Remember all the laws and feasts, special days and years that the Lord gave the Israelites, and told them to observe, in the Old Testament? In Exodus 23, God tells His people that they are to work, plant and harvest six years and then let the ground rest on the seventh. Leviticus 25 also speaks of a Sabbath year, what was called Shemitah, and the year of Jubilee. Again His people were called to sow for 6 years and rest on the seventh. Both the Shemitah and the year of Jubilee speak of canceling debts. The Shemitah runs in a 7 year cycle. The Year of Jubilee in 50 year cycles. I have read in commentaries that the purpose was that God wanted to the poor to have a chance to escape poverty, by allowing themselves to become free, (if they had sold themselves as slaves) and free of debt, and by not using the land on the 7th and Jubilee years, it would teach His people to work hard, save and store of the 6 years and trust and obey on the Sabbath (Shemitah) years. Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings also speaks of Sabbath years. If you are like me, when you read through these passages, your eyelids may have gotten heavy and maybe would skim through the verses in the hope of getting to a part that might hold your attention. Here is an important point, When God set up this system for his people, they were told that if they obeyed His laws, they would be prosperous, and if they didn't they would face hardship. He would allow them to be attacked by their enemies, he would allow, cities to burn, crops to fail-to become desolate. He would lift his hand of protection. We, or at least I have made jokes about the Israelites being 'stiff necked' people. God was working miracles all around them , and they would forget and become distracted, whine about life being hard, and ultimately miss the blessing God had for them. Like going into the Promise Land.
What does any of this have to do with America? I ask you, are we any different? Demographically speaking, Jesus said to preach the Gospel to all Nations. No matter which Nation each one of us have come from, when we accept God's word, we are His people. So in that way, the Israelites and today's Christians are the same.
God made a covenant with Israel. When our Founding Fathers came to America and set up our government, we made a covenant with God. Our Declaration of independence-states, "...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
One signer of this document, and who was the 2nd President of the U.S. stated, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." John Adams.
Another is Samuel Adams, "I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly and happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace."
Congress, 1854 convened and stated,"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854, "Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants."
In George Washington's opening prayer at the first inaugural address in 1789, he says, "Would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being Who rules over the universe, Who presides in the councils of nations, and Whose providential aids can supply every human defect – that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes." He goes on to say, "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained."
This act of prayer is important because of who, what, where, and when it happened. George Washington our first president-in his first official act, dedicated our country to God, at our nations first Capital, (NYC), in a church that is now called St. Paul's Chapel, on the day that our nation's government was formed.
I am not coming from the mindset that some have that we, (The United States) are the NEW Israel. I don't believe that. I do believe that God had and still has a special covenant with the nation of Israel. I also believe that vows made unto God are important no matter when they were said. According to written American history, George Washington dedicated this country unto the Lord. And many founding fathers and leaders of our country warned of what would happen if this country turned it's back on God's ways, and it's heritage.
I think we can all agree that our country today has been heading in the wrong direction from the government that was set up a little over 200 hundred years ago. In fact, I think that the 21st century of which we live in today looks a lot like the 7th century B.C., of the Israelites.
Tomorrow, I will try to show through scripture God's warning to Israel of what would happen if they did not turn back to Him. I am going show their defiance and the judgement that was unleashed upon them. Then I want to show what happened to the U.S., 12 years ago and some very scary, mind blowing 'coincidences.'
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Book Report, The Harbinger Pt 3
Dave Ramsey often says, "We will be the same person 5 years from now, except for the books that we have read." If that is true, and I hope it is, then I hope that the book The Harbinger has changed me. It is a narrative filled with Scripture and history that has already begun to change the way I am looking at what is going on in the world around us.
Definition of Harbinger-noun 1.a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; herald. 2. anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign: Frost is a harbinger of winter. 3. a person sent in advance of troops, a royal train, etc., to provide or secure lodgings and other accommodations.
Verb (used with object) 4. to act as harbinger to; herald the coming of.
If I can paraphrase- A warning.
The book focuses on the verse Isaiah 9:10, but for the purpose of studying and confirming claims written in the book, I have looked up and studied verses that come before and after, and have read commentaries to better understand and not take a couple verses out of context. I encourage you to do the same. Don't take what I or anyone else says to be true without praying, investigating and thinking for yourself.
