Monday, December 31, 2007

A New Year, A New Heart

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations."

Saturday, December 29, 2007

'Gospel of Wealth' Facing Scrutiny

By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 27, 2007; 2:56 PM


The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Be faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said, and God will shower you with material riches.

And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged $500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about recovering from childhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyant faith healer Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.

Only the blessings didn't come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money from friends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first she believed the explanation given on television: Her faith wasn't strong enough.

"I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like he was doing with them," she said. "I'm angry and bitter about it. Right now, I don't watch anyone on TV hardly."

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Our Deepest Fear

By Marianne Williamson
From "A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles"

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

What's An Attitude?

It is the 'advance' man of our true selves
Its roots are inward but its fruit outward
It is our best friend and our worst enemy
It is more honest than our words
It is an outward look based on past experiences
It is a thing which draws people or repels them from us
It is never content until it is expressed
It is the librarian of our past
It is the speaker of our present
It is the prophet of out future

Author Unknown

Merry Christmas - Get His Attitude

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then agree wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though He was God
He did not think of equality with God
As something to cling to
Instead, He gave up His divine privileges
He took the humble position of a slave
And was born as a human being
When He appeared in human form
He humbled Himself in obedience to God
And died a criminal’s death on a cross

Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor
And gave Him the name above all other names
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
In heaven and on earth and under the earth
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
To the glory of God the Father.

Merry Christmas Everyone
Prospero año y Felicidad

Thursday, December 20, 2007

You Can't Take Christ Out Of Christmas

By Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributor

This whole push to remove Christ from the Christmas season has gotten so ridiculous that it's pathetic. Because of all the politically correct idiots, we are being encouraged to stop saying "Merry Christmas" for the more palatable "Happy Holidays." What the heck are "Seasons Greetings"? Can someone tell me what season we are greeting folks about? A Christmas tree? Oh, no! It's now a holiday tree. Any Christmas song that even remotely mentions Christ or has a religious undertone is being axed for being overtly religious. And I'm sorry, forget X-M-A-S. Malcolm X? Yes. X replacing Christ? No.

Don't get me wrong; I'm very respectful of other religions. I don't want anyone to be afraid of discussing the Jewish faith when we address Hanukkah. And we shouldn't dismiss Muslims when the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is held during December. In fact, Americans are so ignorant of other faiths that we can all learn from one another. But this seeming backlash against Christianity is bordering on the absurd, and we should continue to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season........

Read the complete article on CNN.com by clicking on the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/20/roland.martin/index.html

Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University, and he is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." You can read more of his columns athttp://www.rolandsmartin.com/.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Why Didn't God Speak Man Into Being?

Call it the end of year nostalgia, or a brainwave, but the question about the meaning and origin of life has puzzled my mind a lot in these past couple of days. I've found myself wondering, "What does life really mean and what does it mean to be alive?"

Now I have all the reasons in the world to be grateful and thankful to God for being alive - and I do that the best I could - but neither as much nor as often as I should. I owe Him what I am, have, and will have.
He has done so much for me and has been faithful to me - inspite of myself.

In my quest for an answer I opened Bible to the Book of Genesis - the book about the beginning. I read about the "...Let there be...." and about the "...then God made..." I found that He spoke some into existence and some He brought to being by making them. And as for man He made him after His own image and after His own likeness.

"Have you ever wondered why God didn't speak man into being, but instead chose to form him?"

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Amazing Grace - The Story of William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

William Wilberforce was born in Hull on 24 August 1759, the only son of Robert Wilberforce (1728–68), a wealthy merchant and his wife Elizabeth.

In October 1784 Wilberforce embarked upon a tour of Europe which would change his life and, ultimately, his whole future career. This is thought to have been the beginning of Wilberforce’s spiritual journey, and he began to rise early to read the Bible and pray, as well as to keep a personal private journal. He experienced an evangelical conversion experience, regretting his past life and resolving to commit his future life and work to the service of God.

