While you were sleeping...

People tend to think of horrific images when they think of satan; red body with horns, evil beastly features with long teeth, straight out of a horror film. Actually he can  present himself very beautiful, charming and appealing. Well the truth is, the bible calls him the great deciever and father of lies. Way too often we tend to forget him for  his deceptive ways. In my line of work I had the opportunity to access sensitive material pertaining to terrorists ideals. I can tell you that they are very organized, mission oriented and patient when organizing their attacks. They are fully surrendered and dedicated to their mission to the point of giving of their lives.We as Christians on the other hand, sadly have fallen for the devils schemes and lies, giving him the results he wanted : disunity among the church, idolatry among believers ( lovers of pleasure, materialism, and other worldly desires ) mediocrity, and boredom, and the end result : dying or dead congregations of " believers".
   Satan, like terrorists has a plan also. He works night and day to do nothing but take as many people to hell with him as he can. Shouldn't we as Christians work just as hard doing the opposite? There is a story told explaining an interesting characteristic of frogs. If you were to place a frog in a pot with cold water and gradually turn up the heat, the frog would stay in the pot till it was boiling.
Satan has been using that on  humans for a long time. Take a look at the movies and tv shows that are on tv today. If you were to have viewed the same shows  30 years ago would you not have culture shock? We gradually accept a little "bad" at a time and next thing we know we are way out of line from where we started. C.S Lewis in his book "Screwtape letters" says that the easiest road to hell is the "gradual one, soft under foot". There is a world of truth in that statement. Examine yourself to see where you stand, are you  in hot water and don't even know it? Like the terrorists, we are called to die to earthly desires and distractions and give fully of our lives to the mission at hand, which in our case is sharing Gods love to a dying world. If we don't reach them with the good news, satan will definitely not miss a chance to snag them. A current popular tv show is called "The walking dead", unfortunately this phenomenon exists. Satan has the wool pulled over the eyes of so many Christians to the point that what God considers worldly ,( materialistic habits or distractions) we accept as normal American pastimes. Gods word says that we can't serve two masters. To whom is your allegiance? seriously? It's time to wake up, game is on and it's not to be taken lightly!

"Pope" you're not serious?

People never cease to amaze me. God made humans smarter than the animals but apparently many of us fail to take advantage of all our brain cells. Recently there has been alot of media attention surrounding the "pope". In all of my 44 years I have never once read in the bible where I , you or anyone else for that mater, needs a pope! Most catholics I know want to live life the way they want anyway so why would they embrace a religion with so many rules, regulations and man-made nonsense. Once again, wasted brain cells. Jesus on the other hand offers freedom where "religion" offers regulations and restrictions made by man. Look for yourselves...contrary to what your "priest" tells you, you can own a bible and read it and apply it to life. You don't need a priest or pope to access God. God himself is just a prayer away from right where you are. Use the brain God gave you, it's not rocket science, it's common sense!

Thats the facts Jack!

Unfortunatley it appears that a great number of "belivers??" still believe that the " hymns" came down the mountian with Moses and the ten commandments. Well guess what, they didn't! From my experience, the congregations that have grown  the most are the ones that have finally layed aside the meaningless man-made "traditions" that are merely  superficial and  that have nothing relevant to do with salvation. To believe that a "church" must contain pews, stained-glass windows, a piano, hymnals and be topped off with a steeple is simply not biblical at all.We have become very near-sighted and have accepted beliefs that were just passed-down or we simply are just taking someone elses word to be Gospel instead of opening the word to see for ourselves. I tend to believe that the singing in Heaven will be very energetic. I don't think God would allow Heaven to be filled with music such as would be heard in a funeral parlor. In fact, if we were to actually open our Bibles we would find what Psalms 33 says:

Psalm 33
 1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Notice here several characteristics. 1. Emphasis on the word Joy : Some folks sing as if they just lost their best friend, don't we have something to be happy about? If not, then I suggest checking your spiritual pulse! 2. Instruments : Yes, and they are not limited to the piano and organ! 3. New song : Yes, you read it right a NEW song..not the same songs that were sang hundreds of years ago! 4. Shout for joy : Here again is the emphasis on being loud and joyful. Why is it that we can freely express our excitement in the football stands but have much less zeal in expressing excitement over God loving us so much that He sacrificed Jesus in order that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven?? There are those of us who have layed aside meaningless customs and have embraced God, and I mean every day of the week, not just on  Sundays. If you seek God you will find Him. If you find Him you can't help but to sing Him a new song out of the overflowing joy of your heart....and when you do, you can't help but to use a familiar language and style that represents how you feel...not how someone else felt a hundred years ago.

And by the way...

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the Lord.^[a]

Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

 

 

 

A note on " Love" for Valentines Day...

Contrary to popular belief, "manliness" is not defined by how big his truck is ,how big its pipes are, how loud its pipes are,how many cars are in his garage or how much money is in his bank account.
Anybody can play follow the leader. Real "men" are not afraid to go against the current, ( "He who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd"). It takes guts and courage to do the right thing as opposed to the popular thing. Over 2000 years ago a man gave His life showing us the ultimate example of "manliness". He sacrificed his time for His neighbors. He helped the outcasts and diseased. He loved and cherished children, as opposed to abusing or neglecting them. He humbled himslf instead of exalting himself ("A man all wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.") He was'nt afraid to cry and ultimately He gave His life for others out of love.Yea, the definition of a man has kind of gotten distorted over the years but on this day, lets not forget the example of He who for the love of His Neighbors stretched out His arms to show us how much He loved us and was nailed to a tree: 1 John 3:16

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters

Where is the victory?

