December 2009
Preparations for Sufferings:
"Seeing that Paul's friends were attempting to dissuade him from following
the path that God had set out for him, Flavel notes that it is our duty
to obey God. He states emphatically that 1) '"divine precept, not providence,
is to rule out our way of duty' and 2) 'no hindrances or discouragements
whatsoever will justify our neglect of a known duty.' Paul's response to
these entreaties was simply that 'I am ready.' ...it is a matter of his
'will and resolution,' that nothing can alter his fixed purpose."
See
Persecution
The Manhattan Declaration by
John MacArthur: "Here
are the main reasons I am not signing the Manhattan Declaration, even though
a few men whom I love and respect have already affixed their names to it:
...Although I obviously agree with the document’s opposition to same-sex
marriage, abortion, and other key moral problems threatening our culture,
the document falls far short of identifying the one true and ultimate
remedy for all of humanity’s moral ills: the gospel. [which] is nowhere
presented... in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed,
that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views
held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches
and what it means to be a Christian."
See
Don't conform to the ways
of the world
November 2009
The Right of Conscience in the
Age of Obama: "DeCarlo
protested that as a practicing Catholic, she had strongly held religious
beliefs against killing unborn children. Though she had repeatedly and
in writing made her belief known to hospital administrators since she was
hired five years earlier, DeCarlo was told on that day that if she did
not participate, she would be charged with 'insubordination and patient
abandonment.' That meant she might lose her job or her nursing license
or both. Despite repeated tearful pleas, DeCarlo was refused....
"Randy Pate, a political appointee at HHS who helped formulate the Bush
conscience regulation, told us the Obama administration may have been surprised
by the pushback against its efforts against conscience rights....
"The
Planned Parenthood website states that 'it is unethical for health care
providers to stand in the way of a woman's access to safe, legal and professional
healthcare.'... The irony is that the government created the conscience
crisis by abandoning its duty to protect human lives. When the Supreme
Court made murder legal, it imposed an unprecedented conscience threat
on the medical community. The opposite right not to participate in abortion
isn't just one competing interest among many. It is a plea from a uniquely
important profession."
See
Opening Prayer, Kansas State Senate
"...for such a time as this."
"Notice Esther's amazing patience. The request on her heart would affect
countless lives across the empire, but she knew she must wait. There was
no need hurry as God unveiled His perfect plan!"
October 2009
Will Safe Houses be Needed Again?
"This is but another example of the growing anti-Israel and anti-Zionist
sentiment (that Dr. Martin Luther King, in 1967, correctly labeled anti-Semitism),
which many see as rising to pre-WWII levels, especially in Europe, but also
in the U.S. ...Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is on record as saying
'It is 1930 and Iran is Germany.' Others have noted the similarities of
the anti-Semitism of the 1930’s, not only in Iran, but in Europe and even
in the United States....
"
Prior
to WWII there were about 8,300,000 Jews in Europe. Six million perished
in Nazi ovens. A little over a million were able to emigrate to various
countries throughout the world, including what is now Israel. Over a million
survived not only in Germany but in other European countries controlled
by the Third Reich. How?
Christians put their
lives on the line to save fellow human beings by providing safe houses
for those fleeing the Nazi death machine.... Yet, did not the Jews and Christians
in Germany in the 1930’s think the coming atrocities to be inconceivable?
Many waited until it was too late. Is it possible that the Holocaust was
a preview of more horrific things to come?"
See
Things We Couldn't Say
"...we have
this treasure [His Spirit] in earthen vessels [our bodies], that the
excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed
on every side, yet not crushed... perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed... that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:7-10
September 2009
No Gardasil? No citizenship...
Teen facing deportation for refusing unneeded meds for STD:
"The 17-year-old was on track for citizenship, attendance at Pensacola Christian
College and a career as a teacher, until she ran into Gardasil The drug
was added to the list of vaccinations required for female immigrants in
2008, but the teen has declined it. For one thing, it's purpose is to protect
against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus only. Simone has taken
a virginity pledge and doesn't see she why she should be forced to take
it. The dangers of the vaccination are not lost on her either; it's been
documented to cause serious injury and death."