William Wilberforce led the twenty-year fight to end the British slave trade. He finally succeeded in March 1807 and continued to fight for abolition until, days before his death in 1833, he saw the institution of slavery abolished throughout the British colonies. On May 12, 1787, under an English oak on his Holwood Estate, Prime Minister William Pitt pressed Wilberforce to introduce a bill for the abolition of the slave trade. Wilberforce's research found that the holds of slave ships were, according to one witness, "so covered in blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the (dysentery) that it resembled a slaughterhouse." Enslaved Africans on the ships attempted to starve themselves to death or to jump into the ocean. Wilberforce thought this suffering a good reason for reform.

Not limiting himself to just abolitionist work, he dedicated his life to what he called his "two great objects:" abolishing slavery in the British Empire and what he called "the reformation of manners (society)." To this end, he advocated for child labor laws, campaigned for education of the blind and deaf, and founded organizations as diverse as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and the National Gallery (of Art). "Good causes," it has been said, "stuck to him like pins to a magnet."

His life story is told in the movie "Amazing Grace" starring Ioan Gruffudd, Romola Garai, and Youssou N'Dour. A powerful movie - almost moved me to tears -I recommend it to everyone.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Where Do You Do Your Christmas Shopping?

Would you do your Chrismas shopping in a store that does not recognize, or actively attempts to stiffle the recognition of, Christmas? Would you give your God's given resources to a business establishment that only greets you a "Happy Holiday" rather than a "Merry Christmas"?

A Focus on the Family review of more than 50 prominent retailers’ Web sites and Christmas catalogs during the first two weeks of November revealed that about 40 percent of them suppressed all prominent references to “Christmas,” and over half, at best, provided token acknowledgment of “Christmas.”

Two weeks ago, Dr. James Dobson put out the call to action, highlighting which retailers were ignoring Christmas in their advertising. On today's radio broadcast, he reports which establishments have changed their tune.

Click on the folowing link for a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly retailers.:

Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Many Myths Of the Magi

Were They Really Kings? Were There Really Three? And Did They Travel by Camel to Bethlehem?

The scene ingrained in the public imagination -- a stately procession of three kings in turbans, crowns, elaborate capes and fancy slippers, with an entourage of servants and camels trailing behind -- is a common image in books and films, but it isn't from Scripture.

In fact, there's no evidence in the Gospels that the Magi were kings, or even that there were three, much less that they sidled up to a manger on dromedaries exactly 12 days after Jesus's birth.

"Legends pop up when people begin to look closely at historical events," said Christopher Bellitto, assistant professor of history at New Jersey's Kean University. "They want to fill in the blanks."

Only the Gospel of Matthew mentions "wise men from the East" who follow a star to Bethlehem. In the original Greek, they were called magoi (in Latin, magi), from the same root that gives us the word magic. It's been posited that they were astrologers or members of a Persian priestly caste.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Creflo Dollar Refuses to Turn Over More Financial Documents

Georgia televangelist Creflo Dollar is refusing to turn over any more financial documents to the Senate Finance Committee, even though they are overdue.

Last month, the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley, asked Dollar and five other TV and megachurch preachers to provide him detailed reports on how they're spending billions of dollars in church donations. He wants to make sure their ministries aren't violating their tax-exempt status by spending church donations on personal luxuries.


Five of the six ministries have either turned over documents or asked Grassley for more time, which the senator readily agreed to give them. But Dollar and his World Changers Church have refused, and he's hired a lawyer. He said if Grassley wants more information he'll have to subpoena him to testify before the committee.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Origin of Life: Evolution vs Intelligent Design vs Creationism

A newspaper columnist made the following statement yesterday, "It is absurd..........................that he does not have to explain how, in this day and age, he does not believe in evolution."