Isaiah 9:10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." (The Holman Study Bible)
Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars. (NIV)
Isaiah 9:10 The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycomores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. (ASV)
Isaiah 9:10 "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." (KJV)
Previous to this verse....If you study the book of Isaiah you will learn that Isaiah was a prophet of God. His ministry spanned 40 years. A generation. He prophesies are of warnings, and judgements that would fall on God's people if they do not heed the warnings. He also prophesied of redemption and comfort through Christs birth. What he has prophesied did come true for the Israelites and I believe has manifested here in the US, as well.
The prophesies in Isaiah took place from 740-700 BC. During this time frame Israel's biggest threat was from the Assyrians. Their capital was Ninevah. If you remember this is where Jonah was sent, much to his disapproval. Ultimately, he did end up fulfilling his mission. It might be interesting to note that the Assyrian empire, is what we call Iraq today.
The book of Isaiah begins with a vision that the Lord had given to Isaiah. Judah had fallen away from the Lords way. Although they still prayed and followed the rituals and customs, their hearts had grown cold, and they basically were just going through the motions. Today we believers, would call it "Doing Church" They had also allowed themselves to compromise their lives with the customs and lifestyles of those who did not honor God. Because of this God wouldn't even listen to their prayers or accept their offerings.
Isaiah 1:15. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.
(I ask now if we have blood on our hands, because of the abortion industry that we have allowed in our country?)
When reading this scripture I think of the NT passage in Revelation 3:16 "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
Today in our country, tolerance and sensitivity has been so indoctrinated into our psyche's, we don't speak the truth outside of our church for fear of recrimination and being called judgmental. We have forgotten that when we were given the Great commission, our own nation, although not yet formed, was also included in the directive we were given.
Tomorrow I will talk about whether Old Testament Law concerns Christians today.
Definition of Harbinger-noun 1.a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; herald. 2. anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign: Frost is a harbinger of winter. 3. a person sent in advance of troops, a royal train, etc., to provide or secure lodgings and other accommodations.
Verb (used with object) 4. to act as harbinger to; herald the coming of.
If I can paraphrase- A warning.
The book focuses on the verse Isaiah 9:10, but for the purpose of studying and confirming claims written in the book, I have looked up and studied verses that come before and after, and have read commentaries to better understand and not take a couple verses out of context. I encourage you to do the same. Don't take what I or anyone else says to be true without praying, investigating and thinking for yourself.
Isaiah 9:10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." (The Holman Study Bible)
Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars. (NIV)
Isaiah 9:10 The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycomores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. (ASV)
Isaiah 9:10 "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." (KJV)
Previous to this verse....If you study the book of Isaiah you will learn that Isaiah was a prophet of God. His ministry spanned 40 years. A generation. He prophesies are of warnings, and judgements that would fall on God's people if they do not heed the warnings. He also prophesied of redemption and comfort through Christs birth. What he has prophesied did come true for the Israelites and I believe has manifested here in the US, as well.
The prophesies in Isaiah took place from 740-700 BC. During this time frame Israel's biggest threat was from the Assyrians. Their capital was Ninevah. If you remember this is where Jonah was sent, much to his disapproval. Ultimately, he did end up fulfilling his mission. It might be interesting to note that the Assyrian empire, is what we call Iraq today.
The book of Isaiah begins with a vision that the Lord had given to Isaiah. Judah had fallen away from the Lords way. Although they still prayed and followed the rituals and customs, their hearts had grown cold, and they basically were just going through the motions. Today we believers, would call it "Doing Church" They had also allowed themselves to compromise their lives with the customs and lifestyles of those who did not honor God. Because of this God wouldn't even listen to their prayers or accept their offerings.
Isaiah 1:15. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.
(I ask now if we have blood on our hands, because of the abortion industry that we have allowed in our country?)
When reading this scripture I think of the NT passage in Revelation 3:16 "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
Today in our country, tolerance and sensitivity has been so indoctrinated into our psyche's, we don't speak the truth outside of our church for fear of recrimination and being called judgmental. We have forgotten that when we were given the Great commission, our own nation, although not yet formed, was also included in the directive we were given.
Tomorrow I will talk about whether Old Testament Law concerns Christians today.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Book Report, The Harbinger Pt 2
Yesterday I spoke of how when a tragedy takes place, the idea that God has allowed the circumstances to take place in order to get to our attention is often scoffed, because of differing doctrinal beliefs. Differing theories among unbelievers are even more disturbing to me.
