| Seventeenth Chapter | |||||||||
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“Next Sunday,” she said, “we are going to talk about liars, and in preparation for our lesson I want you all to read the Seventeenth Chapter of Mark.” The following week, at the beginning of the class meeting, the teacher said, “Now then, all of you who have prepared for the lesson by reading the Seventeenth Chapter of Mark, please step to the front of the room.” About half the class rose and came forward. “The rest of you may leave,” said the teacher, “these students are the ones I want to talk to. There is no Seventeenth Chapter in the Book of Mark.”
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Laughter
Posted in life
Satan Sowing Seeds
While looking around for new material to blog about, this jumped out at me. If it had been a snake, it would have bitten me. I couldn’t believe my eyes and just stared at it for a few seconds before determining that this would be a worthy topic to ruminate upon.
I’m often surprised by the things that are occurring in our world. Some will say that things have always been this way; it’s just that these scandalous tidbits were whispered about and kept from the public eye, or that the internet has brought them out into the light and we’re discussing them more openly. Perhaps this is true, or perhaps not.
It seems as if something is different these days, compared to how things used to be. It’s almost as if we’ve returned to the mentality of the 70’s and the “if it feels good, do it” of the laid-back hippies of those times. This was hedonism at its finest, without fear of the consequences. The boomers learned the tough truths of what can happen due to this kind of immorality, though, and some of us paid for our hedonistic pursuits the hard way.
We’re on a strangely different path now, in my opinion. There is something more sinister about traveling down this road. Never before has anything been so “flagrant,” is what I would call this difference. At least in the 70’s, we were aware we were breaking taboos, but we were rebellious and doing it for a good cause. The mood and feeling of today is more of a “just don’t care anymore,” “nothing is sacred,” and reminds me of the attempt to see how low we can go as a society before someone screams “stop!” It’s infected everything around us, which is something else that is strange.
At any rate, let’s have a look at the ad:
“Life is short…Have an affair. (shhhh).”
This tells us to taste the forbidden, to dare to deceive our spouse, or partner. Just lie, keep quiet, hide what you’re doing through deceiving your significant other — no one will know, no one gets hurt, and there’s no morality standing in your way to even wince about, much less engage in guilt over. It tells us not to worry about the future because life is short; this is all there is. Don’t worry about your eternal soul. There will be no “Judgment Day.” God isn’t there and watching. Live for the now! Who cares who gets hurt? We’ll even help you and make money off your effort! Join us. We’ll help you cheat!
When have we ever seen something so “in our faces” in all its glorified, sexualized encouragement to do wrong?
Is God behind this?
Satan sowing seeds
I think we know inwardly that He is not, and that only leaves the other guy. What does he have to gain by encouraging these kinds of immoral, thoughtless, reckless actions?
Well, the American family continues to dwindle. Legal marriage sustains yet another blow to its validity, as does the meaning of the vows we take with one another when we marry. God’s preferred way of having a relationship is mocked and demeaned, and our society’s most respected method of commitment loses more and more respect and legitimacy.
The casual is encouraged and all moral structure is toppled and broken down. There is no more real security for our children within these unions because couples bound are tied by flimsy bonds of nothingness that can be broken frivolously without even a backward glance or thought.
If you cannot see the workings of Satan behind what’s occurring all around us within our beautiful country, perhaps it’s time for a corrective check up in perception. The changes are right in front of our eyes. Some of us see them and are very concerned, and others of us shrug these off nonchalantly, accepting the downward spiral as part of the change and growth of society moving into the future.
Well, allow me to say that we are moving in the wrong direction.
I think this advertisement above makes this more than clear.
Posted in Christianity, God, life, Morality, people, relationships, religion, satan, sin | Tags: Christianity, God, Jesus, Lies, life, Marriage, Morality, people, relationships, religion
Straight Talk
Sometimes I’m not sure what I’m supposed to write so instead of panicking and going totally silent, I simply sit back, trust God, and wait for inspiration to strike. Normally, I get a passionate feeling when I’m led to write about something in particular. I kind of instinctively know if it’s what I’m supposed to be focusing on or not.