Look at these definitions and descriptions according to Wikipedia:

The origin of life is a necessary precursor for biological evolution, but understanding that evolution occurred once organisms appeared and investigating how this happens, does not depend on understanding exactly how life began. The current scientific consensus is that the complex biochemistry that makes up life came from simpler chemical reactions, but it is unclear how this occurred. Not much is certain about the earliest developments in life, the structure of the first living things, or the identity and nature of any last universal common ancestor or ancestral gene pool. Consequently, there is no scientific consensus on how life began, but proposals include self-replicating molecules such as RNA, and the assembly of simple cells. Despite the uncertainty on how life began, it is clear that prokaryotes were the first organisms to inhabit Earth, approximately 3–4 billion years ago. The eukaryotes were the next major innovation in evolution. These came from ancient bacteria being engulfed by the ancestors of eukaryotic cells. The history of life was that of the unicellular eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and archaea until about a billion years ago when multicellular organisms began to appear in the oceans. Soon after the emergence of these first multicellular organisms, a remarkable amount of biological diversity appeared over approximately 10 million years, in an event called the Cambrian explosion. Here, the majority of types of modern animals evolved, as well as unique lineages that subsequently became extinct. About 500 million years ago, plants and fungi colonized the land, and were soon followed by arthropods and other animals. Amphibians first appeared around 300 million years ago, followed by early amniotes, then mammals around 200 million years ago and birds around 100 million years ago (both from "reptile"-like lineages).

Evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population from one generation to the next. These traits are the expression of genes that are copied and passed on to offspring during reproduction. Mutations in these genes can produce new or altered traits, resulting in heritable differences between organisms. Natural selection is a process that causes heritable traits that are helpful for survival and reproduction to become more common, and harmful traits to become more rare.

Intelligent Design is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a modern form of the traditional teleological argument for the existence of God, modified to avoid specifying the nature or identity of the designer. Its primary proponents believe the designer to be God. Advocates of intelligent design claim it is a scientific theory, and seek to fundamentally redefine science to accept supernatural explanations. The unequivocal consensus in the scientific community is that intelligent design is not science. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that "intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life" are not science because they cannot be tested by experiment, do not generate any predictions, and propose no new hypotheses of their own. The National Science Teachers Association, an organization of American science teachers and the largest organization of science teachers in the world, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have termed it pseudoscience. Others have concurred, and some have called it junk science.

Creationism is a religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity or deities (often the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam), whose existence is presupposed. In relation to the creation-evolution controversy the term creationism (or strict creationism) is commonly used to refer to religiously-motivated rejection of evolution. Such beliefs include young Earth creationism, which takes Genesis literally, while Old Earth creationism accepts geological findings but rejects evolution. The term theistic evolution has been coined to refer to beliefs in creation which are more compatible with the scientific view of evolution and the age of the Earth.
So what do you really believe? The assertions of smart scientists or the Word of the Almighty God?

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Faith vs Foolishness

I am one year older today, November 27 th . As I reflect on how God has been so awesome, I remember how not so long ago he asked me to take a step of faith (human foolishness) for my future. I struggled and wrestled with the instructions. I asked for a better job (I already had one) that would be more fulfilling, He asked me to quit the one I had. I wondered how this could be. It does not make sense; I need to hold on to this one till I find something better. It still paid the bills, Lord, I said. Yet, I had no peace till I finally obeyed and handed in my notice. Weeks later, I was getting calls from top industries in the fields I loved. I traveled to 3 states within 1 weeks attending interviews. I had 1 job offer from a company in Boston and 2 job offers from companies in Baltimore. Then the hard part (ya... right) which one to choose. They all wanted me! (To God’s Glory). The rest is history!

But my dear Father is not yet done with me, I have yet again asked to take another step of faith which when I accidentally share with colleagues I am pulled aside for a temperature check or literally called stupid. Needless to say, I stopped sharing. They do not understand how my Father works. Tell you the truth… neither do I. But I only obey and leave the consequences to Him.
So what is your step of faith in God or human foolishness? I’ll like to hear about it…

Monday, November 26, 2007

What You Didn't Know At Weddings

By: Martha Brockenbrough

Evil spirits and bridesmaids' dresses
The typical North American wedding is just bursting with meaningful traditions--if you know where to look. Take bridesmaids' dresses. They're not just evil looking; they're evil-repellent.