When we experience severe weather; hurricanes, blizzards, tornado's, droughts, earthquakes or even sunspots, solar flares and asteroids, there is a movement in our country that will continue to point to global warming and climate change. Blaming humans for being the reason that 'mother earth' is doling out such calamities. Never taking into consideration that maybe God is now, and always has used such disasters to bring us back to Him. Into repentance, and to what He has planned for us. And it has nothing to do with drilling for oil, or how much electricity we use, or food we consume. Yes, we need to be good stewards of the resources that God has given to us through His creation, earth. He gave the earth to man, (Adam), we need to take care of it until His return. I believe He has been trying to get our attention. But the world continues to be blind, and will justify their actions and focus on anything but God when hardships come along. I found the following comment on an opinion page following the incident with the meteor fell in Russia a few days ago.
This is a man from Queens, NY. Feb 15 2013, "This was no coincidence. The universe has given us a warning shot: our collective negative Karma is so bad that time is running out for this diseased molecule we call earth. It's like the human body's immune system which is able to keep free radicals from blasting healthy cells. But when the electrical life force is low , and toxins weaken the immune system the free radicals finding their way into the perimeter of cells which then turn cancerous. We have hurt the earth so badly , and the collective suffering of humanity and other life forms are sending out a negative cosmic signal. The universal power has now put us on the radar for possible elimination. This is not a random cosmic event. People with good intuition and wisdom somehow have this feeling in their guts."
This mindset is spreading and is actually already infiltrated our government. Legislation is constantly being pushed through that, ultimately will make us slaves to the earth rather than followers of the Lord, and stewards of His gift.
I think it would be important to look at a small 5 letter word, it's meanings , and it's consequences.
Pride-(verb tense), to take pleasure in accomplishment, boast, brag, exult,...prance, presume, puff up, strut...
Pride-(noun tense), self-esteem, delight, ego, ego trip,...self-admiration, self-confidence, self-love, self-sufficiency...
I take pride in my boys. I 'delight' in them. The moment I begin to believe that I alone had anything to do with how they turned out, I'm in trouble. The moment any of us take pride or 'delight' in where we are at in life and exclude God, we are in trouble. Oops, I think we as a nation have been there for quite a while. We in America consider ourselves to be the land of the free home of the brave.
The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem was written in 1814. Fascinating story about how-why it was written by the way, I encourage you to check it out. Today the song is belted out at most major, (and minor) sporting events and sung, (and lip sung) at many political affairs. At least the first verse is. Did you know that there are four verses? In the fourth, which is never sung, God is given credit for surviving the battle.
Today we sing that song with pride. Pride for our nation. But I believe we forgot how we got here.
When we experience severe weather; hurricanes, blizzards, tornado's, droughts, earthquakes or even sunspots, solar flares and asteroids, there is a movement in our country that will continue to point to global warming and climate change. Blaming humans for being the reason that 'mother earth' is doling out such calamities. Never taking into consideration that maybe God is now, and always has used such disasters to bring us back to Him. Into repentance, and to what He has planned for us. And it has nothing to do with drilling for oil, or how much electricity we use, or food we consume. Yes, we need to be good stewards of the resources that God has given to us through His creation, earth. He gave the earth to man, (Adam), we need to take care of it until His return. I believe He has been trying to get our attention. But the world continues to be blind, and will justify their actions and focus on anything but God when hardships come along. I found the following comment on an opinion page following the incident with the meteor fell in Russia a few days ago.
This is a man from Queens, NY. Feb 15 2013, "This was no coincidence. The universe has given us a warning shot: our collective negative Karma is so bad that time is running out for this diseased molecule we call earth. It's like the human body's immune system which is able to keep free radicals from blasting healthy cells. But when the electrical life force is low , and toxins weaken the immune system the free radicals finding their way into the perimeter of cells which then turn cancerous. We have hurt the earth so badly , and the collective suffering of humanity and other life forms are sending out a negative cosmic signal. The universal power has now put us on the radar for possible elimination. This is not a random cosmic event. People with good intuition and wisdom somehow have this feeling in their guts."
This mindset is spreading and is actually already infiltrated our government. Legislation is constantly being pushed through that, ultimately will make us slaves to the earth rather than followers of the Lord, and stewards of His gift.
I think it would be important to look at a small 5 letter word, it's meanings , and it's consequences.
Pride-(verb tense), to take pleasure in accomplishment, boast, brag, exult,...prance, presume, puff up, strut...
The antonym is humble.
The antonym is humility.
Proverbs 16:18(NIV) "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem was written in 1814. Fascinating story about how-why it was written by the way, I encourage you to check it out. Today the song is belted out at most major, (and minor) sporting events and sung, (and lip sung) at many political affairs. At least the first verse is. Did you know that there are four verses? In the fourth, which is never sung, God is given credit for surviving the battle.
"Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Book Report, The Harbinger Pt 1.
A few weeks ago read a book called The Harbinger. The book is written in a narrative form. It is a work of fiction but based on historical and biblical fact. I was blown away by many of the facts woven through the book. I began taking notes and researching the information that was presented as facts, totally astonished by what I was finding out. Eventually, I began to compile my notes into a 'book report'. I shared my 'book report' with a few of my close friends to see what they thought about what I had learned. I was trying to decide whether or not to 'blog' about it. Most everyone thought that the information presented definitely deserved to shared. I also looked into some of the opinions of the critics of the author and his message. I found that many that thought the ideas in the book were a complete work of fiction based their opinions largely on believing that God doesn't move in the same way today as He did in biblical times. Also, because the company that published this book has also published books by men and women that have fallen from 'grace', they wrote off this book as well. (Baby-bath water syndrome.)
I have decided to go ahead and post my "book report" in a series as it is actually quite long. Maybe you also, will write it off. Maybe it will peak your interest as well , and you will read the actual book and do your own research. If you decide to follow along with the series, please keep in mind, that all we see with our eyes, is not all that goes on around us. We live in a physical and spiritual world. God never changes. He never fails.
This first part is simply my take on where we are as a society today. I mean not to judge anyone in particular, it is simply my opinion and how I see things.
Introduction
The last few years I had been thinking and saying out loud to those who would listen, "When Israel fell out of line with God, He used judgements, (or allowed things to happen) in order to bring them to their knees and back into worship with Him. Much like we as parents have to bring consequences to our disobedient children. He is our Father , and I believe that He has, and will do the same. About 15 years ago, I had noticed that many times when things start to heat up in the Middle East, (Israel) it would often take place in September and on or around Jewish Holidays. Many of the Holy Days for the Jews are in the fall.
Also, I've noticed that whenever someone suggests that when a tragedy takes place that God was trying to get our attention, that person will be ostracized. And that because God has sent Jesus, we live in a state of Grace , and they believe He is not a punishing God. And that because the righteous also were involved in the occurrence and would therefore have to go through the same things as the unrighteous, they will surmise that God would have had nothing to do with it. I call that whole scenario collateral damage. Let's be honest, even us Christians have skewed our walk. We have let our lives get full of unimportant distractions. Time wasters that take our attention and focus off the life that God had planned for us. Be it TV, video games, the internet, shopping, our church, or our phones. Many conveniences have become mini-idols in our lives. It's not just that things have taken our focus from God and his plan for us-in this modern age, we can choose or and make our own idols. Even working can be an idol, working to provide a living but having no life. At least not one that God had planned for us.
In our busyness and distractions in obtaining the American Dream, we have allowed evil and unGodliness to overtake our country. Apathy, indifference, and compromise. Compromise, is suppose to be good, and fair. But when you have good and bad, and you compromise, you have let bad in. A little bad is still bad. "We the, 'God's' People", allowed a law to pass in 1973 that legalized human sacrifice. I'm not trying to cut down anyone that felt as though they had to make that 'choice', but that being said, when you take a life in order to make yours better, rather than trusting God to work out all the details, it is human sacrifice. Infanticide. 4 out of 10 babies are sacrificed every day for what boils down to 'a lifestyle choice'. Get rid of that 'speed bump' now, so that you can make your life easier later. No thought of trusting God to make all things work together for good. We take control and end a life out of fear that it will ruin our own. Not even considering that we might be killing a gift that God has given us. We have allowed society to indoctrinate us to believe that we are all powerful, that we can accomplish anything we set our mind to, but we have no power, unless we stop what grows within us; if it's not on our time table. Generations ago, on continents where we would consider people to be savages, people would sacrifice their kids for good crops, health, and long life. Fast forward to the present time, and we sacrifice our kids for a college education, a better job, an easier life. I see no difference between the two society's.
A decade before then, We "God's people" began to allow God to be removed from the public square. The minority still rules on this 50 years later. Prayer, if said in a public arena has to be so generic, and pardon the expression but 'God forbid' we mention Jesus the Son of God. We don't want to offend that one loud mouth in the crowd. When God is mentioned in most public arena's and even in many church's he is not Revered and referred to the One Living God. The Almighty, Holy, Ever present. To be Honored, and Respected. Instead, we honor our planet earth. The creation gets more respect than the Creator.
