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September 23 PRAY IN THE EYE I forgot to post this. LOL! I'm a blogging fool today. Anyway, you can't miss this. I hope you have Media Player or something that will play the song on your computer. My friend Steve, who I met in the Navy, writes songs. He now lives back in his home state of Texas and owns his own recording studio. He had to go through all the crazy stuff that happened when Hurricane Ike went through. I thought four days without power was crazy. He said he was in the dark for about 6 1/2 days. While his power was out and he couldn't do any recording, he wrote some songs. When the power returned, he recorded one of his songs. It's great! I always enjoy hearing his original creations and this one is just him with his guitar. It sounds like someone singing with him at times during this song, but he does that with using more than one track, so it's him singing both parts. LOL! To hear the song, go to http://www.itsagodgig.org and scroll about halfway down the page. You'll find a link to the song "Pray in the Eye" right above the big yellow box. When you click on it, it'll play on your Media Player or a similar program. I hope you can access the song. CHRISTIAN JIHAD? I was watching one of my favorite shows last night - Law & Order. It was on TNT, which means it was a repeat for most people, but I'd never seen this episode before. It must be a rather new episode because I didn't recognize either of the detectives and there was a female lawyer for the DA's office I've never seen. If you've ever seen advertisements for Law & Order, they say something like "ripped from the headlines". In other words, they take a story from the actual news and write episodes around the main theme of the news story. What I saw on the episode last night was VERY scary.
I've had non-Christians (and even some Christians) say Christianity "indoctrinates" kids into a certain set of beliefs. Sorry, but I have to say "DUH!" Whether you follow a religion or not, you as the adult "indoctrinate" your kids to your beliefs. It happens. We learn from what our parents and the other people around us do. However, there is some truth to claims made by non-Christians that some Christians (especially thhose who spend a lot of time with kids) can and do teach them things which are going too far or twisting or ignoring Scripture. It's also true kids are like sponges and absorb everything they're taught. They're even more likely to follow wahtever someone teaches them if that person is an adult who builds a great level of trust with the kids, have some charisma, and the kids think are "totally cool".
Ok, about the show. The detectives find a woman dead and determine she was stoned to death. Following the leads, the find out it was the teen-aged son of the woman who killed her. Why? Because the woman was having an adulterous affair and we all know the Bible says the sentence for that sin is stoning. As if that wasn't enough, she was having an affair with a Muslim man. Oh my! As the episode continues, the detectives find out the kid goes to this "camp" where the guy in charge (a pastor) teaches the kids that stoning is acceptable and they must kill people who are living in sin (or something to that effect). He's teaching the kids they're "in the army of God and need to be good warriors". The kids are all dressed in camo pants and when the guy asks them what it means when they catch someone in sin or they hear about something the radical Muslims have done, they yell "This means war!" The final conclusion is this guy is training these young minds to act in the same way as the radical Muslims and so teaching them they need to go out on a Christian jihad.
Is this fact or fiction? I can believe there are Christians out there teaching their children the same things the guy on Law & Order was teaching those kids. I've chatted with people on-line who, while not saying they teach their kids these things, I can tell they would follow such a person, believing it's a Christian's duty to rid the world of sin and other religions by killing other people if that's what it would take. Scary! September 22 MY CHILDHOOD I enjoyed Sara's blog about her favorite TV shows when she was a kid. It got me to thinking about my favorite shows way back when and I posted a few of my favorites under her blog. Combined with Jake's blog last night about how he's worried what kind of world kids now face, I started thinking about things I did as a kid and how things were.
On any warm or not very cold day, you'd never find a kid in the house unless they were sick. We started riding bikes in the very early spring and never put them away until at least October. We didn't have computers and the only game system was the old Atari - mom's never let kids stay inside when it was nice and play those games. The local "hangouts" were the park/playground three blocks from home and the elementary schoolyard which was five blocks in the other direction. There were important things for kids to do in those days. We had pickup games of basketball, football, and baseball. We'd set up ramps made of bricks with an old piece of plywood over it and see who could jump their bikes the furthest. On really warm days, we'd go to the creek behind the park and flip over rocks to catch crayfish (crawdads for some of you). Even when it rained, we played outside. If it was warm enough, we'd play in the rain and water puddles. If it was cool, we'd play board games on the porch. During the summer, we'd have sleep-overs where we'd actually sleep on the porch. Yes, outside!
