Who is Jesus Christ?

     I just heard an awesome sermon on the topic of "Who is Jesus Christ"; I even got to be the opening act(I read the Scripture from Mark 8: 34-38 which was the text).
     Basically, our youth minister asked three question as related to the passage.  They were:
     1) Who do men(others) say that I(Jesus Christ) am?
     2) Who do you(listeners-in this instance, his disciples) say that I(Jesus Christ) am?
     3) Who do you(finger pointing at you) say that I(Jesus Christ) am?
     Men have a number of opinions as to who Jesus is.  Some say that He was John the Baptist; and some say that He was Elijah; and still others say that He was one of the prophets.
     Simon Peter stated that Jesus was the Christ.  The coming promised Messiah of God.
     But, here is the key question.  Who do YOU say that Jesus is?  Remember, even the demons believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, and fear.  But, He is NOT their Lord and Savior.  They know who He is, and from whence He came; but He is not THEIR Lord and Savior.  Knowing the facts about Jesus is not the same as knowing Him experientially.  They can fear Him and realize that there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved; but they do not have the intimate knowledge of what God has done for them personally through the name of Jesus.  That is what each of us has to experience individually.  We are not saved because our parents were or because we go to a certain church.  We are saved because we KNOW Him-He is OUR Savior and Lord-it is personal.
     The thing is: only the Holy Spirit can open our minds-our souls, if you will.  Without His drawing us to God, we CANNOT come to Him on our own.  Only then can we actually experience what God is doing.  I believe that this is the reason that it is stated that we will shine like stars in the heavens-there are actually very few believers in contrast to all the people who have ever lived.  There will be many believers; but the percentage of all those who have ever lived who are believers is small.
     Anyway, it is who Jesus is to you-the Jesus you know through your own life experiences-what He has done in your own life that is important-not what you read or believe-but what you KNOW that matters.

Gardener extraordinaire

     I come from a line of gardeners-at least, I think I do.  In one census, my great great grandfather listed his occupation as 'commercial gardener'.  So obviously, it must be in my genes?  

     I remember that my grandmother(granddaughter of said commercial gardener) did lots of stuff with plants-and it seems like she had lots of house plants.  And two of her daughters(my aunts) always seemed to have a lot of plants scattered around their houses.  Plus, my uncle(brother of said aunts) was big in the day lily world.  Even though he has been dead for several years, if you go online you can still find his patented day lilies for sale.  

     Unfortunately, my purported green thumb seems to actually be brown.  I either water plants too much or else try to wean them off of water entirely.  Most do not survive in our house too long.  I plant trees-after a year or two they become sticks.  My Colorado blue spruce lasted two winters-but it turned brown this spring.  Hybrid elm, which is supposed to be fast-growing, is now just making my life difficult when I have to mow around its lifeless stub.  

     Today, I decided to do some more work in the garden.  Got it mostly tilled(tiller was brand new last year)-then the tiller decided to die on me(like the plants)!  Refused to start again.  I pulled the starter cord one time too many and threw my back out.  Now, I am sitting in my recliner hoping the Tylenol does its magic.  Hopefully, my gardening is not over for any extended period of time.  I still have to mow almost 3 acres of lawn every week for the rest of the summer and it is early June.

     Oh, to emphasize my further ineptitude-I have a second tiller-one of those little ones that have the very high speed-it won't start-don't know what I have done to it.

     And my chainsaw-I have trees which need trimming-brush that needs to be cut up-won't start.

     And my new weed eater-same story.

     I also have an older pick-up truck-the only way I can keep the battery from running down is to unhook the battery cables every time I turn it off.  Replacement part plus repair will cost far more than the value of the truck.  

     It really doesn't make much difference whether the engine is old or new-it seems to develop health issues.  Just like my plants.  So, I am thinking that mayhaps; gardening skills and mechanical ability are related-but not necessarily transmitted through our genes.  Both have certainly bypassed me.

