Misplaced Priorities

Revelation 1:3 says of the book, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Can you imagine the day that we all stand before God?  According to the Bible, the very first thing that we will see in Heaven, after the throne of God (Rev. 4:2), is our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ.  Revelation 5:6 says, And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain...  What will go through our minds at that moment?  Sorrow?  Pity?  Regret?  Maybe that is why Revelation 21:4 says, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes…  What are these tears for?  They may be because for the first time, we are going to realize just how much Jesus suffered so that we could have eternal life.  Maybe, they will be because we are going to wish that we would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve, done so much more with our lives? Sadly, there are going to be many Christians with tears in their eyes on that day because they are simply going to be overwhelmed with the unfortunate reality of misplaced priorities.  How about you?  Where are your priorities right now?

Living by Faith

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

I've come to believe that the Lord sometimes does not show us things because He knows that we are not ready for them. Sometimes, too much information is just as detrimental as not enough. After all, we are all in a growing process and some of us are further along in that process than others, but that’s okay. The important thing is that we are all searching and trying to understand what God has for us daily.

The Bible says that we grow from faith to faith and glory to glory. To me, that means that we grow a little bit at a time. It does not happen overnight. The Lord knows that I wish it did, but it doesn't. God knows when and how to reveal things to us as He knows that we are ready to receive them. That's why we much live lives of faith!

Taxes, Entitlements and the Truth

It is absolutely pathetic and frustrating to listen to all of the bickering in Washington these days over raising taxes and cutting spending. The Republicans want to cut spending and not raise taxes. The Democrats want to raise taxes and not cut spending. The bottom line is that we have become a people that is addicted to government money. We have convinced ourselves that it is the government's job to take care of us (e.g. Katrina, Sandy, etc.). Folks, we all know how Obama got back into office: entitlements. The American people decided that they wanted a big government that would continue to provide them with free contraception, abortion, unemployment, medicare, medicaid, education, military protection,  and the list goes on and on.

Just spent three and a half hours on a train the other day with a Spaniard and a Frenchmen. They are in absolute awe that America is running down the very road that destroyed their countries' economies. They are fleeing to countries like Peru just to hang on to what little money they have left. Americans are going to be doing the same thing if we don't wake up to reality. We cannot spend more money than we take in. Full stop. We cannot keep printing money. If America were a company, it would have already filed for bankruptcy.

The bottom line is that if we want to just keep going down the road we are going down (and apparently the majority of us do, based on the last election), taxes are going to have to go up. The best answer is to stop spending, but let's be serious, that's simply not going to happen because we have become addicted to big government.

The Queen James Bible

Well, they have finally come out with a Bible that removes all condemnation of homosexuality. I wonder if they re-translated the part that says in Revelation 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. 

Click image to read article.

We Are Overcomers

2012 Shepherd's Conference

Here is an interview of John MacArthur at the 2012 Shepherd's Conference. He addresses a lot of questions and it's very interesting. I love that he just speaks the truth and lets it land where it may.

A Picture of Jesus

A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl. She wanted to know what the United States looked like. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to her and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this back together.

After a few minutes, she returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted and taped together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. "Oh," she said, "On the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then our country just came together."

Ignatius of Antioch

Just added a paper that I just finished on one of the founding church fathers: Ignatius of Antioch. Studying his life was very insightful for me. I have a new found appreciation for him, as well as many of the other ancient church fathers. They were in some uncharted waters, and much of what we know and believe today is because of them.

Where Was God?

I couldn't have said this any better than Governor Mike Huckabee.

Click HERE to see the video.

The Mercy of God

Luke 1:50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

This is a very thought-provoking verse considering what is going on in our world right now. We have absolutely no fear of God in our culture, and yet when something like a mass shooting in a school happens, we have the audacity to ask, "Where was God?" What hypocrisy. We have slowly pushed God outside of almost every area of secular life. The precious little children and adults who died in that school the other day, perished in a place in which God was forbidden years ago. Really, what did we actually expect the end result would be to our Godless pursuit? Do we really have that much confidence in our fallen humanity? Obviously so. 

Of course, the cry of the ignorant is, "Get rid of the guns!" Yes, they really do seem to believe that gun control is the answer. That tells me two things. First, they have never spent any time in Mexico where owning a gun is illegal, and yet it's one of the most dangerous places on earth. Second, it also tells me that they still do not get it.

God told the nation of Israel who had also turned its back on God in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

If we want God's mercy, we must fear Him. There is no other way.

Wimpy Pastors

"Christian leaders have the wrong idea about Jesus, they see him as this little, wimpy guy who walked around plucking daisies and eating birdseed and saying nice things, but never doing anything controversial. The fact is, Jesus did confront his culture with truth -- and he ended up being crucified because of it." - Dr. Robert Jeffress

Check out his interview here: Pastor: ‘Wimpy’ won’t cut it in culture war

The Scriptures

Entitlement Spending

Check out this video by Bill O'Reilly in which he is urging Americans to wake up to the fact that 109 million private sector workers cannot support the other 87 million welfare recipients and government paid employees. It's definitely an eyeopener to those who want to see it. Most don't.