Winters were different back then. Sometimes we'd get snow on Halloween. By the end of November, there was always snow on the ground and it stayed that way until at least February - sometimes up until Easter. Nope, we still didn't stay inside. If the streets were snow covered, we'd block off a road and sled down the hills. If the roads were clean, we had a nice little hill in our backyard for sledding. And what could be better than getting a bunch of kids together at the school and play tag football (which always ended up being tackle football) in the snow?
Back then, kids weren't afraid to get dirty. We were all little daredevils and had our fair share of scratches, bruises, and broken bones. Home was only a place to study, do homework, get something to eat, or sleep at night. And best of all, mom's and dad's didn't have to worry about their kids when they weren't at home. The only rules Mom had was if we were too sick to go to school or church (faking sometimes) we couldn't go outside and play, we had to tell her where we'd be and call or tell her if we were going somewhere else, and we had to be back on the front porch by the time the streetlights came on.
You could get sick on a dollar's worth of candy because most candy was a penny. When you bought baseball cards you got ten cards plus a stick of gum for a quarter. A bottle of Pepsi was around 50 cents and you got 10 cents back when you returned the glass bottle. When you went trick-or-treating you could go to anyone's house and didn't have to get your candy x-rayed. Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving were days you spent with your family. You were considered uncool if you smoked, drank, or did drugs. Saturday Night Live was considered family programming and kids could watch it. Families spent time together playing board games, going to the drive-in, or watching TV. As teens, we'd go roller skating, all-night bowling, or to a movie with our friends and it's something ALL the kids did. Most kids didn't have their own cars and it was ok to have to borrow Mom or Dad's car or even have them drive you somewhere. We didn't have just one set of parents, all our friend's parents were like parents to us.
That's just how it was. Was it any better than today? I think it was, but I'm not a kid in today's world. September 14 MARINER'S 23RD PSALM My brother retired from the Navy a couple of weeks ago. On the back of the program was a version of the 23rd Psalm written for mariners (sailors). I'm not sure who wrote this version and was unable to locate any information about it on the internet. I know some people don't like it when anyone changes the words in the Bible. The 23rd Psalm is a prayer and I don't see anything wrong with changing the words of a prayer to fit someone's occupation or situation in life. Here's the Mariner's 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my pilot, I shall not go adrift;
He lighteth my passage across dark channels;
He steereth me through the deep waters,
He keepth my log.
He guideth me by the evening star for my safety's sake.
Yes, though I sail mid the thunders and tempests of life,
I fear no peril, for thou art with me,
Thy stars and heavens, they comfort me.
The vastness of the sea upholds me.
Surely fair winds and safe harbors shall be found
All the days of my life;
And I shall dock, secure forever.
Amen September 13 NEW GODGod was talking to one of the greatest scientist of our day.
God asks, "So, how are things going these days?" The scientist responds, "Well God, we've pretty much got everything figured out."
This doesn't surprise God, but he acts shocked. "Oh? And why would you say that?" The scientist is smug in his answer. "Well, with all the advances in science and medicine, we can fix or create anything so we don't need you anymore." God decides he's going to put the man in his place by teaching him a quick lesson in his Godliness. "Ok. I've got a challenge for you then." The scientist knows God is going to have him prove his statement about not needing God and he's ready for anything. "I'm up to your challenge. What do you want me to do?" God knows these silly scientists think they've got everything figured out. They even think since they've mapped DNA they can create new people. "Maybe you can show me how you would go about making a man from scratch? And I don't mean by taking DNA from someone else. I mean completely made from scratch. Some guy already tried to show he was able to get cells to form from the "primordial soup" but he was wrong. How will you do it?" The scientist scratches his head, gets down on his knees in the flower bed he's been tending to, and starts to draw a human outline in the dirt. God isn't going to let the scientist think he's going to get away with his plans. "I said you have to make a man from scratch. Go get your own dirt!" September 10 JOHN WESLEY I've been reading my way through the collected works of Joh Wesley. The seven volume set includes his journals, letters, sermons, and other things.