     

Stupid Americans

     How stupid have Americans become?
     Seems like a fair question to me.  Just read a news article on Yahoo! concerning a rape in India.  Apparently, some American woman went to visit some friends; then at about 1:00 a.m. decided to return to wherever she was staying to spend the night.  She started walking, but then hitched a ride(I assume it was not in one of those pedicabs) with three men whom she did not know.  End result: she was raped.
     First question for me is, "Why was a lone woman out that late anywhere in the world-not just in India?"  Common sense dictates this is not a good idea.  No matter where you are, a woman by herself away from the confines of a safe haven after dark is not the best situation-no matter what the feminists would have you believe.  Not to say that a man by himself would not also entail certain risks.
     Where have we come up with this belief system that all people are basically good?  Mankind is evil-we are a fallen race, thanks to our first ancestors.  Sin is the lifestyle of unregenerate mankind-male and female.  We are basically an evil race, sometimes with a bent toward good; not a good race with a bent toward evil.
     Second, if these people were the friends of the woman, "Why did they allow her to set out for her room(hotel, whatever) by herself at 1:00 a.m.?  They were evidently locals-could they not persuade her to stay or offer her a ride home?  There must be more to this situation than the information which was reported in the media.  Kind of like the adage that 'friends don't let friends drive drunk'.  These friends should have been concerned about the welfare of their 'friend'.
     Third; "If you have any regard for your personal safety, why in the world do you climb into a vehicle with men you don't know?"  That is an invitation for trouble.  I would think that the woman in question is fortunate to be alive.
     In summary, why was the woman(I am not calling her a lady) out alone in a foreign country in the first place?  This was the root cause of her difficulty.  Whether she needed male protection(anti-feminist ranting here) or not-it would have been prudent to either go with friends or to refrain from traveling alone-so, I reiterate-"How stupid have Americans become?"
   

Holy Bible Numbers chapter 5 verses 11-31. How is this inspired in today's world?

The Adultery Test
     Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'If any man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, and a man has intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself , or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, a reminder of iniquity, "Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord, and the priest shall take holy water in a earthenware vessel; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water...
     I don't even want to type the rest of this statement out-it goes on for another, like 14 verses-read it for yourself if you want to see the yea or nay outcome of this test-did she or didn't she?
     My problem is:  what is the correlation between not following Biblical dictates and today's radical feminism: single mothers raising children by themselves, women and men cohabiting without the benefit of marriage, homosexuality, etc.?
     Obviously, we; American society, and the world in general, are ignoring the clear commands of the God of the Old Testament.  I might suggest that this commandment was solely for the Israelites to whom it was addressed, and not for 21st century Earth.  Is that correct?  By that logic, the Ten Commandments, which most societies honor(not because they consider them necessarily sacred, but because they set moral parameters that a society needs to abide by to survive)  can be ignored with impunity.  But we ignore the Ten Commandments at the peril of civilization-without a moral compass, we will descend into savagery.
     To be fair, the woman accused of adultery was the subject here-the man is not mentioned.  However, this was just the TEST for unfaithfulness-PUNISHMENTS for both the man and the woman who engaged in adultery are covered other places in the OT.
     I have questions here-no answers.  But, I do have beliefs.
     Technology has given women a sexual freedom which they never possessed at any time in our past.  With that freedom, we see the accompanying breakdown of the family.  Men do not stay with women, because they can find another woman who will give them what they want(free sex) without the commitment of marriage.  Why should a man commit to one woman when he can find another who will give him the same satisfaction with no strings attached?  Men are short-sighted that way!
     I believe that without a strong male presence in the home we see an accompanying rise in homosexuality.  Young men with a strong female presence in the home, and no counterbalancing male influence yield to dark side lusts to indulge in homosexual behavior.  The tendency is there in a small percentage of males, and with no man around, coupled with the societal acceptance, they are embracing this deviant behavior in frightening numbers.
     I have not considered the case of lesbianism, but suspect the increases we have seen are due more to the laxness of our society than to the absence of the father from the  home.    
   

The few, the proud, the chosen...

     There should be no pride here, I suppose--for I am talking about the chosen of God.  See, I believe in election or predestination, if you will.  So the elect have no reason to be proud-they are chosen of God.  It is nothing which they have done that causes them to be the "elect".  It is by Divine choice.
     Scripture tells us that the numbers of those who are saved are small.  Mt. 7: 13-14 states:  "Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  This gives no indication as to how many 'few' or 'many' are, but the actual numbers will be small.  Jesus says that he is: the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father but by Him.  So any of the many who try to get to heaven by some other route will be met with destruction.  We are to seek Him while He may be found-and to keep on seeking until we find Him.
     I guess the part which I do not understand is that we are to seek Him, but He is the one who gives us the desire to seek-He is the one who saves.  He is the one who has elected the saved ones from time immemorial-so we actually do not have free will; it seems we have only the illusion of free will.  It is God who saves-but He is also the one who puts the desire to seek Him in our hearts.  None that are His will NOT accept Him; conversely, I do not see how any that are not His will even seek Him.  If He has given you the desire to seek Him-you will find Him.  If you do not have that desire, then you are not going to seek Him, and you will not find Him.  Seems like a Catch 22 there someplace-but only the elect will be saved, and they will be the only ones who actually seek Him!
     What else can I really say?  There will be people from all walks of life-probably people from all over the world who are in the kingdom of God.  It will be to the glory of God that these few, all of which He has predestined are saved--and no others--showing His power and omniscience to have known this since the foundation of the the world.
     God also states that none of those which He has given Jesus, except the one destined for perdition(i.e. Judas Iscariot), can be taken out of His hand-thus the security of the believer.  If God has got you(through your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior) he ain't a gonna lose you.  That is something worth knowing.  Hold on to this promise.
   