Peru is Unprepared

I pray that this never happens.

"Yet this city of 9 million people is sorely unprepared. Its acute vulnerability, from densely clustered, unstable housing to a dearth of first-responders, is unmatched regionally. Peru's National Civil Defense Institute forecasts up to 50,000 dead, 686,000 injured and 200,000 homes destroyed if Lima is hit by a magnitude-8.0 quake."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/09/peru-capital-faces-high-chance-big-quake-but-extraordinarily-unprepared-experts/#ixzz2EZK2v8Jy

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons

Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons was born around AD 130 and grew up in Smyrna where Polycarp was the bishop. He was a defender of the orthodox view of who Jesus was and is viewed as one of the major contributors to the emergence of a unified, catholic Christianity.

He was a leading figure in establishing the canon of Scripture because he was one of the first to answer such questions as: Which texts are authoritative? How should they be interpreted? By what authority do they speak? Whose interpretations are correct? Thus, his main arguments were that the catholic church had to draw their authority from the same place that the apostles drew theirs': the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible and not "fanciful narratives and cosmic mythology".

One of his most significant works was The Detection and Overthrow of What is Falsely Called Knowledge" which was aimed at the false teachings of the Gnostics and their so-called "knowledge". Today it is simply known as Against Heresies.

Ignoring the Voice of the People

“If the courts feel they have the right to ignore the voice of the people, then it is only a matter of time before the people will ignore the voice of the courts." - Reformation in Responsibility

Constitutional bans on same-sex unions in the United States, by state

   Constitutional amendment bans same-sex marriage, civil unions, and any marriage-like contract between unmarried persons

   Constitutional amendment bans same-sex marriage and civil unions

   Constitutional amendment bans same-sex marriage

   Constitutional amendment grants legislature authority to ban same-sex marriage

   No constitutional amendments

When the King Saved God

When the King Saved God | Vanity Fair

Here's a very interesting article from an atheist's point of view on the plethora of  Bible translations. It's worth the read.

Voucher Plan Ruled Unconstitutional

La. school voucher plan ruled unconstitutional

God forbid that Americans should actually have a choice on how to educate their children. Of course, they do. It's called private schooling or homeschooling, but most simply have other priorities (e.g., homes, cars, smart phones, etc.).

The Church Fathers: Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr was an early church father who was seen as a trailblazer because he was among the first to engage the Greco-Roman culture with the Christian message. He was born in Samaria around the year AD 100 near the site where Jesus had met the woman at the well. He was eventually martyred by being tied to a pole, whipped and beheaded.

He is considered to be the church's first Christian philosopher because of his attempts to correlate the claims of Christ and the Scriptures to the philosophical principles of the time. Unlike Ignatius, whose writings were warm and aimed at the church, Justin's audience was the pagan world around him, and thus his writings had a very stern emphases and were extremely intellectual. Unlike the heretical sects all around him, he was able to do it in such a way that the Christian faith was uncompromised. His First and Second Apologies are still considered to be the greatest examples of Christian apologetics in the history of the church.

The Church Fathers: Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius was born in Syria around AD 50, and died in Rome sometime between AD 98 and AD 117. He was a devoted disciple of the Apostle Paul and nowhere is this more evident than in his responses in regards to the two fronts of opposition which he faced: legalism and Gnosticism.

He served as the Bishop of Antioch in the very same place in which Paul and Barnabas were sent out, the first Jerusalem council had taken place, and the great Apostle Peter had received his rebuke from none other than Paul himself.

He is most famous for writing seven letters addressing the issues of legalism and Gnosticism while on his way to Rome to be martyred. To the legalists, he charged that to keep the law as a basis for salvation was to reject the very essence of Christianity. To the Gnostics, he wrote, among other things, that their teaching of Docetism was merely an attempt to make Christianity more palatable to the masses.

Hobby Lobby Must Cover Abortion Drugs

Baptist Press - Judge: Hobby Lobby must cover abortion drugs - News with a Christian Perspective

These Christian companies are being told by the courts that they must provide the costs for abortion drugs to their employees as a result of Obamacare. I find it very hard to believe that Christians went to the polls on November 6th and knowingly voted for Barack Obama. He made it very clear what he was going to do once re-elected during his campaign. He clearly stated that he was going to promote abortion on demand, homosexual marriage and euthanasia. Where these people who voted for him listening to what he said? If so, how do they justify having voted for him? Do they just compartmentalize their religion and politics? Apparently so! This is not an issue of being a Democrat or a Republican, but an issue of being a child of God who believes the Word of God…or not.

Paul warned in Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;  (29)  being filled with all unrighteousness, without natural affection (that's homosexuality by the way), wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,  (30)  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,  (31)  undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;  (32)  who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Did you catch that last part? Not only does God condemn those who do these things, but He also condemns those who approve of those who do these things. A lot of Christians need to really think about that.