If you've ever wondered why bridesmaids all dress the same, it's because Roman law required ten witnesses to make a wedding legal. Several of these witnesses dressed up exactly like the bride and groom, to confound any malevolent forces who might show up uninvited. Europeans followed a similar tradition, and later bridesmaids and groomsmen sometimes did have to defend the happy couple against real-life thugs and warriors.

Ring around the ...
If you've ever wondered why Americans put the wedding ring on the third finger of the left hand, it's because of an ancient Greek belief that a vein in this finger ran directly to the heart. And if you've ever groaned at having to buy both an engagement ring and a wedding ring, you can blame Pope Innocent III, who instituted a waiting period between engagement and marriage in the 13th century and also insisted that a ring be used in the wedding ceremony. Before that, rings were used to seal an engagement only (as well as other important agreements).

Read more here:
http://www.allprodad.com/playbook/viewarticle.php?art=79

Thursday, November 22, 2007

The New Virgins - Saving sex for marriage isn't just a passing fad

By Jeff Hooten

If you've ever watched TV, read a magazine or surfed the Net — and who hasn't? — it's easy to believe that the entire population has surrendered to their hormones. And while it's true that premarital sex remains the norm in society today, there is a new trend making its way across the land.

It's the New Virginity, and it's not just for teens anymore.

It began in the 1990s, as young people began to ask the question: "Why Wait?" Some decided to abstain from sex for religious reasons, others to avoid the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Still others realized they weren't ready for the intense intimacy of a sexual relationship.

Those same teenagers are adults now, and many of them are still waiting. And they've been joined in their quest for purity by a growing mass of adults who were once sexually active, but no more. It's a phenomenon known as "secondary virginity," and its practitioners have experienced sexual relationships and found them wanting. They're looking for love and respect — the kind that lasts a lifetime — and they're willing to wait for it, even if it means losing out on a potential mate who doesn't share their convictions.


These "born-again virgins" can't change the past, but they're committed to creating a better future. Contrary to pop-culture wisdom, those who do choose to save sex for marriage are not doomed to a second-class sex life. Rather, they typically report higher levels of sexual satisfaction and marital contentment. Moreover, early sexual experience has been linked to marital dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and greater incidence of divorce.

Indeed, why not wait?


Copyright © 2002 Focus on the Family.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today is thanksgiving...apart from also being "turkey day", it's a time to reflect on the Lord's goodness and faithfulness in our lives….so what are you thankful for??

I'm thankful for the gift of life and the gift of salvation;
I’m thankful for the peace of God that I enjoy;
I'm thankful for good health (really thankful for that);
I'm thankful for my family and friends;
I'm thankful for God’s provision, meeting my every need;
I’m thankful for God’s protection, surrounding me everyday;
I’m thankful for some wonderful friends of mine, who put a roof over my head when I was homeless;
I’m thankful for the gift of mobility, for I no longer have to take buses and trains;
I’m thankful also for school, its delights and challenges;
I’m thankful even for the disappointments and difficult moments, for they’re all working together for my good;
And I’m thankful for my laptop and 24/7 internet connection, for it’s the best thing since sliced bread!

On a final note, we don’t need to wait till it’s Thanksgiving to give thanks….everyday should be Thanksgiving, because…”It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord…” (Psalm 92 v 1).

Happy Turkey day....oops, sorry, Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Overspiritualizing Everyday Problems

Paul Scanlon calls on Christians to stop over spiritualising everyday problems. Sometimes a situation doesn’t need lots of agonised prayer, bad plumbing is bad plumbing whether the plumber is a Christian or not! We just need to use our God given common sense!

In 2002, I was in a meeting where my friend Pastor Brian Houston from the Hillsong Church, Sydney, spoke to a gathering of leaders about the apostle Paul’s teaching on the relationship between the natural and spiritual realms. This ministry got me thinking about the many situations I have been involved in as a Pastor during the past 22 years. Too many of these were unnecessarily complicated because of people’s tendency to over spiritualise everything in their lives and turn simple everyday natural problems into major spiritual issues. I have come to see that this tendency to make everything a spiritual drama, which is particularly prevalent among charismatic Christians, is both killing churches and creating ‘no win’ situations between these superspiritual believers and their down-to earth pastoral leaders.