23 May 2013-Assurance of salvation and necessity of baptism

     I have recently made fb comments about assurance of salvation and necessity for baptism.  I can probably be more open about my beliefs here.
     If one believes the Bible, which I do, then I feel we can indeed be assured of our salvation in our own minds.  Not to say that anyone else can know for certain whether you are saved-it is an individual relationship between God and man-one on one.  Your church cannot tell you if you are saved-it can only tell you what you must do to be saved.  You must work out the relationship with God yourself.  And ultimately, God is the one calling you into the relationship-you seek Him-but He is the author of the seeking.
     But how can one know for certain if he is saved?  How do you get that blessed assurance; the peace that passeth understanding?  These are questions which are central to the issue of eternal security of the believer.  The rock solid conviction that if I die tonight I know that I will be with God in heaven for eternity.
     First things first.  You need to have made a one-time commitment; one that you can REMEMBER--infant baptism will do you no good here-you will not remember that time when you were baptized.  It is the conscious decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior-the renouncing of personal sin, confession of those sins-the acceptance of Christ's once for all sacrifice of his body on the cross to save you that turns the trick.  Without that memory, there will be doubts--nay, without that memory--without that event occurring, there is no salvation.  You must make that commitment at some point in your lifetime-otherwise, you are destined to an eternity(forever and forever and forever and forever) separated from God-roasting in the proverbial HELL, as it were.
     Next, you should follow our Lord into the waters of baptism-again, infant baptism just gets the kid wet.  He or she did not make a conscious decision-so his body just got a washing-but nothing SUPERNATURAL happens just by the act of baptizing a baby.  Baptism is an action of surrender-of identification with the Lord Jesus.  It is saying:  I am getting wet because my Lord has commanded me to do this-I identify with all believers who have gone before me-I hereby accept Jesus as Savior and yield to His lordship in my life.  These are decisions a baby cannot make for himself-only a person who has enough maturity to realize that he is a sinner can make these decisions.
     However, baptism IS a work that we can do-so, an individual can be baptized-yet not saved.  Does God need your help to save you?  If HE does, HE is a pretty small god.  No, God can do it all-Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross was adequate-and if it were not so, then no sacrifice could be adequate to save you from your sins.
     The Old Testament saints were not baptized-yet who can deny their salvation?  Abraham believed God, and it was counted(reckoned) to him as righteousness.  This was before Abraham was circumcised-and no where is it mentioned that Abraham was baptized.  Hence, it was the obedience of Abraham, not any work(circumcision or baptism) which he did that gave him salvation.  The rest of the Jews who followed Abraham, up until the time of Jesus, were saved by the same belief.  The visible display of said salvation was the circumcision of the males-the females were not circumcised(but who can deny their salvation as well), but the circumcision(precursor to New Testament baptism) did not save them.  It was a visible display for all to see that this individual belonged to God-that He had become obedient to the Divinely ordained religious system.i.e. Judaism.
     Many in our world today believe that you must be baptized to be saved-hence, infant baptism and the consideration by others that it must be performed for salvation.  Wrong!  It is a work that you can do to help God.  And an Almighty God DOES NOT need your assistance.  If He did, He would NOT BE almighty-and thus not worthy of our worship.  And as He does not change; if baptism or circumcision were not required for salvation in the Old Testament-they are not required in these latter days.      

O, when the saints...

