Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Who Would Jesus Vote For? This is a very well written article by Larry Alex Taunton published by in the Faith/Religion Section of CNN's webpage. Just thought I would share it with you, (if you click the link to read it). 

By the way, the image used, "How Would Jesus Vote", is an image used by the Church of God, who in no way sponsored, or are affiliated with, the article written above. 

It's the End of the World as We Know It?

I am sure by now you have heard of the religious group that claims that Judgment Day is coming on May 21, 2011. I am also fairly certain that you have also heard that the world as we know it will come to an end on December 21, 2012, according to ancient Mayan Prophecy. One thing I do know for certain is that the world as we know it will someday come to an end. When this will happen I do not know.

The Bible tells us that one day Jesus will return to claim those who believe and at that time the Earth as we know it will be destroyed and replaced with a New Earth. (Isaiah 65:17, Matthew 24:35, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1). When will this happen? God has kept that a mystery. When Jesus was in human form on Earth, even he said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36) If Jesus, who is God, was not allowed to know when God's Judgement Day will happen, what makes man think that they know when the end of the world will come?

Many people and religions have wrongly "predicted" when the end of the world would occur; Heaven's Gate, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many others have done do. Because of these predictions many people have reacted with fear and have done some very irrational things; including mass suicide. I believe that if you have a true relationship with the Lord God and his son Jesus, then you have nothing to fear from "Judgement Day." In fact you should celebrate it's coming.

As for me I have faith that God really will return one day to claim his own and he will destroy Earth and create a New Earth. God could come within the next 5 minutes for all I care, I am ready to meet God face to face. I wish many others could feel the same way.

The only thing about these groups and their "predictions" is that it just adds one more log onto the fire to be used by those who wish to persecute God's people, to prove that we are crazy and we have no clue what we are talking about. Christians have a hard enough time following the only two rules Jesus has ever asked us to follow; Love the Lord your God, and Love your Neighbors as Yourself. We don't need groups like Family Radio making things worse for those looking for the truth.

Update: 5-24-11, The Family Radio preacher, Harold Camping, has since changed his prediction to October 11, of 2001 as the day of Judgement. Obviously his second prediction of May 21, came and went with no Rapture in sight. He originally predicted the Rapture in 1994. Maybe the third time is a charm?

Marriage Education and the Church

As you know, my wife, Jamie, and I are trained to teach a variety of marriage education curriculums. We have been trying to get a class started at our church for a few weeks now and it has been highly suggested to us that we hold off until August to start our class. The reasons given to us are:

1) It will be too soon after the last marriage class was taught.
2) You will have trouble getting enough people to commit to the class.
3) Church couples don't believe they need the class because they already have a good marriage. and
4) Couples don't want a class that is to personal and will possibly cause them to "air their dirty laundry" in front of other church members.

How sad I felt when I heard this. Especially after one of our elders told me he personally knows of three or four couples whose marriages are in trouble. He also told me the elders support the idea of the class and they know it is needed but they won't take the class themselves. Again that made me very sad.

Divorce rates among active church going people is almost exactly the same as the those who do not attend church or claim any religion at all. People in churches struggle with the same issues as people outside the church and they are just as afraid to seek help for those struggles because of self pride or because they are afraid they will be "embarrassed" and "shunned" by their peers.

What a sad state of affairs when your church family will not act like a church family and support each other when we struggle. We are so afraid that others will look down on us because we are not "perfect" that we let our marriages fail, to attempt to uphold an image of perfection.

Elders, Pastors and other church leaders need to not only support strong marriages with their lips but support it with their actions. They need to take the classes so they can see "first-hand" how these programs can make their flocks stronger and better able to help the communities they serve.

What do you think?

Bravo Obama, Bravo!

President Elect Barack Obama stunned the, "sinful side of the American Community" yesterday by announcing that Pastor Rick Warren will lead the invocation during the Presidential Inauguration! Of course, all the gay-rights, abortion rights, and other "mainstream American cultural groups" are throwing a hissy-fit. (I hope I spelled hissy right!)


I just hope Obama does not back down to the negative pressure to drop Warren and choose someone else.

Good choice Obama, now stick to your choice!

Why do we run from what we are so desperately longing for?

