Tag: perspective

On eternal things v.2

I believe the second verse I memorized was for the Sunday school program when I was eight years old and in department 8. I am pretty sure my Sunday school teacher was a gentleman named Sonny Neal. 39 years have passed and he is still working for the Lord. He is a kind soul which each time I see him on Sunday morning brings a smile to my face and cheer to my heart. Like the first verse I memorized, this one I would not fully understand till much later in life. And the time that passed I took a very long and often frustrating path. For the sake of brevity I will summarize my experience to one point.

If you went into a Starbucks and order a tall coffee, paid for it and then took the hot beverage to your car and pulled away heading toward your next destination. If then – you raised the hot beverage to your mouth to sip your coffee and then realized it was simply hot water, what would you do? If you had enough time/the availability to turn around and go back to Starbucks to express your unsatisfaction and receive the beverage you paid for and ordered – you would. Let’s say that is what happens and after going back through the line you present what you received and explain what you ordered. The person remembers you and replies “oh you should have ordered a “red”; here I will make that for you.” And then turns away to make your order. You – standing perplexed – look around and see clearly on the menu board what you would expect. Coffee, tall, grande, venti and so on. You look at the signage and it all says what it usually does. The barista comes back with your coffee and you say, “Sorry but I am confused. When did ordering change? Why doesn’t the menu reflect the change?” The barista then goes on about the tradition and culture of the company etc.

Here is the point: There are those who are supposedly Christian leaders that lead people astray by their dishonest use of the vocabulary in the Bible. It even gets worse, because some so-called scholars and leaders have established boards with publishers to actually change the words from the Bible and even – preposterous as it may sound – remove words and whole verses (This phase of the problem will be for a future post). My writing today is about the dishonesty of vocabulary use and application. If you were to find out that your pastor/priest/clergy/elder/etc. meant one thing when they said another thing, how would you feel/react? Say for example when they used the word “love” they actually meant “hate”. If you asked questions in private or in class as to clarification they would talk about emotions and how they are God given and God uses this language to communicate to us in the Bible so we can understand. Where does that answer get you? Nowhere so you say “explain”. Then they take you through a Greek language primer explaining the Greek word and tenses and the use in that day and the expression is communicated differently today and in the end we have to translate to English and that brings us back to God communicating with us in our language so we can understand.  —- This scenario is not preposterous, it happens every single day.

Proof?

Ephesians 2:8&9 KJV: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Today supposed Christian leaders teach and preach that salvation must be earned. You see, grace is a work or sacrament one must repeatedly take part of and experience as a crucial element in the salvation plan. Please note grace cannot be a work – it is inconsistent with the actual vocabulary and definition of the word “grace”. In fact Paul plainly writes NOT OF WORKS in his explanation.  Unique mention? No.

“And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” – Romans 11:6 KJV

“Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” – 2 Timothy 1:9 KJV

So not only is it ridiculous that someone would teach that grace is a work but also tragic. See unlike the customer from Starbucks who was able to go back and resolve the matter satisfactorily though at a cost of their time and patience the person who dies and stands before God trusting their works to enter into Heaven for eternity will be ushered to the lake of fire. All of the screaming and hollering that “it isn’t fair” and “I’m sorry…” will fall on deaf ears. He will simply point to the Scriptures and say something like “you thought you could earn your way into My Heaven when I sent My Son to pay for your sins?” “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:23 Matthew 25:41 KJV – “… Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Grace is via God’s goodness toward human demerit. He provides mercy out of His goodness toward human guilt. The grace and mercy of God to all human beings was declared, revealed and realized via the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8&9: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

John 3:15-18 KJV – “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6 KJV

So what and whom are you trusting? Your answer has eternal implications.