     The loss of my mother in January seems to have been the harbinger of a very difficult 2013.  Since then my world has lost Catherine Fouts, Marvel Brown, Edgar Moore, Donnie Poor, Dwight Evans, Patsy Evans, Doc Russell, Aunt Betty...
     All of these people had an impact on my life or on the lives of friends and family.  So many were members of my church; and although most were no longer active, their loss does affect our body of believers.
     It seems that we are having a parade of the saints of God entering heaven.  God is giving each of them a special moment of recognition as He calls them home.
     These had lives well lived, but their departure is not noted by our culture.  God knows them even if their life is neither little noted nor long remembered by America.  These are the ones whom history ignores-but they impact our world for the better: one encounter at a time.  Life is really about these folks and the lives they live, rather than the rich and famous.
   
   

Fatherly advice

     I probably have no right to give advice to my children-seems like I did very little to help raise them.  In my own defense; my job kept me away from home 15-16 hours a day 5 days a week.
     However, before I started commuting 1.5 hours a day I lived in the city in which I worked and my commute was about 15 minutes or less.  And I was not hardly making it home in time to see my children at night before they went to bed-in the mornings I left before anyone got up-so the only time I saw my kids was Saturday and Sunday.
      I started regretting this situation when my eldest started middle school, but by then I was pretty well locked into the long commute.  The only way out of that situation would have been to move back to my original city or quit my job.  My employer consistently loaded me down with enough work that it was impossible to do the job and get home in time in the p.m. to see my kids before they went to bed.
     Anyway, this was to be about advice, not complaints.  I suppose that the key bit of advice I would give my children is this:  spend as much time with those children as you can-the quality time that liberals were espousing a few years ago is an illusion.  Quality is most easily achieved by the quantity of time spent together.  For the sons: do not let/force the wife to do all the raising of the children-be there for them as much as you possibly can.  Whether they will appreciate it or not, you will have done what you could do for them.  For the daughter:  the majority of the child care will fall on your shoulders-whether that is right or not, it is a fact of our existence.  But... get that husband/father to spend as much time with his children as you can.  For his sake as well as that of the children.
     Take the children to church.  DO NOT drop them off and go back home or expect Grandma to take them and you stay home.  If you do not attend, what kind of message does that give the kids?  Help with homework-take them with you when you go to the store-read to them.  Whatever creative ways you can find to spend time with them and to give their mother a break from the tedium of childcare.
     Guess that is about all I got.  Fathers, spend as much time with those little ones as you can.  They grow up incredibly fast; and your influence will wane tremendously as they mature.  May God richly bless your endeavors!

Insignificance

     Feeling kind of insignificant tonight.  Often I just stop to think-look up at the heavens-and realize what a fly speck our big old planet actually is.  Then I look around me out here on the farmstead and see how small I actually am in relation to the world in which I live.  How much land would the entire human race occupy of the entire Earth?  What percentage could we inhabit and no one feel pinched for space?  I have a feeling that there is actually of room for a lot more people than live here at present.  In spite of what some think about the overpopulation of the earth by mankind.
     Then that leads me to question how much of an effect our presence has on our planet in the ultimate scheme of things.  Do our polluting habits, which are of such concern to environmentalists actually amount to ever the proverbial hill of beans?  I am certain that a natural disaster such as giant sun spots or collision with a heavenly body-even a volcanic eruption  would have a much bigger effect on our planet than anything we can do.  And probably our planet has a certain amount of self-healing built into it.  No matter how much damage we do, I think that the planet can heal itself-and in probably less time than most would believe.
     Plus, assuming an Almighty God-He had to know what condition our planet would be in at this very moment in time.  If He did not know, then He is not Almighty, and therefore he would not be worthy of our worship.  Perhaps fear, because his power would still be enormous; but not worship.  And He indicates in the Bible that He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent-so as this is the only record He has given us of Himself, then it would behoove us to study His word and learn as much as we can about His revelation of Himself to mankind.
     The only thing that gives me any significance is Jesus Christ.  He, as the only begotten-the very Son of God, was willing to die for me, that I might have eternal life.  And His life and death can give my life significance and meaning.  Without Him, I am nothing-but with Him, my life, and that of each human becomes precious.  The down side of this is that even though precious, if we reject God, through His Son Jesus Christ,  then He has not given us any other name under heaven by which man may be forgiven.  So if one DOES NOT accept Jesus as Lord and Savior(a one time decision that each of us must individually reach), then God has provided us with no other alternative.
     So my counsel to all would be:  Make certain that your salvation is secure.  Do not rely on anything besides Christ alone-not a specific church or some person-make your decision for Jesus today, for no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

Mower is better?