The past couple of days I have noticed a theme, that keeps popping up in books, movies and in everyday life.

The theme is that "God is relentlessly pursuing us in order to show us his love! Our response it to run away from what we are so desperately longing to have." God offers us mercy, grace, love and eternal life with Him. These are the very things most people on this little planet so desperately want in our lives. Instead of accepting this we tend to run from it. Why?

Maybe we are afraid of seeing the reflection of our ugly, deformed, sinful self. We must come face to face with the fact that we are sinners and have no chance to heal ourselves, no matter what we do.

The book Captured by Grace tells the life stories of several famous folks, including C.S. Lewis, John Newton, and Paul the Apostle, and how they compare their lives as running from themselves and a very loving God, only to find out that when they finally run into God and He captures their hearts, that they finally realize that they have been running from what they have been seeking all along.

I watched the movie Finding Nemo with my family on Sunday. I have seen this movie many times before, but I never caught this particular theme. Nemo is amazed that his father has overcome impossible odds to find him. His father tells Nemo, "Don't you realize I would do anything to find you! I love you!" Hasn't our Heavenly Father done the same thing for us. He went through "Death" to pursue an everlasting relationship with us.

We know that God is there. We know He calls out to us daily to join in fellowship with Him. Why do run? What are we scared of? Are we so afraid of facing up to our own sins? Are we afraid that we are so ugly and scarred that God cannot really want a relationship with someone so sinful? I guess we are. Why don't we just quit running and let God capture our heart? When He does he will transform us into such incredible people, we will start running again. This time running with God in pursuit of others who flee the grace of God, that they are so desperately looking for.

At What Point Did Jesus Realize He Was the Son of God?

While on Spring Break my wife had us listen to a sermon that a friend of hers had recorded onto a CD. During this wonderful lesson, the speaker brought up the point that Jesus did not always know that he was the Son of God, thus He did not fully realize His mission on Earth until He learned about it later. Hmmmmm?

I was always under the impression that Jesus, from birth, knew who He was and why He was here. The speaker pointed out that if Jesus was truly a man like the rest of us, then when He was born He couldn't have possibly understood who He really was and what His mission was. He correctly stated that Jesus gave up all the "trappings" of being part of the God-Head to become a man, thus His human brain had to develop just like yours and mine did. Wow!!

The speaker said that Jesus' was probably told who He was by His mother Mary. She probably told Him the circumstances of His birth and what the angel Gabriel had told her about Him. Later when the wise men came to visit Him, He was probably introduced to a little more about His true nature. The speaker said, Jesus did not fully realize who He really was and His true mission until he was about 13 years of age, when he went to Jerusalem with his parents for the Passover. It was while He at Jerusalem that Jesus spent some time in the Temple studying with and asking questions with the religious leaders. It was here that Jesus started to research the prophecies regarding who He really was. Being divinely inspired He quickly put together the pieces and discovered the truth about His true Mission in life.

The speaker also pointed out that it wasn't until later that Jesus actually started to perform miracles. The speaker said, that God used this time to mold Jesus' earthly character to best perform what God expected Him to do. After Jesus was prepared and accepted His mission, then the His true power finally came upon Him.

Interesting points. Can you imagine having to try to explain to your child, that you were miraculously conceived, and that you are the Son of God? I'm sure Mary didn't quite understand everything regarding the full nature of Jesus and here she was trying to explain it to Him the best she could. Also can you imagine, from a normal man's point of view, discovering that you were supposed to die for the sins of all mankind? Try to wrap your normal man brain around that one? But if Jesus really was a man like us, He had to have struggled ever so briefly with the reality of what God expected of Him. Even in the Garden before he was crucified, Jesus was still asking God, "Is there another way?" At least Jesus was resolute in doing what God's will for Him was. I on the other hand am still trying to get, 'My own way,' more often that not.

When do you think Jesus realized he was fully God in nature?

Dominion by Randy Alcorn (A Book Review)

I just finished reading the book Dominion by Christian author Randy Alcorn. This is the second book of a series of three. The first is called Deadline, the last series (which I will read soon, I hope) is called Deception. These books focus on three individuals, who are connected through a common friend, and their heart wrenching journeys to spiritual discovery of their personal relationships with Jesus and God.