Posted in Christianity, God, Jesus, life, people, Politics, rant, religion | Tags: Christian, Christianity, Democratic Party, God, Jesus Christ, politics, rant, religion, Republican, United States, voting
The Cult of Urantia
The Urantia Book is something that is supposedly complimentary to the bible, and claims to offer a new way of perceiving the bible. The opposite, in fact, is true.
Urantia is a cult.
There are people pushing this book all over the internet and they are very persuasive in their proselytizing. It’s always wise to do one’s due diligence upon something before one falls for it, though.
I hope that The Urantia Book will not be the exception, in this regard.
It’s easy to research this and read through the variety of opinions about what it is offering. I’m going to include one of the written reviews below that I found helpful, that I feel is valid, and probably on target.
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Introduction
This fast growing cult is considered a “new age”, UFO cult. It is based on a book called the “Urantia” book. The word “Urantia” is allegedly an ancient name for the Earth. This cult is also known as the “Urantia Society”, “Urantia Foundation”, “Urantia Fellowship” and the “Urantia Brotherhood”. Like other cults that claim extra-Biblical revelations, it is claimed that the Urantia book compliments the Bible, and that Christians should not be wary of it. But in reality, the Urantia book is in direct conflict with the Bible on many important doctrines, including the most important one which is the issue of salvation from eternal damnation in Hell through faith in Jesus Christ.
The false “Jesus” of the Urantia book
One thing all cults get wrong is who Jesus is, and what his his role or purpose is in our salvation. The Urantia book is no exception. The Jesus of the Urantia book is not the same Jesus of the Bible. In fact they are polar opposites. If Satan can simply get us to believe in a false, repackaged Jesus, he can effectively lure us away from being saved through faith in the real Jesus of the Bible. Some of the links in the Critical examination of the Urantia book section below explain in more detail who the Jesus of the Urantia book is, and why following that false Jesus will lead you into an eternity of damnation in Hell. These next two links will go into details about how to tell a counterfeit Jesus from the real one:
How to Test the Spirits (see section II.A titled, How Do They View the Son of God?)
The other Jesus of Cults (RealAudio files – Tape #5 of a 12-part tape series titled Identifying and Dealing with Cults)
| The Urantia Book claims that the Bible was authored by “primitive” humans. Consider this quote from page 60 as an example:“Religious tradition is the imperfectly preserved record of the experiences of the God-knowing men of past ages, but such records are untrustworthy as guides for religious living or as the source of true information about the Universal Father. Such ancient beliefs have been invariably altered by the fact that primitive man was a mythmaker “.Christians can take great comfort in knowing with absolute certainty that this statement is false as far as the Bible is concerned. There are several solid reasons for knowing that the Bible was written by men who were inspired by God Himself, and that it could not possibly have been authored by humans alone. This is important for two reasons. First, God gave us the Bible long before Satan gave us the Urantia book, and it contradicts the Urantia book on many significant doctrines. Second, the Bible contains many warnings about false doctrines (like the Urantia book), and spells out exactly how we are to identify and respond to them. Please see our Our statement of faith for an explanation of why you can be confident that the Bible, not the Urantia book, is God’s only revealed truth to us. |
Masterpiece of Deception
The Urantia book may be one of Satan’s greatest masterpieces of deception. It is so seductive because it cleverly plays on many human emotions.
Satan understands the intense curiosity that humans posses and he plays to it by spinning elaborate fairy tales of other universes, inhabited planets, hierarchies of spiritual beings, etc. in the Urantia book. Most of the Urantia book flies in the face of God’s statement to us in Deuteronomy 29:29, which says, “The secret [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law“.
