You Begin and End With The Relationship

 

What relationship?

If you have received Jesus Christ, The Son of God, then you belong to Him.

You are no longer your own.

You are no longer just you.

You have been redefined – you are a new creation.

 

You began living because of Jesus Christ.

 

After this, whether it’s giving your testimony or discussing theology, your relationship with The Godhead by Jesus Christ is The Foundation of any discussion.

Don’t wander from it.

 

We easily throw up the barriers, the bulwarks of personal world view.

“Are you Calvinist or Armenian?”

“Do you believe in Once Saved, Always Saved?”

“Have you read so-and-so’s book?”

No, no, no.

These approaches are a great waste of time, for they are not first person, First Love Relationship.

They get you out of His Word, The Bible.

The megaphone is not The written Word that reveals Jesus The Living Word – the megaphone has been passed to dead theologians, a false doctrine, or extra-biblical Christian authors.

Don’t be conformed to this world and its distractions, not even Christian distractions.

You’re not entitled to your own opinion or world view.

You’re only supposed to pass on what Christ is saying and doing in you like He did His Father.

Ask Christ to guide you by His Spirit and His written Word.

He’s fully able to do that.

And if you think that He does not or cannot do that or that The Relationship is not the main point of the Christian life, then maybe you don’t have a real relationship with Him….

 

See Also:
Personal Relationship Topic

Taking Issue With Vain Words Like ‘Frick’

 

As a young marine the peer usage of every other word was composed of four letters beginning with the letter f and ending with the letter k.

No, the word was not funk.

As young men taught to make other men die for their country, using foul language was a way to counter the niceties of life to get to the other side of hardness and death.

Okay, there’s some logic to that.

And at a small Bible college I went to as an older 20s student, some younger ones started using the word honking or honkin’.

Though this word did not begin with the letter f, it was still a euphemism for the same four letter f..k word.

Just so you know, words that really don’t have any meaning but are being used as placeholders for known words not acceptable to speak, are known as vain words.

 

And this year I attended a retreat on discipleship training.

The speaker liked the worldly word fricking or frickin’ for short.

Things were frickin’ this and frickin’ that.

Things were, “Frickin’ awesome.”

Man, the speaker was frickin’ awesome.

 

Should he be saying this word?

Should you be saying this word?

 

Perhaps picturing Jesus may help you figure this out.

Do you think Jesus went around saying He was “The <vain word> Light of the world.” or “I Am The <vain word> Way, The <vain word> Truth, and The <vain word> Life.” or “<Vain word> follow Me.”?

If He had uttered such nonsense filth, nobody would have followed Him.

But He didn’t.

You won’t find any part of frick/f..k  ever used in any legitimate English translation of The Bible.

I suggest you shouldn’t use it or any other vain word either.

But you don’t need to listen to me.

Listen to Jesus.

He’ll tell you to drop such unwholesome vanity.

 

Cultural Marxism’s Hell is Destroying You Today

 

… and it’s only getting worse ….

Much like spoofing the boogey man that isn’t there or the existence of the devil, cultural Marxists hope you similarly don’t detect them accomplishing their goals.

Cultural Marxism’s adherents target God, nations, and families.

 

The metastasizing of cultural Marxism within freedom loving peoples is unmasked in

• social justice
• rewriting history [for example, The 1619 Project “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
• reintroducing racism [whose actual definition is simply singling out by color]
• creating privileged classes (at the exclusion of others) around politics, economic theory, gender identity and sexual orientation, such as LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer or Questioning/Intersex/Asexual/Plus [yet to be described and added]) [“Ideologues must infiltrate institutions and all of society and “raise the consciousness of ‘the oppressed’ with a new cultural worldview, or narrative.”]
• deconstruction [paraphrasing from philosophy/literature: because of the ambiguity of language, something expressed cannot be truly known, i.e. truth cannot be ultimately known . <Therefore> God does not define Truth and freedom – the government does, and therefore the government can take truth and freedom away][political example][“Can you define what is a woman?” – response, “I cannot….”]. Deconstruction is being used to destroy truth, commonsense, science, and reality.
• destroying fundamental Constitutional rights like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press the right to petition, the right to bear arms, and instead attacking them by censoring, coercing, harassing, ruining, libeling, threatening, mob violence, determining what can be said in public discourse, the military, and houses of worship
• DEI (Diversity/Equity/Inclusion)
• ESG (Environmental/Social/Governance)

 

Cultural Marxism is a “… totalitarian, soul-destroying ideology.”