Deadline focuses on Jake Woods, a journalist, who has to deal with the death of two of his best friends. His journey mainly focuses on abortion and homosexual issues, among others. It is a very good read. It sets you up for the 2nd book.

Dominion focuses on a friend and co-worker of Jake's named, Clarence Abernathy. He is a black man who looses his sister and niece to what seems to be a random act of gang violence. This books focuses on his struggles to find a middle ground between being a successful black man living in a white world and his personal relationships with his family and God. This book mainly focuses on the issue of race, stereotypes, prejudices and racism as a whole. I learned a lot about how blacks see us (me in particular) as white men and I learned a lot about Gangs. This book is a great read, and it made me do a lot of thinking about what I feel towards my fellow man.

The last book will focuses on the life of a detective friend of Jake's and Clarence's named Ollie Chandler. I can't wait to read it.

If it wasn't for the sensitive nature of Dominion I would ask some of my adult students at school about their opinions. But I might have to wait and ask some closer friends at church.

Chocoholicfest - 2008

Every year our church's youth group host what is called a Chocoholicfest for the kids who are 7th Grade - 12th Grade. The Chocoholicfest is the culmination of a month long study and discussion about Biblical dating, relationships, marriage and sex. The end of the study "party" features as much chocolate as the members of the church choose to donate. This year there was chocolate cakes, cookies, brownies, chocolate Skittles, M&M's, fudge, pies etc... They even has pizza (pepperoni and cheese, not chocolate), although someone did bring a chocolate brownie pizza, from CiCi's.

They had chocolate themed games to play as well. How fast can you eat a bowl of Coco-Puffs?, How many apples can you "bob" from a bucket full of chocolate milk? There was a chocolate pie eating contest and some kind of weird contest where you had to find as many peanut M&M's as you could that were mixed into some chocolate pudding, using your feet.

After all the feasting on pizza and Chocolate, they had a special guest speaker to come in and talk to the kids about Biblical dating, and relationships. This year's speaker was Jason Illian, a fellow who just happened to be a male "contestant" on the ABC television show the Bachelorette (the third season). Jason actually made it a few rounds into the show until the "Bachelorette" (Jen?) found out about his Christian values and that he was still a version, then she did not offer him a rose.

Jason had many good points to make to the students about how the "world" especially television, movies, and music portray sex and relationships. Then he pointed them to the truth about the matter and told them how God views sex and dating etc... Jason has written a book about God and Dating called...Undressed: The Naked Truth About Dating

Since I was an adult volunteer to help, of course I ate to much chocolate and went to bed with an upset stomach. My son enjoyed the activities and we talked a lot about dating until it was time to go to bed. That part I enjoyed more than any other part of the evening.

Where Will You Choose to Meet God?

This question was asked during the lesson our minister gave last Sunday at our church. The lesson focused on the lives of the three young men in Daniel who choose to go to the firery furnace rather than bow down to the golden statue. (For a similar blog click here)

Our minister put the question to us to see if we fully trusted in our God as being a God who is in control at all times, not just the good times. Many Christians want to and choose to meet God. The problem is we choose to meet God in a place of our choosing. We want to meet God in a place where we don't have to suffer, or a place that makes us feel uncomfortable, or a place in which we don't have to sacrifice anything to get there. In effect we want God to come to us!

Our problem lies in the fact that God chooses where we are suppossed to meet Him. For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, God wanted them to meet Him in the furnace. God could have rescued them from the furnace but He did not. He wanted them to meet Him in the furnace itself. These three young men, chose to have faith in their God and they choose to go into the furnace to meet their God. As a result God blessed their decision and he saved from the furnace after all.

God has the ability to save us from pain, suffering, death, disaster, disease, poverty, divorce, addictions, etc...but sometimes He chooses not to. Is it because He is mean and cruel? No, sometimes it is because of these painful times in our lives, that we learn the most valuable lessons of all. God sometimes uses the firery furnace to mold and shape us into what He wants us to be. He wants us to choose to meet Him in the fire. Only there will we then open to His power and will for us.

