Light To A Dark World

I have been thinking a lot about light and darkness. This started to be really interesting to me a few days ago. 1 John 1:5 says “God is light and in Him is no darkness: . Wow! Have you ever been in a room that was totally devoid of light? I have and it is really unsettling. You lose orientation, you wouldn’t be able to find anything without fumbling around first, you would have to walk around by feeling for things, you would in affect be lost… in a dark room… waiting for alight to be turned on.

What does it take to lose this darkness? Light of course, even the faintest glow negates the darkness. If you were in the darkest region of the planet, at night, cloud covered, no moon or stars, no artificial light, nothing, zilch, nada. Total blackness, you couldn’t see your hand if you stuck it in front of your face. Then someone 20 miles away turned on a flashlight and pointed it toward you, what would that in essence do? It removes the darkness. Not much, and not in your general vicinity, but you can no longer say that it is dark.

Same situation but you are the one with the flashlight (or lantern, torch, match,etc.) When you engage the light what happens? You are flooded with light because of your proximity to the light, it could be the same light that you saw from 20 miles away, but you are now immersed in the light, it lights up all that’s around you, you can see again, you can do things again, you have been given sight. What’s more, the person that is 20 miles away without light can see your light shining at a distance.

These thoughts have been running around in my head, like I said, for a few days. It reminds me that God is Light and when we are in close proximity to Him we are engulfed in His Light. It is nothing that we produce ourselves, but only reflect His Light. It also brings to memory Proverbs 4:18-19 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. How descriptive is that?

Also, when God first shined His light on you can you remember how bright it was? It illuminated everything around you, but sadly as time continued, the light seemed to dim. Everything started to get dimmer, you may have even started to squint a little to try to make things out. Did the Light really get dim though? Or were your eyes just shutting the light out, or did you put on dark sunglasses that hid the light? Oh, it was always there and it was always just as bright, it was our proximity that was the issue, not the brightness of the Light.

So how does the Light regain its brightness again? You have to get close to the source again. You can’t be 20 miles from a light source and be effected much by it, you have to get as close as possible. So close you can feel the warmth radiating from it, so that it envelops you. The Light is always there; it is you that moves around.

If you are seeing things dimly now, I say that it is simple to be lit again. Just return to the Source. I’ll remind you of Luke 11:33 – No one that has received Light will hide it; they will hold it high and shine it so everyone around them can see. Are you shining your light? Are you reflecting God’s Light? Have you ever been in the Light in the first place? I pray that He will illuminate Himself and His Word in your life.

The New Jesus Movie

Just wanted to take a short moment to let everyone know about this great ministry opportunity. We all have the chance to be part of the new Jesus movie, as producers. Well, not actually make the movie, but be able to give $10 towards the making of this movie.

Please check out the video below and the New Jesus Movie website for information. The producer of this movie is to be a Word for Word adaption of the Book of John, the vision of Bruce Marchiano. If Marchiano's name sounds familiar it is because he played Jesus in movie version of The Gospel of Matthew, which was also a Word for Word movie version of the Book of Matthew.

This is a great opportunity to make a high quality movie that will gain much attention and could be a tool used of God to save countless souls. The producers are not out to have a large box office, but rather have this movie on millions of iPods, computers and streaming across the internet. Monetary gains are not the goal, but the precious souls of the lost and the edification of Gods people.

Please prayerfully consider being a part of this wonderful ministry.


Frequently Asked Questions

Why another Jesus film?
Many great Jesus films have been produced over the years, and God has used them all for His glory. There are several focuses that make Jesus… No Greater Love unique and vital. To list only a few, our vision is to bring the Gospel story to film afresh using the latest cutting edge, big screen technology - to truly create a Jesus movie for a new generation of highly sophisticated film-goers.

Also, where Jesus films generally focus on the gospel events, Jesus… No Greater Love focuses on a revelation of "The Man" - his heart and person, impassioned, joyous, relevant, brimming with kingdom authority, driven "on a mission of redemptive love" - the Jesus of Scripture.

Who will be the Producer and Director?

Bruce Marchiano is our current writer/producer. Once funding is underway we will begin interviewing prospective directors as well as co-producer(s) to solidify the team.

What happens if you meet your film budget of $45 million and donations continue to come in?
We sure hope this happens. All money received beyond the $45 million will be used to release the film in different languages and to distribute these new versions around the world. We want to present the Gospel to as many people as possible. To meet this goal, we will sustain our fund raising efforts year after year so that we can continue translating the film into new languages.

What Bible translation will be used for your word-for-word film?
We are currently in negotiations with two different translation rights holders and will make this determination before end 2009.

Will Bruce Marchiano be playing the role of Jesus like he did in Matthew?
We are hoping Bruce will reprise the role of Jesus, but as in all kingdom endeavors, ours is not to presume anything. Thus we are intensely seeking God along with Bruce, keeping our hearts open for any fresh direction He might want us to pursue. We are counting on the Lord's clear leadership here, as we are with all critical decisions.

Why the book of John when there already is a film on the book of John?
There are depths, multi-layers and prophetic dynamics of John's gospel that have yet to be explored on film. As does John's written gospel, Jesus… No Greater Love literally begins "In the beginning," unpacking the revelation of Jesus in the Law and the Prophets of the Torah, presenting Jesus as more than a man who teaches and heals, but the living reality of the living God, I AM in human flesh, as prophesied for centuries and now fulfilled. This film uniquely presents Jesus in the fullness of "yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Why film a word-for-word version rather than a dramatic script?

We believe that the power of God’s Word, portrayed by the right cast and masterfully filmed, will be immeasurably more powerful and impactful than any dramatization to date. The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). There is really no need to improve on what God Himself has written by adding story elements and/or fictionalizing. Demonstrating this distinction between man’s voice and the authoritative voice of God is vitally important to sharing the Gospel with a postmodern generation wondering if absolute truth exists and who, if anyone, has the authority to share it. We will not alter the words God has given, and we will trust His promises about the power of those words.

What if you do not raise enough money by your deadline?
To effectively produce the film, we must receive substantial donations within specified time frames. If we do not, by targeted dates, receive benchmark levels of donations, we will be forced to make difficult decisions regarding whether to continue the project. Our first critical target date for raising funds is March 1, 2010. If targets are missed and the decision is made, that we will not be able to complete the project, we will distribute the excess donations to a few selected ministries that are spreading the Gospel in creative ways. With this arrangement in mind, you can be sure that your contribution will be used to promote the Gospel, regardless of whether the film is successfully produced.

Is my donation tax-deductible?

In the United States, a resounding "Yes!" Marchiano Ministries is a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization. All donations to the New Jesus Movie are tax deductible to the limits allowed by law.

Have a question not answered above?
Send it to us at info@newjesusmovie.com.

Church Split Over Alcohol? Not A Trick Question

A church in my general area has been embroiled in a debate lately. Seems that a vote to sell alcohol in the county this church is located was really being pressed for by some residents. To do this a certain amount of names on a petition were needed. Not much of a story here and you might be asking “Jeff, why is this a church issue?” The issue became a church issue, when some of its members voice their beliefs that alcohol should be sold in their county and that they were going to sign this petition.

This church has within their Church Covenant the following wording as far as what they will and will not do as a body “to abstain from the sale of, and use of, intoxicating drinks as a beverage”. In my opinion, these members that chose to promote this petition have gone against this part of their churches covenant. Apparently these people had been voicing their opinion FOR alcohol sales which garnered the attention of the church elders. These folks were visited, reminded of the church covenant they agreed to upon being made members of the church, given another copy of the covenant and informed that if they were to promote the sale of alcohol they would be removed as members from the church. These 20 or so people decided that their “personal freedoms” were greater than their covenant with this body of believers. They were not “kicked out” as some news agencies reported, as they were welcome to come back any time and would be allowed to be reinstated as members if they apologized.

The debate is happening on the West Kentucky Star website (since posting this blog the WKStar website has removed all comments to this story). I have chimed in some throughout and offer you the same freedom to do so. There are a lot of people commenting that claim to be Christians, but seem to have forgotten that “personal liberties” are non existent when a person is converted. The new creation seems to be a foreign term to them. Of course there are atheists commenting as well and people saying this church has no right to discipline these people. After all, they can choose to drink of they want to, they can do on their own time, what they choose to do and no body better say anything about. If you don’t like it, lump it, hmph! Of course, any true Christian would know that they lost their “personal freedom” upon conversion, they were bought with a price, they are now a doulos, a slave to the Lord, they have forsaken everything and follow Christ, they seek holiness and shun this world and the evil of it….. including alcohol.

I have wanted to comment a lot of things so badly on the West KY Star site, but was restrained in doing so. I did comment some, and what I did comment was bible. I do extend my personal invitation to go there yourself. The story is also on the local NBC affiliate here – seems like more of the same comments there the “judge not” phrase is being thrown around a lot as well as name calling and much more. What would your church do? Would the members of your church even be in this predicament? Does your church practice church discipline?

All in all everyone involved with situation is in need of prayer. I would suggest praying for wisdom, love, repentance and a deeper understanding of what a covenant is and what forgiveness entails. Many bridges have been burned at that church, many hearts broken and many families torn, but God can mend any of those with just a Word. Pray that there is restoration.

Also on a personal note, I would like to thank you for being patient through my sabbatical. I have been pampering my wife through her healing process. God has been really gracious to us over the past 6 weeks or so. Our church family has been very, very wonderful as well, with many of them preparing dinner for us over the past 2 ½ weeks. They have all been such a blessing and we love each of them greatly. We thank God for them and for allowing us to become part of a real church family.

Blogging again shortly

Hi all! I am sorry I have not update/ posted anything new in a little while. My wife just had some pretty major surgery and is still in the hospital... which means that I have been in the hospital too.

Her surgery was quite a surprise and was more extensive than they though after they got inside. I plan on writing a post on this soon, so please bare with me just a little longer. God has definitely been glorified through this trial. I have learned what Philippians 4:6-7 says. Even after reading that passage hundreds of times, God finally made it alive to me and I truly thanked Him for everything through this.