 

Traditional Marxism was based on economic class.

But, …

“… workers in the West were refusing to wage a revolution that they intuited would hinder their own economic interests and diminish their freedoms. Because of that, Marxism had to evolve to find other revolutionary agents: “’Marxism and feminism, Marxism and deconstruction, Marxism and race—this is where the exciting debates are,” said Jonathan Wiener, professor of history at the University of California at Irvine.

That insight from Professor Wiener was important, as it foreshadowed the identity-based Marxism of the 21st century. The struggle would no longer be based on economic class but on identity—based on ascribed characteristics, such as race, sex, or national origin, that are inherited at birth and over which the individual has no control. The reasons were simple: Economic classes fluctuate, especially under capitalism, where people can, and often do, change their stations in life. Race, sex, and national origin are, however, immutable. They are thus superior loci of revolutionary change. This is why the new Marxism emerged victorious on college campuses and elsewhere in American cultural centers starting in the late 1980s, whereas it had failed when it relied on social class and guns. This new mutation of Marxism was cultural—“cultural Marxism.” It began to be debated and written about in the 1920s and the 1930s, by Antonio Gramsci in Italy and the so-called Frankfurt School in Germany, but this cultural Marxism only came to full fruition in the late 1960s when Gramsci was first translated into English and the Frankfurt School’s Herbert Marcuse came to prominence among university students. Gramsci was translated by the British journal New Left Review, and Marcuse came to be known as the guru of the New Left. This Special Report discusses the dangers posed by this new mutation, one hatched by the 1960s’ New Left.

On American, Canadian, Western European, and even Japanese college campuses in the early 1960s, rebellion found fertile ground in a rising generation of students. It was there that the New Left was born. Universities then continued to serve the revolution by providing a supportive ecosystem to those radical students as they entered adulthood and became professors, where they could indoctrinate subsequent generations.

The strategy to achieve the new cultural Marxism was also no longer predicated on Marx’s original prescription, the violent overthrow of the system by the working class, or in Marx and Engel’s own words, “formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, [and] conquest of political power by the proletariat.”4

Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, p. 50.

Rather, the strategy now draws on Gramsci’s concept: Ideologues must infiltrate institutions and all of society and “raise the consciousness of ‘the “oppressed’ with a new cultural worldview, or narrative.

Marxism had failed in Western societies when it relied on economic status and violence.5

When it did succeed in Eastern Europe, it was as a result of occupation by Stalin’s troops and successive military interventions by the Warsaw Pact.

But this time it had a real chance of succeeding. This is the reason that cultural Marxism today presents a far more serious and existential threat to the United States than did Soviet communism.” [Source]

 

 

 

See Also:
America Rewritten
The Philosophy of God’s Existence
Regrets of a former LGBTQ+ activist

A Love Affair To Remember (for eternity)

 

One of my favorite movies is An Affair to Remember starring Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant.

And one of my favorite songs is I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston.

Both make your heart and eyes run for cover.

Oh yes, they’re ultimately human in their portrayals and lyrics, and they might miss His grandeur in little human-centric ways of being skittish, yet hopeful of being pursued.

They’re full of passion.

 

And this is Who Jesus Christ Is to you.

He pursues skittish you.

He loves overwhelmingly out of a heart that has given itself uniquely for each one who has ever lived.

He has to know that you see and feel His love, and He has openly held you and caressed your face.

He breaks down your walls with the strength of His love.

 

You may not have felt it yet.

You may not know the depth of His love for you.

You may not know that He died for you, because of His great love, then rose again so you could be with Him.

He’ll come rushing to you to bring it to pass, if you’ll but let Him.

Say yes to Him.

There’s no greater love in the world, no greater Lover of you than He.