Another symptom of this problem is the church’s pattern of counselling a person on the same issue over and over again because we are afraid to call a spade a spade; instead, we call it some exotic spiritual issue. We allow superspiritual padding to cushion the blow of the earthiness of the natural wisdom that we as leaders are almost embarrassed to offer as spiritual counsel.

The truth is that many unbelievers live a better life using their natural common sense than believers do by the Spirit and that should be an unacceptable indictment against the church. Some Christians were more ‘together’ before they were converted than they are now. Before, they just got on with life and dealt with things as they arose - no big deal. But now, everything is a conspiracy theory; nothing is as it appears to be and there is a quest to find the deeper spiritual reason for everything. So, the car crash that used to be explained by, ‘I wasn’t looking,’ now becomes, ‘the devil is trying to kill me!’ Or, ‘God’s protection has lifted off my life so I must have some hidden sin somewhere.’ The newly redundant, that frankly faced the fact that ‘I got sacked because I am always late and not very good at my job,’ now becomes, ‘the boss is a Freemason and he can’t stand my presence as a believer; that’s why he has fired me.’ The debtor that once admitted, ‘I am in debt because I have been spending what I don’t have for years,’ becomes, ‘there is a devourer trying to attack my finances but I am a tither, so I rebuke the spirit of debt over my life.’

Read more here: http://www.christianitymagazine.co.uk/engine.cfm?i=92&id=58&arch=1

Charlene Cothran of Venus Magazine: Redeemed! 10 Ways to Get Out of the Gay Life, If You Want Out

Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues. I’ve organized and participated in countless marches and various lobbying efforts in the fight for equal treatment of gay men and lesbians. I have kept current on the issues and made financial contributions to those organizations doing work about which I was most passionate.

As the publisher of a 13 year old periodical which targets Black gays and lesbians, I have had the opportunity to publicly address thousands, influencing closeted people to ‘come out’ and stand up for them selves, which is particularly difficult in the African-American community.

But now, I must come out of the closet again. I have recently experienced the power of change that came over me once I completely surrendered to the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer of the word of God, I fully accept and have always known that same-sex relationships are not what God intended for us.

Read the full story here: http://www.venusmagazine.org/cover_story.html

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Permit Requirement to Hand Out Gospel Tracts

Associated Press
November 6, 2007

PIERRE, S.D. - A man who was told he needs a permit to hand out religious literature at Mount Rushmore has filed a federal lawsuit against officials at the national monument.
The lawsuit says Michael Boardley distributed gospel tracts at Mount Rushmore on August 9th without incident, but was told the next day he needed a permit. Boardley says he has subsequently tried without success to get a permit.


But Mount Rushmore Superintendent Gerard Baker insists that no permit request has been denied, adding, "All he has to do is get a hold of us, and we'll give him a permit."
Boardley's attorney, Keven Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund, responds that no permit should be required, and says his client's free speech and religious rights were violated.


Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Applying 1st Century Writings to 21st Century Living

How relevant are the following scriptures in present day realities? How best do we interpret these scriptures in order to strike a balance between avoiding being chauvinistic and at the same time not contradict the very Word of God?

1Timothy 2:9-15

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

THE DIFFERENCE

I guess here's the major difference between the life of a Saint, and the life of an unbeliever...

In spite of it all, in spite of the pain the Saint endures, the hurt, the misfortune that befalls the Saint, the trauma, the disappointment, the aches, the hardship, the losses, the humiliation, the misfortune, the abuse, the weariness, the setbacks, the pitfalls, the rejection, the suffering, the sicknesses, the fights, the battles, the wars, the tears, the tears, and more tears...

in spite of all this --

There still remains a reason to Hope...