See
Trusting God
August 2009
Judge requires statement that
abortion ends life:
"A judge in South Dakota has concluded Planned Parenthood must tell potential
abortion customers that the procedure will 'terminate
the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being'. U.S. District
Judge Karen Schreier ruled this week in the case that was launched in 2005
when state lawmakers approved the new consent law and Planned Parenthood
filed a lawsuit. A temporary injunction obtained right away by
the abortion business went all the way to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals before the justices concluded the state can require the delivery
of accurate information and the injunction was lifted." See
Perseverance
June 2009
Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon:
"We have to bear the sneer of the world... [but] its soft words...
its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and
become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this
present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the
trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn
in pieces by the roaring lion, we may be hugged to death by the
bear. The devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys
our love to Christ, and our confidence in him.
"I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose
her integrity in these soft and silken days
[well, they are not quite so silken
anymore]
than in those rough awake now, for... we are most likely to fall
asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality,
and our love to Jesus a vehement flame."
See
Watch
A new religion masquerading as Christianity:
"Liberal 'Christians' abhor 'fundamentalist' Christianity, so they cast it aside
and adopt their own set of religious beliefs and values. Times have changed,
after all, so they feel it's incumbent upon them to bring Christianity out of
the Dark Ages into our postmodern world. Christianity must shed its traditional,
orthodox beliefs to blend in with the popular culture....
"Before I came to know Christ in a saving way I was a liberal 'Christian.' (That
was before the liberals coined the term 'progressive Christian.') As all liberals
do, I molded Christianity into my worldview. Problem was I kept running into
a road block — the Bible. I rarely read the Bible but when I did I'd invariably
stumble on a passage that contradicted what, at the time, was 'true for me.'
I admit it troubled me but I chose to ignore what I'd read and remained steadfast
in my mission to form Christianity into my way of thinking..."
Don't conform to the ways
of the world
May 2009
Be Watchful!
"...the early Christians... went everywhere with their lives in their hands.
We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions:
if we were, the Lord would give us
grace to bear the test.
But the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not
so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery
age.
"
We
have to bear the sneer of the world-that is little; its blandishments, its soft
words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger
is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions
of this present evil world, and lose our faith. ... I fear me that the Christian
church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days
than in those rougher times."
April
2009
Daring to Refuse Compromise
Students fear 'anti-religious indoctrination':
"Elected student leaders at American River College in Sacramento, Calif., have
adopted a resolution that seeks to protect classmates from the 'anti-religious
and political indoctrination' of professors and others on campus. ...
[these student leaders
had endorsed Proposition 8 in support of the Biblical definition of marriage].
The elected leaders since then have 'been embattled with the leftist faculty,
student organizations and administration on our campus.'... When the conservative
student leaders faced an unsuccessful recall because of their views, the Associated
Press described them as 'politicized Christian fundamentalists.'"
See this spiritual battle
from the opposite side:
Truth or Lies? Rick Warren's Moral
Facade <
The evidence for Biblical accuracy
& One Way to God: "'How
can I prove to my atheist friend that Jesus was God incarnate and that all other
'prophets' (Muhammad, Joseph Smith, etc.) were just men?' asked a visitor to
our website. 'How can I can I show him that Jesus is the ONLY WAY to God and
His eternity? And how can I explain it without making him say, 'How narrow-minded!
It's ridiculous to assume that your religion is the only way.' Those important
questions deserve answers...."
March 2009
I Found God in Soviet Russia Chapter
15: Russia's Religious "Freedom":
"Every time I hear Soviet propaganda about freedom of religion in Russia, I
think of the thousands of political prisoners in the slave-labor camps whose
chief and frequently only 'political’ offense is that they believe in God and
worship Him by trying to live Christian lives in keeping with the teachings
of the Bible. The Soviet state has democratically made no distinction among
religious groups: it has had as its objective the extermination of them all.
...at
Vorkuta, the smaller groups were by no means more ready in yielding to persecution."
February 2009
I Found God in Soviet Russia -
Faithful in Life and Death:
"On a bleak winter night, the furtive shivering figure of a prisoner could be
seen outside the barracks building next to ours. While the eerie light of the
search-lamps illuminating the barbed-wire barriers of the compound was reflected
on the snow, and the wind blew in frigid gusts, this fellow would walk back
and forth, back and forth, trying to keep warm despite the sub-zero wind. At
any sign of a Russian guard coming toward the area, he would quickly return
inside.... For meeting here this night in Vorkuta was the Church behind Barbed
Wire. This is the real church in Russia, the branch of the Christian Church
which no delegation of visiting foreign clergymen is going to be permitted to
see."
