom of God and hence shall not see God.

the first born of every creature:

first-born points to eternal preexistence. we must be very careful not to misread this as the first of all created beings - this is cleared up right away with the following verses

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

the first book of our bible tell us; in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. john expounds upon this in the start of his gospel, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, all things where made by him! if any man wants to point to this passage as a proof text that Jesus was the first created being, they are sorely misled and blinded by their own fallin nature. this passage can only be used to prove that Jesus Christ is God himself, that he is deity. it can only be used to show how God came to earth and paid the sin debt of man with his own blood, setting striate that which man made crooked. note that all things where made by him and for him, proof text of God's sovereignty. he created all things and hence has ownership rights over his creation. whereas we think all things to be ours and to be created for us; God is very clear in his purpose of creation of "all things" that they are for him and his good pleasure!

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist:

before all, all, all things!! not the things just metioned here. Jesus is before everything. he has no start, there was nothing before him and there will be nothing after him to speak of. he is from everlasting to everlasting. this again just makes me ponder how JW'S can read this and say "look he is the first born", implying that Jesus was made. if only they would put the text into it's context the mistery would solve it's self. he is before all things and by him all things consist. not only is there nothing that ever was before Christ but by him all things consist. i take this not as a repeat of verse 16 but as a new statment alltogehter. not only did he make all things but by him they contunue to consist. he his the very fabric that holds all things together in the universe. i once heard a man say that as the roman solders where whipping him, he was holding the whip together in time and space, and not only so but the men using it to rip the flesh from his back. should he have willed it so he could have let go and they would have fallen into nothingness before the crowd. he did not let go from holding them together though. he maintained them as matter and life so they could carry out his will, so they could preform the task for which they where made.

funny posters that are so true

i found this really cool blog tonight and they had a bunch of these posters that kinda poke fun at the emergent movement, some are funny but others like this one i think nails down a chuck of truth thats been floating in outer space for far to long!

a new day

my mother used to say this in the morning before she would leave the house. when she died suddenly at 55 years old it started to have a new, more profound meaning. life is but a vapor that appeareth for a little time and vanisheth away.

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as he wills; I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important, because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.

God is Good All The Time!!!!

God is good all the time. he is trust worthy and faithful when we are not. he is strong when i am weak, and so he does carry me by his precious Grace. this past winter was a very dark time for me in just about every way possible. my life outside of church, my life in church and any other point that has just about anything to do with me in anyway was bad. i was struggling just to stay afloat.
But why?
i had no real clue who God was and so i could not tell what was what. when your vision of God is so far off i think everything you learn about him is just a bit off to the left. i had way to much head knowledge, not all good, not all right (and it never will be)but what was worse yet i had no application of it. i never took time to ask God who are you, what do you want from me, and so on... i have asked those questions now and im still working on who God is. i know I shall be working on that one for all of forever (praise him for that), for i can think of no better thing to do with ones time then to spend it in the study of God. i think it is most important to have a God entranced vision of all things. for once i take my eyes off of how God relates to everything i may be putting my hands to; i run the risk of doing that thing in my own strength or worse yet trusting in the strength of some other thing and committing spiritual fornication. this is just how i have lived my first two years of Christianity. it almost crushed me. the burden of walking in ones own strength is one that is to grievous to be borne. God has moved me from the city to a small town, from a job i hated to a job i love, and has been most gracious in opening doors for me to minister to other Christians as well as evangelize to the lost. yes, God is good all the time. no, not just when things are good. for had he not let me stay in the fire i would never have learned the things i have. i must love and glory in him when things are grand, And not only so, but glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

what kind of love is this?

Joh 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Joh 11:2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
Joh 11:3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Joh 11:4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Joh 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
Joh 11:6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

Jesus gets news of his dear friends sickness, the man whom thou lovest it sayes of him, and goes on to say not only did he love him but also martha, and her sister (mary). now the passage says that he loved them all and because he loved them he abode two days still in the same place where he was. this is implied by the therefore. he loved them, "so" when he heard he was sick he stayed put? what kind of love is this? this is not the love that we know. this is not human love........ it is so much deeper then that. so then what is it? why did he remain.

it is because this suffering was not worthy to be compared to the joy, and the vision of God that they should have at the completion of the event. he had something greater in mind then just the easing of the pain. we as humans are so focused on our pain we will give up all knowledge of God, every vision of him because we can not see past it. but Jesus could see, and he loved them so much he stayed put. even though it brought him no joy in the moment. for when he got there he wept. but he loved them more then we can know. enough to let them suffer this pain so that they could see God work right before their eyes. you see that was true love, love we know so little of, he could have ran to him and stopped the suffering right then and there. but he loved them, he loved them so he stayed. he stayed long enough that when he came they would see God more clearly.

easing suffering is not the highest love, it's bearing with it and holding tight in it if need be!! that the people may see God more clearly when he shows up. that is the kind of love that God loves.

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

all praise and honor and glory be unto his name, for he and he alone is worthy of it!!

i was left behind.

Ok, well not really. i finally watched the movie "left behind", about time right i know!! this movie is based on the book left behind that started the left behind series ( authors Dr. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins). i have never gotten into Christian fiction books so it goes with out saying i never read any from the series. but i must say, i did enjoy the flick. even for those of us who may not agree with the order of the events that take place in this movie, i think if we keep in mind that it's just a movie and not a documentary.... it can be enjoyed. so, i hope if there are any Christians out there who have not seen this move because they do not agree with the rapture or when it will come or anything like that.... i say, go rent it anyway. it was good fun, and it's not everyday they make good movies that name the name of Jesus!! ok well thats all for now, i have yet to finish my study on colossians 1 so.... ill be working on that next.