Malachi 3:1-6, “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. “I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts. “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed."
I have decided to go ahead and post my "book report" in a series as it is actually quite long. Maybe you also, will write it off. Maybe it will peak your interest as well , and you will read the actual book and do your own research. If you decide to follow along with the series, please keep in mind, that all we see with our eyes, is not all that goes on around us. We live in a physical and spiritual world. God never changes. He never fails.
This first part is simply my take on where we are as a society today. I mean not to judge anyone in particular, it is simply my opinion and how I see things.
Introduction
What Comes Next?
Also, I've noticed that whenever someone suggests that when a tragedy takes place that God was trying to get our attention, that person will be ostracized. And that because God has sent Jesus, we live in a state of Grace , and they believe He is not a punishing God. And that because the righteous also were involved in the occurrence and would therefore have to go through the same things as the unrighteous, they will surmise that God would have had nothing to do with it. I call that whole scenario collateral damage. Let's be honest, even us Christians have skewed our walk. We have let our lives get full of unimportant distractions. Time wasters that take our attention and focus off the life that God had planned for us. Be it TV, video games, the internet, shopping, our church, or our phones. Many conveniences have become mini-idols in our lives. It's not just that things have taken our focus from God and his plan for us-in this modern age, we can choose or and make our own idols. Even working can be an idol, working to provide a living but having no life. At least not one that God had planned for us.
In our busyness and distractions in obtaining the American Dream, we have allowed evil and unGodliness to overtake our country. Apathy, indifference, and compromise. Compromise, is suppose to be good, and fair. But when you have good and bad, and you compromise, you have let bad in. A little bad is still bad. "We the, 'God's' People", allowed a law to pass in 1973 that legalized human sacrifice. I'm not trying to cut down anyone that felt as though they had to make that 'choice', but that being said, when you take a life in order to make yours better, rather than trusting God to work out all the details, it is human sacrifice. Infanticide. 4 out of 10 babies are sacrificed every day for what boils down to 'a lifestyle choice'. Get rid of that 'speed bump' now, so that you can make your life easier later. No thought of trusting God to make all things work together for good. We take control and end a life out of fear that it will ruin our own. Not even considering that we might be killing a gift that God has given us. We have allowed society to indoctrinate us to believe that we are all powerful, that we can accomplish anything we set our mind to, but we have no power, unless we stop what grows within us; if it's not on our time table. Generations ago, on continents where we would consider people to be savages, people would sacrifice their kids for good crops, health, and long life. Fast forward to the present time, and we sacrifice our kids for a college education, a better job, an easier life. I see no difference between the two society's.
A decade before then, We "God's people" began to allow God to be removed from the public square. The minority still rules on this 50 years later. Prayer, if said in a public arena has to be so generic, and pardon the expression but 'God forbid' we mention Jesus the Son of God. We don't want to offend that one loud mouth in the crowd. When God is mentioned in most public arena's and even in many church's he is not Revered and referred to the One Living God. The Almighty, Holy, Ever present. To be Honored, and Respected. Instead, we honor our planet earth. The creation gets more respect than the Creator.
Malachi 3:1-6, “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. “I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts. “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed."
Saturday, February 16, 2013
How Much?
After this rambling rant, I will have a few questions for my Christian friends. Any of my friends actually, but in particular the ones that identify themselves as Christ followers. Meaning that at one point in our lives we realized we are sinners and because of that we were separated from God. We acknowledged our need for Jesus for redemption and forgiveness. And now we know that Jesus is the only Hope, for us in this life, and in that comes our promise of eternal life with Him and God the Father. And on a daily basis we try (often difficult in these times) to reflect a Christ like life, by being the hands and feet of Jesus himself.
I am targeting this to my Christian friends because they are most likely to be the ones who have read the Bible. They would be more familiar with Judeo-Christian History, and the promises, prophesies and judgements. When I have talked to some of you, I have felt, (and, please don't be offended if you recall these conversations) indifference and apathy about what is going on in our country. "God is in control", "Trust and obey" and other phrases are said. I believe that. I really do. I know that if I obey God, and follow His teachings that I will be blessed. I know that my eternity is guaranteed by the Blood of Jesus. I also know that we live in a world where we do reap the consequences of other peoples actions and in actions. Cause and Effect.
When I first learned of the History on Nazi Germany, I couldn't believe that we the USA had allowed this to happen. The atrocities had only happened 50 years before. I remember one of the vocabulary words that we had to memorize at that time was Propaganda-information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, institution, nation, etc.