I Found God in Soviet Russia - A
Stunning Blow: "Desperately
I prayed that night in Weimar Prison. My life was in God’s hands... It was 1950.
My sentence would run to 1965. I was almost twenty-seven years old. Must I remain
a prisoner until I was forty-two? Even then, would I ever be released?’ Was
it my fate to be only a nameless, unknown prisoner of Soviet state until death
should release me in some Siberian slave camp?"
"...we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be
of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not
crushed... perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken...."
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
January 2009
I Found God in Soviet Russia - Chapter
8: More than Coincidence:
"Muehlberg concentration camp, built by the Nazis in 1940 to house prisoners
of war, was one of those which the Russians took over intact with scarcely any
interruption to make the change of management. As time went on (and I was there
for eighteen months), this place came to have a double meaning for me: I
was to witness evermore cruelty and injustice—which was God’s plan for
me—and I was to undergo a further test of my faith through being
exposed to an ever deepening depravity."
Man refuses to drive 'No God' bus:
"A Christian bus driver has refused to drive a bus with an atheist slogan proclaiming
'There's probably no God'. Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, responded
with 'shock' and 'horror' at the message and walked out of his shift on Saturday
in protest." See
Spiritual Warfare
November 2008
A German lady remembers Nazi "Change":
"...in my homeland, Adolph Hitler was elected to power by promising 'Change.'...
Yes. Change came to my homeland as the new leader promised it would. The teachers
in German schools began to
teach the
children to sing songs in praise of Hitler. This was the beginning of the
Hitler Youth movement....
"Little
girls and boys joined hands and sang these songs as they walked home from school.
My brother came home and told Papa what was happening at school.... I will never
forget my father's face. Grief and fear. He knew that the best propaganda of
the Nazis was song on the lips of little children."
See
Cultural & Political Corruption
An unchanging God in our changing
times: "For the past
several months we have been praying that God would have mercy on our country
and give us what we need and not what we deserve. We now know that we have been
given what we deserve. But let us not lose hope.... Remember that 'God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth should change (Psalm 46:1-2)."
See
Don't conform to the ways of the
world
September 2008
Things We Couldn't Say:
"When I first arrived at the Scheveningen prison, I had to stand with my face
to the wall.... I was ordered to undress, and they searched me.... Thank God,
I had got rid of everything. Then I was sent to cell 306 in the A-corridor,
where I was the fifth prisoner in a one-person cell, three meters long and two
meters wide. ...there was only one bunk, a hard bed in the back with a thin
mattress.... One of the prisoners, Lies Karel, was a nurse who had done a lot
of good Resistance work before she was arrested, I eventually grew to trust
her, though at the very beginning I trusted no one. I had heard that there would
be informers.
"...some
of us scratched marks into the wall to count the days we were there, The others
would keep an eye on the door, stand against it to cover the peephole.... I
had managed to save a bobby pin in my hair when I was arrested, and I used it
to scratch a Bible verse into the wall, It was a verse that always brought me
comfort, even though I had no idea what would happen to us: '“Lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end.'”
[Another
prisoner, Beatrix Terwindt, wrote a long poem describing the torturous last
months of her life. Here's a small portion:
“Do you think about God?” she
asked,
“No, Sigrid, no. God has gone
away, God is dead,
Just smell the stench of the
burned people,
look at the smoke rising day
and night from the ovens."...
"God, 0 God, heal my wounds
before I die,
They hurt so much I can hardly
walk,
Give me my last wish, that I
can walk erect and die a brave death...
They say that you are dead,
God, what should I believe?
What can I hope for?"
Those who
truly belong to Him,
know the answer: We have a
glorious hope that shines far beyond the struggles
and suffering of this world.
See also
Endurance
August 2008
Discernment: Spiritual Survival
for a Church in Crisis:
(By John MacArthur) "Today's church is like the religious leaders of Jesus'
day, who could tell the difference between superficial things like pleasant
and stormy weather, but not between truth and error (Matt. 16:1-3). So many
churches have relinquished biblical ethics and doctrine, a deep reverence and
worship of God, repentance over sin, humility toward God and fellow believers,
and a profound understanding of God's character and work. All that has resulted
in a low-level commitment to holy living....
"Spiritual
discernment is the skill of separating divine truth from error. First Thessalonians
5:21 says we are to 'examine everything carefully.'"
See
Biblical Discernment
May 2008
Christ is all in Life or Death:
"Whitefield used to say, 'I am often weary, in the work, but never weary of
it,' and such was, doubtless, the attitude of our apostle. He loved to serve,
yet longed too for the hour of release, with no selfish motive in it, for his
one object was Christ, whether in life or in death."