 

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On eternal things v.1

This is the first post of which I hope will be several on the subject matter of favorite verses/portions of the Bible. My “faith” as we say today, is of exceptional importance to me. It is the eyeglasses which I view and perceive the different things and experiences of my life. My Christian walk is something that I strive to be effective and I guess more importantly – something which I hope to be walking on the right path of. I have got myself to such a way of thinking that it is very difficult to do things without checking if I think this is something that God would want me to do and to do “now”. People argue/debate if we – as adults – are the sum of nature or nurturing. At this time in my life I think for most people it is a mix/blend of the two. I don’t think nature (genetics) provides one a license to be something horrible/bad. We – human beings – are complex creatures which the strands of nurture and nature are also wrapped with the cords of freewill/choice. What is very sobering if not scary is the understanding/realization that these temporal lives we are living at this moment/life span have eternal ramifications for our individual souls, which is the “real us”. The soul is not some abstract mystical thing but our very consciousness. This consciousness has the fullest experience of our senses and the mind we have developed as well as the memories of all our experiences – hence this is why I write it is “the real us”. We – our souls – peer at temporal life through our eyes and are plugged in to our body via the flesh. The flesh is temporal. The soul is eternal. At the death of the physical body the soul is given an eternal body that it will experience/use for all of eternity. It can NOT die – period. Why mention all this as introduction to these new types of posts? Because I am of the firm believe that our decision on our relationship and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ determines the “where” our eternal being will reside. If we believe that He alone is the way to heaven. He alone can forgive us of our sins. If He alone can provide our redemption and salvation. If we believe we cannot earn our way to heaven in any way. So that we have confessed our sins, asked God to forgive us and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ as our payment for sin – then we will be saved. The where of our eternal being is settled forever and it will be in Heaven. Anything different means an eternity in the Lake of Fire with absolutely no parole.

The first Bible verse that I memorized was Romans 5:8. If my memory is correct I was seven years old and it was for a program our Sunday School department was going to present in the evening church service. I know that at the time I did not fully understand what the verses meant. I knew I was to memorize it so I could walk up to the microphone in front of about 600 adults and quote it into the microphone. As the years passed and I was probably around the age of 28 I finally understood what the verse was saying. From the KJV “But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Commendeth is an old English word which communicates the idea of displaying and proving. It is imperative that the second part of the definition is understood. So God proved how much he loved me and you that while we are sinners before Him, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die for us. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection provides the atonement and redemption to all those who trust Him for their salvation. So God did not do this after we felt we were worthy or after we so-called cleaned up our lives. He did it knowing correctly that we were undeserving and unable to fully understand what He was doing. He did it because He loved us and does not want us to go to Hell which was originally created as the place for Satan and his angels to be punished and reside for all eternity.

 

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Rice writes

Honest, I wrote the post this morning before reading the Rice article located here.

I agree with about 90% of what she wrote.

The big takeaway point from the article is we need a President that is a leader who embraces and believes that the USA is an exceptional country. The article is short, maybe 5 minutes long. Good synopsis of the gaping vacuum in the president’s office.

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Looking around and ahead

As for this post there will be no hyperlinks to articles or copying & pasting text from another location. Not that there hasn’t been some interesting events unfurling or breaking through.  In the real world of my own existence and livelihood, things have been also breaking through which has required my attention and consideration. Those kind of events I record on my LJ not here. But as mentioned, much has occurred and with the hands of the sundial and the zodiac getting ready to line up to the eighth month of 2012 I am a bit stunned how much hasn’t happened than what has. Surely the kid plugging the hole in the dyke must have two-score thumbs.

Unresolved or continuing to deteriorate:
Our Congress and the partisan immaturity & noncooperation
Syria
Afghanistan/Pakistan
Iran and the whole nuclear weapon question
Euro and the European financial crisis
US unemployment and economy
Stability in the Middle East
and there is many more stories and events but these are the ones I continue to monitor.

November arrives and hopefully we will see with it the removal of the incumbent occupying the executive branch of government. Of course there is much harm that he can do in those long days of being a lame duck president. Nevertheless their is far greater fear of another four years of damage to our country and standing in the world.

“Leadership from behind” is the strategy and creation of someone who is NOT a leader. It is the result of someone who is doing something that is actually against their convictions and values. I think that sums up the CES’ four years. He is president of America, a country he has no conviction for nor possesses its historical values. We need a leader, someone who will navigate the mess we are in with convictions and values rooted in the exceptionalism of America. Someone who will stand tall with our allies, not blink with our enemies and rally the domestic forces to unite and work together. That is the person our country needs as President of the United States of America.