An explanation on how Hitler and the Nazi party used this can be found on this link... http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005202
I find it hard to ignore the similarities that are going on in this country now. If the media ignores the facts, they must not matter. If you repeat the same rhetoric over and over it becomes the truth. We all know that things are changing around here. And it's changing fast. In less than a generations time, we have become more like a socialist country than we even want to say out loud. Our freedoms are being attacked every day.
So we know that our eternity is guaranteed. When we leave this earth, weather it be of natural causes, a natural disaster, or if we are here on earth to see the rapture, we know that we will be with the Lord as soon as we draw our last breath.
Question 1.
When you first read the bible, and the enslavement of the Israelites through out all the Old Testament, what did you think and how has it influenced your life?
Question 2.
When you have read the prophesies from the OT and the New Testament, do you see the beginnings of them coming to pass?
“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” Edmund Burke.
Question 3.
My final question to you is how much hell are you willing to go through before we do go on to our eternity?
I am targeting this to my Christian friends because they are most likely to be the ones who have read the Bible. They would be more familiar with Judeo-Christian History, and the promises, prophesies and judgements. When I have talked to some of you, I have felt, (and, please don't be offended if you recall these conversations) indifference and apathy about what is going on in our country. "God is in control", "Trust and obey" and other phrases are said. I believe that. I really do. I know that if I obey God, and follow His teachings that I will be blessed. I know that my eternity is guaranteed by the Blood of Jesus. I also know that we live in a world where we do reap the consequences of other peoples actions and in actions. Cause and Effect.
When I first learned of the History on Nazi Germany, I couldn't believe that we the USA had allowed this to happen. The atrocities had only happened 50 years before. I remember one of the vocabulary words that we had to memorize at that time was Propaganda-information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, institution, nation, etc.
An explanation on how Hitler and the Nazi party used this can be found on this link... http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005202
I find it hard to ignore the similarities that are going on in this country now. If the media ignores the facts, they must not matter. If you repeat the same rhetoric over and over it becomes the truth. We all know that things are changing around here. And it's changing fast. In less than a generations time, we have become more like a socialist country than we even want to say out loud. Our freedoms are being attacked every day.
So we know that our eternity is guaranteed. When we leave this earth, weather it be of natural causes, a natural disaster, or if we are here on earth to see the rapture, we know that we will be with the Lord as soon as we draw our last breath.
Question 1.
When you first read the bible, and the enslavement of the Israelites through out all the Old Testament, what did you think and how has it influenced your life?
Question 2.
When you have read the prophesies from the OT and the New Testament, do you see the beginnings of them coming to pass?
“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” Edmund Burke.
Question 3.
My final question to you is how much hell are you willing to go through before we do go on to our eternity?
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Something To Believe In
One of many things that keep going through my mind these last weeks is that it is getting harder and harder to discern what is real anymore. It seems as though everyone lies. They lie over really important things, and they lie over the stupidest things, and you wonder why. Why is the media even covering this? Why am I letting any of this taking up any space in my mind? Make believe dead girl friends. What was the point of that? Always wanting to give the benefit of the doubt, I first was like 'That poor guy, why would anyone do that to him'. Then after about 30 seconds of processing it, I came to the conclusion. Fake. We are in an age where people can video call, skype, whatever. To think that anyone would actually be in a relationship with someone they have not met in person and had never skyped is absurd. And this whole thing is stupid in that it dominated half the news all week. Makes the conspiracy theorist in me wonder why? What was on the news the other half? Lance Armstrong. Lier and cheater. Strip him of all he 'earned' while cheating. Money, titles, and awards. He is not the best. We don't know who would be the best because apparently most of the top people who placed in the races, also cheated. I think they all should be sued by the other bikers who did not cheat for wasting all there time training for nothing. And honestly, I just don't care except for the fact that I'm sure when it all blows over, then lines of what's right and what's wrong will be blurred even further.
What was the big news yesterday? Beyonce lipped sing the National Anthem? Does that matter? She is a phenomenal singer, we all know that. But I do think it matters. People wanted to see her belt it out. Finding out that it was pre-recorded was a bit disappointing. It was insincere.
It's sickly strange how what we as America knew to be true even 20 years ago has changed. People can lie til they get caught red handed or with a blue dress, and then we will make excuses for their behavior. Or we just change our vocabulary to suit whatever agenda is being pushed. People think that because you identify yourself as a Christian that your suppose to accept everything. Guess what? Jesus was No push over. There was a right and wrong since the beginning of time. And from the beginning, mankind has reaped what it has sowed.