God has been very gracious to us through this and even before in our marriage. We have grown so much as a couple in the past several months and then this comes and draws us closer to God and in turn closer to one another. That is what marriage is all about, it is the earthly example of our relationship with Christ. We are His bride, just as Chandra is my bride. I still need Him to help me love her the way I should, but He isn't finished with me yet and I praise Him for that too! I have learned trust and faith first hand and give Him the glory for the miracles He has done physically to my wife and spiritually for both of us.

God is good and He deserves more praise than we could ever muster up.

Issue on the homefront

Just sitting here in the hospital with my wife. She has been having some health issues lately, being admitted to the hospital from last Thursday until Monday evening. This morning back to the hospital for a arteriogram of an artery in her abdomen. She must now lie flat for 6 hours, which we are now a little over half way through.

She is now facing a major surgery to repair a “kink” in a major artery in her midsection. So I ask for your prayers that the Lord will see her through these next few weeks, with the surgery coming up on Sept. 15th. Please pray specifically that her nerves will be calmed as she (we) put our faith in God to see her safely through this surgery and the recovery phase. She is a strong person, but facing this type of surgery is enough to rattle anyone.

But, as I sit here in the chair watching her cat-nap I am reminded what the Lord has brought us through over the past few years. I have seen some very great times and some very bad times, but through it all God has proven Himself to be the Rock He promised to be. I have had to lean on Him through a very trying time with my son, a rocky part of my marriage that could have been very bad, the death of my dad and a lot of smaller things. If you read back through my older postings you will see some of the places I have been, that my family have encountered and how the Lord has been there to carry us through. Oh, how I praise Him.

God has also blessed us with a wonderful church family that has been through most of the things I mentioned right with us, carrying the burdens and lifting them to the Lord in prayer. He was so gracious to lead us to Oak Grove Baptist Church through a series of eye opening encounters with His Word. I stand in awe as I look back and see the path He chose for us. Granted when traveling down those paths I often stood by and said “what is this all about?” questioning the Father. How bad is that? I questioned the Creator of the universe about why I would be going through issues. I have been learning to just wait on Him and stop trying to fix things on my own. 2 years ago I would have been freaking out looking at my wife in a hospital bed with a major surgery on the horizon, but I can say that I know that He is in control. I am being still and waiting on Him. What other choice do I have?

I must learn to apply this to all areas of my life, not just the major issues. He is in control and I need to acknowledge that daily, even the “good days”. I pray that He will get the glory for what is happening right now in my life, my wife’s situation and beyond.

When Brad Pitt Speaks, People Listen

So we have by high authority… to Christians “you really have to check what country you're living in because the freedom that allows you to practice religion is the same freedom you're stepping on. That's not right. And I want to add... if there was a nation of gay married couples that were telling you couldn't practice your religion, I'd be speaking up for you, too... So, let's stop the nonsense."

This was none other than Brad Pitt, so I am sure his celebrity bandwagon will fill up quickly. Seems like Mr. Pitt can do no wrong, be it cheating on his then wife Jennifer Aniston with now live in Angelina Jolie. Or glorifying his “joint rolling skills” on national T.V. Albeit the Bill Maher show, it does have some viewership and mostly by the liberals. In one fell swoop Brad put homosexuality and Christianity in the same category. I’ll just say to Pitt – If there were a nation of gay married couples, we wouldn’t have to wait long to practice our religion anyway because the homosexuals would be gone in their generation. They couldn’t produce, therefore would be gone. See Mr. Pitt, it’s God’s laws of nature that would take care of it, 2 males or 2 females cannot procreate. Seems logical that even though he doesn’t believe in God, he has to believe in His laws of nature.

Pitt has taken a firm stance with Jolie on promoting the homosexual marriage agenda. They even vowed to not get married until it was legal for gays to marry in all parts of the U.S. To me it seems like a cop out to not get married, so they can blame their sinful cohabitatation on the Christians, as we are the only ones against gay marriage. I guess we also need to check drug use, glorifying drug use on national television, living in sin with another person, cheating on your wife, living in a different country to avoid income tax, using the Lords name in vain, circumventing a countries adoption laws and the list goes on and on. No wonder he renounced being a Christian in 2007, because he never was one to begin with.

Pitt, like all others that “renounce” their faith in Christ, do so for the simple fact they never had it to begin with. Instead of actually having a relationship with Christ, he knows about Jesus, thinks he may have been a cool guy, but sadly worships himself too much to see the True Deity of Christ. It is true that Pitt and Jolie do a lot of things humanitarianly speaking, but so did Mother Teresa and unless she renounced her Catholicism on her death bed she is burning in a never ending pit of fire.

Back to Brad now, he is receiving rave reviews for rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. Good for him, it is a noble gesture and I am sure the people of New Orleans would elect him mayor if given the chance. He has not shied away from the media and is very open about his beliefs. That I respect, it’s just his beliefs are so far out of kilter it’s pathetic. His sinful lifestyle has dictated his spiritual beliefs and he worships himself and Jolie. Why would he want to get married? He has no moral compass to guide him. What is sad is he is an idol to more than himself and the countless hundreds, well o.k. thousands, of people that deify him are going to end up in the same eternal place as him. I guess that is what is so sad to me, that his influence will send people to hell.

Pray for Pitt and Jolie. God can open their eyes and He can open the eyes of those that follow celebrities instead of following the One God of scripture.

Broad Is The Way.....

"Show me the fruits of your ministry and if they so far exceed mine as to give me evidence that you have found a more excellent way, I will adopt your views." Charles Finney – Memoirs.
Okay, so I’ve been at words with a somewhat famous evangelist on Facebook. He has seen fit to announce to the world that people are saved and after seeing this for several weeks I decided to comment on a posting of his.

His name is Randy Hogue and I remembered him as a child at the church that I attended then, and then again later in my adult life. I asked to be his friend on there and told him a little of who I was, where I lived, about Southland Baptist Temple, etc. He actually gave me his phone number and asked me to call him. I would later, during the conversation that ensued, find out his real motive for asking me to call. He seemed to have a free weekend and asked me to speak to my pastor about having him come that weekend. I did mention him to my pastor and he knew who he was. I admit that I was a little put off by his sales pitch to come to my church, but the days that have followed have been even more of a put off.
His postings include – (all of these are copy/ pasted so don’t harp on me for spelling issues) “ R u ready 4 this? 65 people prayed 2 receive Jesus Christ tonite at Beth Haven BC in Kilpatrick AL. to God bd Glory!”

Followed by -
”17(12 adults,5teens) accepted Christ this AM at Eternal Life BC in ooresville,IN. To God b d Glory”
Then I don’t know what set my fuse to the end, but I finally had it and commented on this one – “ 7 saved tonite in Mooresville IN

With that posting I commented - : By saved I pray that these people repented of their sins, turned from their God hating lifestyle and mindset, turned to the One True God of scripture, trusted in Christs atoning work for their sins, had a supernatural re-birth that they couldn't change if they wanted to, are showing fruit of their conversion (otherwise you couldn't know they were ... saved by them just repeating a prayer). If they were truly saved, then time will be evidence, the work that God began - He will finish. People must understand that jumping through a few hoops is not salvation - Do you want to go to hell? No. Do you want to go to heaven? Yes. Are you a sinner? Yes. (even satan knows he is a sinner) Repeat after me.. This has NO scriptural basis. Confess with your mouth does not mean to pray a prayer. The modern gospel is very different than what the Apostles preached - 2 words - man centered. If a person wants to go to heaven just because the alternative stinks, then it is not God centered.

Nothing unbiblical in my posting, maybe a little to the point (but facebook only gives you so many letters to post something). Others commented also on his/ my posting, the most disturbing by a young lady that said someone could go on to commit some very serious sins and still be a child of God. The ones she named would be very difficult for a follower of Christ to commit, she even said that they could even live like an unbeliever and still be saved. Another person commented and called me a Pharisee, the typical jab that those that think they are converted use to justify their sinful life, even though it doesn’t match scripture as a true convert.

Mr. Hogue did send me an apology that read:
“ Thank u Jeff for sharing. God bless u my friend. I'm sorry if my reports offend u. I'm just trying to reach some people for Christ.

I then sent him another message telling him of my testimony, my false conversion, that I placed my faith in a man’s declaration and my sincerity as an 8 year old for my salvation. That for 30 years I based my salvation on saying a prayer as an 8 year old, even though I didn’t know what sin was at that time. I was really honest with him and tried to convey how dangerous it is for a preacher or evangelist to declare someone saved. How that person will take his words and trust in them instead of trusting in Christ. Nothing unbiblical again, nothing done out of malice, but in a spirit of love, to try and convey the dangers of his declarations.

The next I heard was his posting tonight. This was a direct slam to me, and was not done in a spirit of love. It actually is quite blasphemous as he invoked Gods name in a tirade based on my comments to his post, a spiteful “ 14 more got saved tonite & repented of sin, turned from their God hating lifestyle& mindset trusting Christ alone 4 atonement of sin. Ok?

I was actually going to let it rest after his apology, but that shows me that his apology was as about as heartfelt as him declaring people saved. His website boasts that over 35,000 people have been saved at his meetings. I would like to openly ask how many of those are still in the faith? How many are continuing the steps of Christ likeness? How many even attend church now/ still? And finally, how many never had a change, continued on their path of sinfulness, never stepped foot in a church again, can’t stand the things of God, do not read the Word and care nothing more than having their “ticket” to heaven?

I am not saying that some of these souls were not saved, but I would say that they were saved in spite of his message and not because of it. I have heard it, and it is powerful. It does invoke strong emotions as he tells of his childhood and how he and his mom were abused, how he was delivered from drugs and how he now deems people saved. It is a form of hypnotism as he works people into a heightened emotional state, then goes for the jugular with a “if you want to be delivered as I was, just come forward and say this magic prayer”. By the time he has his altar call, he has the audience eating from his hand, they would do anything he asked.