See
Trusting God
March 2008
Termination of two tenured Bible
professors at Cedarville University:
"Those holding the 'assurance-but-not-certainty' view argue that since God alone
is omniscient, He only can know anything with certainty. Mortals may not claim
certainty in knowing anything. ... the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures
can not be known with certainty, only with assurance or confidence....
"Several
lines of thought lead me to reject the 'assurance-but-not-certainty' view
(hereafter referred to as ABNOC)... (1) such a view directly denies the Scriptures,
and (2) demeans and, indeed, blasphemes the person of God. As to the first:
note the use of "clearly" and "without excuse" in Romans 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.' 'Clearly' and 'without excuse' ... are all-inclusive. If
one can arrive on Judgement Day and demonstrate that God's communication with
humans was uncertain, then such a person would have an excuse. But the verse
unequivocally asserts that such is not the case....
"A
second reason to reject the ABNOC view is that it blasphemes the person of God.
If God does not make certain the terms of entrance or avoidance of Hell, He
is unfair, unjust, and unholy. You do not threaten individuals with the most
weighty consequences of life in less-than-certain terms, and then consign them
to endless suffering. ...
"It
is the hope of many of us that Cedarville not become a casualty in the truth
war by slowing sliding into a form of Postmodern belief which guts the certainty
of the Gospel. ... Leviticus 5:1 may be paraphrased thus: 'If a wrong has
been committed and it comes to issue, those witnesses who have seen or known
of it must come forward to testify. If they do not come forward, they are guilty
of the offense committed by others.'"
See
Wearing God's Armor and taking
our stand
December 2007
The real war on terror:
"An invisible spiritual war has been raging since the beginning of time, and
people everywhere are involved in its battles -- whether they know it or not.
While God reigns in the midst of the deadly struggles, our primary antagonist
is Satan. This master-manipulator has been granted a limited measure of power
and authority in this world -- but no more than God has allowed for His own
purposes."
See
Unequal Contenders in the Spiritual
War
November 2007
Taking a Stand:
"...you came to a crisis when you made a stand for God and had the witness of
the Spirit that all was right, but the weeks have gone by, and the years maybe,
and you are slowly coming to the conclusion, ‘Well, after all, was I not a bit
too pretentious? Was I not taking a stand a bit too high?’
"Your rational
friends come and say—‘Don’t be a fool, we knew when you talked about this spiritual
awakening that it was a passing impulse, you can’t keep up the strain, God does
not expect you to.’..."
October 2007
Truth Saves Student and Teacher
in North Korea:
"...a teacher placed two plants at the front. She said, 'I’m going to demonstrate
that God does not exist.' One plant she called, 'God’s plant,' the other, 'The
Dear Leader’s Plant,' which is how Kim Jong Il, leader of North Korea is referred
to. The teacher said, 'Well, if God exists, he can look after his own plant.
And we will water the Dear Leader’s plant, and we’ll see which fares better.'
After a few weeks, God’s plant had withered and died, while the Dear Leader’s
was green and strong. 'So,' cried the teacher triumphantly, 'how could people
be so silly as to believe in God if he cannot even manage to keep a little plant
alive!' At that point a child put up her hand and asked innocently, 'Does the
Dear Leader water the forest too?' The child was disciplined, but the teacher
thought more and more about the question, and in a few months, believed in the
God who made and sustains every living thing in creation."
See
Called to Total Commitment
City hikes Boy Scouts’ rent by $199,999
over gay ban: "The land
belongs to the City of Philadelphia but has been leased since 1928 for that
token sum [$1 a year] to the scouts, who built the landmark Beaux Arts building.
That lease came into question only after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2000
in a New Jersey case involving an openly gay scout who was barred from serving
as troop leader. The high court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale ruled,
5-4, that the scouts, as a private organization, have a right of 'expressive
association' under the First Amendment to set their own membership rules....
For that reason, scouting officials initially greeted the Supreme Court's ruling
as a victory. That mood quickly evaporated, however, as local government officials
around the nation began reexamining long-standing preferential relationships
with scouts." See
Wearing God's Armor and taking
our stand
September 2007
Taking a Stand.
The Right Life For The Last Days:
"Folks, the gospel is being watered down. It is the pure Word of God and the
pure Gospel that saves. Today we are seeing a complete opposite of that. What
is being taught today is that all roads lead to Jesus and that you can find
Jesus just about anywhere."
repeat
Opening Prayer.