 

 

 

 

No More Evil Conscience in Christ

After The Gospels, Christ gave Paul the revelation of the indwelling Godhead.

And you can reason that if you were still an evil thing after the cross, then how could The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit indwell you, be one spirit with you? How could our evil dwell in Their holy Spirit Presence?

Our old shared, fallen Adamic spirits had stony hearts, sinful natures [a nature describes its underlying spirit], corrupt minds, and evil consciences.

But we were reborn by Their Spirit. What in us was born again? Of course, since we are made in God’s image, we too are spirits, so it is our spirits that are made brand new at rebirth. Salvation is the circumcision/removal of our old, patterned after Adam’s spirits [which was called the flesh], and the birthing of our new spirits in God.

“I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

And our new spirits have new hearts, new natures, new minds, and new consciences, all from Him. His root in us is spirit.

And to ensure that you know that your new spirit not only shares His divine nature, Scripture confirms that your consciences too were cleansed.

“which was a figure for the time then present, in which [The Temple] were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that [The Law] could not make him who did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;” Hebrews 9:9 [The Law could not, but Christ could and did as you see below.]

“how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14

“(1) For The Law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not their substance, can never perfect those who come near by those sacrifices which they continually offered year after year. (2) Otherwise, would they not have stopped offering them, since the worshipers once purified would no longer have any consciousness of sins?” “(14) For by one offering He has perfected forever them who are sanctified.”  “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:1-2, 14, 22

Dearly loved, He made you brand-new!

You are brand-new from fore to aft, from port to starboard.

He meant it when He said through Paul that all is indeed brand-new!

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

What is Racism?

 

What is racism?

It’s not explicitly what you’ll find in dictionary definitions.

It’s more fundamental than bias, prejudice, or perceived superiority based on skin color, ethnicity.

The more fundamental definition of racism is singling out by color, whether in a positive or negative sense.

Bias, prejudice, and evil come after that.

And whatever the color combination, they work reciprocally.

Chartreuse looks askance at sea-green, and sea-green looks askance at chartreuse.

These two colors by their own myopia may never be able to see eye to eye.

 

This higher definition of racism is what we’re seeing in politics today.

So be sure that when chartreuse matters more than sea-green or vice-versa, that’s racism.

That’s drawing a distinction between colors, and depending on the current political color chart, bias, prejudice, and all other forms of hatred and sin and death are following closely on their heels.

 

Don’t let anybody play the race card on you.

They’re not after unity – they want only to divide and destroy.

 

Good ideas conquer bad ones.

The converse is never true.

Bad ideas will never be defined nor debated.

Systemic racism will never be explained, nor written down in black and white as to particular perceived exploitation and injustices, legal or otherwise.

Why?

Because racism proponents, the true racists, don’t really want life and peace. If they did, they’d be extremely willing to sit down at the table and talk about the issues and laws.

But those bull-horning systemic racism know they can never convince nor persuade others that their biases and prejudices against all other excluded colors are justified.

No, repeatedly decrying systemic racism seeks only to justify denouncing every founder and document, tearing down all monuments, rejecting all history and laws lock-stock-and-barrel, and burning it all to the ground.

 

So if your goal is national, societal, and personal destruction, by all means join chartreuse against sea-green and scream systemic racism at the top of your lungs.

But God allows all of any color to defend themselves against those whose devilish desires are to destroy them.

 

Racists refuse debate.

Racists hope to intimidate to capitulation.

Racists live in darkness, fearing the light.

Racists fear accountability.

Racists fear the law, because their deeds are evil.

Racists seek to muzzle those who disagree.

Racists seek to disarm those who stand up against them.

Racists seek to get you to pay for that which you can never accept.

Racists will never abide by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Racists cannot win by merit, but can only win by making all others lose .

 

Racism is a trap.

Don’t be simplistic, naïve, ignorant, or evil and fall into it.

Don’t have to be told what to think. Learn how to critically think for yourself.

Don’t become a part of a heartless, merciless, unthinking mob that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

 

Do everyone a favor and cast down those who single out a color at the exclusion of all others.

Cast down this highest form of racism.