A litmus test for me is, can you take a sermon/ message to a remote village in Africa and get the same effect? Can Randy Hogue go to Africa and tell how he was abused as a child and get 65 tribesmen saved? Or would they think “Big deal, we live a life of abuse, fight for our food, make our clothes from animal pelts and you want us to feel emotional about your former situation?” The Gospel MUST be proclaimed as the apostles and Christ Himself did. Anything else and the person is accursed.
Galatians 1:6-9 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

This mans gospel is a wide gate and many are going through it. It is evidenced by those that posted against me. I said nothing unscriptural, and the lambasted me. I actually expected it, but did not expect his apology, followed by his spiteful comments this evening. I am praying for this man, as a nerve has been touched. He is upset, because his conscience is working. That is good, but he has a lot of years riding on his messages. The 35,000+ people he popishly declared saved may think twice if he says that he’s been wrong all these years. That would be a good thing on many levels, first it would show that he realizes his methods are that of a salesman, second people will think twice about their decisionism without changes and most importantly God will be glorified that His name will not be blasphemed as one more person stops trying to help Him save people.

It’s simple – proclaim the Word of God. Proclaim His Gospel. Do not lead people through hoops, do not get emotional or situational decisions out of people by telling them a story that would make even a devout atheist feel something tingle in his innards. Just proclaim the gospel and let God do the rest. Numbers mean nothing, except inflating an ego and making your resume’ look better (to some). Preach the Word, and nothing else.

Why RTM? Watch This Video And See

Please take a few moments to watch the video below. It shows the reason for Real Truth Matters, as countless millions are taught a false gospel message. I was in the situation as these four dear people were and the Lord allowed me too, to see the His TRUTH.

Also take a moment to look at the newly redesigned Real Truth Matters website. Click on the conference banner on the homepage to see another video with information about this years conference. Also if you are planning on attanding, please sign up through the website form as well, seating is limited.

Can the Gospel be Saved? from Real Truth Matters on Vimeo.

Praise God For The Furnace

I just read over once again an excerpt from A.W. Tozer's book "The Root of Righteousness" (chapter 39) called "Thank God For The Furnace". I have posted below the manuscript for this and am sure that if you too read it you will be blessed. It needs no explanation - just a few minutes to read and a lifetime to digest.

I have read Tozers "Attributes of God" book and will be adding this book to my stack shortly. May this be a blessing to you.

Praise God For The Furnace
It was the enraptured Rutherford who could shout in the midst of serious and painful trials, "Praise God for the hammer, the file and the furnace."

The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nail's view of the hammer, and it is accurate except for one thing: The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workman. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workman and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose head will be beaten next and what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future it will yield to the hammer without complaint.

The file is more painful still, for its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges till it has shaped the metal to its will. Yet the file has, in truth, no real will in the matter, but serves another master as the metal also does. It is the master and not the file that decides how much shall be eaten away, what shape the metal shall take, and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the metal accept the will of the master and it will not try to dictate when or how it shall be filed.

As for the furnace, it is the worst of all. Ruthless and savage, it leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury till it has reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to burn is melted to a mass of helpless matter, without will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted that will melt and all is burned that will burn, then and not till then the furnace calms down and rests from its destructive fury.

With all this known to him, how could Rutherford find it in his heart to praise God for the hammer, the file and the furnace? The answer is simply that he loved the Master of the hammer, he adored the Workman who wielded the file, he worshiped the Lord who heated the furnace for the everlasting blessing of His children. He had felt the hammer till its rough beatings no longer hurt; he had endured the file till he had come actually to enjoy its bitings; he had walked with God in the furnace so long that it had become as his natural habitat. That does not overstate the facts. His letters reveal as much.

Such doctrine as this does not find much sympathy among Christians in these soft and carnal days. We tend to think of Christianity as a painless system by which we can escape the penalty of past sins and attain to heaven at last. The flaming desire to be rid of every unholy thing and to put on the likeness of Christ at any cost is not often found among us. We expect to enter the everlasting kingdom of our Father and to sit down around the table with sages, saints and martyrs; and through the grace of God, maybe we shall; yes, maybe we shall. But for the most of us it could prove at first an embarrassing experience. Ours might be the silence of the untried soldier in the presence of the battle-hardened heroes who have fought the fight and won the victory and who have scars to prove that they were present when the battle was joined.

The devil, things and people being what they are, it is necessary for God to use the hammer, the file and the furnace in His holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.

Without doubt we of this generation have become too soft to scale great spiritual heights. Salvation has come to mean deliverance from unpleasant things. Our hymns and sermons create for us a religion of consolation and pleasantness. We overlook the pace of the thorns, the cross and the blood. We ignore the function of the hammer and the file.

Strange as it may sound, it is yet true that much of the suffering we are called upon to endure on the highway of holiness is an inward suffering for which scarcely an external cause can be found. For our journey is an inward journey, and our real foes are invisible to the eyes of men. Attacks of darkness, of despondency, of acute self-depreciation may be endured without any change in our outward circumstances. Only the enemy and God and the hard-pressed Christian know what has taken place. The inward suffering has been great and a mighty work of purification has been accomplished, but the heart [knows] its own sorrow and no one else can share it. God has cleansed His child in the only way He can, circumstance being what they are. Thank God for the furnace.

The Purity Of What You Consume

I was out mowing my yard, thinking about a big glass of ice water as the sweat was dripping from my brow. I knew that the water I had was clean, I knew it was pure and I knew it was good. Good not only in taste, but also good for my body. I knew that it would replenish and quench me. I also started to think about our need for water, that our bodies are in fact 60-70% water and we must replenish that when we lose some from our bodies.

I then started to think of the purity of water that we consume. Does our bodies need unpolluted water? Yes, I think that goes without saying. If we drink polluted water we will in fact have adverse reactions to it. In some worst-case scenarios one can even die from toxins in water. So pure water is essential for life, not just human life, but all life.

Now take a look at the picture above. I labeled the 2 glasses #1 and #2 for clarity (no pun intended). They both look pure, why they may even taste the same at first. If you give it a moment to make it through your body, maybe even a day or so, you would soon find out that glass # 2 had a single drop of pure botulism toxin, one of the deadliest known substances in the world. If you knew that, would you still drink it?

It still looks the same, it still is very palatable, it still quenches your thirst but most importantly it will now kill you. An excruciating death would ensue and with just a single teaspoon being lethal enough to kill 1.2 billion people. Yes, Billion with a B But it looks as pure as the other glass.

“So Jeff, are you saying that we need to all get chemistry degrees and carry around the correct items to assure that we are drinking pure water?”

That not my point. I would like you to turn this to the spiritual realm. Look at all of the preaching going on in the world today. I would like for you to listen to your preacher, the guy on T.V., the person on the radio and whoever else or wherever else you are partaking in things of a spiritual nature. Now take those sermons, TV show and messages you are reading and put them under the microscope of God’s Word, see if they are poisoned by man’s words and agendas. Are you receiving a message that is 99% pure and 1% poison? Does your preacher say all the right things, align with the bible in 9 of his 10 points, but turn to a man centered theology to increase his numbers and lessen his empty pews? Is there something not quite right with the TV preacher, when he tells you that you have to send him “seed money” in order to be blessed by God? Those are drops of botulism in his message and it will cause spiritual death as it seeps through your mind.

Personally I try to discern what goes into my body, albeit I often come up short on the amount that I consume, I am fairly conscience of what goes in. Also, and more importantly I am aware of what goes into my ears and my mind at an even more heightened state. God has been good to me and allowed me to see how putrid a false message can be, how it corrupted my theology and how it caused me to be spiritually dead for 2/3 of my life. The Lord was merciful to me and allowed me to taste of His Pure Word and let me see how nourishing It is, how It gives life and feeds my spirit. He gave me a taste for His Word that can now discern impurities in a poisoned message. Praise Him for that, because He would have been just as good if He would have allowed me to die in my ignorance. He did not have to save a wretch like me, but loved me instead and showed mercy on me.

Have you been shown that mercy? The mercy that only the Father can give, through His Son Jesus Christ? Has the Holy Spirit worked on you, leading you toward the Savior? Are you still held captive by silly words? Are your ears being tickled with a false message that tastes oh so good, but is poisoning you with each drop that enters your body? Are you deceived into drinking from a glass that holds hell and destruction, a message that sounds so much like the truth but is actually a lie from Satan that has you deceived?

I pray that you seek God through His Word. Seek Him and you will find Him. That is promised in Jeremiah 29:13 And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. Search His Word and make sure the things going into your body aren’t poison.

One last thought is on Botox. This is derived from the botulism poison and is used to make ones appearance different from what it actually is. It paralyzes the nerves in a persons face and makes the wrinkles not as noticeable, making them appear younger. For some reason this is desirable to some people, but is also very deadly. People are paying a lot of money to be poisoned….. on purpose. Whatsupwitdat? But if you in turn look at most churches the same holds true there too. People are paying to be poisoned by impure messages. Things like “A Purpose Driven Life”, Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life Now” and books like “Velvet Elvis” and “The Shack” have all topped the best sellers list, but are in fact poison in diluted form. Products use the guise of being Christian literature, but are full of just enough truth to send a person to hell.

Pray for discernment, pray for Truth, pray for God to save you. Repent of your sinful life and turn to God. He does love you, but He is also Holy and can not stand the sight of your sin. He must judge in righteousness and He will send the unjust to hell. I pray that you seek His Word and His forgiveness.

Independence Day 2009

I've set back today and heard the accolades for the USA. It is the greatest nation in many ways, but in the biggest way it falls very short.

What way is that? The downward spiral away from God. Is this the great falling away that is spoken of in 2 Thes. 2:3? There does seem to be many falling away from the Faith, actually a lot more than you may think. I say this because so many are being deceived by a different gospel (Gal. 1:6-8) and a different Jesus is being proclaimed (2 Co. 11:4). I am not talking about the LDS or the JWs either. I am talking about most professing evangelical churches in our nation.

These churches (and I use the term very loosely) have created a god that is similar to the God of the bible, but oh so dangerous. See it has just enough truth in it, mixed with lies to be sending countless millions to hell. Satan is very crafty and has indeed counterfeited the Gospel with a very dangerous one. Many people raised in churches now think that they are all right because they made a single profession of faith and never truly repented of their sins. They do not know that repentance is actually turning from your sinful life and toward Jesus and never looking back(Luke 9:62). Turning from the sins that you covet and toward the God that you hate. This idea seems so radical now, but was the true biblical gospel up until less than a century ago, when numbers started to matter more than actual conversion, becoming a new creation through the redeeming power and love of Christ.