As a teen I used to enjoy watching a popular tv show at the time, called "Unsolved Mysteries" I remember in one episode a young boy who was unusually smart for his age , and he said something that I still remember. "The death of our nation will be like that of the Roman empire...the worship of sports and entertainment." I could relate to that some then but I certianly understand now. I enjoy watching a good game of football just like the next guy; and yes, I have been guilty in the past of making football an "Idol". Something really sat uneasy with me today when I heard a local minister say that " We will not be having services tonight due to the super bowl." It's a sad thing when the Christian community, who is supposed to be "seperate" from the world embraces it!

   I have always harped on the fact that our priorities in general, have greatly  hampered the growth of our personal relationship with God and the success of the effectiveness of the church in society. As I have said in previous posts ,what we do with our time proves what or who we serve, whether it be TV, sports, material things of the world, popularity, or God. Someone recently said " If God doesn't destroy America, He certianly owes Sodom and Gomorah an apology." Strong words, but a lot of truth in that statement. What does this say for you church?, hundreds of thousands meet every weekend in their massive "sanctuaries" to worship their idol (sports) and every week in our much smaller sanctuaries there are plenty of empty seats and a lot less enthusiasm over the topic at hand. To sum it up church, I think we have "dropped the ball ". Read your bible, pray...no, really...pray, set aside time to get to know God and you will find that you REALLY do have something to cheer about.This world is very temporary, the next life never ends, where will you spend it...your actions will tell!

What a difference a second can make!

I have had a couple of close calls "near-death experiences " if you want to call them that; in recent weeks. In one incident a friend and I were driving down a local four-lane road when we decided to slow down and stop to take a look at a car that was for sale along the road. Just as we passed an intersection I heard wheels squalling and looked in my rear-view mirror to see a car that had excessively ran through a stop sign , hit the front of the car behind me and flip over just a few feet behind me. Fourtunately, no one was killed.That incident constantly reminds me that death is just a second away ; from me , from you and every living soul. I began to realize how precious life is. I began to realize that I need not take the blessings in life for granted! I began to think about words said that should have not been. I began to think of words not said that should have been , love expressed that was not, hugs given that were not and spiritual conversations shared with the broken hearted that were never spoken.
My dad always told me, as he dropped me off at school in the 7th grade "Son, today is the first day of the rest of your life." Thats a very true statement. We can not change the past, but we can greatly influence the future. In this crazy world  of  hustle and bustle  take time to stop and smell the roses. We never know what tommorrow brings cherish Gods simple pleasures, love those in your life who need it, you know who they are. Forgive those in your life who need it...you know who they are as well. Be the person God is pleased with, you never know at what second you will be standing face to face with Him. Live smart and live each day as if it were you last...it very well could be.

If at first you don't succeed...Read the Directions!

Lately there has been alot of talk about gay marriage among other issues in our culture. Folks debate about their rights and freedoms and way too often fail to consider the  long-term conseqences of their decisions. In my pride I often tackle a task such as assembling a Saturday morning project ( book shelf for the wife, rocking chair for the porch) and toss the instructions off to the side only to later realize that if I had followed the instructions the project would have worked properly and not have broken. I personally have two careers. As a carpenter a project is never started without referring to the blueprint. Failure to do so would result in a flawed, poorly built , unsafe structure. My second career is in security. As officers in that line of work we have "standards of procedures" that we follow to ensure that we are correctly and efficiently performing our duties required of us, straying from the proper procedures could result in a "leak" or weakness in security, and ultimately our job would be at stake. Our society also has gudelines that we live by, they are called laws. Failure to abide by them usually results in fines or inprisonment.
    It's no big mystery, most of us who are sane know, respect, and understand that if we neglect to follow the laws in life, there are consequences, whether its public laws, guidelines at school or on the job. A lot of people however seem to have forgotten that there is also Gods law, His blueprint for our lives. Don't go there..saying that the Bible is not real or irrelevant...Many  non-believers who have set out to PROVE the Bible is fantasy or fiction ( C.S. Lewis & Josh Mc Dowell for example), ultimately in their research and findings found that the Bible is exactly what it claims to be  ( I will spare you the thousands of findings and endless details which they discovered.)
   It comes down to this; just as we have laws in our land to keep us safe, protect us and to prevent total chaos, God has given us guidelines in the Bible that are there for our own good. Just as the engineer who designs the blueprints for buildings, God our engineer, out of His LOVE for us has given us guidelines in life to protect us, keep us safe and show us the road that, in the end will have the greatest return....eternity in Heaven as opposed to Hell.Think about it,this weeks tragedy in Conneticut for example, we wonder why we have guns in schools,something that was not an issue 25 years ago....It's because we have PUSHED GOD OUT! The absence of light is darknes,the absence of holiness is evil...plain and simple. So go ahead, dust it off and give it a read...you might just find that alot of problems in your life can be resolved after all! God shows us His life plan for OUR own good,not to make life more difficult. In His own words: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30)