Must Watch - 180 The Movie - From The Way Of The Master/ Living Waters

The main question that envelopes the new release from The Way of the Master/ Living Waters is "It's OK to kill a baby in the womb when.....?" The short documentary rings true and exposes just how atrocious abortion is. They craftily draw contrasts between Hitler and the Holocaust to what is, in effect, more murderous than the Nazi brutality headed by Hitler.

Sadly, the opening of the "movie" people are asked "Who is Adolf Hitler", which not many know the answer. How can in less than two generations, after the mass murdering from Nazi Germany, of 17 million people can people not know what happened or who Hitler was? More disturbing is the fact that some people shown still buy into the brainwashing that Hitler instilled. It is enough to turn your stomach, thinking about the carnage of that awful period of time.

As gruesome and unbelievable as the reign of Hitler and the deaths that he took part in, lives lost to legalized murder in the United States has been over 53 Million since Roe v Wade in 1973. Once again, this number is in the USA... alone! Abortion has claimed nearly 4 times the lives lost at the hands of Adolf Hitler. Shockingly people do not seem that rattled by that. The fine folks at WOTM/ Living Waters have done a very great job at convincingly drawing a parallel to these two atrocities. The people featured in the documentary, once shown these parallels soon have a change of mind and see the horror of what they were once defending.

I will not tell the whole of the movie, but will instead ask that you watch this short presentation. It has been made available to watch free online, so watch it and share it however you can - Facebook, Twitter, blog post, email. This message is of utmost importance, especially going into an election year when our current administration is adamantly pro murder abortion.

Gawk This Way

Day 311 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Seems like Steven Tyler is having a bit of a comeback these days. I suppose it's fueled by his new-found fame on American Idol, which has introduced him and Aerosmith to a whole new generation of kids. I was first introduced to Aerosmith back in the day when I was about 14 years old. I even went to see them in concert once later when I was in my 20s or so. If you read back through my blog you will see that I had a real strong liking to rock music before my conversion(Day 9 of this series). Aerosmith was probably one of the milder bands that I liked, while my tastes were more in the heavy metal/ hard rock realm.

My musical tastes is one of the first things that God sanctified me from after He saved me. It wasn't a gradual process either, it was one of those immediate changes. I do recognize that it was by His grace that He did take that from me and I did not (and still do not) struggle with giving that type of music up. At that same time God took away a 24 year addiction to cigarettes that I had tried very unsuccessfully to quit on my own several times. I had started smoking about the same time I started listening to rock music and doing a bunch of other things as well.

Through all of those years I was banking on my profession of faith as an 8 year old child. I am not saying that isn't possible for some children, but just telling my story. At 8 years old I did not know a whole lot about sin. I actually didn't know anything about sin, even though I had been raised in a rather large church in the area. I remember hearing all of the cool bible stories and even remember the Sunday School teachers always asking us to raise our hand if we wanted to be saved. I never raised my hand because I didn't want to be embarrassed that I never had done it before. I definitely wanted to fit in and raising my hand would have done the opposite. But, on a youth trip I did raise my hand during an evening service. I remember the preacher preached on hell and all I knew is I didn't want to go there and the only way I wasn't going was by raising my hand. So I did and I talked to a man who said the prayer for me and I nodded my head and was proclaimed "saved" after we got back to the altar. So, for the next 30 years I always pointed back to that prayer and that man's affirmation as my salvation. I never pointed to Christ and I definitely never lived like scripture says a Christian lives. I was a part of the world and I loved it. I loved sin and I did as I was always told, ask for forgiveness and you are brought back into a right standing with God.

I lived a very me-centric life and only thought about God at bedtime, when I said my prayer to ask for forgiveness for the same sins day after day. I did a lot of wretched things through my life and always justified it by telling myself to just ask to be forgiven, so I did. I was living a very deceived life, but it was the only type of Christianity that I knew, which is no excuse. That is until God really got hold of me when I was 38. He used a few men that really opened up scripture and showed me just how marred and scarred by sin I was. Ray Comfort, John MacArthur and Paul Washer were some of those men that God used and still continues to use to this day in my sanctification walk. I now rest my faith in Jesus Christ as my salvation, not only from the hell I always feared, but from a sinful life that brings grief to my Father. I am by no means perfect, but I know the One who is and He knows me.