If a person now tells someone that they need to repent and be born again, become a new creation and shun the sinful lives they are leading, they are deemed as wackos, cults or modern Pharisees. The scripture is immediately quoted "Judge not least ye be judged" (Matt 7:1). This verse is probably the most taken out of context in the bible. Just keep reading through Matt 7 and you will see that judgment is to happen. How could you know not to cast your pearls before swine if you have not discerned that they were swine in the first place.

The U.S. has created a brand of Christianity that is man centered, which makes it false. Any message that says a man must first do something to gain eternal life is no different than any other pagan religion out there. "Say this prayer and ask Jesus into your heart"? Where is that in the bible? That is a works based theology that is not biblical, but man centered.

So what can we do? We can pray for our leaders, that they will come to a true repentant faith in the God of the bible. When and if they do, then there will be a marked change in our country. There will be a very quick ending to the murder of our babies, the homosexual agenda will reach an uproar because gay marriage will be thrown out of any conversations. Allegation of hate speech from the pulpit because a pastor says a gay person is gong to hell? No existent.

Do pray for the country and its leaders. Not just the political, but the supposed spiritual leaders as well. This goes for the Osteens, Warrens and Hinns. The ones that have a huge following because they make earthly promises for God and skew scripture to fit their agenda. Pray also for the true followers of Christ that preach the truth and stand for the True God of Scripture.

Now Your iPhone Is A Missionary, Preacher and Evangelist

I just did a search for “Christian iphone apps” and found out that there is actually a Christianiphoneapps.com. Who would’ve thunk it?

But anyways, one app caught my eye amongst all the Bibles and devotionals being shown. It was called, simply, iChristian. How original. So I took a gander at it in iTunes and was disturbed, but not really surprised at what it was. It is actually the same as most sermons across the USA on a daily basis.

Seems the app takes you pretty much through the 4 spiritual laws and has “THE” prayer listed in which you can say to become a Christian, er uh, American christian (small “c” because they only profess Christ with their lips on a single occasion and then live the same life as before, no changes, no repentance, no living for Christ. So they are following a false christ).

The app description touts that it contains “the minimal of required information to become a Christian”, but yet there is nothing of biblical repentance and denying everything and following Christ. Fully. In every facet. Forever. You can even register yourself as a Christian after you say the prayer. I think they will also give you a certificate proving that you are now a christian. So much for the fruits of the Spirit and actually living a repentant life, as the signs that the bible says will tell that a person has been truly converted.

This is just the next step in our culture to further blaspheme the Word of God. It takes certain verses (as most churches do) and uses them to make their point, which is actually teaching a false Christ. I was deceived for many years and sadly my wife and oldest son was too. Thankfully the Lord opened my eyes at a pivotal time in my walk with Him and soundly saved me, not through any prayer I said, but out of His loving grace for me. WOW! I still stand amazed that the Lord would save me, a person that claimed to know Him and yet defiled His precious name on a daily basis. How great is our God!

Michael Jackson Dead At Age 50

It has just been reported that Michael Jackson has died, ending a very controversial life. He has joined the ultimate statistic…. 1 out of 1 will die. He did not know that he was going to die at a young age of 50. He was actually planning a comeback tour that would have been very elaborate and probably very costly. But what about his soul? That is the most precious thing he had. In fact if Jackson did not repent of his sins he is now burning in the lake of fire.

It reminds me of the rich young ruler (king of pop). He had all the earthly desires he ever wanted, quite arguably at one point, one of the richest entertainers. He was successful by the terms of the world. But all of that doesn’t matter now. He is gone from this earth and all of his possessions have been left here, along with his lifeless body. His soul lives on, but where? As I said, if he had not repented before his death he is now in hell and has no chance to reconcile to the Lord.

So what about you? Have you repented of your sinful life, turned to the God that you hated? Have you acknowledged that Christ is Lord and laid down your own life in order that Christ may live through you? That’s the most important thing in a persons existence. Has God done such a work in you that your sins are now hated by you? Or are you your own god? Have you created a god that conforms to your ideas instead of you fitting His? Does your god turn a blind eye to sins? Does your god not care that your lifestyle doesn’t match what the Bible says it should? Or is your God the God of scripture that gave His Son on a cross for your sins and demands that you count yourself as dead so that He can live?

I beg you to seek the True God of the Bible. Not the watered down god prominently preached at most churches every Sunday morning. Be not deceived, God will not be mocked. He is Holy and we are commanded to be Holy as well. He is righteous; He is also just and must punish sin. Do not think of God as only love, that is only one facet of His Glory. Cry out to Him to show you Himself, cry out to begin a walk with Him to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. There is nothing that you can do to save yourself, no prayer, no walk down an aisle, not baptism, not a profession of faith. Only Chrsit the Lord can save you and all we can do is repent and believe in Him. Be aware that repentance is not sorrow. Sorrow is a part of repenting, but true repentance is turning from your sins. How? If God truly saves you will be a new creation and you will walk by His statutes, you will conform to the likeness of Christ, you will love His Word, you will love His people and you definitely won’t be the same.

I pray that Michael Jackson was saved. I will not cast judgment on him, but will say that he is like everyone else. He was a sinner and the wrath of God was on his head and unless he repented and turned from sin and to God, he is in hell.

The Ugly Duckling Syndrome or Always Chosen last

Just sitting here thinking back to my youth…. On the playground…… kickball, basketball, baseball, football, any other sport going on…. Thinking about how it was being the last one picked for a team or being the odd person out and not being picked at all. Things like that follow a person through their whole life and help shape them into the person they become.

Some people strive to become better at a chosen sport or activity in order that they will then not be left out or be embarrassed by being the last one chosen. Is there anything wrong with that? I guess it depends on the reasoning behind it. Do they want to fit in because they desire what someone else has, in this case a relationship with other people. Or are they actually trying to better themselves? In most cases it is probably to fit in, to not be left out, to not be ridiculed, to be liked, etc.

If it is to fit in then they are in affect trying to be something they aren’t in order to gain favor with a particular person or group of people. Is that a good thing? I would say not. My reasoning, because they would then be living a lie and emulating the others instead of being their own person.

So how does this have to do with Christianity, or better yet the church? Glad you asked. So many times people get side tracked into areas where they are trying to serve someone other than God. This could be a great mission, if it weren’t for the motives behind it. I have seen many people do things they did not want to do in order to make themselves look better, make someone else happy or not get a bad reputation for doing them. All of which are wrong reasons for doing anything within a Christian body of believers.

1 Cor. 3:11-15 lays this out for us. Any works that are not built upon Christ will be burned up. That means that if you do anything for selfish motivations, the Lord will disregard them. So all the people that are serving ministries out of duty, out of a desire to be noticed, out of a desire to make themselves shine, then they are doing it in vain. But going in the other direction a person may not be as capable of doing something in the most popular manner, but have a desire to please the Lord and no one else. They may not know the correct words to say, the right buttons to push or may not do things the way some people would have them done, but they are serving the Lord and not a selfish desire.

These are the humble and weak that follow the Lord with an inward zeal to glorify Him. They are the ones that are most often time left on the sidelines because they do not fit in, or chosen last because their skills may be lacking in some areas. These weaker vessels need to be discipled instead of cast off as useless, or shunned because they may be different than everyone else. After all, aren’t all Christians the outcasts of the world? Shouldn’t the outcasts of the world be pulling together instead of apart?

Let me remind you what the Word of God says:
1 Corinthians 12:20-26 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Wow! That is exactly what the church does not do. Instead these weaker parts are cast by the wayside. They look in at what the others are doing in their little cliques and wonder why they are on the outside when all they want to do is work with the other hand, the other eye, the foot, the little finger or the mouth and glorify God, build the Lords kingdom and be a member of the body instead of being a cast off. After all would you cut your feet off because your belly was big, because your feet did not run around enough to burn enough calories for weight loss? Or would you nurture your feet and see how they could work with the whole body toward the same goal?

So next time think about the “little people” that are looking into your circle of friends and invite them in. These people could be the missing puzzle piece… er uh, body part that could complete the goal that has been set forth. Even if their skills may be lacking, they may be a little slower than you or they may need some coaching (discipleship) they may be the body part that God wants to use to His glory.

Also don’t forget he story of the ugly duckling. Not a biblical story per se, but goes right along with the 1Cor.12 quote above. The “duckling” was seen as ugly because it did not fit in, there fore shunned by its brothers and sisters. Only until they saw the “duckling” in its true state as a beautiful swan could they appreciate it in how its beauty glorified Gods work. The same could be as the outcast duckling in your church, they could be waiting for the Lord to show you His glory through them and when He does….. it will be more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Abide In Me and I In You

John 15:4
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.

All of us who are truly believers have heard the clarion call, “Come unto Me!” The Holy Spirit as the Royal Ambassador of Heaven has granted that invitation to your heart. Oh, what a great invitation this is – to come and to know Christ! It is so wonderful, so awesome, that there is hardly even anything to compare it to. Why, the very call, the very invitation to know Christ is not just an invitation to come, but that invitation has the ability to enact within you a desire to come and empower you to do so.

When you remember seeing the Beloved for the very first time, how exhilarating, how powerful, how life-changing that invitation, “Come unto Me,” was! Today’s text, however, speaks of another call from our Lord. It is just as inviting as the invitation to come. It is equally clear, powerful, and attractive. It is the call, “Abide in Me.” ........

This is one of the "essential" manuscripts/ sermons of the Real Truth Matters ministry. Please take a moment and visit the Real Truth Matters Homepage and/ or the blog. At either you will find resources that glorify the Lord, teach the converted and make the Lord's call to the lost. There are many messages for free download in MP3 format and several have been laboriously typed into manuscript form.

To God be the glory!

Real Truth Matters

One Year Down - Happy 1st To Me

Today, May 24th is the 1 year anniversary of my blog. I look back on the past 365 days and stand in awe of what the Lord has done in my life, in the lives of my family members and in my friends and church families lives.

When I first started my blog it was to pretty much document my journey in finding a new church home. God took care of that really quick, so the blog went in a different direction. Mostly as just a rant of what the Lord was showing me as He was opening my eyes to a lot of things. Praise Him that He did not leave me believing the false gospel that I was hearing at each church service. It was actually a very dangerous message, as it had enough truth to sound solid but the 10% man centered message was enough to make a difference. Imaging you had a glass of water and put 10% poison into it. Would you drink it? Would you reject it? So why would a sermon or a preacher be any different? It should actually be held to a stiffer standard than that, seeing how it sends countless millions to hell.