 

The greatest reason to cast down racism is that God hates and opposes it.

Racism is ungodly, it’s inhumane, and it’s also un-American.

God has made all His believers one in Christ, no matter the skin color.

 

Don’t join racists.

Instead, join God through Christ and experience His life, His love and His peace, then work with Him for the good of all.

 

See Also:
Racism Denies Christ, Yourself, and All Others
Why BLM and Antifa Have Already Failed
The Godly Roots of Thanksgiving in The United States of America
God in Government video

 

 

 

 

What Nonsense! Christianity Today Chief Editor Says Trump Should Be Removed.

 

Christianity Today editor in chief Galli says Trump should be removed. [If the link doesn’t work for you, it’s full content is at the end of this blog post.]

In a very short, hit-and-run article, he throws a sucker punch, then skedaddles under the guise of spirituality.

Interesting.

Why does he politically posit such and so of Trump?

A tiny bit on the posturing Democrat’s ever weak talking points and evolving impeachment articles [Goodness, what article names can we come up with that, even then, aren’t crimes, let alone high ones? Quid-pro-quo? Nope scratch that one. Bribery, nope, that’s out. Extortion? Uhm, no. Look, I like playing spin-the-bottle as much as the next Democratic intellect….], and then Galli hammers on IMMORALITY.

Really?

Is there a before and after picture with Trump?

I think there well may be.

For Galli is not God, to know whether his criticism of Trumpian immorality still reigns Today, or whether he Galli should just sit quietly in a dark corner.

Certainly Trumps before picture was not that of Mother Theresa.

Ok.

But, frankly, I think Galli is both politically and spiritually naive – bad combination for a so-called Christian magazine’s chief editor.

Again, why?

 

Well, what does Jesus say?

“(14) And when they had come, they said to Him, Master, we know that You are true, and care for no man[‘s position or opinion. Only The Son of God’s truly matters.]: for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful or not to give tribute [pay taxes] to Caesar? (15) Shall we give, or shall we not give? But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why do you tempt Me? Bring me a penny, that I may see it. (16) And they brought it. And He said to them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said to Him, Caesar’s. (17) And Jesus answering said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marveled at Him.” Mark 12:14-17

So, we deduce what?

That Galli’s opinion should not matter to you.

And unless you know the will of God, what He wants you to say and do, you too can take such simplistic, hit-and-run pot-shots, then run for your life.

For neither what Galli nor you nor I think matters at all.

I’d advise you flush what he wrote, and let Jesus tell you what He thinks instead.

 

Don’t you get frustrated when people, who should know better [Galli and Chik-Fil-A], cave to weak, Godless pressure?

For what?

Essentially money or wanting you to think they or what they own or manage is somebody or something.

No, human peacock-ing should earn less than a fleeting glance for all its furor and jumping up and down….

 

There is also a milk-toast response to CT’s disposable conclusion.

And then Todd Stearns directs readers to Franklin Graham’s Facebook page to clarify that his father, CT’s founder Billy Graham would have rejected CT’s opinion piece. Billy Graham even voted for Trump.

 

So, I’m going to resubmit immediately below an earlier 3/29/2019 blog post on Trump that lets you render appropriately to politics and God – He’s The only One to be concerned about.

 

Politics and God: What About Trump?

Why broach the topic of the 45th and current President of the United States (POTUS) Donald J Trump?

Because there’s little to no truth on most of the airwaves.

Truth is all that matters ultimately, and Jesus came to bear witness of The Truth – He [Jesus] is God’s Man, Messiah, Deliverer, Sacrifice, God’s all.

What He says matters.

Little to nothing that the rest of us say matters at all.

So, in this space the POTUS Donald J Trump will be given a fair hearing.

 

Only God knows what happened, how he became President.

It was a political impossibility.

The system was rigged against Him.

And yet, it happened.

And I’m going to posit that it only happened because He intervened.

God apparently led voters to the polls, citizens who had assumed that Hillary as POTUS was a done deal and who were going to stay at home, instead of getting out to vote.

Somehow, they came out of the woodwork everywhere they were needed, which tipped the election to Trump.

It was simply unbelievable to watch the progression on election night.