"We know Your Word says,
'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We
have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that
-
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism...
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem....
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom..."
August 2007
Beliefs that were more important
than life: [England,
16th century] "...men and women in the sad days of Queen Mary's reign suffered
martyrdom for the sake of Jesus... [So did a girl named] Rose Allen.... Her
mother and father had long been suspected of heresy, and one morning very early,
about two o'clock, the bailiff of Colchester and his called to take them both
to prison for attending a gospel service.
"Her mother
was far from well, and she asked her daughter to go to the kitchen and get her
something to drink before she went to the prison. Rose went downstairs and found
the kitchen full of rough men who had come with the bailiff. Among them was
a man named Tyrell, who stopped Rose and told her to try to persuade her parents
to recant, but she answered: 'Master, they have a better Instructor than I,
for the Holy Ghost doth teach them, Who I trust shall not suffer them to err.'
Tyrell then grew very angry..."
Read the rest, then see
Endurance with joy
Journalist released from custody
but loses job: "Chinese
authorities released Zan Aizong, a journalist who reported the Hangzhou City
police using force to demolish an unregistered church building and beating hundreds
of believers on July 29th. Zan, the former China Ocean News Zhejiang Province
bureau chief, was arrested on August 11th for 'spreading rumors and disturbing
social order.' Two days before his arrest, Zan received a notice from his employer
that he was 'no more suitable for the job.' As a journalist, Zan said in a telephone
interview on August 20th, 'my responsibility is to report the truth, even though
it means losing my job.'” See
Wearing God's Armor and taking
our stand
Christian
Foes of 'Da Vinci Code' Mull Tactics
(registration required): "'I think we really have to see it, at least
some of us,' said Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary....
"But in recent weeks, calls for boycotts and protests have grown louder....
'Christians are under no obligation to pay for what Hollywood dishes out, especially
a movie that slanders Jesus Christ and the church,' said Robert H. Knight....
'I don't have to see 'The Devil in Miss Jones' to know it's pornography, and
I don't have to see 'The Da Vinci Code' to know that it's blasphemous.'...
"Archbishop Angelo Amato [said]: 'If such slanders, offenses and errors
had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust, they would have justly provoked
a world uprising....'
[On the other hand,] "Focus on the Family... has enlisted 3,000 churches
to show a simulcast on the issue the weekend the movie opens. The Rev. Jim Garlow,
pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, has trained more than 200 pastors
in how to encourage their congregations to use the movie to share their faith
by throwing 'Da Vinci Code parties' in their homes.... 'Dan Brown's book has
become a universal language.'"
See
Don't Be Deceived!
The
Authority & Sufficiency of Scripture (by Gary E. Gilley): "The Word of God
was the final authority over all areas of faith and practice. One of the battle
cries of the Reformation was sola Scriptura—Scripture alone. This simply meant
that the ultimate basis of authority and truth was Scripture.
"No one claimed that Scripture exhausted every subject—or even addressed some
(e.g., mathematics). But... it gave principles by which we could examine
and evaluate all things 'pertaining to life and godliness' (2 Peter 1:3).
...
"Taking a stand for the truth is long since out of vogue. John MacArthur makes
the point, '...many evangelicals now consider it ill-mannered and uncharitable
to argue about any point of doctrine.' ... Meanwhile, many in evangelicalism
are sitting on the sidelines wanting to be tolerant and attempting to
bully and intimidate any who advocate discernment....
"'We value enthusiasm more
than informed commitment.'...
"Pascal said, 'When everything is moving at once, nothing appears to be moving,
as on board ship. When everyone is moving towards depravity, no one seems to
be moving, but if someone stops, he shows up the others who are rushing on by
acting as a fixed point.”
See
Opening Prayer, Kansas State Senate
and
God's unchanging Word
How to Avoid Heresy:
"Neo-evangelicalism relies upon marketing strategies to spread its leaven. For
over a century American consumers have been trained by advertising to buy anything
new – a new detergent, a new vacuum cleaner, a new style of dress, a new car,
a new computer. In the same way, New Evangelicalism has advertised all of its
doctrines, methods and teachings as 'new.'...
"Questions every believer should
ask about 'new' spiritual things --
a. Is it truly Biblical? Remember:
even the New Agers and occultists are 'spiritual.'...
b. What is the origin of the concept?