One thing that I would like to say, I AM NOT A WRITER. That is very evident if you have read some of my posts. I am just a regular person, that enjoys venting on the internet. Thankfully I have never been confronted about my writing ability, or lack thereof. I have seen God use this blog for things I never though possible. He has used it to show me that His Word does not go out void. This has also been a great study help for me, as I look up scriptures and verify that I am not using a scripture out of context. I pray that I haven’t and won’t at any time. The Lord was also good in allowing a great family in the area to read my blog and in that bringing the m to Oak Grove Baptist. This family has been a major blessing in my families life and in the church family as well. God is good and this is proof.

The past year has also been full of a lot of trials for me. I have gone through my mom’s house being broken into, my son being in trouble with the law, a huge marital issue and a close call at work that could have landed me jobless. But through this God has been there. I have seen His hand at work in each circumstance and have gloried in His work. I have come to a place where I know I must trust His Word and trust in Him to be my sustainer. So many time have I tried to fix things myself, the mentioned issues included, only to fall. I have learned that I must place everything at the feet of God and trust Him to take care of the situations and me. God doesn’t want His children to suffer; He wants them to depend on Him for everything and it is sad that I had to go through things like this to get me to the point of where I am today. I should have put everything in His hands when they first came about.

One thing I have tried to do in my blog posts is appeal to the lost. This includes those that know they are lost as well as those that think they are okay. The hit tracker on the left of the page shows search terms, so I have seen a lot of Todd Bentley hits to this blog. I saw that as an opportunity to tailor some postings to draw those search results to this page so those people would get a clearer picture of where they were spiritually. Todd Bentley came and went fairly quickly, but he is poising himself for a comeback, so it won’t be long before I revisit some Bentley postings. I just have not had the stomach to sit through the videos of him and fellow heretic Rick Joyner, so until then I will not be writing any Bentley posts.

I would like to thank anyone that has set through my ramblings. It is amazing to me that people from countries I have never heard of have visited my li’l old blog. I am also amazed that people continue to come, some on a regular basis, to read my bad excuse for blogging. God has been good and He will continue to be exalted here and I will leave it open to Him what appears here. This is for His glory, I have no hidden agendas or underlying motives in what I post. I want to glorify my Savior an pray that He will use me for that purpose. One thing exciting to me is that you can now type in www.thattruthmayabound.com and reach this blog. I am in prayer as to what God wants for this blog and website. Who knows? I never thought that all the things that have taken place over the past year would come to be, I can only stand in awe of what comes about over the next year.

To God be the glory! Great things He has done.

My Hometown Is Becomming The World

Yesterday in my hometown the city commission approved an ordinance that will allow a "cafe" atmosphere in our downtown area, allowing the drinking of alcohol lining the public sidewalks. I also just sent an email to each commission member, the mayor and the city manager telling them of my objection to their decision.

The commission is made up of professing Christians that are showing their friendship with the world, their lack of morals and total disregard for a family environment all in the name of greed. This latest decision is just the extra kick to the recent allowance of alcohol sales on Sundays.

I remember as a child in Paducah KY when you were hard pressed to even find a store open on a Sunday. But that was a different time, when there were actual morals and family values left. Now it seems that what the mighty dollar wants, the mighty dollar gets. Paducah is slowly becoming a very worldly influence on its inhabitants. Any sin that can be thought of can be had in Paducah. Maybe I am a little naive, but I don't think it has always been this way.

I can see Paducah changing, or at least God has opened my eyes to things that have been going on for a while. There is something seriously wrong with things when a person can stand in the parking lot of any bar and ask people if they are Christians and get a 99% yes count. This is from people that are on their way into an establishment, under cover of the night, to engage in all manners of sinfulness..... and they blaspheme the Name of God as they do this.

It's time for true Christians to wake up and stop electing officials that are going to further the worlds agenda. But then again, most are like the 99% that answer yes to being a Christian, but are actually the world and products of the modern "christian" message proclaimed in churches across this country. The one that has no sanctification or regeneration. They teach nothing of the new birth in Christ, but say they are "born again", even though they still live just as sinful as they did before they got their ticket.

Sadly these poor souls are travelling down the wrong road. They go arm in arm with each other down a very wide path. The narrow way (Matt 7:13-14)is just that - NARROW. You come by yourself, with no baggage because it won't fit through the narrow gate. If you want to pack all your sin along, then you are on the wrong path and I plead you to seek the Holy God that can save you and in turn take your yoke of baggage.

As for the city leaders of Paducah. Pray for those that voted for this ordinance and are schmoozing with the world, that they may meet the True God of the bible. Also pray for the 2 lone commissioners that voted against this and that they will continue to vote in accordance with their beliefs.

Proverbs 20:1 (KJV) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

I first came up with the title of this blog and then a couple different thoughts popped into my head. Do I rant about my wife and how she relies on me as her alarm clock on the weekends or do I rant about the poor souls that are sleepwalking through life thinking they are on their way to heaven.

I then decided….. neither. If you read my past blogs, I am quite straightforward about the professing Christians and I am fairly sure if you come back in a few days I will have written something else about them as well. That is where my convictions are, because that is where I was for 30+ years of my life. I was “okay”. I had my “ticket” and I was on my way to heaven, even though I lived like the devil.

I did decide to write about my wife, but not rant. My wife is in the midst of a wonderful walk with the Lord. It is very exciting to see her growing in faith, by putting her trust in God. She is a very strong willed person and I really admire that, but it does sometimes hinder growth. That she is learning first hand and though it is painful at times for her, it is also great to hear her say, “God is good, I totally gave Him my problems and He deals with them and I am at peace”. In effect, she has done what Matt 11:28-30 says to do – give your burdens to the Lord, His burden is light.

She recently was faced with a really heavy trial, one that I had actually prayed to come about. Now before you get out the whip on me, it was something that was impeding her family life with the boys and me. I gave it to the Lord after voicing my opinion to her on one too many occasions. She became agitated with me for voicing my concerns about this and my stubborn self finally did what I should have done a long time ago as well – put my trust in God. I prayed in accordance with the Word of God, what He laid out for family life, but in that it was also a prayer to change her outlook as well. Guess what? It wasn’t any time until God had turned her 180 degrees and she was walking closer to Him and in turn with me.

Isn’t God amazing when you do what you know should be doing, instead of what comes natural? God is so patient and good to His children. Especially when we come to Him in all confidence with a request, which is in accord with His Word. Some times it takes us too long to get to that point, but as I grow in His Word and as I walk more with Him I find it much more conducive to give it all to the Lord. Not just problems, but everything. What Father would hurt their child or do something that is not for the betterment of them? Our God is good and he pleasures in us, especially when we are in communion with Him. Because when we trust in Him, He can be glorified in what He does for us and through us.

I urge you to place everything at the feet of the Lord and allow Him to direct your path. Believe me, that is the real meaning of trust and obey, because if you do trust the obeying part comes natural.

So what about the blog title and waking my wife up? I decided that it was I that had the issues, not my wife. I was being selfish and expecting her to know that she needed to get up with the sun like I do. That’s not to say that on a Saturday that there is something we planned to do I won’t be prodding her to get up, but what does it hurt for her to sleep in longer than I do? Nothing. Maybe I need to sleep in a little longer myself from time to time.

Carrie Prejean, a Christian? In a Biblical sense? Really?

It seems like Carrie Prejean, Miss California, is doing a lot of explaining these days. She is taking a lot of flack from Perez Hilton, self-described “queen” of all media. (Just a side question, who digs these judges up out the cesspool anyway? Oh wait; Donald Trump owns the Miss USA pageant so there ya go.)

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, Prejean was asked a question by Hilton during the Miss USA contest last month. The question was for her opinion on gay marriage, in which she said “I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman”. Honestly I did not see the contest and have only read about things until today when I watched the clip of what she said. She did offer up a bit of an apology when she was answering Hilton’s question saying “No offense to anyone out there, but that’s how I was raised…”

While I will not join the throngs of people on the “diss the miss” bandwagon, I will say that I do question a person’s fruit if they call themselves a Christian. I do this because scripture say’s I need to do so (Matt 7:17, 20, 24 - 1 Corinthians 6:3-4 – Eph 5:11). If you examine what Prejean has done (the beauty contests that glamorize beauty (conceit) or that make gawking objects for men to look at on TV in their bikinis and low cut dresses), she tries to justify it by “that’s what I do, I am a beauty contestant”. Well, could a murderer claim to be a Christian and continue to kill people with the same flippant “that’s what I do, I kill people but I am a Christian”?

But, to me that’s not really the big issue, that is quite common place these days and thank God that He has allowed me to see through these deceitful lies from professing Christians. Ms. Prejean has created a God that fits her lifestyle. She has done the exact same thing as the majority of “Christian America” has done. She is in the same ranks now as Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Oprah, Todd Bentley and just about everyone that appears on godtv. I know she is being praised for her answer during the pageant, I know she received an extended standing ovation at the Dove awards (I was there, see last post), I know she claims to be a Christian, but I can not find her testimony or conversion story anywhere. (If someone does please send me a link.) I would really like to hear how God transformed her from her sinfulness into a slave for Christ. I do respect the fact that she stood up for what the bible says marriage is, but I also know that one does not have to be a Christian to have those same values. I have lost friends at work that also hold the same convictions concerning what marriage is, but that does not make them a Christian.

It does seem that Carrie is in a pickle about the photos that have recently surfaced (oh, that explains the picture above). On one hand she claims that she was 17 when these were taken (which also brings in question her parents salvation for allowing this) and on the other she is making excuses of why they were taken. It seems that no matter what your chosen profession now, it is o.k. to call yourself a Christian and still live a life of sin. I work with people that do the same thing – they claim to be Christians but they still live a sinful lifestyle filled with drugs, alcohol, lying, cursing God, living in sin with their girlfriends, etc. These people are breaking every commandment, especially having created a god in their own image that turns his head at their sins. They are cheapening Christ’s bloodshed on Calvary for us. This is a tragedy and I will not be party to it. If anything, the Miss California debacle has made me a little bolder in talking to people I come in contact with.