This book is especially seductive to people who are already predisposed to believing in UFO’s and extraterrestrials. People who believe in any of the various Christian compromises with evolution are also more vulnerable to being deceived by it. This massive 2,097 page book is so rich in information and details that it would take years to try to understand it all. That’s part of what keeps its supporters coming back year after year to learn more.
Satan plays on our fears in the Urantia book by soothing us with lying reassurances that Hell does not exist, and by focusing on God’s love and mercy while distracting us away from God’s judgment and wrath against those who do not accept Jesus as their savior.
He plays to our pride and or desire for power by telling us that those who study the Urantia book are more highly evolved and enlightened than those who believe in that allegedly outdated book, the Bible.
He exploits our desire to trust by false reassurances that these extra-Biblical revelations compliment the Bible.
He plays to our desire to be loved by mixing in messages of love with the poison that will ultimately lead to a spiritual death in Hell.
Source:
Posted in Belief, books, cults, False Religion, God, Jesus, life, New Age, people, reading, religion, satan | Tags: Bible, Christian, Christianity, cult, false religion, God, Jesus, New Age, religion, Religion and Spirituality, UFO, Urantia, Urantia Book
Patrioticism God-Gap in America?
“Nearly all Americans think they live in the best country on Earth. While a majority of Americans believe there are other countries just as great, nine in 10 say no nation is better. Within this high view of America, there are differences between different religious groups,” the magazine noted.
To this end, Christianity Today suggested the existence of a “patriotism God-gap in America.”
Among those surveyed, evangelicals were the most likely to think the United States is No. 1.
“Other Christian traditions were less enthusiastic about America’s position in the world, but they still saw the U.S. as one of the best on the planet. About 40% of other Christians said the U.S. stands alone as the greatest country; around 55% said it and some other countries were equally great. As with evangelicals, only a few said there were greater countries in the world.”
“Those with no religion, however,” hold a much less favorable view, according to the magazine.
“Only one in five of those without religious beliefs said the U.S. is the best country in the world, an equal percentage agreeing that ‘there are other countries that are better than the U.S.’ ”
Flying the flag is among the easiest ways to display patriotism. Is it also an expression of religion?
In an article titled “Flag Desecration, Religion and Patriotism,” Temple University associate law professor Muriel Morisey suggested that for proponents of a constitutional amendment, “the American flag is the equivalent of a sacred religious icon, comparable to Christianity’s crucifix, Judaism’s Torah and the Quran of Islam. No court has designated patriotism as a religion for Establishment Clause purposes, but in every other significant respect it operates as a religion in American culture. Regardless of the religious beliefs we profess, we simultaneously practice patriotism.”
That said, a “God gap” may exist in the flying of Old Glory as well.
A Pew poll taken March 30-April 3 suggested that 78% of religious people display the flag on their clothing, in the office or at home, while 58% of nonreligious do likewise.
Evangelicals were the most likely to say they displayed the flag; those Americans unaffiliated with religion the least likely.
As to the religious identity of the nation, 62% said the United States is a “Christian nation” in a survey of 1,000 adults done a couple of years ago for Newsweek, while 75% of Americans call themselves Christian, according to the American Religious Identification Survey also done in 2009.
And earlier this year, writing for the CNN Belief Blog, Boston University religion scholar Stephen Prothero analyzed the religious affiliations of those elected to serve in the 112th Congress and concluded: “Is this a Christian nation? No way, says the Constitution. But U.S. voters are telling us something else altogether.”
Posted in atheist, Belief, Christianity, Current Events, Faith, God, life, Patriotism, people, Politics, religion | Tags: Christian, Christianity, Christianity Today, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Government, Jesus Christ, life, Patriotism, people, Pew Research Center, politics, religion, United States
Truly, You Are the Son of God
And so Jesus came to the disciples in the midst of the violent storm, walking on the water. And they were very afraid, but Jesus asked them not to be frightened. Peter was amazed and astonished, asking Jesus if he might walk out to join Jesus on the water. Jesus said to come ahead. Peter was soon walking upon the sea as well.