     Just yesterday I needed to mow again.  There was a time when I enjoyed mowing-then I got old.  Don't get me wrong-I still like to see a neatly coiffed landscape.  However, I no longer have the energy I had when I was 20-or 30-or even forty or fifty.  Using the push mower to trim about wears me out because my strength has decreased.  Sitting on the riding mower is no picnic either.
     I suppose that the big problem is the size of the yard.  My lawn in town is approximately 1 acre in size-which is more than adequate.  However, my country lawn is well over 1 acre-possibly approaching 2 acres.  And I still mow both of them.
     And the new one is so rough.  Eventually I hope to get it smoothed out somewhat, but we have not yet had a good lawn growing season out here in the country.  And I really hate to actually use boughten water to get the grass to grow.  So I been hoping for a good growing season-maybe this year.
     Another problem is actually getting the mower from one site to the other.  I have not purchased a trailer, so I have to load the mower on the back of the pickup and haul it back and forth between lawns.  And the pickup is old and has issues-like every time I run the pickup the battery runs down due to an expensive electrical problem.  Not to mention the rider.  It has electrical problems also-and it is only 2 years old.
     The logical solution would be to sell the one house, but easier said than done.  Then we could just let the grass grow out in the country.  No laws about weed control out there.
     The other issue is the cost of gasoline...and the cost to the environment of carbon emissions.  So being green, I suppose I should rebel and refuse to mow both lawns.  Course, that would get me in trouble with both the law, the wife, and the neighbors.  What to do?  I suspect I will continue to mow both lawns until such a time as I get rid of one house.

Glorifying God

     How do I even talk about this subject?  Moses lived a life, at least the last 40 years of a lifespan of 120 years, becoming the humblest servant of an Almighty God that he could be.  Oh, to attain to such humility!  To be open to every desire of God for my own life.  To be used as He sees fit-each and every event, every second, to be so attuned to God, that I would always be getting the utmost out of that moment.
     I have wasted way too many years doing my own thing.  What could God have accomplished for His kingdom work with a servant who was fully obedient to His wishes?  I had a friend who lost his life recently-but he lived life well.  Helped others; responded to needs that he saw in the world around him.  And had lots of fun doing it.
     It would seem that the one who gives his life most completely to God lives the most exciting, fulfilled life.  Not the politician or the millionaire/billionaire who seek their own glory or comfort in the few short years they will walk this earth.  All of our human actions outside of God are vanity; a chasing after the wind.
     Jesus lived a purposeful life.  Totally yielded to the will of God, yet, working toward a specific goal.  O, to submit every thought, every action to God-to give it all up to Him.  All of my life-to be able to glorify Him through every ache and pain, every second of every day.  Humanly, completely impossible.  Sins of omission.  To my eyes, worse than sins of commission.  God can use actions for His purposes.  Lukewarmness or inaction are a waste of the time we have been granted on this world-God has said He will spew those individuals out of his mouth who are lukewarm.  That is a horrible fate for a sentient being!
      So many; multitudes, live each day, totally oblivious to eternity.  Yet, I stand on the brink of eternity-my life is only a wisp of smoke.  I am here today; tomorrow the world I have inhabited will not miss me-I am so insignificant in the whole scheme of things.  Yet, at the same time...God sent His son to die for ME.  What an awesome thought.  How can my petty mind even wrap itself around this?  Oh, to able to glorify the living God each and every day.  The beauty of it all is, when I fail today, God has so far given me a tomorrow to do better-but that is guaranteed to no one, so I need to make the most of each one with which I am blessed.

Hunting the elusive morel.

     Over the years I have spent way too much time looking for mushrooms.  Heck, I don't even like to eat the danged things that much.  It is all in the batter anyway.  I would call them tasty(i.e. in my parlance, salty)-but that is mostly due to the battering.
     However, wifey claims to have a hankerin' for 'em, so I dutifully shuffled off to seek some morels this morning.  Got my boots on, pulled my cap down over my eyes(hafta keep the sun out of my eyes) and headed out to the back side of the 40 acres a lookin'.  I had to walk uphill all the way to the woods through the mud of the cornstalk stubbled field-we seem to have mud everywhere here in nemo that is not graveled or concreted this year.  Finally got to the timber after about a 10 minute trek with both hips killing me, and began my search.
     Always been told that may apples are an indicator of morels; so, obviously, when I see some may apples,  I start a closer examination.  There are a lot of may apples out there in the woods, and I believe I looked under and around most of them in that 40 acres, but I never seen hide nor hair of even one mushroom.  I made the big loop all through that 1/4 mile stretch of woods, dodging black berry briars and tree stumps(loggers done a job on the woods last fall), and all I got for my efforts was hot and sweaty.  I have about concluded that finding mushrooms is not one of my gifts.  I am fair at the hunting, but my finding skills seem to be in need of a little honing.
     My daddy used to find a few mushrooms-but he never taught me how to find them.  So, either it is all luck, or there is more to search and discover than meets the eye.  May have to tackle the search again before the mushroom season is over, but that 45 minutes I spent stumbling over my feet was enough for this old boy for today.  Had to come back to the house and sit in my easy chair for a spell after all that hard. work.  And as far as I can tell, I got only one tick.  So maybe wearing the old green gum boots was a good idea.