If you've never heard of John Wesley, he was the man who, along with his brother Charles and a Mr Whitefield, established what is now known as the Methodist Church. Please don't base your opinions of the Methodist church on any and all Methodist you hear today. Like with any other denominations, not all Methodist follow the original teachings as laid out by Wesley. In fact, many of them teach things in opposition to the Bible, making them nothing even close to Methodist or even Christian.
I'm now to the first of two vloumes containing Mr Welsey's sermons. Before the sermons are printed, there's a chapter summarizing the career of Mr Wesley. I'm about half way through this summary. Last night I was reading something I'd like to share.
The "reigning church" at the time Mr Wesley began his own ministry (the mid 1700s) was the Episcopal church. This church was also known as the "Church of England". Now some of you may have your own opinions about the Epsicopal church, but let's lay those aside for now. At the very beginning and throughout his ministry, Mr. Wesley stressed the teaching that justification is through faith alone. He never forgot that works have their place. He'd teach we're justified by faith alone, but works are the outgrowth of faith and justification and stressed that works do not, in themselves, lead to justification. Some of you may disagree with this - I agree with the teaching.
So how did the people react? Some of the "ordinary citizens" accepted this teaching and never turned back. Some people thought Mr Wesley was a heretic and reported him to the higher church authorities. Those authorities took the time to listen to or at least read Mr Wesley's teachings. Their final judgement was that Mr Wesley was not teaching heresies and that his teachings were in accordance with those of the Episcopal church. They were more than happy to have Mr Wesley on their "team" - so to speak.
Now we turn to the ugly side of religion. The local church leaders from many different churches (Lutheran, Moravian, and even most of the Episcopal churches) wanted Mr Wesley run out of town. They told everyone who would listen that Mr Wesley was a heretic even though the higher officials declared he wasn't. There were many times Mr Wesley, his fellow preachers, and his new adherents were attacked. They were drove from their homes, their church buildings were destroyed, they were pelted with rocks and eggs, beat up, threatened with arrest (for disturbing the peace), forced to sleep in the cold, refused service at inns (equivalent to a restaurant), and otherwise harassed and harmed.
Why would people who'd been told by higher authorities Mr Wesley is not a heretic treat him and the others in such a way? There is really no reason given. I know what people say about assuming, so instead I'll say I read between the lines. The only reason I can see for the Methodist to be so treated is because the other church leaders were afraid of losing their "sheep" to someone who preached the truth instead of some watered down version. When it comes to what some of the Episcopal churches were teaching, in opposition of their own leaders, was that no one can even hope to be justified until they followed every little law established by the church. In this case, Mr Wesley's teachings (those backed by the upper enchelons of the Epicopal church) made justification too easy. Is there any better way to control your "flock" then have them think they have to work very very hard to acheive justification? That they have to follow every little rule you set forth in order not to be barred from the Lord's Supper or even completely thrown out of the church?
I shudder at the thought there are people who would go so far as to incite riots against any denomination. I really believe God protected Mr Wesley and the others from being killed for teaching what they taught. However, it doesn't surprise me. While some churches (denominations) today might not urge their congregations to resort to violence, they'll still use underhanded tactics to rid themselves of any rivals for attention. They spread rumors and gossip, making up stories with no basis in fact, to "disgrace" the other denominations. If Mr Wesley was teaching something that opposed Scripture, I say the people would be correct in making sure his teachings were refuted. You can do that without causing physical harm to people. I've even been known to post a blog or two speaking out against teachings which have no basis in or totally oppose Scripture.