Do you know its roots? Can you check out its source freely?
c. Is it a man’s idea? A worldly
idea?
d. Does it conform to the whole counsel of God?"
God's unchanging Word
May 2007
A tough-minded commencement address:
"Machen was a strong and courageous Christian. In 1929, he had for 23 years
taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, a beautiful place that had just been
taken over by theological liberals. He had suffered personal attacks in a decade-long
seminary war now lost, but had held firm....
"'It is a serious
step, in these days, even from the worldly point of view, to become a Christian....
The man who today enters upon the Christian life is enlisting in a warfare against
the whole current of the age.' He said that the conflict 'can be avoided if
the one who professes Christianity adapts his message to the desires of those
who are about him.... Such a Christianity... causes no more disturbance than
is caused to a stream by a chip that floats downward with the current. But very
different is the case if the Christian proclaims without fear or favor the gospel
that is contained in the Word of God.'"
The prophesied
apostasy
August 2006
The Disarming of the Church:
"As history has shown, it is a common tactic for the oppressing force to gain
control of a nation by seizing the means by which individuals might defend themselves....
It seems to me that the same principal holds true in the spiritual realm. The
New Testament is replete with warnings of false teachers and teachings, of lying
signs and wonders, and of corrupt men who would seek to draw followers after
themselves.
"God
has not left His people defenseless. He has indwelt us with His Spirit of Truth,
provided us with the example of Christ, His teachings, the teachings of the
apostles, and all the other writings found in the Bible.... Those who would
remove the defensive weapon of discernment are binding the hands of the Church."
Though we don't agree with everything on this website, the author of this article
offers some helpful insights and reminders.
Psalm 119:11
From a military doctor - The Passing
of a Generation: "I have
been privileged to an amazing array of experiences, recounted in the brief minutes
allowed in an Emergency Dept. encounter. These experiences have revealed the
incredible individuals I have had the honor of serving in a medical capacity....
"There was a frail, elderly woman who reassured my young enlisted medic,
trying to start an IV line in her arm. She remained calm and poised, despite
her illness and the multiple needle-sticks into her fragile veins.... I
noticed a number tattooed across her forearm. I touched it with one finger
and looked into her eyes. She simply said 'Auschwitz.' Many of later generations
would have loudly and openly berated the young medic in his many attempts.
How different was the response from this person who'd seen unspeakable suffering.
"...there
was this long retired Colonel, who as a young officer had parachuted from his
burning plane over a Pacific Island held by the Japanese. Now an octogenarian,
his head cut in a fall at home where he lived alone. His CT scan and suturing
had been delayed until after midnight by the usual parade of high priority ambulance
patients....
"I was there
the night MSgt. Roy Benavidez came through the Emergency Dept. for the last
time.... I was not the doctor taking care of him, but I walked to his bedside
and took his hand. I said nothing. He was so sick, he didn't know I was there.
I'd read his Congressional Medal of Honor citation and wanted to shake his hand.
He died a few days later....
"I am much
more aware of what an honor it is to serve these particular men and women. I
am angered at the cut backs, implemented and proposed, that will continue to
decay their meager retirement benefits. I see the President and Congress who
would turn their back on these individuals who've sacrificed so much to protect
our liberty. I see later generations that seem to be totally engrossed in abusing
these same liberties, won with such sacrifice.... My experiences have solidified
my belief that we are losing an incredible generation, and this nation knows
not what it is losing."
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
July 2006
The Chronicles of a Christian Unplugging:
"...That, of course, is the problem with the pragmatism of the Church Growth
Movement: the end justifies the means. Who cares what biblical principle we
trample on if it gets more people in the church? This was the reason our church
produced a video where Noah and Samson were portrayed as humorous buffoons in
a skit to promote the pastor's next sermon series. This was why the official
wording of our communion policy, which excluded nonbelievers from partaking,
was suddenly changed to more 'user-friendly' language that was ambivalent enough
to make it sound like nonbelievers could participate.
"This pragmatism also made it easier for the
church to happily accept that some longtime members would eventually leave the
church because of the changes that were being made....
"The final straw for me came while I was in charge of the church's advertising
and promotion team. One of my leadership duties during that time was to create
a questionnaire to send out to the membership to find out what their 'unchurched'
neighbors were like. The survey was designed to define a target audience for
the church to attract. What are their interests? What kind of music do they
like? What about church do they hate? Obviously, the church was looking at how
they could change in a way that would be more appealing to the world around
them....