I said that I wonder why these things have dominated the news, but my current 'Theory' is that most of the media is in fact controlled by the Whitehouse. As long as they continue to buzz about trivial or non-real news subjects maybe we will forget about what does matter. Like Benghazi.
Hilary gives testimony, finally yesterday. After skirting questions, she has an outburst and asks what or why does it matter what caused the incident that ended 4 Americans lives? I think it matters because we were lied to over and over again. 'Theory'. Somebody got the Nobel Peace prize a few years ago, and after Seal Six team got Bin Laden, we were to believe that Obama is the president that brought peace. If the incident in Benghazi was a terrorist attack that would definitely muck up his legacy. I still haven't heard why or who ignored the calls for help, and I think I remember hearing it was all being watched in real-time as it unfolded.
So he media plays and replays 'highlights' of the testimony, while the US is sending 16 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abram tanks to Egypt. Morsi, president of Eygpt, is the former head of the Muslim Brotherhood. Why? Why? I just don't get it. They will be used on our Allies, Isreal. But people continue to believe in this government. I used to believe in our country. Not so much anymore. It's hard to believe anything except the word of God and his truth. Nobody else seems to know how to tell it, or even that it matters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5uamDMoW4o
What was the big news yesterday? Beyonce lipped sing the National Anthem? Does that matter? She is a phenomenal singer, we all know that. But I do think it matters. People wanted to see her belt it out. Finding out that it was pre-recorded was a bit disappointing. It was insincere.
It's sickly strange how what we as America knew to be true even 20 years ago has changed. People can lie til they get caught red handed or with a blue dress, and then we will make excuses for their behavior. Or we just change our vocabulary to suit whatever agenda is being pushed. People think that because you identify yourself as a Christian that your suppose to accept everything. Guess what? Jesus was No push over. There was a right and wrong since the beginning of time. And from the beginning, mankind has reaped what it has sowed.
I said that I wonder why these things have dominated the news, but my current 'Theory' is that most of the media is in fact controlled by the Whitehouse. As long as they continue to buzz about trivial or non-real news subjects maybe we will forget about what does matter. Like Benghazi.
Hilary gives testimony, finally yesterday. After skirting questions, she has an outburst and asks what or why does it matter what caused the incident that ended 4 Americans lives? I think it matters because we were lied to over and over again. 'Theory'. Somebody got the Nobel Peace prize a few years ago, and after Seal Six team got Bin Laden, we were to believe that Obama is the president that brought peace. If the incident in Benghazi was a terrorist attack that would definitely muck up his legacy. I still haven't heard why or who ignored the calls for help, and I think I remember hearing it was all being watched in real-time as it unfolded.
So he media plays and replays 'highlights' of the testimony, while the US is sending 16 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abram tanks to Egypt. Morsi, president of Eygpt, is the former head of the Muslim Brotherhood. Why? Why? I just don't get it. They will be used on our Allies, Isreal. But people continue to believe in this government. I used to believe in our country. Not so much anymore. It's hard to believe anything except the word of God and his truth. Nobody else seems to know how to tell it, or even that it matters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5uamDMoW4o
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Things that annoy. Today there is only time for one. It's called the blind trust that we are suppose to have in our elected officials, to do right by us. To me this is a joke. "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Rahm Emanuel. I have heard the first sentence many times in the last couple of months, but think about what the second half says. Think about what has happened in the last few months. Of late, there have been plenty of serious crisis's to exercise this theory.
The "Fiscal Cliff ". Why was this such and emergency? It's not like they didn't know legislation on these taxes, tax cuts, and whatever else caused it was going to happen was going to expire. It's their job to know that. But all over a sudden it was this huge emergency. We are a country that is not only broke, but in debt up to 16 trillion and counting. So when a "Fiscal Cliff" bill gets passed, what do they do? They give a $46 million tax break to Nascar. Hollywood gets to write off $15 million of their production costs, even though movie ticket sales in the US, garnered over $10 billion in 2012. It's not a dying industry. Why is this necessary to prevent us from going 'over the cliff'. I wonder if its a payback time for supporting certain presidential campaigns. Tax credits were given to the American wind-power industry which is equal to $22 for every megawatt-hour of electricity their turbines produce over the nest 10 years. No idea what that will total. Probably doesn't mean 'free' electricity for the taxpayers funding it. We tax payers are also now funding a company that is trying to make fuel from algae. As we plan our travels to conserve gas, and live with our budgets, we become investors in a company that we will never collect profits from. We were told they (the House) got the bill and voted on it 6 minutes later. The Bill was 156 pages. No one that voted yes on this bill read it before voting.