This blog was supposed to only be about what John Wesley faced during his ministry, but I had to point out what I said about things which happen today. Sayings such as "the past is prologue" and "if we don't learn from history we're bound to repeat it" are very true. These things happened before and will happen again. September 05 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST Ok, get some coffee (this will be a long blog), cinch up your seatbelts (you don't have seatbelts on your computer chair?), and be prepared to hate me the rest of your life (it's been known to happen). This blog is where I go preacher on everyone (and yes a little know fact, I'm just that). I read a blog and did some research and there's just some things people say and things being taught which can NOT GO UNOPPOSED! Step back Enlitener or I may crush your toes (this sounds more like something you'd post). I'm picking up my Bible, rolling up my sleeves, and prepared to do battle!
Before I begin, you may want to read this blog - http://inspirationdaybyday.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!10940F867985697!467.entry. The gist of this blog is telling you, YES YOU, that the blood Jesus shed on the cross was NOT to cover your sins. (I'm sure I'll get told I'm reading the blog incorrectly) This "christian" is telling us it was the blood Jesus shed along with his sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane which was the blood which cleanses us from our sin. Does this not make the blood on the cross irrelevant? Sure it does, unless you read further into the teaching and do the research. According to the teachers of this heresy, you heard me - I said HERESY, is that each time Christ was bruised or pierced he fixed yet another part of us which was broken far back in the Garden of Eden. So while they claim the cross is relevant, they have their teachings opposing what God himself tells us through his Son! That's right - GOD TOLD US THE BLOD SHED ON THE CROSS WAS FOR OUR SINS. It's right there in 1 Corinthians 5:7 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. And what is the Passover lamb? The blood of the lamb was spread on the doorposts of houses so the wrath of God would pass over all within the house (exodus 12:21-23). Just as the wrath of God passed over the Israelites, so too he will pass over our sins because Christ shed his blood and died on the cross for us. How can anyone possibly even think any differently? Here's what GOD says about it: That while we were sinners Christ DIED for us - Rom 5:8; Christ DIED for our sins - 1 Cor 15:3; Jesus bore our sins in his body ON THE TREE - 1 Peter 2:24; Christ DIED for our sins and to bring us to God - 1 Peter 3:18. These are just a few of the verses I could list. So the blood in the garden didn't cover our sins, we were still sinners when Christ died. So much for any THEORY the blood in the garden cleaned up our sins. And where was such a heresy learned. The answer given was about how we can learn much if we're in touch with the spiritual realm. Someone is definitely playing around in the WRONG realm! God will NEVER teach us one thing in the Bible and reveal something totally opposed to that through the Holy Spirit. So where did this come from? A MAN! And his name is Larry Huch. Don't even tell me not to touch God's anointed. Anyone who teaches false teachings such as this are NOT God's anointed. And he doesn't end with trying to get YOU to believe the blood of the cross isn't the blood that cleansed away your sins. Oh no brothers and sisters, IT GETS WORSE! Take a listen for yourself ... http://www.alittleleaven.com/2008/03/paula-whites-la.html. I don't want anyone to accuse ME of putting words in the man's mouth. He makes these statements HIMSELF. In case you can't get to the link or the video doesn't play well on your system, I'll tell you two other things he teaches. He tells you Jesus is NOT the only begotten Son of God. God says he sent his one and only son for our salvation (John 3:16) He twists Scripture and says were all BEGOTTEN sons of God. Where is that in the Bible? Nowhere my friends. Yes we can consider ourselves the sons and daughters of God, but we are NOT begotten as Jesus was. We are only called the children of God (1 John 3:1). The other thing he tells his listeners is we are not to pray to Jesus. Yes he does! He spins a web around passages telling us how we have direct contact with God (such as the veil being torn) and that it's WRONG to pray to Jesus. And what did Jesus tell us? If we ask HIM anything, he'll do it (John 14:14) and we should call on the name of Jesus (1 Cor 1:2). Who is Larry Huch to teach such things which so blatantly oppose the Word of God? He is certainly NOT one of God's anointed. Its' time we stop believing every teacher who comes along without questioning what they teach. And PLEASE, don't go telling people the Holy Spirit led you to your beliefs in such things. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL NEVER GO AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD!!!!! September 02 LAMININ I just started looking through everyone's updated blogs. I always work from the bottom to the top. Today, I'm so glad I did. Eva has a great blog posted which has a YouTube video in it. Since she has it set up right in her blog, you don't have to go anywhere else to watch it. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS VIDEO! IT'S AWESOME! http://lifewords247.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F492AACDF6F96BD!379.entry will take you to Eva's blog where you can watch the video. September 01 RUMORS & GOSSIP No, this blog isn't going to be full of all the juiciest tidbits around the internet or the latest rumors of the end of the world. If you've come to my space hoping to find something "good" to pass around your neighborhood, forget it. I'm going to change what I just said. This blog might be worth talking about. It's a lot better than who's cheating on who or what politician smoked pot before getting into politics.