Free will.  I don't know if I have ever heard a sermon about this topic; and I realize it is a difficult subject to deal with.  It is, I suppose, both a cross denominational and interdenominational issue.
I believe that John 3:16 is used as a key verse in support of free will.  It is stated that "...whosoever believeth shall not perish..." in the KJV.
But what does the term actually mean?  Do we have merely an appearance of free will?  I do know that we are compared to the pot that the potter molds on the wheel-it is displeasing to him so he destroys it and remakes it as it pleases him in the image he has in mind for it.
We make minute decisions every second of our lives, so in that sense, we have to have a free will.  But do you have control over your body as to whether your heart will beat its next beat or your lungs will breathe the next breath of air?  I don't-my body is programmed to do these things which are essential to its continued existence independently of my wishes.  So from that perspective, I have no free will.  It was programmed into my body when it came into being that my heart would beat and that my lungs would breathe.
Thoughts go through my mind, but from whence do they actually come?  I can formulate some of them, but many of them appear without my actually willing them into being.

What must you do to be saved?

     My denomination believes in the eternal security of the believer-what most people call: once saved, always saved(i.e, if a person is truly saved, he cannot lose that salvation).
     However,this has nothing to do with the believer, everything to do with the God.  My God is all-powerful, omniscient, and omnipresent.  He also is constant-He does not change.  It is stated somewhere in the Bible, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  And another place states that NOTHING can snatch a believer out of the hand of God.  
     I fear that most people believe in a works based salvation wherein a person can be saved today, then do something wrong(sin), and lose his salvation, and then have to be resaved to regain his salvation.  This diminishes God, and in my eyes, would make such a god unworthy of worship.
     I believe in a God who saves us by grace through faith-it is a free gift(grace)-the faith comes from Him(Ephesians 2: 8-9:  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no man can boast.)
     I will not take the time right now to go into all the ramifications of my belief system, but it involves much more than just the salvation of individual believers.  It involves such diverse topics as global warming and all of human history.
   

An aimless rant on global warming/climate change.

     Ah, perhaps the rain has stopped for now.  God shows us how dependent we actually are on His mercies.  We really need to dry out a little bit, but we can go into drought mode so quickly.  I would so much prefer having too much water than not enough.  Nothing grows when you have a drought; at least grass grows when you have excess water.  And where I live flooding is not an issue, so too much water is preferred.  But why can't we just have the right amount of precipitation?  Why do we always have these extremes?
     Is global warming a reality?  The weather does indeed seem to have changed since I was a child, but I am still not certain that it is man-made climate change.  I suspect that one solar flare would cause more problems for our planet than all the carbon emissions which we have produced.  The same thing applies to volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes.  Both do far more damage to planet Earth than anything mankind can do.
     So, yes, I do believe that we can affect our planet-however, I suspect that factors beyond our control will have a much greater impact on our climate than anything that feeble little mankind can accomplish.  Experts can debate this issue but it is only opinions at the end of the day.  Evidence or statistics can be twisted and utilized to support so many conflicting theories that I do not believe this issue will ever be satisfactorily resolved for either side.

WWJD? What would Jesus Do?