Suddenly, Peter was overcome with fear as he begin to sink. He took his eyes off of Jesus, calling out in angst. Calming the wind and the sea, Jesus moved to him swiftly, murmuring gently, “Oh, ye of little faith.” The disciples were surely convinced after this miracle and knew that Jesus really was the son of God.
During our own storms and trials when the sea is rough and we are terrified, we may call out to the Lord as well.
He is there always. Like Peter, we reach out and start to move toward Him, or we can sink if we take our eyes off of Jesus. We have to trust in Him and have faith. He will eventually calm every storm of life if we just believe and trust in Him. We can trust in ourselves too because of His love for us. We can weather any difficulty. The key is faith.
Veterans Day Is Almost Over But…
I know Veterans Day is almost over, but I came across a simply lovely video that I wanted to share with you all. It was really moving and I thought some of our Veterans that blog and read the various blogs might enjoy it as I have.
I hope you Veterans had a beautiful, special day today, as you so deserved. I wish there was more we could all do to show you how much we appreciate you and your service and everything you did and do for our country.
Blessings and just know we’re always thinking of you.
Posted in Belief, Christianity, Current Events, God, life, Patriotism, people, Politics, Veterans | Tags: Blessings, Christianity, country, God, Holidays, Military, National Veterans Foundation, Patriotism, people, religion, Soldier, Television, United States, Veteran
God Bless Our Veterans
“What does the Bible say about a Christian serving in the military?”
Answer: The Bible contains plenty of information about serving in the military. While many of the Bible’s references to the military are only analogies, several verses directly relate to this question. The Bible does not specifically state whether or not someone should serve in the military. At the same time, Christians can rest assured that being a soldier is highly respected throughout the Scriptures and know that such service is consistent with a biblical worldview.
The first example of military service is found in the Old Testament (Genesis 14), when Abraham’s nephew Lot was kidnapped by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his allies. Abraham rallied to Lot’s aid by gathering 318 trained men of his household and defeating the Elamites. Here we see armed forces engaged in a noble task—rescuing and protecting the innocent.
Late in its history, the nation of Israel developed a standing army. The sense that God was the Divine Warrior and would protect His people regardless of their military strength may have been a reason why Israel was slow to develop an army. The development of a regular standing army in Israel came only after a strong, centralized political system had been developed by Saul, David, and Solomon. Saul was the first to form a permanent army (1 Samuel 13:2; 24:2; 26:2).
What Saul began, David continued. He increased the army, brought in hired troops from other regions who were loyal to him alone (2 Samuel 15:19-22) and turned over the direct leadership of his armies to a commander-in-chief, Joab. Under David, Israel also became more aggressive in its offensive military policies, absorbing neighboring states like Ammon (2 Samuel 11:1; 1 Chronicles 20:1-3). David established a system of rotating troops with twelve groups of 24,000 men serving one month of the year (1 Chronicles 27). Although Solomon’s reign was peaceful, he further expanded the army, adding chariots and horsemen (1 Kings 10:26). The standing army continued (though divided along with the kingdom after the death of Solomon) until 586 B.C., when Israel (Judah) ceased to exist as a political entity.
In the New Testament, Jesus marveled when a Roman centurion (an officer in charge of one hundred soldiers) approached Him. The centurion’s response to Jesus indicated his clear understanding of authority, as well as his faith in Jesus (Matthew 8:5-13). Jesus did not denounce his career. Many centurions mentioned in the New Testament are praised as Christians, God-fearers, and men of good character (Matthew 8:5; 27:54; Mark 15:39-45; Luke 7:2; 23:47; Acts 10:1; 21:32; 28:16).
The places and the titles may have changed, but our armed forces should be just as valued as the centurions of the Bible. The position of soldier was highly respected. For example, Paul describes Epaphroditus, a fellow Christian, as a “fellow soldier” (Philippians 2:25). The Bible also uses military terms to describe being strong in the Lord by putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20), including the tools of the soldier—helmet, shield, and sword.