I will not cheapen the work of our Savior. I will not condone this and I pray that anyone reading this will do the same. I will not close my eyes to people that say they can do whatever they want and still be a Christian, because that’s one thing we are saved from – a sinful lifestyle that does not glorify God. If a person is born again that means A-G-A-I-N, that their old life is gone and instead they are born anew in the Spirit, they do not want to sin, they detest it and in no way will a true Christian justify their sins as Prejean and millions of others do. These poor deceived souls are walking down the broad road to damnation with all their friends and baggage in tow. The narrow path is… well narrow. It does not allow you to bring all the baggage with you, you have to leave it at the turnstile and enter by yourself, totally exposed. If you haven’t and you are trying to bring the world along with you I beg you to examine your choice to do so. Are you justifying the music you listen to or the TV shows that you watch? Is a white lie o.k. to you? Is getting drunk just entertainment to you? How about gambling, the lottery, cussing constantly? If so then you are in the same boat, or on the same road as Carrie Prejean and all the professing Christians that have created a god to suit them, one in their own image that isn’t strong enough to sanctify them or one that doesn’t care what his children do. Do you want a powerless god like that? I do not and that is why my God is the God of the Bible that sanctifies and carries out the work that He begins. My God is stronger than my past sinful life and re-birthed me by His Spirit anew and doesn’t allow me to rest in my sin. Oh, praise Him for that. I praise Hi that He did not only save me from hell, but from my sinful life that mocked His Holy Name.

So choose this day whom you will follow – the God of scripture or the god of your own making. (My paraphrase of 1 Kings 18:21)

(P.S. It took me a little while to locate a photo that I could use of Prejean. Seems like a crop is needed on any photo on the internet to make it acceptable, be it for a bikini shot or a low cut top shot. That seems like that's all that's out there. Not very scriptural according to 1 Timothy 2:9)

A Night At The Dove Awards

Last night my wife and I had the honor of attending the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards. This was a very good time in that we got to see some live performances by some artists that we really like. It was really cool to see the set changes during commercials and how they must have worked on the choreography for many hours so that the needed equipment and props would be ready in a matter of minutes. I was impressed.

The night did have a few notable moments. One being Carrie Prejean’s introduction of Mercy Me. She received sustained applause for her recent answer during the 2009 Miss USA Pageant. The pageant judge, Perez Hilton whom is gay, asked her about her opinion on states permitting gay marriage. Also a notable moment for me was the performance by The Blind Boys of Alabama with Mac Powel. This was a great performance by one of today’s top Christian artists and a legendary gospel group.

One thing that was highly noticeable was the attire of some those attending, or lack thereof. This was a Christian event, but if you stood the attendees next to those that attend any other awards show – you wouldn’t be able to tell some of them apart. It really makes me wonder if this same revealing attire is worn to these people’s church services. I constantly had to turn my head to avoid being shocked by what the person heading my way was wearing. I had to alter my route back to my car so I would not be walking behind this one young lady that looked like she had taken the dress off of her Barbie doll and put it on herself. It was so high cut that it would have been short on a toddler. Sadly that is the state of what “Christian America” looks like and shows a lot of their values and blindness to what is acceptable and what is not.

I had already read that Paducah native, Steven Curtis Chapman, was going to perform his song “Cinderella”. This was because the song received increase airplay as it took on new meaning after the untimely death of his daughter. This song I have always had issues with being played on Christian radio. This is in the same vein as “Butterfly Kisses” and “Letters From War”, they are NOT Christian songs, they may be meaningful songs but they do not belong on Christian radio that should be playing music that exalts the Lord. That is a big issue with me, so much that if I am listening to the radio and that kind of song comes on I will change the station or switch to a CD. My wife, who is well versed on my stance to these kinds of songs, said “Ha! Now you HAVE to listen to it.” What a joker she is. Admittedly it was a touching performance and I did get a little soggy eyed. But it still is not a Christian song; I am just compassionate about the Chapman’s situation and cannot imagine what they have gone through.

There was one moment that really put a screeching halt to the evening for me. It was when GRITS and AJ Styles came out to present the Short Form Music Video. I have heard of Styles, but honestly did not know that he was a Christian. GRITS on the other hand I knew professed Christ and had seen them during Shoutfest one year. I had some red flags thrown back then during their performance and last night was more or less the final nail in the coffin. The lead rapper (is that a real term?), Coffee, made an off color remark, no pun intended. Styles was acting as if he could not get he envelope open when Bonafide (the second in charge of droppin’ a rhyme) took the envelope to open it. Coffee then said “Once again – black man savin’ a white man – shout out to Obama.” He had previously told Styles “You black by association man, you black by association” as a joke about the way Styles was talking. First of all these were very racist remarks. I was very taken back that a professing Christian makes a race division, especially a former backup dancer (GRITS were former dancers) for dcTalk, the Christian group that really broke down barriers. The Obama remark just really put the exclamation point on his words. I wonder what part of Obama’s values he holds closest to. Killing babies in the womb or those that have made it through the birth canal and are then brutally murdered out of convenience? Or maybe it’s the fact that Obama himself attended a racist church for 20+ years and he feels a special kinship with him. Or maybe it was just a vain attempt for Coffee to reach out for an invitation to the White House. Who knows? I just know that politics and racism hold no place in a Christian event.

There were a few winners that did truly glorify God in their acceptance speeches, one being Steven Curtis Chapman for the Artist of the Year. He said (paraphrase alert) that his family were thrown into a situation they never would have signed up for, but has been an opportunity to share their hope in Christ to many more people than would have been possible otherwise. It was very well handled and I appreciated the fact that he did glorify God through his words and through this tragedy.

Overall it was a good time, all except the drive back and getting up at 5:30 this morning for work. God was good today and allowed me to not feel tired and have an eventless day at work. God is so good and I deserve it so little, actually I do not deserve any of His grace, but He saw fit to extend that saving grace upon me. Please pray for the people that claim to be Christian but live like the world, dress like the world and hold the world closer than they do their relationship with Christ. I was reminded of that large piece of the population last night. Please pray that God will open their eyes to what a real relationship with Him is and not this false hope they have in a savior they created in their own image.

Just messin' around

I was just playing around with some photo editing and made up this pic.

"Christian" Singers Covering Secular Songs

One topic that has really stuck with me over the past week or two is “Christian” artists covering secular songs. Be it on a CD or in concert, it doesn’t really matter. I guess I was first exposed to this with DC Talk doing “Jesus is Still Alright”, an extension and not really a cover of “Jesus is Just Alright” by the Doobie Brothers and the Byrds. More recently while attending an unnamed traveling Christian Concert Tour, I saw DecemberRadio do a cover of Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son” and EleventySeven do a cover of “The Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”. The later was done purely for comedic value (and was quite funny), but a cover nonetheless.

The question is….. Is this acceptable? Does this glorify God? Is this edifying to Christians? To those questions I would have to give it a big “NO”. Admittedly, my ears did perk a bit when I heard DecemberRadio plug in to a Kansas song. Why? Because at the time I had spent 30sumodd years of my life listening to that kind of music, (I even saw Kansas in concert in the early 80’s) as well as a lot of heavier artists and none glorified God. So when I got home I had to look into Kansas a little further. Come to find out a couple of the guys are/ were professing Christians and even released some Christian CD’s at one point.

I also did a quick search of other Christian artists that have covered secular songs. One that came to mind before my search was Third Day covering U2’s “With Or Without You” during the medley on their “Offerings II” release. (I’ll just firmly state without apology that U2 is NOT a Christian band, and until they denounce their catholic faith there is not much hope in me seeing them any differently, and no I am not a Pharisee, just a Bible believing Christian that happens to BELIEVE what the bible says and not the mainstream… sorry for that PSA). If you go here there is a list of some songs that have been covered by “Christian” artists.

Personally I frown heavily on someone that calls his or her self a Christian and sings a Beatles’ song. I mean, what’s the process like? Do you just think “Oh, that will be cool to sing” or do you look past all the worldliness and sinfulness of that type of artist and think that you might be able to draw a person to Christ using a song by somebody they have heard before? Let me emphatically point out that it is the Father that draws people to the Son John 6:44 – not a cheesy cover song. One song that really popped off of the list was “Crazy Chain” covered by Jars Of Clay in concert. Who would have thunk it? JOC is a favorite of mine, Ozzy Osborne used to be, back in my sinful life. In fact I was introduced to Ozzy at Youth Camp at my former church. Now how’s that for irony? But an Ozzy song? A Beatles song?

It's also increasingly alarming that secular songs are making it to “worship” services as well. In fact see below for a “worship” band at New Spring Church covering AC/DC’s Highway To Hell on Easter Morning. Does the word Blasphemy come to mind to anyone but me? From what I see on the web, this is a common thing to do now. Maybe not at this shocking level, but Coldplay is a name that keeps coming up. So it’s a downward spiral (and no I’m not quoting Nine Inch Nails) into the pit, or toilet. It is getting progressively worse as one “church” sees what another is doing and they then push it a little further. All the while the “pastor” sits back and bangs his head as the congregation becomes larger and his numbers get bigger. That is typical as well in that most modern pastors will do or say whatever it takes to fill his pews. They have even come up with a different gospel. I think scripture says a lot on that subject. Galatians 1:6-9 hits it dead center and says that who does this will be cursed. Yikes. I’m really not up to being cursed by God. Actually the Greek word from the original text is anathema, which means doomed or more bluntly let them be damned. Double yikes! Just look at all the false gospels that have proliferated our times and I will not go into detail in this posting, but just check out my other posts for details.

So what is my point? To sum it up in a few words, DON’T DO IT! DON’T CONDONE IT! God has been really gracious to me and opened my eyes to a lot that I had been deceived about. In my false conversion state (not Kentucky) I thought it was perfectly okay for me to listen to the secular artists that these “Christian” bands are covering. I also thought it was okay for me to drink, smoke, fornicate, look at porn, cuss, lie, steal pens from my employer and a million other things. But as the Lord opened my eyes that I was sinning against Him, that I had created a god in my image that accepted my sins and that I had made many false professions through my years that I needed to repent (stop doing these things and turn to God) and trust in Him and His Word. When I did that I began to see things a lot differently, you might say that I became a new creature 2 Cor. 5:17.