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2 cents

2 cents on various recent headlines/stories:

1. CES & the illegal residents move: was completely about getting Hispanic votes in the next Nov. election and was done in an unconstitutional way (just like CESCare). Don’t be surprised if this ends up at the Supreme Court as well. Of course the other motive is to hopefully position those people who expect our government to follow the constitution and demand an appeal as anti-Hispanic, bigots etc. Just like we don’t care about those who don’t have health care which is also a farce.

These two issues are good examples of why some people point out that the CES is anti-America, socialist, ashamed of America — etc. In these two instances (it can be argued there are other examples but for the time being I limit to these two) he has ignored the constitution and did what HE thinks is right because HE KNOWS BETTER than the group of white men a couple hundred years ago whom allowed slavery to continue. Obviously HE is more enlightened than they are. CES – is a cancer in our government, economy and society. He is destroying the very system (the constitution) that holds our nation together. What other word would you call him but cancer? Well actually their are many other words but in this illustration cancer is the one I am thinking of.

2. Greece/Egypt presidential votes today:
Egypt: What is going on now is the constant deck reshuffling until a hand is given that can be played successfully that will no longer be an ally to Israel. While the decks shuffle over and over more and more Bedouin and terrorist missile attacks are fired into southern Israel from Egypt. What these people are wanting is an escalation in activity and harsh retaliation from Israel – and yes – Arab loss of lives so that the people of Egypt will foam at the mouth with hate against Israel and expect their government to side with Arabs and not with Jews.Catalysts to this strategy is far right Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood — these two groups are one in the same. It is going to get much worse on the south border of Israel.

Greece: is a wildcard in my opinion. The so called right parties which are promising to drop the Euro and austerity measures if they get elected can and should expect some serious arm twisting from the members and leadership of the EU and USA if they are indeed elected. IF they are elected the eyes will immediately refocus and look to Spain, Italy & Portugal to see if there is an increase in bank activities – people withdrawing their savings etc. If that happens TPTB here in America and the stock market may start selling stock figuring a downturn is coming which of course will create a downturn in and of itself. Like I explained to my wife last night – it is again about perception. TPTB and the stock market see what they determine as a negative reaction in these other countries (not to mention in Greece itself) the thinking goes that these people — consumers — will go into pocketbook pinch mode which translates into no or much less purchasing of products which impacts to some significant degree the US mfg exports (less demand) so US mfg react (correctly) with decreases in production which leads to more off-time for employees and if it is not a very short term event, then  it will result in layoffs etc. ALL occurring in a US economy that is not in good place such that even the most miniscule decrease of production and exports will create large ripples across the economy. The economy is moving so slow that you can apply the brakes to it via the Fred Flintstone method. The possible silver lining in all this is that it is believe if the economy slows further or even dips again – even in the slightest of ways – that CES will then lose the next presidential election. The truth of the matter is that he should lose the next election anyway, the freaking socialist.

3. It is not just the US that had embraced depitalism as the behavior in the majority of households. It is something that has permeated the EU and Japan. China at the moment is repeating the mistakes of the US during the industrial age but making those mistakes in a communist government that greatly reduces the liberty of the citizens. The Frankenstein creature they are creating over there will be interesting and scary if we ever learn and understand all the details about it. Mexico, South America, India and Africa are so poor and overtly corrupt that they are pinned in.  There are of course other countries like Australia and Russia but I understand little if anything about what is really going in there. So that makes my focus on the US, EU, the Middle East and Japan. For the US, EU and Japan depitalism is the average households’ method of livelihood and finally people/consumers are realizing how debilitating debt is. Much change still will occur as households and companies find their new norm. In the US we will continue to see very slow and poor economic results each month until some systemic changes/improvements occurs in our economic infrastructure and it is in my opinion that those improvements will not occur if CES continues into a second term. In fact we will see things get much worse here.

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