 

We deserved Hillary Clinton to be our President, for we’ve thrown God out of the public sphere, in favor of people like her who advocate the ways of the world that only lead to death.

Life and peace are experienced in Christ alone.

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

Bet your life on man and die, or entrust your life to Christ, find abundant life, and truly, joyously live.

 

So, in my opinion, we got another chance with Hillary’s defeat and Trump’s victory, though this country has been caving to efforts to remove God for over 50 years.

Picking sides am I?

If your eyes and ears have been open over the decades, you should realize that history matters.

The Presidential coat-tails of her husband Bill was Hillary’s way to the top. Her political version was on steroids, the game-playing politics, manipulation, endless Bill and Hillary scandals, ever evolving standards, the ends justify the means, Hillary’s lack of ability to relate to anyone in any real way makes an awake person blanch. Congenital liar was one of her labels, so such epithets cast wide and far in politics are nothing new.

 

Am I partisan?

Actually, no.

I’m just tired of all the PC BS.

My Midwest farming family was staunchly Democrat.

And people tend to vote how their parents did, until they come to Christ and know Truth in Him.

“So you’re saying being Christian means you’re a Republican?”

There is some truth in this, based on what the two party platforms stand for.

But this post is mostly speaking against mindless voting based on long-dead-and-gone-ancestors.

The dead have been taken off the rolls, don’t let their vote continue.

Can you hear?

Think.

 

The Democrat Party of my father’s time is not the Democrat Party of today.

God has been removed from the 2016 Party Platform. Oh, the phrase God-given-potential is stated three times, but isn’t that only window dressing? Isn’t it a way of using the name God without really meaning that you need God in your life or political party? The Democrat platform excludes God – He’s just not there. [2016 Republican Platform]

And this is a far cry from what the Founders said about Him.

Ultimately, this equates to the Democrat Party declaring itself godless and ungodly.

And, as Christians, we can forecast what happens when people attempt to remove God from life. [He laughs at such chutzpah.]

You get Romans 1:16-32 of the New Testament of the Bible. [Paul writes based on Christ’s revelation to him, being led by The Spirit of God.] Pastor John MacArthur even noted that the aforementioned passage defines the current planks of the Democrat Party Platform.

“In an ideal situation, their platform would mean that the government passes out condoms so people can fornicate at will. For those who happen to get pregnant in the process, the platform advocates that you kill the baby at the will of the mother, up and including the ninth month. At the same time, it advocates homosexual marriage, which is an oxymoron, an utter impossibility, and a gross violation of the law of God.”

These things written, in the above Romans 1 excerpt, are what people do when they reject God.

The Democrat Party has rejected God.

Add killing babies (look at a sonogram) to the Romans verses as MacArthur described, and you get the godless idea. [And why not rather approach this with both the mother’s and the baby’s interests at heart, like God does? He loves the life He made. He loves babies.]

 

The Democrat Party decided to replace God with themselves, and define their own standard-less standards, apart from Him. [The only criterion for policies should be to promote and protect life.]

And when people decide to do this, they’re never content to ruin their lives alone.

They want to drag you down too.

You may wish such people would just go away, but they won’t until they’ve overturned every standard of life to make it upside down and absurd.

Truth becomes lies.

Things that are bad for you are now good for you and are to be promoted widely.

If you die from such things, that’s unfortunate.

 

When it comes to the President, Trump’s no Messiah, no perfect person, not even a person to emulate.

But I don’t expect any President to be a Messiah.

The only people looking for a messianic president are those who don’t know God.

Everyone is seeking a Deliverer, a Champion.

But the only One Who is trustworthy is Jesus Christ.

Trump is no Jesus.

But neither are you or I.

We each look into His mirror and see what and who we are.

The picture is not pretty.

We need The Savior.

 

People, no matter how far away from God, are actually looking for Him, but don’t know it.

Only Christ is The Answer to their lives’ meaning and the love they’re so desperately seeking.

 

Okay, so what about Trump?

Have to speculate, for only God ultimately knows.

In the Republican Primary, Trump knew he had no chance to win and become the Republican nominee.