Many of the most powerful and faithful men and women in the Bible suffered because of circumstances allowed to happen to them by God. Moses learned of his true purpose while in exile in the desert. Joseph learned of his true purpose while as a prisoner in Egypt, after being sold by his own brothers. Abraham learned of his true purpose after being asked to move to a foreign land. Paul begged God to remove his "thorn in the flesh" but was told by God, "No" because only by suffering with his "thorn" could Paul truely appreciate his need for God in his life. Jesus himself begged God not to be crucified but instead He fullfilled His purpose by suffering and dying.

To be perfectly honest I have not yet chosen to meet God in the fire. I have "suffered" some because of choosing to follow God, but not to the point of putting it ALL on the line. As God continues to call me to meet with Him, where will I choose to meet Him? Will I again ask God to come to me, or will I become one of the "Furnace People" and choose to meet God in the furnace?

Are You A Dummy? (A Lesson Learned From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

By now I am sure everyone has seen the latest version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory staring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. My family and I watch this movie again on television last night and something in the movie just hit me very hard. It made me do a lot of thinking.

The premise of the show, is that Willy Wonka has hidden 5 Golden Tickets among his millions of Wonka Bars around the world. 5 "Lucky" children who find these tickets get prizes, including one prize "beyond their wildest dreams." The first four children who find these tickets are not the best examples of children (or parents for that matter) as far as their character is concerned. The last ticket is found by a young boy named Charlie Bucket.

This young man has character beyond his years. After he finds the ticket he is torn between selling the ticket to people who have offered him money or keeping the ticket and visting the Chocolate Factory of Mr. Wonka. "Our family needs the money for than chocolate," he explains to his family. At this point one of his grandfathers calls Charlie over to his bedside. This grandfather gives Charlie some very wise and sound advice.

He says, "There's plenty of money out there, they print more every day. But this ticket; there are only 5 of them in the whole world. That's all there is ever going to be. Only a dummy would give that up for something as common as money. Are you a dummy?"

God offers us something much more valuable than a Golden Ticket. He offers us Salvation. The Bible tells us there is only ONE way to reach the Father. This is found only through Jesus Christ. The Bible also tells us there is ONE God, Body, ONE Faith, ONE Spirit, ONE true word of God and we have only ONE Soul. Many of us sell this precious and rare gift for worldly things every day. We trade in our eternal life for such common things as money, fame or other things. We must be "Dummies."

Willy Wonka has 5 Golden Tickets, GOD offers us a ONE time gift of LOVE and GRACE, He offered up his ONE Son, JESUS, in order to offer this gift to us. We really would be fools to trade in a chance at eternal life with our FATHER, for something as common as what Satan offers in return.

Two Thought Provoking Links

Recently I have been introduced to two seperate and very thought provoking links.

The first is called...The Truth Project, which is presented by Focus on the Family. The Truth Project is a Christian based curriculum designed to counter the "lies" told to us by the world and refocus the Believer's faith on "the voice of truth" as presented by God in the Bible. This curriculum is taught to small groups which can be organized in a community near you. Ladybug (my new blog term for my wife) and I are thinking about taking one of these classes.

The second is a link to an upcoming documentary(?) film by Ben Stein, called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This movie was created to openly challenge the Theory of Evolution and Darwinism as scientific theories. After watching the trailer, I am very interested in watching the movie. Speaking from personal experiences, I can say that some Science teachers in the public schools and on the college levels are not allowed to present "Intelligent Design" as a plausable theory of the creation of the universe and man. This is mainly due to possible law suits by radical atheistic or agnostic families who seem to think this would be forcing religion down the throats of their children. They don't seem to care that Darwinism & Evolution have no "smoking gun" proofs to back up their claims as well. To watch a short trailer about the movie click on the above link or link to All Rolled Into One (Ladybug's blog) to watch the trailer and read her take on the movie. For a synopsis of the movie from The Internet Movie Database (IMDB), (click here)

Watch the links and let me know what you think.

Yesterday is Gone So Say Goodbye

As mentioned in a previous blog...one of my favorite Christian music albums right now is Portable Sounds by Tobymac. One of the songs that I have been listening to a lot recently is called Suddenly. The song is about how when a person finally realizes that whatever has happened in the past no longer makes a difference once they truly accept the love, grace and forgiveness of our Savior, Jesus. Here are the lyrics I'm talking about...