Life has never been the same since He converted me. He continues to mold me and show me things on a daily basis. He has given me a new heart that actually desires things of God and hates things of this world. Not fully sanctified, but on that narrow path and looking toward to goal of my faith in Christ. I praise Him for what He did to me and for me and I continue to praise Him every day. He is my strength and He is my fortress and I will always be His.

Hidden Amongst The Busch

If you saw my post from yesterday in my "Year in my life through pictures" series you saw a picture of the beer aisle at Wal Mart. What you may not have seen was a Million Dollar Bill tract that I left on top of the Natural Light cases. Have another look at yesterday's picture, then look at the picture from this post where I cropped where the MDB tract is.

I highly recommend that everyone get at least a small supply of solid gospel tracts to hand out and to pass out. I have written several times on the great ministry of using tracts to witness to people. Me, being of a quiet disposition, really appreciates the door opening nature (or ice breaker as Way of the Master calls it) that tracts afford. I keep a constant supply of money themed tracts, because they catch attention very quickly. I leave these everywhere, and I mean everywhere, from the gas pumps, to the beer aisle at Wal Mart, to the restroom, to leaving with a tip at a restaurant, I look for opportunities to leave these.

A good, solid, Biblically based tract is a very good tool to quickly convey the gospel. Even when a person may not want to talk to you, they will take something handed to them and possibly read later. Will it lead to their conversion? Who knows but the Lord, but you have sown a seed. I would recommend any one of the fine organizations below to get tracts from. Bezeugen Tract Club is a great way to break into handing tracts out as well. They will send you monthly 30 tracts for you to pass out, one per day, for FREE. Yes, FREE. They have an awesome ministry and I encourage you to partner with them in the distribution of tracts. They also have tracts available for purchase, which the money goes back into the ministry to help fund the free tracts sent out. Please check out the following websites and pray about which tract God will have you to use. Who knows, you may feel guidance to get a pack of each. Also, Real Truth Matters can design tracts for you and have them professionally printed or take your design and have them printed, with your organization's contact information.

Bezeugen Tract Club
Way of the Master/ Living Waters
One Million Tracts
Custom Tract Source
Real Truth Matters

Also, the guys at Custom Tract Source have written a great little article detailing "why" Christians should use tracts and many ways to pass them out.

What Are You A Slave To?

Day 252 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I'm about 3/4 the way through John MacArthur's newest book, "Slave". I will say that before I began to read the book I already knew we were called slaves, but what I didn't really full get was exactly what that means. Now, being almost finished with the book I can say that I am developing a better understanding on the 1st Century understanding of slavery and how it actually pertains to Christians.

One great passage from the book says, "To 'confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord' (Rom. 10:9) is to simultaneously acknowledge one's own obligation to obey Him with total submission. His will is absolutely sovereign, and His slaves are expected to obey no matter the level of sacrifice required." Pg. 80 - Now that type of language is very rarely said from a pastor these days and is not very popular. Thing is, it';s Bible.

Today's feel good, easy believism, me-centric messages that stream from pulpits is very contrary to slavery. Instead of acknowledging that we are, in fact, slaves of God, it has been turned into "God has a wonderful plan for your life and exists to make your life happy, make you feel fulfilled and give you out of His abundance". Not exactly 100% accurate, just read the Bible and see how the majority of the Apostles had their lives ended. Then compare your life to that of the Apostles whom spent a lot of time in prison for proclaiming the message of their Master faithfully. Not saying that you have to go to prison, but one should at least be joyful about actually sharing the gospel with others.

I would highly recommend and suggest that you read this book from Johnny Mac. As always he brings new levels of understanding to those of us who really need it. God has given us a lot of great minds that have intently studied the Word and faithfully proclaim that Word. Thank God for gifting an using people like MacArthur, Michael Durham, Paul Washer, Ray Comfort, Tim Conway, Bob Jennings, Mack Tomlinson, John Piper, Mike Morrow and Charles Leiter. We have some invaluable assets in these men's work and studies at our disposal. Pray for these men and pray for your pastor that they may continue to faithfully proclaim the Word in truth and in righteousness.

Day 110: What Section Is Your Favorite?