So he swung for the fence, saying what he thought, what he wanted to.

What did it matter?

Call it like he saw it, for he wasn’t going to win anyway.

He called BS where he saw it.

Nobody owned him, so he could do it.

Straight talk.

Sometimes crude.

Much of it outrageous.

My goodness.

He won the primary.

Amazing … act of God. [If you know your Bible, you’ll recognize that God commonly uses the ungodly to discipline His people.]

 

Now that he’s the nominee, what does he do?

Can Trump change his stripes?

Not a chance.

It’s rigged, so continue to say what he wants.

Talk to the problems as he saw them.

Both parties over the years have sold out America, both having political middles that were essentially indistinguishable.

Bankrupt America – and we are bankrupt physically (you don’t even want to know the trillions – we’ll never get out of debt), morally, and spiritually.

And both sides of the aisle are amazingly lacking statesmen, as were prevalent in days gone by before God was kicked out of the culture by The Left.

 

Trump is a get things done President.

If you don’t want anything to get done, you’ll hate him.

If you don’t like what he says, you’ll hate him.

If you’re on the other side of the political divide, you’ll hate him.

If you believe he’s guilty of collusion or of obstruction of justice or of … or of … or of anything you want to hate him for, you’ll hate him.

You’re a hater, a BMC-er.

 

Hate him because he’s rich.

The rich have opportunities that I will never have ….

What would I have done, if I’d had his opportunities?

Probably more bad things than he’s ever accused of.

Am I envious of him?

Am I jealous of him?

Maybe those are some of the reasons he’s hated.

He has.

I don’t.

 

He tweets to get a hearing.

The main stream media (MSM) won’t cover his accomplishments or his point of view, so he bypasses them.

Yeah, I know, sometimes I wince too, but he makes people take notice of his point.

His information gets out.

You read it.

 

Politicians generally sound good, but is there substance in their words?

This was one of Trump’s criticisms of Hillary in the debates.

To paraphrase, “She talks a lot, but what has she done?”

Nothing that promoted and protected life.

 

So in closing, remember Jesus’ parable:

“(28) But what do you think? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. (29) He answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented, and went. (30) And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and did not go. (31) Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to him, The first.” Matthew 21:28-31a

President Trump is like the son who first rejected, but then did what was asked/needed.

It’s not the talkers who should get our attention – it’s the doers.

You’ll know them by their fruit.

You’ll know them by what they do.

“(15) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (16) You shall know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (17) Even so every good tree produces good fruit, but a corrupt tree produces evil fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (20) Therefore you shall know them by their fruits” Matthew 7:15-20

 

So, if you’re:

looking for a Messiah in a President, you’ll never find one.

looking for a statesman to be President? You cannot find one.

looking for someone to keep a deadlocked status quo in effect between both moderate Democrats and Republican RINOs? You can always find them, but they never solve real problems.

looking for someone who isn’t owned and knows how to do real work and get jobs done?

looking for someone who can expose unelected bureaucrats who are pulling the country’s and your strings. [Yes, they want you blind to being their puppet.]

Then you have Trump.

Want to get something done yourself?

Then the principle is work with someone who knows how to get results.

Doers are going to work with Trump.

Talkers, posers, the jealous, the envying, the Judases, the BMC-ers, and 5th columnists never will.

 

See Also:
200 Christian Organizations Slam Christianity Today 
Nearly 200 Christian Leaders Condemned Christianity Today Editorial on Trump
Evangelical leaders condemn Christianity Today‘s anti-Trump editorial
Jim Daly explains why Christianity Today is wrong

 

---

This is the nonsense, Christianity Today article, in case the above link didn’t work:

“Trump Should Be Removed from Office

It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.

In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.

The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.

That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.

Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.

This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:

The President’s failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all, social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters, clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.

And this:

Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.

Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today.”

 

 

 

CRUCIFY HIM!!!!

 

I know it’s Christmas time, but something has come up and it should be addressed, for it’s prevalent in our culture.

A male runner in some city race smacked the behind of a lady television reporter as he ran past.

And with that race number identifying him, it was easy to determine who this miscreant was.