     What would Jesus do?  WWJD?  That was the question a few years back.   As a practicing Jew, which Jesus was, He would have obeyed the law-as long as He did not violate the law of God by obeying the law of man.  He is said to have been perfect(whole or complete) in all His thoughts and actions.  The only law available for Jesus to obey was the one handed to man via Moses-what we would call the Old Testament.   The New Testament was not written until after Jesus had lived His life here on earth as a mortal man who was also fully God.
     I here state my belief from what I see in Scripture.  Jesus fulfilled the whole law-He obeyed the whole law of God.  If God said it, He believed it and practiced it in His life.  That would include all the dietary laws; the prohibition of wearing linen and wool together; the prohibition of tatoos; all of the Ten Commandments.  Anything God had said would have been obeyed by a Jewish Jesus in the way that God would have had it obeyed.  To do anything less would eliminate Him from contention as the Messiah and Saviour of mankind.
     It is not required that one be a believer of Jesus' Messiahship; however if you are-then it would seem, you should adhere to the tenets of Christianity.  I accept grace-no, I embrace grace.  But Jesus, in His perfection, did not need grace.  He had completely fulfilled the law.  Everything He did-every thought, every action, had to be perfect and in complete compliance to the total law; anything less, and He is NOT the Messiah.
     Grace itself cannot abrogate the law.  To do so mars the perfection of the law.  Grace must work within the parameters of the law-man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man.
      However, the Sabbath was to be obeyed, and a Jewish Jesus would have done so.  Not the laws of the Sabbath added by mankind, but the spirit of what the Sabbath was about.  Now, under grace, I can regard all days as the same or I can especially observe the Sabbath or I can observe some other day as particularly sacred-but is that violating one of the Ten Commandments?  I can see a Jewish Jesus as especially observing the Sabbath, but can I conceive of one who would have held another day, such as Sunday, as the primary day of observation of the proverbial "day of rest"?
     Enough said.  This was not to be a rant about Sabbath observance.  I believe that God can be worshiped any day of the week.  But it would appear that if you are observing only one day a week that the Biblical standard is Saturday, not Sunday.
   

Just returned from visitation for Donnie Poore.  His was truly a life well-lived if number of people attending said visitation is any indication.  So many lives the man touched.  I have known him all of my life, because his home church was also my home church.  However, during the formative years of our lives I was not living in the Shelbina area where Donnie lived and prospered.  Obviously Donnie was not born the man he had become before his untimely death.  God had taken 69 years to mold him into the Donnie Poore which was so respected and loved by our little community.  He will be greatly missed by his wife, 3 children, siblings, grandchildren, extended family, and a host of Christian brothers and sisters.
 On a personal level, I will miss him, as he was the lead Sunday School teacher of the class which I will now be teaching.  Perhaps I have learned lessons in class growth from Donnie.  I saw how Donnie took an active interest in all those who attended the class; how he was able to make a person feel special.  He willingly gave  of his time, and thus of his life, to those with whom he came in contact.  He even embraced technology, which is omnipresent in our society today.  And that cannot have been easy for someone of his age. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty-literally-the man was a worker.
Now, Donnie has a time of rest until our Lord returns.  Our loss of his presence here on planet Earth is not easy.  But we need to realize that it is counted as gain for Donnie Poore.  Someday, his family will be reunited with him in Heaven.  That is the promise that we have from God.
Would that we could all have a faith such as Donnie exhibited in a life well-lived.  So long, my friend.  I will see you on the other side.  Maybe we can meet at the flagpole in Heaven-surely there is one.

A life well lived, Donnie Poore.  I was fortunate to have known you. You cared about people, Donnie.  You lived a life of service.  I am sure that you had to work at it-that kind of character is built by God one day at a time. The world of Shelbina, Missouri; and more especially, First Baptist Church-Shelbina will miss you and the ministry you performed here.  You were not born the person you died-God made you into him through the tragedies and triumphs of life-Donnie Poore is better off now-we, who are left, are mourning our loss-but it is gain to Donnie.

I suppose my question is:  What good do my thoughts do?  As in my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families of the "Boston Massacre".  I do pray to my God for the victims; the families of those who have lost loved ones; the many who were traumatized by this terrorist action on an event which epitomizes human achievement, but how do my THOUGHTS or those of anyone else do any good?  I am assuming that when the word thought is used , it is a liberal's way of stating prayer, without actually using that word, because he does not, in his pride, want to acknowledge the presence of an Almighty God.  

Personally, I believe that until we, as a nation, acknowledge God, these kinds of actions will continue to be perpetrated on us.  We have drifted so far from the God of the Bible, that without Divine intervention, we will not return. 

The burning question seems to now be, what do we tell the children?  We cannot tell them that man is basically evil-that all mankind has a sin nature .  We cannot tell the children that mankind is unregenerate, that man will think and act on the evil which is in his heart-and most men(and women) are unsaved.  The Bible states that the way is broad and the path is wide that leads to death, and many are those who find it....and the path is strait and the way is narrow that leads to life and few there be who go therein.(not a verbatim quote)  

So we stick our heads in the sand; say there are just a few bad apples out there.  If we incarcerate them, everything will be all right.  But the Bible tells us to get the murderer out of our midst-to kill him, not put him in prison.  I would hope that we find the perpetrators soon-the President just called it an act of terrorism.  