When I ran down to the little store near my house, I clicked on the radio. I caught a few minutes of a Christian program in which the guy was talking about rumors and gossip. I didn't hear enough to know where he was going with the topic, but automatically thought it's a good topic for a blog. The whole premise is rumor and gossip have no place in the life of a Christian.
A rumor is an unsubstantiated story. Someone heard it from someone else who in turn heard it from someone else. There is no proof and no way to prove whether or not the story is true. Two things start rumors. Someone may overhear only part of a conversation and add things to make it sound better or someone just makes up the entire story so they can "rile up" everyone else. If the person telling you the story is the first person to tell the story, the story is either not fully correct or the person is lying. The story becomes rumor as it makes its way around the workplace or neighborhood, growing and changing as it passes from one person to another. NEVER mistake a rumor for truth just because you think you can trust the person telling you the story. If you're hearing the story after it's already passed through two or three people, just ignore it and stop it in it's tracks.
Gossip is usually a true story. Gossip is NOT gossip if the person telling you the story is the person directly involved in the situation. Second or third hand knowledge of the facts makes it gossip. It can grow into a rumor if people change the facts because they've misunderstood what was said or they add lies to make the situation look even worse. Most of the time gossip starts making the rounds because someone shared some bit of information with a friend and expected it not to go any further, yet the gossiper can't keep their mouth shut. Whether a person confides something in you (which means you're shouldn't be telling anyone else) or just mentions something in passing, it's not your place to tell everyone else. Basically, gossip is telling stories about someone else which isn't anyone else's business.
When it comes to gossip, don't play the accountability card. Some people will say "If everyone knows about it, they'll have to stop doing it". If you want to hold someone accountable and let them know they're doing something wrong, tell them not everyone else in the community. If you tell other people so they can be protected in some way, that's different. Perhaps some examples are needed. If someone walks up to me at work and starts telling me someone is "sleeping" with someone else, it's a rumor unless the people involved tell me otherwise. If the fact is true and someone else is telling me about it, it's gossip because this is something that's really none of my business. If someone tells me my neighbor was convicted of molesting children, it's a rumor until I read the police reports in the paper or find his name on one of the web sites listing sexual predators. It's not gossip if I verify the story and then warn my other neighbors so they can keep their children away from the guy.
These two things do NOT belong in the lives of Christians. Rumors (stories without verification) are nothing more than lies even if it was a misunderstanding. Remember "you shall not lie"? Gossip never helps anyone and, more often than not, does more harm than good. Considering the fact most gossip changes to more resemble rumors because of added or deleted facts, these can also to placed in the category of lies. Does "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor" ring a bell?
Unless someone specifically tells you something and asks you to pass it along to other people, the best rule of thumb is to keep your mouth shut. If you're passing along information, make sure you get it correct and don't tell someone if you know they won't pass it along as stated or are a member of the "rumor mill" and "gossip team". Let's all do our part and cut off the rumors and gossip, at least on our part. If I hear a rumor, I tell people "I'll believe it if (the name of the person involved) tells me themselves, otherwise we shouldn't say anything." If it's gossip, I tell people "That's really none of my business and it's none of yours either."
Rumors and gossip are just a way to spread hate and discontent. Usually both start because someone dislikes someone else and they're trying to get even. Stop rumors and gossip in their tracks. If don't want to lie or spread false testimony, you shouldn't be involved in rumors and gossip. |
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