Oops, he was a youth pastor ….

 

CRUCIFY HIM, rang out the call far and wide.

CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!!!

 

And this condemnation was not just from the #MeToo movement … <breathlessly> “He spanked me too!”

Legal eagles declared with fingers outstretched <and in a downward direction towards hell> “This is sexual assault, … THIS IS A SEX CRIME!”

 

No, this is most likely, purely stupid is as stupid does.

 

Why? Because Everybody Plays the Fool Sometime.

Really?

Yup ….

Remember Ray Comfort’s and Kirk Cameron’s, So you think you’re good? Have you ever looked on a woman to lust after her? Gulp…. Adulterer! You’ve already committed adultery in your heart. You didn’t even need to do the physical act of smacking her behind….

“We caught you in the act of adultery, IN THE VERY ACT (the thought crime is just as guilty as acting on it), and The Law says that adulteresses should be stoned. What do you say, Jesus?”

Oh, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone….”

And everybody leaves, starting with the oldest (who should know better) to the youngest (who may not).

For, as we all should know, if we’re going to demand an eye for an eye, then we all will end up blind.

 

And, it’s not just make him loose his job.

No, that’s not enough.

So what is?

Make him a sex offender?

Did he sexual assault, rape, murder, sex traffick her?

 

Let’s make him unemployable so he becomes a homeless, family-less castaway.

Enough?

No, let’s castrate him, flay him, crucify him, run him through the proverbial movie wood chipper for the bad guy, desicate the remains, then pulverize them to the atomic level, then put into a canister to launch into space where they’ll be put into orbit, so that when they finally fall to the earth, they’ll burn up in the atmosphere, and the earth will never again have any record that he ever lived….

Enough, now?

No, at some point he should have been stabbed and shot too….

 

Well, that idiot, stupid fool is you and me.

 

Will we just let Jesus have His way with us to live?

Or must we have the most horrid death sentences imposed on each one of us?

You and I certainly deserve death for our sins.

But Jesus essentially says, “Please accept My death for you, so you don’t have to have your deserved eternal punishment.”

His Way is better.

No?

 

Becoming a Man

 

If I could teach a boy how to be a man, I would teach him that he is to become the head of a family. He will grow up to be a man who seeks a wife who together will become a family. If they are blessed with children, they are to raise them to love God and honor their parents. The most important thing for our Father God is relationship – He wanted family and has a Son Jesus Christ. Love is the way of life in this family. Our Father has so much love that He wanted more children who would know His love. Those children are we who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives – we will prove His goodness to us.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

 

The goal of all instruction is to teach someone how to be led by the Lord Himself. Each person can rest upon and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ Who has been made the life of the believer. Instructing a boy means first that the parents demonstrate God’s love through their lives and His Word so that he may accept Christ too. After this, all instruction is to teach him how to rest upon the Lord’s abilities – the Lord’s faith, love, peace, self-control – all of the Spirit’s gifts. For the Lord alone possesses these, but He intends us to share them with Him and to be led by Him. For any man or woman, being led by the Spirit is the only way to live safely and well. By doing this we avoid the foolish troubles found by following men or by leading our own lives. Trust our Father God – He’s the One Who loved us enough to send His Son, Who loved us enough to die for us and save us from our sins. He also loves us enough to lead us by His Spirit.

Parents will do anything to protect their son and teach him God’s ways so that his life will be blessed. He should be taught to be thankful for them and to pray for them. Whenever the son is away from his parents, he should pray for their safe return as they do for their coming back together with him. Christ is the life of Christian parents. The wife shares her life with her husband and the husband shares his life with his wife. After this and because of this comes the life of the boy to his parents. It is not a lesser life – he is an extension of their lives and their love. God, husband and wife, children – always in that order.