Baptist Press - Judge: Hobby Lobby must cover abortion drugs - News with a Christian Perspective

Why They Hate Us

Ever wonder why the world hates Christians so much? The Bible says that it is because we are proof that they are going to be destroyed.

Cycle of Nations

Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.

Catholic Bishops: "We Will Not Obey"

It is tragic that all those who went to the polls on November 6th, apparently didn't think it all the way through in regards to what exactly this president is proposing.

Catholic Bishops: We Will Not Obey Immoral HHS-Abortion Mandate | LifeNews.com

The Unbelieving

This verse pretty much describes ministry much of the time.

Acts 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.

Country Road

This pretty much describes how I feel right now.

Apathetic and Apostate

John said in Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Joel Rosenberg asked on his blog today at http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com, "How much longer will God be patient before He decides to judge us for 54 million abortions, a celebration of homosexuality, rampant heterosexual immorality, marital affairs, separations, divorce, the implosion of whole families, rampant pornography, unprecedented murder and violent crime rates, massive deficits, unfathomable debt, and a weak, increasingly apostate Church?"

I am very disappointed in the church in America. Every time I return to the U.S. to visit, I preach in half empty churches that usually meet for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings to just check off the "God Box" for the week. They are apathetic and spiritually dead.

Change is going to have to start in the pulpits. Preachers are going to have to start preaching, not just teaching, the Word of God. There simply must be a balance. Christians need to be challenged to a commitment each and every Sunday. After, the elections the other day, it is painfully obvious that the church in America does not need a hug! Nor do they need an exegesis on the seven "I Am's" of Christ in the Gospel of John. They need a swift kick in the butt!

Cyprian of Carthage who was beheaded in 258 AD said in his Third Treaty on the Lapsed (those who had denied God in the face of persecution), "They who call you happy (the priests who allowed them to come back into their fellowships without repentance) cause you to err, and destroy the paths of your feet," he who soothes the sinner with flattering blandishments furnishes the stimulus to sin; nor does he repress, but nourishes wrong-doing. But he who, with braver counsels, rebukes at the same time that he instructs a brother, urges him onward to salvation."

That should give all of us something to think about!

It’s Final: Kids Rule Over Parents

It’s final in Ireland: Kids, gov’t rule in home over parents

Isaiah 3:4-5 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

What idiots!

What Now?

Here are some great words from Dr. John MacArthur about the election and where we go from here.

What Now?

The Demise of a Democracy

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (a generous bestowal of gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." - Alexander Tytler

Labor Unions

AP News : Twinkie maker Hostess reaches the end of the line
Labor unions are out of control and are now part of the problem, period.

Twilight and Porn

Twilight is for teenage girls what porn is to teenage boys: sick, twisted, evil, dangerous, deceptive, and popular.

Persecution and Compromise

I have been reading about the persecution that occurred in the early church in Everett Ferguson's book entitled "Church History: The Rise and Growth of the Church." Apparently, they went through a period of time when it was actually popular to be a Christian, however that came to a crashing halt when Decius became emperor. His first order of the day was to have higher clergy arrested. His second was a universal order to sacrifice to the gods of the empire (burn incense, pour a libation, and taste sacrificial meat). Those who sacrificed received a certificate testifying that they had complied. After a generation of peace, the church as a whole was unprepared for the challenge. Many had grown comfortable in the acceptance of Christianity, and vast numbers lapsed from the faith by obeying the command to sacrifice."

As I read this, I could not help but to think of the church of our day. We have lived in a nation in which it has actually been popular to be a Christian. As a matter of fact, it was an expectation. However, we have seen that attitude change over the last two to three decades. Now, it has become popular to insult Christianity, spurn the teachings of the Bible, and to look down on Christians as uneducated and fanatical. Persecution is coming. Make no mistake about. The price to call ourselves Christians is about to go up as surely as taxes under this new president. Are we ready for it? I hope that years of "peace" and "acceptance" have not softened us to the point that we can no longer stand up and be counted. God forbid that we should be numbered among the lapsed.

Proverbs 31:10-12 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

Five Things

Five things handed Obama the election: free health care, bailouts, amnesty, contraception, and a lethargic church.

Neither Nikita Khrushchev or the old Soviet Union are around, but the words he spoke are eerily prophetic. America has already opted for Socialism, which we prefer to call progressivism today, because we have a constituency that is largely made up of people who think it's the government's job to take care of them.

Obama Joins Baby Jesus in Nativity Scene

If anything, this is worrisome. It's amazing that Europe is so in love with our president.

Obama Joins Baby Jesus in Nativity Scene - Barack Obama - Fox Nation

UPS ends grants to Boy Scouts over "discrimination"

UPS will never receive another dime of my money!

UPS ends grants to Boy Scouts over "discrimination"

Dying Daily

Another college derecognizes Christian group

Another college derecognizes Christian group

This is only the beginning. The price to be called a Christian is going up. Sadly, it will be out of many's price range.

Forward

This pretty much explains it!