Just seek the Lord in this area. I did. You know what else? As I did He began to show me that some professing Christian artist might not be. I am cutting down my listening of a few certain groups. These claiming to be Christians and they do not glorify God in their craft, they sing about the same things the groups on secular stations sing about. So be ready for a little pruning if you seek His council.

In the mean time, look at this perversion of a pulpit area at New Spring Church and pray that these people will see how Holy and Righteous God is and pray that they will come to know God and not just about Him, that they will put away their god that allows this type of sin the penetrate a church building.

My Easter Blog Post (Kinda)

While reading Matthew’s account of Christ’s crucifixion in chapters 26-28 this morning a particular part seemed to jump off of the page at me. It was in Matt. 27:3-5, when Judas saw the consequences for what he had done to the Lord. His betrayal.

Judas had a worldly sorrow; this was after seeing Jesus bound before Pilate at His trial. Judas had planned this all out, perhaps thinking that Jesus would perform a miracle and escape from the Romans clutches. See Judas believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but He did not trust in that. Judas’ sorrow extended only to the point of his situation at that moment, he was sorry that Jesus was on trial, he was sorry that Jesus may die. Matt. 27:3 says that Judas “repented himself”, does that mean that he had an inwardly sorrow, a worldly sorrow, but not a God centered sorrow? Did Judas repent and then believe UPON the Son? Apparently not, as he then ran out and hung himself, committing yet another sin against God. Godly sorrow will not lead to self-destruction; it is yet just another form of self-centeredness, albeit an irreversible one.

How often these days do people have this fleeting type of sorrow? Much too often in my estimation. In my area people claim to be Christians, because of one particular moment in their life (most often childhood), they made a profession of faith, said a prayer, heard a powerful message and were temporarily sorry for there sins. The only problem, which is huge, is that they did not repent of their sins, they did not believe UPON the Son of God. They too threw down their silver, stormed out of the church and continued to kill themselves with their sinful lifestyle. Sin brings death and these poor souls that are deceived are slowly killing themselves, all the while thinking that they once “came to Christ”.

What they came to is a false assurance by a “pastor”, youth leader or other professing Christian. They were declared saved because they looked sorry, felt sorry and jumped through the hoops of saying a prayer and standing before the church with tears in their eyes (a sure sign of salvation?). So what’s missing there? Repentance and trust! These people are still lost; they return to their lifestyle without hesitation because they were declared saved and now live under the grace of God and are eternally secure because of the momentary sorrow they felt. But their hope is salvation from hell only, not their sinful lifestyle as well. They did not get the gospel presented to them of Christ’s atoning work on the cross for THEIR sins. They missed the part on sanctification and only heard “there are angels singing in heaven as this dear brother accepted Christ as his personal savior”. They were deemed saved by a slick preacher that’s only concern is bigger numbers, larger attendance or more offerings. My heart cries out to these deceived people, because I was one of them for much of my life.

So what is the resurrection story? It is the greatest “story” (for lack of better terms) in mans existence. That the God that created everything, paid the ultimate price for mankind’s sins on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago. He shed His precious blood for me, for you and for any that trust UPON Him. That KNOW that He is the Son, that KNOW that He shed His blood for their sins, that REPENT of those sins and turn to God for everything, that turn from their sinful life, that count themselves dead to this world and alive to Gods desires, the God they hated 2 minutes before is now everything to them, they see their sins as vile works and fall upon their knees in total trust in the God that can and will deliver them. They do not continue to put Christ on the cross as they continue to live life centered on themselves and the lusts of this world. The God that saved them would not allow it, He sanctifies! Praise Him for that. How much power do they think that God has? Do they not think that God, which spoke the universe into existence, cannot change their heart? Change their desires? Do they doubt God’s ability to do such things? Sadly many do think that way and continue to live in sin, in a self-justifying manner that excuses their sins, because God “loves them” and “accepts them” as they are. That is a true statement, but must be continued like this – “The God that loves me, that accepts me as I am - then justifies me by the blood of His sinless Son Jesus Christ, He will continue His perfect work in me and sanctify me through His grace and mercy and forgiveness as He changes me to become more like His Son every day. The sin I loved I will hate and the Lord of all I hated I will now love with all that I am and all that I ever will be.

Is that how you see God’s salvation of a sinner? Do you hold precious Christ and His blood? Do you forsake this world and turn to God daily for His Word, His Truth and His Righteousness? Or do you hold on to a fleeting prayer many years ago? Do you think your words saved you? That a momentary sorrow is what saved you? That a preacher or another person’s declaration saved you? That being baptized, saying penance or sitting in a pew every Sunday save you? That your parents are Christians, so that makes you one too? That the USA is considered (until recently) to be a Christian Nation, so that makes you a Christian?

Search your heart, examine your motives and your beliefs as to why you believe yourself to be a Christian, then seek Him in His Word and see if it lines up with Scripture. Nothing but the grace of God will save someone, not a prayer or profession. Where does your trust lie? In your own words or in God?

Praise God For Smoking? (Let me explain......)

I would just like to publicly thank God for allowing me to smoke for 24 years. I started when I was 14 and when God truly converted me just a few years ago, He took that away from me. I tried several times to no avail and could not do it on my own. Kind of like my conversion too - I said "the prayer" countless times through my life and only until He saved me was it real.

So why am I praising God for allowing me to smoke for those 24 years? Because it gave me a common ground to be able to share my faith in God tonight. See, even though I may ramble on in my writings, in person I have a tendency to be somewhat quiet, well o.k. REALLY quiet. So when God opened my mouth this evening to witness to a group of teens at an area rally for teens, it was really breathtaking. There was a young lady smoking while sitting on a bench outside of the "Christian" event. In fact there were a lot of teens smoking outside of this event. A few of us were handing out tracts and Scott and Bobby are truly gifted in the area of street evangelism, me not so much. My heart is there, but my mouth doesn't seem to cooperate very much. I am normally there for spiritual support (which is needed), so when God saw fit to put me in contact with this group of teens, give me an "in", something I could relate to them with, it was awesome. Did I stumble on my words? You bet ya I did. But God was glorified, I did share the gospel and God did use me in a way I have been praying for - for a looooooooong time now.

Please pray for me as the Lord continues to mold me and shape me. Also please pray for the groups that go out from my home church to be empowered as we go out to spread the Word of God in the coming weeks. Please pray specifically that when God puts specific people in our path that we realize who they are, that we will look to the cross for His strength and that He is glorified. We are just spreading seeds and the Lord will water and harvest.

Praise the Lord for allowing me to smoke for 24 years, that it may work for Him to be able to spread His glory to others. Wow! I am speechless. God is good.

A Call To Question Christian Retailers

I have noticed recently an influx in heretical books into the market place. The list includes the much heralded “The Shack” (which turns the Father and Holy Spirit into 2 females) Velvet Elvis, Blue Like Jazz, actually any book by Rob Bell, Brian Mclaren, or anything else labeled as “emergent” or challenging someone to “re-think” the Christian faith.

Books such as these are really not new though. Take for example any of the Gnostic gospels; the apocrypha books in some bibles and the Quran. All have found notoriety in some form or another, but more prominently the Quran. What they do hold common with the books mentioned above is their denial of the true God of Scripture.

I did not really want to concentrate on the mirade of titles to choose from, but instead speak out against the retailers that are peddling these goods on unsuspecting people. The placement on a Lifeway Christian Store shelf, in itself is condoning such material. Lifesway does place a disclaimer on it’s shelf with some of these books, but I say that if it needs a “please read with discernment” placard on it, then it should not be sold by a Christian bookstore.

I recently have been in an email conversation with Jim Shull of Lifeway. He respectfully took my concerns, but did not address them. He did say that “we consistently do not carry as much as 20% or more of the best-selling books in the Christian market because of
unbiblical theology or other reasons”. My question back to him was, then why condone other, heretical books? Or was it simply that Lifeway could increase their profit margin by selling these works.

Today I came across a story at Christian Worldview that talks about Paul Young, author of The Shack, appearing at the upcoming Gaither Family Fest. If you are not familiar with the Gaither name then you probably have never heard Christian song classics such as “He Touched Me”, “Because He Lives” or “There’s Something About That Name”. The Gaither name packs a lot of punch in Christian circles, so an endorsement of appearing at the Gaither Family Fest could add a lot of fuel to an already out of control fire. It is still unclear to me what role Young will have at this event, but I am sure his goods will be up for sale there.

Lifeway is not the only “Christian” retailer that sells these questionable books and materials. Family Christian Stores, christianbook.com, bookschristian.com and Parable carry these questionable/ heretical materials as well. So what is a discerning Christian to do? First off, pray! Pray for these retailers and their decision makers that they will seek God in matters such as this. Then contact them and tell them how concerned you are that they would choose to sell and thereby condone such items. These are businesses after all, they are there for their customers and if their customers show concerns for what they see on the shelves they will have no choice but to remove these items.

If you have been hearing a lot of things about The Shack and are contemplating reading the book, I highly suggest you too seek God in this. Also reading this review at reformata.com may help you see some of the ant-Christ themes of the book.

Take heed to Paul’s inspired words to Galatia:
Galatians 1:6-9 6 I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

It doesn’t get much plainer than that. But then again, American Christianity has been so distorted over the past 150 years, that heresy like these books; videos and teachings are gobbled up as fast as they are being produced. The man-centered messages blaring from pulpits across the nation are this perversion of the gospel of Christ. The “what can God do for you” theology made famous by word of faith teachings and the “just say this prayer” form of salvation are sending millions to hell. Seek God, repent of your sins and trust in Christ. Now that is true biblical Christianity.

Just Knowing

Do you know how to read? Of course you do or all of this would look like a bunch of letters placed randomly across the computer screen. So do you remember how you first learned to read? Do you remember or do you “just know” how to read and it comes natural to you? Do you look at a string of letters and have to think back and remember what sound each letter makes in conjunction with the other letters or do you “just know” that W-O-R-D spells word?