A boy should be loved. A boy should be liked. A boy should be made to feel wanted and accepted. A boy should be shown how incredibly delightful he is to his parents. A boy should be shown how utterly important he is to them. Never yell at a boy. Never tell anyone, but especially a boy that he’s stupid. Never let him feel that he’s useless. Never drive him away by your actions – some day he may never return. Make him feel that your own life depends on him – it does. Laugh with him and play with him. Hug him, kiss him, and express your affection for him. Never let him be able to say when he is grown that he was unwanted or unloved. Whenever you send him on an errand, tell him what a good job he did when he returns. Tell him what he did was important. If he doesn’t do something right, then gently show him the right way so that he knows it’s okay to ask for help or to seek further instruction. When he now correctly finishes his task, tell him he did well. Let him know you’re proud of him. If you make a mistake and find that you were unfair to your son, apologize to him. He’ll learn that we all make mistakes and being a man means that we own up to our mistakes and seek forgiveness. He must learn that what other people feel is important. Don’t be afraid to cry in front of your son. Let your tears flow from your love of God, your love for your wife, and from your love and pride in your son.

Teach a boy to be observant and write important things down. Give him his own little notebook for his treasured thoughts. Things like what his mom likes – kinds of foods and what gifts mean the most to her. Write down what’s important to her. Tell your son to listen to her and what she says, and when your son recognizes something important to write it down. Tell him to learn to be attentive to his mother and pay attention to doing things that please her. By so doing he will not only love his mother, he will also learn how to be a good husband.

Like his father, a boy should become strong to protect his family. A boy should become strong to stand-up for himself. A boy should become strong to protect the weak. The Lord says, “Oh stop them who are being led away to slaughter.” Our consciences will never allow us to turn blind eyes to injustice – we must be prepared to defend others. We must learn to think ahead and be prepared for trouble. If there is great danger, do not risk your life needlessly – seek the Lord’s face to know what you should do. Have a plan for emergencies and follow through with your plan.

Make your son believe in heroes. He needs to watch movies where there is a hero, a good man who stands up to trouble and thinks clearly. Let him know that the greatest thing a man can do is to lay down his life for his family and friends – this shows the love of the greatest hero Jesus. Don’t let him fill his head with things that promote futility, vanity, or death. Our life with God has purpose and that purpose is built on faith, hope, and love. And we remember that the greatest of these is love.

 

 

 

He Will Tell Me What To Do, Where To Go, What To Say

 

 

Love this old song.

 

 

“I must wait wait wait on the Lord
I must wait wait wait on the Lord
And learn my lessons well
In His timing He will tell me
What to do where to go and what to say”

 

Why do I like this song?

Because it’s true.

 

But most of us don’t know what He wants us to do, where to go, or what to say.

Most of us don’t know His will, yet knowing and doing His will is a requirement for us to enter heaven.

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, only he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

“But He can’t mean it.”

He does.

 

So if you don’t know His will, do you know Him or just facts about Him, to which you agree?

Being a Christian Jeopardy wiz doesn’t open Jesus, The Door, to you.

Instead He will say the following two verses to the one above.

“(22) Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name? And in Your Name cast out devils? And in Your Name done many wonderful miracles? (23) And then I will profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you who work iniquity.” Matthew 7:22-23

Whatever they were doing, they did not know Him, nor were doing His will.

No heaven for them.

 

If He’s not a real Person to you, person, made in His image, then that’s an abyss of a problem.

If you know somebody well, you know what they’re like, what they like or want (their will). If they’re someone you serve [and we’re all His servants], then you are to do what The Master says.

“And why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46

 

For most, we’ve been falsely taught, through either ignorance or unbelief, to fragment The indivisible God.

You’ve always been taught you have The Holy Spirit in you.

True.

But there’s much more.

The new creation, that He made you share, consists of the fullness of The Godhead – all Three Persons, The Father, Jesus Christ The Son, The Holy Spirit, in and with your spirit.

You have no disconnect so as to think of The Father and The Son being somewhere else in a far and distant heaven, practically irrelevant to you.

No.

They loved you through a cross to get to you.

What foolishness to believe that having gained the ones They desperately loved, that The Father and Son would then withdraw again to heaven.

“… He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5b

God is one with you in the new creation for you to share together, so you can know Them, know Their will, and know what They want you to say, where to go, and what to do.

 

See Also:
The Best Godly Advice You’ll Ever Get
Manifest Him
The Godhead in You
eBook: The Cross Divider