"Sometimes in an instant, Sometimes we wait for years, But it comes down to the moment when faith eclipses fear, Your wondering is over the other side is real, You've broken through your mountain moved, And mercy is revealed....And suddenly all of its behind you, And I 'm here to remind you, That yesterday is gone so say goodbye, And finally the skies open above you, And love has truly found you, Now every thing's alive. Sometimes there's nothing left but to believe."

Cool Words huh? The fact is that once a person accepts Jesus as their Savior, all sins from you past are forgiven. Satan cannot use those sins against you to make you feel inferior or unworthy of God's ever present love for you.

In our battle with the Evil One (Satan), we should not focus on the past. We cannot change it. Only Christ can change the past...Hebrews 13:8 tells us that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever." We cannot fight battles in the past, but our God can. So let go of your past sins, God can and will forgive the sins of His children who come to Him. Sometimes we are so afraid that our past will come back to haunt us and that our sins will not be forgotten by God. It's a lie we are all prone to believe, but we must let our faith in God overcome that fear. We must act on our faith...not our fears. It is in that moment, that we truly become stronger warriors for God. We are no longer burdened by a load that no longer exists.

Keep your focus on the present. The Here and Now. Don't let Satan and his demons take your focus off what you have to do, "RIGHT NOW". If we take our eyes off our enemy to look back at our past, we are open to attacks from what is right in front of us.

So wave goodbye to yesterday, because it is gone...and stay focused on the present, knowing that we have a future in Heaven, as children of the KING!

That's My King!!

This video was put together to honor the late S.M. Lockridge, who once presented an incredible message, describing our God and who He is. Though God can't be described with just words, this is as close as you can get this side of Heaven.



And now a message from Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee...



Enjoy!!
Merry Christmas

Time to Change the Way I Think

As you may have read before, my family has decided to implement a few new rules around our house. (See Previous Blog) One of the new rules will probably be that our children may not watch movies, television shows, view web-sites or listen to music that is not appropriate due to age or morally. This got me to thinking. I watch a lot of movies. My family and I have been active members of Netflix for at least two years. We, mostly me, have watched all sorts of movies. Our kids definitely do not watch anything rated R or above. My wife and I don't watch anything rated above R. There are; however, a few movies rated PG or PG-13 that do push the limits of what is appropriate or not, that we have watched or are currently on our cue list. Movies like Transformers. My kids (ages 10 + 12) and I loved this movie, but is this movie really age appropriate? There is bad language, some sexual humor, and plenty of violence (just not gory!). Under our new rules, would I allow my children to watch this type of movie? It's a tough call, but one that has to be made.

It reminds me of a story...There were these two teenage children who lived in a Christian home. They were raised by good parents, although not perfect, who tried to raise their kids with good values and good decision making skills. One day the children came home with a group of friends with a movie they wanted to watch. The movie was rated PG-13, or R depending on the story. The father asked the girls what the movie was about and after hearing the movie's details, the father quickly decided this was not a good movie for the girls to watch. "But it only has a little bit of bad language. It only has a little bit of sexual themes in it.", the children insisted. The father, being a wise man, made a deal with the children, he would make a batch of brownies and if the children would eat the brownies then they could watch the movie. The children agreed. So the father went to the kitchen and gathered all his ingredients. He got flour, sugar, eggs, brownie mix and then he got a little bit of dog poop from the yard and mixed it in with the brownie mix. After cooking the brownies, he set them out for his children to eat. Before they started to dig in; however, he told them about the "surprise ingredient" he had added. "Gross!", his children asked. "But it only has a little poop in the brownies!", the father said. It was then his children realized what the father was trying to teach them. It doesn't take a whole lot of "crap" to be in a movie, T.V. show, or the music you listen to, in order to taint it.

It may look and even taste like a great brownie, but inside of it there is something that makes you sick. The movie may be a "great" movie, but hidden inside is the agenda of someone who wants to make you sick. Satan will do anything to turn us away from God. How many of us, myself included, have been feeding our kids "tainted brownies" and letting them watch programs they have "just a little-bit" of bad stuff in it. For that matter, who much "poop" have we been feeding ourselves.

Maybe it's time I change the way I think.