"A church can appeal to their worldly interests all they want, but if the unchurched
don't see their sinfulness and their need for Christ, then the church cannot
help them by fulfilling their worldly wants. In fact, the danger is that this
approach will make the unchurched enjoy a worldly church without truly converting
them." Don't
be deceived,
Pleasing to God
and
1 Pet 4:3-4
October 2006
American Heroes in Iraq.
"Well, the war was all about
oil wasn't it? You bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people because
they have no other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi
GNP. For this nation to survive, it must sell oil.... Now, until exports start,
every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people, crude oil is being
stored, the country is at 75% capacity now, they need to export or stop pumping
soon, thank the UN for the delay....
"Water
is being purified as best they can, but at least it's running all the time to
everyone.
"Are we still getting shot at? Yep...."
Endurance
September 2006
Episcopal diocese rebukes gay stand:
"The Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida became one of the first in the nation
Saturday to officially reject the national denomination's policies on homosexuality."
Proverbs 4:23-27
July 2006
Marine Dismissed, Jailed for Refusing
Anthrax Vaccine: "1st
Lt. Erick Enz ... a father of five and Bible study group leader, said he prayed
for guidance before researching the potential adverse affects of the vaccination
and refusing inoculation....
"A
September 2002 U.S. General Accounting Office survey of 1,253 soldiers who received
the anthrax vaccination found that 84 percent suffered minor reactions. At least
24 percent had major multiple 'systemic' reactions.... 'The people who refuse
this are not the dummies or the troublemakers,' said Lt. Col. John Richardson,
a retired Air Force pilot who has criticized the vaccine."
May 2006
Quintessential American Soldiers:
"His drawings depicted... 'two 'dogfaces,' unshaven battle-weary men known only
as Willie and Joe.'.... 'They wish... the mud was dry and... their coffee
was hot. They want to go home. But they stay in their wet holes and fight, and
then they climb out and crawl through minefields and fight some more."
Endurance with joy
Actress takes stand at music awards
show: (Scroll down
to title) "An award-winning television actress decided enough was
enough at the 30th Annual American Music Awards in January, when she walked
out due to the show’s vulgar tone....
"'I’m
no prude, but this was such a vulgar and disgusting show,' Heaton told The Plain
Dealer. [Patricia Heaton] specifically referred to a performer’s
explicit references to group sex and the profanity-laced commentary of hosts
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Heaton added, '[W]hat was passing for humor basically
ranged from stupid to vulgar, and I just thought, ‘I’m not going to be a part
of this.’”
Romans 1:22-32
December 2005
Teens Who Choose to Wait:
"Many abstinence groups, such as 'True Love Waits,' sponsored by the Southern
Baptist Convention, place a Christian influence behind reasons to delay sex
until marriage."
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
October 2005
Muzzling Miss America - Abstain
from Discussing Abstinence:
"Miss America, Erika Harold, who championed abstinence programs in her home
state of Illinois, has been told by Miss America pageant officials to drop that
issue and instead speak only about 'anti-violence' programs in schools."
1 Peter
3:13-17
July 2005
Teen sues school over censored talk:
"An 18-year-old girl and her mother are suing Ann Arbor, Mich., public schools
for censoring the girl's religious beliefs on homosexuality. During Pioneer
High School's '2002 Diversity Week' in March, administrators deleted references
to homosexuality from the text of an address given by senior Betsy Hansen.
"'Sexuality implies an action, and there are people who have been straight,
then gay, then straight again,' Miss Hansen wrote in the deleted portion. 'I
completely and wholeheartedly support racial diversity, but I can't accept religious
and sexual ideas or actions that are wrong.' ....
"Administrators who deleted the text told Miss Hansen her opinions were
negative and would 'water down [the] positive' message they were trying to convey
during Diversity Week. '
"'These nondiscrimination policies are typically used as weapons against
free speech, particularly against traditional Christians,' said Robert Muise,
the Hansens' attorney. 'Anything critical of homosexual activity is labeled
'hate speech.'" See
Jer 6:13-15
and
Temptation? I create my own values
June 2005
Text of the teacher's response:
"The student was given every opportunity to pass my class and graduate with
her high school class.... However, the student failed to take advantage of the
opportunities... I even spoke to the student's father on the telephone advising
him that she was in danger of failing my class. The student's parents showed
no concern about her lack of academic progress until they found out she was
actually not going to graduate approximately two weeks ago....