Yes, the Bible does address serving in the military, directly and indirectly. The Christian men and women who serve their country with character, dignity, and honor can rest assured that the civic duty they perform is condoned and respected by our sovereign God. Those who honorably serve in the military deserve our respect and gratitude.
Posted in Christianity, Current Events, God, life, News, Patriotism, people, Politics, Prayer, religion, Veterans, war | Tags: Christianity, God, Gratitude, Patriot, Patriotism, religion, Soldiers, Veterans Day, War
Evils of War
How can we be assured that American soldiers we ask to protect and safeguard our nation, are not being forced into actions and activities that will mentally haunt and impair them for the rest of their lives? How do we do a better, more moral job out on the battlefield? What are our reasons as a nation for involving ourselves in war and are these reasons good enough, based upon what is happening to the men who are doing this job for us?
I’m reminded of famous lines in the movie “Coming Home.” John Voight plays the main character, a disabled war veteran, whose character clarifies an extremely important point for all of us to ponder on when he says,
“I wanted to be a war hero, man, I wanted to go out and kill for my country. And now, I’m here to tell you that I have killed for my country or whatever. And I don’t feel good about it. Because there’s not enough reason, man, to feel a person die in your hands or to see your best buddy get blown away. I’m here to tell you, it’s a lousy thing, man. I don’t see any reason for it. And there’s a lot of shit that I did over there that I find fucking hard to live with.”
Based upon the atrocities that some of our men are being forced into carrying out, I am inclined to agree with him.
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Calvin Gibbs, Soldier, Found Guilty In Gruesome Afghanistan War Crimes Case
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — A U.S. Army soldier accused of exhorting his bored underlings to slaughter three civilians for sport was convicted of murder, conspiracy and other charges Thursday in one of the most gruesome war crimes cases to emerge from the Afghan war.
Image via Wikipedia
Morlock and others told investigators that soon after Gibbs joined the unit in 2010, he began talking about how easy it would be to kill civilians, and discussed scenarios where they might carry out such murders.
Asked why soldiers might have agreed to go along with it, Morlock testified that the brigade had trained for deployment to Iraq before having their orders shifted at the last minute to Afghanistan.
The infantrymen wanted action and firefights, he testified, but instead they found themselves carrying out a more humanitarian counter-insurgency strategy that involved meetings and handshaking.
Another soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens, who at the time was a close friend of Gibbs, told investigators that in March 2010, he and others followed orders from Gibbs to fire on two unarmed farmers in a field; no one was injured. Gibbs claimed one was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, but that was obviously false, Stevens said.
Stevens also testified that Gibbs bragged to him about the second killing, admitting he planted an AK-47 on the victim’s body because he suspected the man on involvement with the Taliban, according to a report on the testimony in The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma.
But during the trial, Gibbs insisted he came under fire.
“I was engaged by an enemy combatant,” he said. “Luckily his weapon appeared to malfunction and I didn’t die.”
Gibbs testified that he wasn’t proud about having removed fingers from the bodies of the victims, but said he tried to disassociate the corpses from the humans they had been as a means of coming to terms with the things soldiers are asked to do in battle.
The muscular 6-foot-4 staff sergeant also testified that he did it because other soldiers wanted the trophies, and he agreed in part because he didn’t want his subordinates to think he was a wimp.
Gibbs initially faced 16 charges, but one was dropped during the trial.
In Contempt of Faith
Image via Wikipedia
“Religion is like a computer virus; it’s pernicious.”
Richard Dawkins compares religion to a “trojan virus,” and to one of those email “forwards” that threaten people with something terrible if they don’t send it on to eleven other people.
Posted in atheist, behavior, Belief, books, Christianity, God, Jesus, people, religion | Tags: Atheism, Belief, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, God, God Delusion, New Atheism, religion, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris
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