What about mathematics? To add 2+2 do you have to free up your hands count out 1-2 on each index and middle finger, place your hands side by side and then count 1-2-3-4 and come up with the sum of 4 as the answer? Or do you “just know” that it equals 4? How about 10+10? Do you have to take off your shoes and socks, count all of your toes and then all of your fingers and then come up with 20? Or do you just know that you have 20 appendages hanging from your limbs?

These are things that you may have learned along the way down life’s roads, but they have also become second nature to you. They are engrained into your being so deeply that you do not even have to think about them to “just know” how to read (unless it’s a word like “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” which is the longest word in the English language). You “just know” how to put all of the letters together to form words.

Now let’s try to apply this to the spiritual realm. What do you “just know”? As humans we stand apart from animals in that we have a thought process and do not rely on instinct in order to live. We are unique creatures that were given reign over all things of the Earth (Genesis 1:26). We have also been given a conscience to “just know” what is right from what is wrong (Romans 2:14-15, Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Cor. 3:2-3, Psalm 119:11). I am not undermining the sanctification process, but some things a person will “just know” after their conversion. A person will be born anew (John 3:7) by the Spirit and the Spirit will bare witness in their heart (Romans 8:16, Acts 18:5, Gal. 4:6) when they do start following a path or series of motions that are not in accordance with the Lord and will “just know” they must turn from that particular sin. All of the talk that a Christian can be carnal or in a continual state of backslidingness (I just made that word up) is gibberish and heretical and sends millions of souls to hell every year. A true convert no longer has the sin nature and instead has been given a new nature that the Father changes, not the individual.

So with the new nature that God Himself transformed in a person there are a lot of things that the person will “just know”. They will have new desires, they will strive to please the Lord and obey Him. Not because they must perform to be saved (or possibly lose their salvation) but because their new nature desires to please the Lord in every way. Just as a child fears their parents in love, not a fear that is afraid of a spanking but a fear that doesn’t want to disappoint or go against what their parents say. We desire to please the God that created and saw fit to save our souls, which in affect saves us from the painful life of sin. Wow! That’s good. God saves us continually from ourselves and our original fallen nature, by replacing that with His nature. Not that we can’t sin, but we can’t continually live a life of sin.

Easy believism is prevalent these days. Probably because each generation changes the Word and trades it for more lies (Rom. 1:25 all of Jude). You see this more and more with books such as Blue Like Jazz, Velvet Elvis and more recently The Shack that have taken professing Christians by storm into a new belief system. The likes of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and Erwin McManus are the larger voices of the postmodernism movement that claim Christianity as their beliefs. This is not to even mention the church of Oprah, which is ecumenical, new age and all inclusive. They say that no one religion is correct and that all roads lead to God. This is in direct opposition to what the Word of God says. Jesus said Himself in John 3:18 and John 14:6 that He is the only Way (and then throughout other scriptures Acts 4:12, 1 John 2:23, Romans 5:21, 1 John 5:11. A strong word of caution, if anyone claims to know Christ and is in blatant disregard for what the Word say’s then they are a liar and are not a Christian. If a person says they are a Christian and support abortion, they are in denial of much of scripture. This is the same with someone that lives a life of lies, promiscuity, drunkenness and so on. God’s Word is clear that these people are deceived and are in danger of hellfire. But this is prevalent in theology these days, that all you have to do is make a decision, walk an aisle or say a prayer and BAM! You’re in. I will say that there will be a BAM when God saves you and it will be your heart being recreated to love the Lord instead of living a life of sin. You will “just know” that God has done a work in you that you can not change. Imagine jumping off the Empire State building and having an encounter with the ground. Could you change the fact that you were changed on impact? Not at all. Could you change the fact that you hit the ground and splattered? Nope. So how could and encounter with the God that created everything be changed by you? It can’t be changed.

I urge you to read Gods Word daily. Meditate on what you read and “just know” what it says. Let it permeate your being and allow it to be a part of your new nature. If you know God then you will desire to know more about Him. You will desire to be a part of a body of believers, you will “just know” that you are not complete by yourself and need the rest of the body to survive, to give support and to receive support.

Trust And Obey, For There’s No Other Way…

I may need to change the title of my blog to “That Trust May Abound”. God has seen fit to allow another trial for my family and myself. This one will have some major implications as well as the last one that I mentioned a few blogs back. Thankfully the Lord has been preparing me for this for a while now in so many ways that are becoming evident to me every day. I cannot stress enough the importance of a strong; Christ centered church family and how they minister to someone in need. I have experienced this first hand over the time that I have been at Oak Grove Baptist Church. All I can say is praise the Lord for his gracious ways and allowing me to be lead to this wonderful family.

My current trial is more in depth and requires me to once again place my total trust in the Lord. This is very hard for me to do, because I want to try and do all I can to work this one out. I do feel like I am just adding to the issue when I do try, so out of recently gained wisdom I have given control to the Lord. Actually I have realized I never had control in the first place and just acknowledged that fact. God is in control of everything. Period. If He weren’t, then and only then would I really need to worry. So I have gone to a deeper place of trust in the Lord, which is good. I know that He is in control and I know that what happens will be right for me. After all, I am His child. What Earthly parent would do something that wasn’t for the best of their child? So why would I think that the God of all would be trying to hurt me or punish me in some way? He’s not and I don’t blame Him for anything.

I know that my Father is in control. I may not understand why this is happening totally, but I can see (or I can speculate) as to why. I do trust in Him and in that I am obeying His Word, not because I feel that it is something I should be doing, but it is all I can do. I am perfectly content as to whatever direction the Lord has in store for me. There are 3 different outcomes and I am content with any He has chosen for me in His sovereignty. Through this I am also confident in knowledge that God will be glorified. He is being glorified already and He will continue to be glorified throughout this trial and beyond. God has shown more grace to me than I could ever have hoped for. Even on my worst day God is still gracious in not giving me what I deserve and instead gives me love, grace and forgiveness.

I am doing as Psalm 46:10 says – Being still and knowing that He is God. I am not pushing any issues, I am not trying to persuade anyone to do anything, I am only doing what I should be and trusting. Not that I have not realized some things I was doing wrong and made corrections, but I am trusting totally in Gods wisdom of the outcome of this. I will not waver from His Word and I will not compromise. Ephesians 6:10 says to be strong in the Lord… and I am. He is my strength and my refuge through it all and I praise Him for His goodness to me.

Some verses shared with me by a good friend have helped me, not with the situation itself, but in strengthening my relationship with the Lord. Please if you are going through a trial, take comfort in these verses as well. If you are not, then you may want to bookmark this page for future reference, because a trial is just around the corner. I will divulge in the future about this trial in its entirety, to show how God is working through it and what I have learned and gained from it. I will not speculate at the outcome or what I think may happen, but I will once again say God will be glorified.

Jeremiah 29:11-12 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
1 Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful (anxiouse) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:13 For I the LORD your God will hold your right hand, saying unto you, Fear not; I will help you.
Isaiah 43:1-4 But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you aret mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you. Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your life.
Psalms 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psalms 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 27:3 Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalms 138:3 In the day when I cried You answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.
Psalms 138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me: You shall stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand shall save me.
Psalms 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Proverbs 16:1-3 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weighs the spirits. Commit your works unto the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established. Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart devises his way: but the LORD directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:20 He that handles a matter wisely shall find good: and whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

Internet At Home.... Finally.

Hi everyone. Thank you all once again for hanging in there and checking back periodically. Guess what. No, I'm not giving up the blog. I finally have the internet restored at my house. So the official count was 14 days without electricity, 25 days without the internet, 4 days without cell phone service and now our home phone has been out for about a week even after lasting through the whole ice storm and its immediate effects.

Just wanted to fill you in that I will definitely have a new blog posting up in the next day or 2. The Lord has seen fit to begin a new trial in my life that has really moved me into a further level of trusting in Him for everything. I thought I was, but this latest happening has shown me that I haven't been. I know the Lord is in control of my life, I am His child and I know that He is allowing this to show me a lot of things and I am learning so much through it. One thing is that He lead me to a wonderful church home with the greatest church family that have been wonderful through everything my family has been through recently. I know that if it wasn't for my family at Oak Grove Baptist Church that I would not be able to handle these tests. God brought me to where He knew I needed in order to draw strength and support from each and every person in the OGBC body. He was gracious enough to put me there before these things came about and I am so very thankful for God's goodness, which I in no way deserve.

The passage of scripture that really plays through my head these days is Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me. Especially with the content part - God supplies everything I need, He gives and He takes away - He is good and He loves me through it all - He doesn't give me what I deserve - He shows His grace and mercy to me daily - for I am His child and I am resting in His loving arms and it is good.

Ice Storms and Loss of Power

Broken Limbs - This is what every tree in Paducah looks like.

Hi all. Just a quick update on the ice sorm aftermath. it is Saturday Feb 7 and still without power at the house. I am sitting in the McCracken County library parking lot checking emails and posting this.

We are still on generator power at the house, which is getting kinda pricey after 12 days. It takes about 1/2 gallon of gas an hour, so it's about a dollar an hour to run, but hey it's wortj it to keep the famil warm and have a hot shower. I plan on writing a real blog post up soon and get that posted. Thanks to everyone for still checking back from time to time. Thank you all foryour prayers through this situation. It's a definitely an experience I will not soon forget. Waking up at 3:00 AM to put gas in a generator has a way of sticking in your mind. Especially when it's 12 degrees outside.

Take care everyone. I'll be back as soon as power and internet are restored at the homestead. In the mean time please check out www.realtruthmatters.com and all the free resources available through that God centered ministry.

Slip Slidin' Away

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let everyone know that my home is part of the mass power outages due to the ice storm that passed through our region last week. I currently still am without power or internet connection at my home and have limited access to email and some internet sites via my work computer. Usually the firewall blocks the blogger page, but it looks like today it isn't for some reason.

Please keep the people of my area in your prayers. Their safety and that power will be restored soon. It is a big inconvenience, but it also helps one to appreciate the Lord even more. God is good, during the good times in life and during the difficult times. I praised the Lord when the storm was occuring and I praised Him when I saw the large limb sticking through my bathroom ceiling caused by the ice. He is good and even at the lowest points in our lives we receive much more than we deserve.

As sinners we deserve the Gods wrath and judgment and instead He offers us forigiveness and love. What a wonderful Maker we have. To God be the glory FOREVER and EVER!