"It does not surprise me that the student and her parents are casting
her as the 'victim' in this matter and attempting to shift blame to me
for not graduating with her class this spring rather than holding the student
herself responsible. It seems in our popular culture today, people, including
a past President, are no longer willing to accept any responsibility or consequences
for their actions or choices they make. The student is now an adult and
she (and her parents) must accept responsibility for the choices that the student
has made in her high school career. She chose to have unexcused absences, plagiarize
an assignment and not study course material, resulting in her low test scores...."
Judges
17:6
Nurse wins 'pill' suit:
"A federal jury in California has found that Riverside County violated the constitutional
rights of a pro-life nurse who refused to dispense 'morning-after' pills to
end pregnancies and was quickly fired from her job."
2 Cor 2:14
May 2005
Stereotypes about stereotypes
(Thomas Sowell): "It is one
thing to say that everyone should be equal before the law or is entitled to
equal opportunity. It is something else to deny the most blatant facts before
our eyes, and insist on a dogma of equality of performance, when virtually every
individual or group is better at some things than at others.
"More
is involved than incidental pious nonsense. Such ideological make-believe has
come to dominate public policy and even judicial decisions in the highest courts
in the land. Statistical disparities among groups are routinely equated with
discrimination, as if there could not possibly be any differences in behavior
or performance among the groups themselves....People in one culture may have
better health, longer life, more advanced technology, more stable government,
and greater personal freedom and safety than others. Moreover, people from other
cultures are constantly migrating to these cultures, which fashionable dogmas
say are no better than the cultures they are leaving......
"Like
the Communist regimes which electronically jammed broadcasts from the
Voice of America during the Cold War, the new
academic totalitarians apparently fear lest their years-long propaganda efforts
be knocked over like a house of cards by one brief exposure to a few facts
and a different vision."
Jer 6:13-15
April 2005
Tiny Tim:
"I found
myself speaking to the baby. 'Tiny Tim, who are you? I am so sorry you weren't
wanted. It's not your fault.' I placed my little finger in his hand, and he
grasped it. As I watched him closely, I marveled that all the minute parts of
a beautiful baby were present and functioning in spite of the onslaught....
"He
was dying and his family was resting. Their words tormented me. 'Just take care
of it!' No muss and no fuss. Then Tiny Tim moved and caught hold of my little
finger. I let him hang on. I didn't want him to die without being touched and
cared for....His gasping started slowing down, but he still clung to my finger.
I stroked the baby ever so slowly and watched him take his last breath. 'Good-bye,
Tiny Tim,' I whispered. 'You did matter to someone.'"
Psalm 139:13
December 2004
The
truth about terrorism - A question of faith: "...these are trying times
here in America. ... As we witnessed two of the most visible and symbolic
pillars of our economic well-being crumble before us, we became less confident
in the overall security of our nation's financial structure. The tears and smoking
rubble that filled the television screen for weeks persuaded many to reevaluate
their priorities and prepare for a more turbulent and uncertain future. ...
Flags went up, speeches were made, prayers were prayed, songs were sung, soldiers
were sent, planes flew and bombs fell.... But is THAT where YOUR faith is...in
a president, a flag, a prayer, a soldier, a song or a bomb?"
John 16:33
Back to the source of liberty
(This link doesn't work this morning but we hope to find one that does.
The article is by Balint Vazsonyi who faced persecution both under nazi and
communist regimes. His message is a response
to this statement: 'What we tend to do nowadays is tell about the
failures of the Constitution, and, to be sure, we should. The document did not
end slavery. It did not provide women the right to vote.'
But, argues Vazsonyi, "The Constitution has done all that. Just not on the day
it was signed.... I challenge anyone to propose articles that, in 1787, could
have done away with slavery and still have succeeded in forming a Union.
(In those days, slavery was still an accepted norm around the world)
"Fate played a cruel trick on Mrs. Cheney when she became godmother to the destructive
'National Standards for U.S. History,' by handing America-hater Gary Nash the
money, and the blessings of the National Endowment for the Humanities she then
chaired." See Lynne Cheney's wise arguments against
Gary Nash' anti-American history program in
The International Agenda.
Read to the end of the
chapter, noticing the beliefs and influence of UN leader Robert Muller whose
beliefs are based on the messages from spirit guide Djhwal Khul. Then read the
next link which gives insight into Theosophy, the source of Muller's beliefs
and much of the UN and U.S education philosophy.
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