When you go to Lifeway, or any other Christian bookstore, which section do you look at first? Do you stop by the featured selections as you first walk in? How about straight to the Bibles? I know several people that would head straight to the newest fiction offerings and others that migrate to the music section. I think it is just what ever your personal "bent" is that determines where you like to look first. More often than not I (we) make our way around the entire store, looking at things we look at each and every time we visit the store.

If you look at my picture of the day, you will see a red circle. This happens to be what I call the "Evangelism Section" of our local Lifeway. Here you can find the first Way Of The Master Biblical Evangelism Study and the Way Of The Master book that goes along with their online School of Biblical Evangelism. That's it. Nothing else. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. You could probably venture through the aisles and see a few books on evangelism, but not a section dedicated to this much needed topic. I wonder why that is.

Could this issue be because no one (hardly) is interested in evangelism? Not many books are sold for this great command? Is it lack of material? How about Lifeway just doesn't stock it, or put it in high regard? I am not sure and all I have are speculations. But I, personally, see a huge gap that needs to be filled. Why can't they take the few titles they keep in stock and make an actual Evangelism Section? There are sections for everything else - biographies, self help, finances, fiction, women's, men's, classics and even a Spanish section. All of which encompass whole sections of shelving.

Wouldn't I be safe to say that this is indicative of a much larger issue? A problem with Christianity? Or actually modern or American Christianity? Are people so confident in their ability to share the gospel that they do not need books and other literature to help them along in this part of their walk? Of course the Holy Spirit guides one when proclaiming the gospel, but are people even doing it? Are they sharing the good news? Or do they just give a few dollars here and there and think they are following out the Great Commission? Do professing Christians even have a desire to share their faith? Or do they even know what their faith is based on anyway?

I think there are some real issues and the lack of literature on this topic really is a tell tell sign of things. Why can there be thousands of fiction titles and maybe a couple dozen evangelism titles? I am perplexed and think I may have to inquire with Lifeway headquarters. If when reading scripture one can not see that you can not separate evangelism from being a Christian, then you are not reading the bible. Christian and Evangelical are synonymous, you can't be one without the other.

I think we, as a body, need to really examine our priorities. Is the Christian life to be used to entertain ourselves with books and movies that are supposedly made for or by Christians? Or should we actually be putting the soles of our shoes to the street and proclaiming the Word? I am not an anti-TV or anti-entertainment person either. But I see many people who waste a lot of time and resources in that area, instead of in areas that could be used to further the Kingdom and bring glory to the Lord. We have "Americanized" Christianity to the point of it looking just like the worlds idea of entertainment, just with Christian themes or titles.

Just something to think about and seek the Lord over. WE should all be examining our "free" time activities. Just remember that to a true child of God, there is nothing secular. Everything a Saint does, says or comes into contact with is to be Holy and set apart. We are not our own, but are slaves to the Almighty God. Let Him choose what we do then. Get out there and spread the gospel as all Christians are commanded. Do not let those that are dying around you end up in hell without you faithfully telling them about the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ the Spotless Lamb. Get out there and evangelize, start with your family.

Day 41: BP Or Not BP, That Is The Question

You may not like BP gas stations anymore because of the oil spill/ leak in the Gulf, but I still like them and use them for all my gas purchases. One thing I like is they put tract holders at all of their gas stations. Some of you may think they are credit card offer holders, but take a closer look next time - they are ideally designed and situated to hold almost any gospel tract you may have.

I started handing out gospel tracts around the same time Way of the Master caught my attention. This, also, was the same time-frame that God used WOTM, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, John MacArthur and Paul Washer to open my eyes to a lot of false teachings that I was deceived by. He also saved me in the same time frame. So, gospel tract passing out was a step at sharing my testimony with others.

I have a natural disposition to be a quiet person (verbally, not in my writing), so handing out tracts and leaving them in strategic places is/ was right up my alley. So, my tract of choice is the Million Dollar bills. I like all the ones that Way of the Master have had out, but my absolute favorite are some that I got from Diane Lytle. I used the funds from a sell of some of the worldly CDs I once listened to to purchase several hundred of the Million Dollar Bills she has. These, to me, are by far the most realistic of all I have seen.