Next, Hurricane Sandy, devastated parts on NY and NJ. Promises were made days before the election that have yet to be kept. "We are not going to tolerate red tape," Obama said. "We are not going to tolerate bureaucracy … We will not quit until this is done." When an emergency spending bill was finally brought forth, (over 60 billion) it contained billions of dollars ear marked for areas that were NOT effected by the storm. And our economy is still broke. There were not enough votes to pass it , so it presumably was trimmed down to just relief money for actual storm victims. Just under 10 billion. If it was suppose to be an emergency, why did they spend the time adding extra unrelated stuff to it in the first place? Because it was an opportunity to spend more money, hoping it would go unnoticed. It was the Obama Administration’s exploiting of the hurricane victims for billions in additional government spending.
Next, speaking of exploiting, The Sandy Hook Massacre. I think they have been waiting for something like this. Within hours of the first reporting of this tragic story, the left started with the gun control debate. We have been talking about it for weeks now. Feinstein dusted off her expired gun control ban, adding provisions such as the Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any "semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General"
Today, Biden has indicated that Obama more than likely will be using his executive order to ban guns. "He is going to act." Biden said. Hmm, what next? Martial law? Curfews? Electricity rationing? Whats up with those Smart boxes I'm hearing about going on our meters?
Who is this Rahm Emanuel I quoted at the beginning of this blog? He is a close friend and former White House Chief of staff of Obama, and current Mayor of Chicago. Chicago which has one of the strongest gun laws in the country. At least one person dies from a gunshot wound every day in Chicago. That is some Utopia. Just saying
The "Fiscal Cliff ". Why was this such and emergency? It's not like they didn't know legislation on these taxes, tax cuts, and whatever else caused it was going to happen was going to expire. It's their job to know that. But all over a sudden it was this huge emergency. We are a country that is not only broke, but in debt up to 16 trillion and counting. So when a "Fiscal Cliff" bill gets passed, what do they do? They give a $46 million tax break to Nascar. Hollywood gets to write off $15 million of their production costs, even though movie ticket sales in the US, garnered over $10 billion in 2012. It's not a dying industry. Why is this necessary to prevent us from going 'over the cliff'. I wonder if its a payback time for supporting certain presidential campaigns. Tax credits were given to the American wind-power industry which is equal to $22 for every megawatt-hour of electricity their turbines produce over the nest 10 years. No idea what that will total. Probably doesn't mean 'free' electricity for the taxpayers funding it. We tax payers are also now funding a company that is trying to make fuel from algae. As we plan our travels to conserve gas, and live with our budgets, we become investors in a company that we will never collect profits from. We were told they (the House) got the bill and voted on it 6 minutes later. The Bill was 156 pages. No one that voted yes on this bill read it before voting.
Next, Hurricane Sandy, devastated parts on NY and NJ. Promises were made days before the election that have yet to be kept. "We are not going to tolerate red tape," Obama said. "We are not going to tolerate bureaucracy … We will not quit until this is done." When an emergency spending bill was finally brought forth, (over 60 billion) it contained billions of dollars ear marked for areas that were NOT effected by the storm. And our economy is still broke. There were not enough votes to pass it , so it presumably was trimmed down to just relief money for actual storm victims. Just under 10 billion. If it was suppose to be an emergency, why did they spend the time adding extra unrelated stuff to it in the first place? Because it was an opportunity to spend more money, hoping it would go unnoticed. It was the Obama Administration’s exploiting of the hurricane victims for billions in additional government spending.
Next, speaking of exploiting, The Sandy Hook Massacre. I think they have been waiting for something like this. Within hours of the first reporting of this tragic story, the left started with the gun control debate. We have been talking about it for weeks now. Feinstein dusted off her expired gun control ban, adding provisions such as the Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any "semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General"
Today, Biden has indicated that Obama more than likely will be using his executive order to ban guns. "He is going to act." Biden said. Hmm, what next? Martial law? Curfews? Electricity rationing? Whats up with those Smart boxes I'm hearing about going on our meters?
Who is this Rahm Emanuel I quoted at the beginning of this blog? He is a close friend and former White House Chief of staff of Obama, and current Mayor of Chicago. Chicago which has one of the strongest gun laws in the country. At least one person dies from a gunshot wound every day in Chicago. That is some Utopia. Just saying
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