To see beyond darkness and into the Light -- that Marvelous Light.

In the midst of all that I go through, I cannot help but see God waving, beckoning me forward, gently nudging me on. I cannot help but see His Light shining. And I hear Him saying, "You can do it, Michele; You can do it." Why, His faith in me is greater than my own faith in Him!!!
I cannot help but lift my head and keep moving because like a magnet I am drawn upwards to Heaven.


My eyes have seen the glory of His coming!

I cannot help but see something much more than what my physical eye pays its respects to, for the witness that I carry around is not based on a physical thing but on a spiritual connection -- it is unseen -- sometimes not even felt -- but it is there all the same. For I know the rock on which I stand is sustained by faith, endurance, power and might.

For that rock - oh, that glorious unmovable, unchanging, radiating, perfecting, sustaining and reigning rock is my hope.

And IN SPITE of my tears...

Ask Job -- they will fall...

in spite of my fatigue...

Ask Elijah-- for I do tire...

in spite of all my issues and circumstances...

I still press toward THE MARK, for...

My hope does not rest in man -- for what can he do for or even TO me?

Ha, my hope rest in Christ Jesus.

In Him, my battle is already won!

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

Be Anxious For Nothing


Monday, November 5, 2007

Hearing from God in the 21st century

Recently I was joking with a friend that I need to sharpen my spiritual ears, that it seems I’m hard of hearing God clearly these days…too many distractions…but seriously, stop and think for a minute, how sharp are your spiritual ears? Do you hear God clearly? You know the lingo.."The Lord said to me..." ..."The Holy Spirit told me..." Ok, let's take this further....do you involve God in your decision making process, big or small? How do you make simple everyday and/or life-changing decisions not explicitly stated in the scriptures? Does God speak to us today outside of His written Word? The choice of where to live, where to work, where to school, who to marry, etc etc…how can you know for sure you’re making the right decisions?

Friday, November 2, 2007

Pursuit of Happyness

We live very busy lives, confronting mountains of responsibilities that often seem impossible to surmount. For me a typical week day starts at 4 a.m when I get up from bed. By 5 a.m I'm pulling out of my driveway heading for work which is 50 miles and 1 hour away - depending on traffic - to return 12 hours later. I do this 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year and I don't even give much thought to it - well apart from the lower back pain. The question hardly ever crosses my mind, "What if I'm not able to get up from bed tomorrow morning even though I want to?" What if there is a disconnect between my body and my brain such that I'm not able to work even though I desire to?" What if my brain tells my body to move and my body is not able to?" What if I tell my hand to pick up the hair brush and brush my hair and the hand simply isn't able to?" What if I tell my legs to take me from the house to the car and the legs wobble and crumble under me even though they crave to obey my command?" What if? What if? On and on the questions go on. In this there is much wisdom, to ponder at the awesome work of God in our lives and give Him thanks. To always remember there is more to life than the pursuit of the dollar bill. To understand that our purpose here on earth is to SERVE GOD.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Are These The End of Time?

America is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is in a protacted conflict with Hamas in Palestine and Hezbolla in Lebanon. Iran is desperately seeking to acquire the technology to develop nuclear weapon. Vladimir Putin of Russia is schmoozing with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. There is carnage in Dafur, Sudan, while corruption and poverty is ravaging the rest of Africa. The natural elements are not left out - Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Tsunami in South East Asia, and the Fire in California. The moral fibers of nations are decaying - with confusion over the definition of marriage and sexual identity.

Are these the beginning of the end of days? How should Believers in Christ respond to these world events?

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Why Aren't Christians Engaged in Sharing the Gospel

It is a fact that we are not evangelizing as much as we should. But why? Is there any such thing as a politically correct way of sharing the gospel with unsaved souls that we meet everyday? Are there consequences for our failure to tell the world that Jesus is Lord? What are those consequences? What are the rewards (if any) of soul winning?

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Christians and Halloween

How should Christians respond during this season which celebrates witch crafts and horror? What message does it send to our society? What would be said of us if we participate in these events?