The MDB tracts catch people eyes and their greed. You will even be able to give out extras to lost people who will then give them to their lost friends. How great is that? God using the lost to proclaim to others that are lost the Gospel of Christ. I gave one to the copy machine technician that services out copy machines at work about 4 years ago and he mentions it and has even pulled it out of his wallet to show me that he still has it. I did, however, give him a new one recently since the other had seen better days.

I would urge anyone that reads this blog to get you some tracts and carry them with you wherever you go. There is a ministry called Bezeugen Tract Club that will actually send you a months supply of tracts at a time. The only catch, you must agree to give at least one out per day through the month. I have just signed up myself and I am awaiting the first delivery. Below is a list of other sources to purchase tracts. Please do so and take any opportunity that may arise to tell of the grace of the Lord that He has poured out on you. If you don't know what to say - GOOD - that means you will rely on God to speak through you and not depend on your own words or scripts.

Tract Sources
Way of the Master/ Living Waters
Bezeugen Tract Club
One Million Tracts
Custom Tract Source

Day 36: Blast From My Past

These three boxes, along with 3 CD cases, hold about 400 CDs from my years gone by. When the Lord truly saved me these CDs were the first thing that He pruned from me. They have been used as a table next to my desk ever since. Right now holding up various USB cables for my phone, ipod and camera's card reader.

The CDs were purchased beginning in the late 80s, when CDs first began being produced. Within one of these boxes or cases is the very first CD I ever purchased, The Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw and the Cooked. Yeah, that's right, I liked "She Drives Me Crazy" back in the day. But the rest of this eclectic mix of CDs reads like a who's who of musicians across every genre of musical styles. There is Brooks and Dunn and Vince Gill from the country phase way to NWA and Emenem from my rap choices. There is also everything in between, but mostly on the "hard rock" or "heavy metal" end of the gamut. Probably some of the most God hating music you could have ever heard. There's 3 or 4 from Marilyn Manson, the "musician" that defiles God's Word on stage and is a priest in the Satanic Church, Metallica, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Danzig - all of which have a very vocal hatred for anything pertaining to the God of the Bible.

Music has always been a part of my life, even though I have never learned to play an instrument or sing, I have always loved music. Well, I did play the saxophone in school band 6th-8th grade, but that doesn't really count. But, the soundtrack of my life is very diverse, at least before God saved me, from hell and from the sinfulness that loved ungodly music.

See, I was introduced to the heavier side of music at church camp, of all places. A new found friend was listening to someone named Ozzy Osborne, that really caught my ear. I had been used to, up to that point, just the pop stuff on the radio and fluffy country that my parents listened to. But this Ozzy fellow had something the other guys didn't. What exactly? I wasn't sure, but I was about to find out.

From that church camp my musical tastes, as well as most lifestyle tastes, changed. began to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, smoke pot, cuss, stay out late, steal cigarettes and many other sins I care not to mention right now. Oh, one small fact that I forgot to mention, I had "said the prayer" when I was 8, was told I was "in" and felt like I was free to do as I pleased as long as I asked God to forgive me. And that I did, every night - except the ones I passed out drunk on. I can honestly remember praying some very twisted prayers to be empowered to sin in various ways. I also remember once, while listening to Jimi Hendrix ask God to send Jimi's spirit into me so I could be a great guitar player. Now, that is twisted, and not something any truly converted person would be asking for.

So, the years go by, 24 to be exact, and God really starts dealing with me. In the past 24 years I had fathered 2 children out of wedlock, smoked a pack a day, did various drugs, drank a lot of alcohol and once again, committed many other sins that I care not to mention right now. God used some key people to reach me around that time, Ray Comfort, John MacArthur and a fellow that was from across the river to my hometown at one time, Paul Washer. This is the time that God saved me, converted me and began to sanctify me. First thing to go? Smoking. Second thing to go? The ungodly music I was listening to. Since then? Many things along the path, but not everything yet. But, praise His Name, He is still working on me to conform me to the image of Christ.

So now I have a very healthy Christian CD collection going. But, once again, God has been pruning even some of those artists from my playlist. I am working on a blog that will be informative and eye opening to a lot of people that are deceived about some of those that profess to be Christians, but have music that is the same as anything you would hear on the radio today. So stay tuned to this same blog channel, at this same blog time (not really same time, but Batman references will never get old)for the upcoming post.