Just got done commenting on some Facebook posts; then deleted them, rather than post, because of the sarcasm.  Many has been the time that I wished that life had a Delete button.  Stating "I'm sorry" may assuage my conscience; but even though the wound caused by my words may heal, the scar will be there as long as life persists.  Better to think twice, and speak but once.  I praise my God who has said that He has removed my sins as far as the east is from the west-even though I may have trouble forgiving myself, I  know because God's Word is unchanging, that He forgives me.  
Actually, this post was going to be about trust-and I suppose that the above is a good example of that.  I must trust the Word of God-He has said that the blood sacrifice which Jesus made almost 2000 years ago as a perfect(without any spot or blemish) sacrificial lamb is adequate to satisfy the wrath of God, if only I will believe God.  We are all saved the same way-from the first believers, to the last unnamed ones-we believe God, and He counts it to us as righteousness-Abraham is the original Biblical example.  He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.  And how did he display that belief?  By willingly obeying the command of God, and sacrificing his son, his ONLY son, Isaac, as instructed.
I realize that Ishmael was the firstborn, but he was NOT the child of the promise; he was the child of the handmaiden, not of  the wife.  As a son of Abraham, he was to receive a blessing as well, but not the birthright.  Jesus Christ(like unto Isaac, totally obedient to His Father), became heir to the birthright-and all believers, by imputation of the righteousness of Christ, become co-heirs with Jesus.
Does my defense of the faith even make sense to an unchurched  unbeliever who happens across this post?  I believe the message of the Gospel is straightforward enough that anyone can understand it if presented in their heart language, but is this post adequate?
How precious is our trust of another human being?  Multitudes are searching for another person to trust-but having given up on the spouse of their youth-they have divorced, remarried; possibly divorced and remarried again.  How can trust be developed between two people when betrayal is so easy?  And make no mistake, divorce is betrayal-it is akin to murder-it destroys a God-ordained union.  It would seem to me that our culture, by making divorce so easy has done a tremendous disservice to its citizenry.  What was once considered a virtue in human relationships, trust; has been cast aside due to the ease of obtaining a divorce.  Without trust, created in a marriage through daily living, relationships can be easily broken; and are.  And when marriages are broken, we see the results in the culture at large.  Multitudinous problems appear-and no solution seems to be available.  The tragedy is, once the breakdown has occurred, it seems to be irreparable.  With God, all things are possible-but without Him, as far as I  can see, our society cannot repair itself.

How did frugality morph into hoarding?  I was raised by parents who had come of age at the start of the Great Depression, or shortly thereafter.  My mother saved everything-from string to bread twist ties-cloth sacks were actually made into clothing.  But somewhere along the way such actions, which were frugal or thrifty, and considered virtues, have become the vice of hoarding.  We have at least one television series(probably more) dedicated to the subject.

I would speculate that by diminishing the virtue of frugality which previous generations had revered we have become the disposable society you see today.  Our pollution problems, I believe, in large measure, are due to the loss of  thriftiness in our populace.  

May have to rethink the purchase of Korean built automobiles-North Korea is telling all foreigners to get out of South Korea, or take cover.  This situation seems to be deteriorating rapidly-is this President Obama's Waterloo?  Even the best laid plans sometimes go awry-instead of getting us out of all the military incursions left by his predecessor, he may have to get us involved in more.  Like life itself, shit happens to Presidents as well.  We could just ignore the problem if there were no treaties between the U. S. and Japan and South Korea, but we gave up our isolationist policy a long time ago.  I never served in the military, so I cannot give that perspective; but I sure do hate to see American blood shed in a regional conflict.  I would prefer that China dealt with this situation, but who knows what the repercussions of their intervention might be.(Ouch, little black ant just stung me...)
Other big news of the day seems to be the student in Texas who has stabbed 14 people on a college campus.  This will do nothing to advance the cause of the anti-gun lobby.  Evidently, the perpetrator used a knife or pencil to attack his victims.  The point being, as has so often been stated is: guns don't kill people, people kill people; and evidently, they don't need to have a gun to do it!
I am fairly certain that the anti-evangelical lobby will never admit that the underlying problem is not guns, but, ultimately, the sin nature of mankind.  And we all sin, because that is what comes naturally to us.  God has provided a cure for all sin-Jesus Christ.  How do we get this message of salvation out to mankind?