Moving On: My Final Blog

Well, 2015 is drawing to a close. I always take time to review all my activities the past year beginning in December. I take a look at everything I am doing in regards to promoting Christ and the Gospel. God gives me time; time that I have to use wisely. How I invest it is what I focus on.

I started writing messages of encouragement while working at a factory in Dublin in 1999. God not only inspired the messages but opened up avenues to share them. I had been contacted by publishers at one point to consider combining them into a book. I never felt peace about doing that although I prayed that this may lead to a bigger audience. God never "told" me to pursue it. "You better copyright your work" one of them told me or someone else will take them and use them. Imagine that, I told him. Imagine God using others to spread His word! I don't care about credit and it is obvious I don't care about profits. I just enjoyed "hearing" God and watching the words appear on the screen, just as I am doing right now.

This brings me to a conclusion; one that I have prayed about and have peace about. I have started writing little encouraging notes on our church facebook page. Time constraints allow me to do this consistently, for the most part, although there are days I don't have the time at a particular moment to write them. Therefore I will not be posting blogs here any longer. I am thankful for this platform which was provided free of charge, another gift of God, to share His word. I am thankful to all of you, regardless of how few or many, that have or do read these messages. I pray that you have gleaned something from them that has helped you see how much God loves you and how He uses people like me and you to reach out to others with His message of forgiveness and acceptance. I will leave this blogger up as long as Google allows it to remain. For those of you that have me in  your circles you can find me on our church Facebook Page and on our Church Website

Time and tide wait for no man someone has said. As I plot along through this life, running toward the finish line as the Apostle Paul says it, I will always keep spreading the Gospel for my Lord Jesus in all the ways and means He provides. My children are grown and they were the subjects of many of my messages in the early years. They have "taught" many people over the years with their antics and sayings showing up in my writings. I find it amusing that I even shed a tear now as I close this message and move on to others. Many times when I wrote them, (and write them), I read them over and over and tear up a lot. I thank God that He inspires me to write. I know my writings are not "sacred" but there is no way my little mind could have ever come up with material to touch people's hearts the way many of the messages have. I have countless stories of people who have told me  how they have shared them in devotional meetings, church bulletins, Sunday school classes, between family members, and forwarded them around the world actually. My most memorable one is when I was invited to speak at a  little Methodist church not far from where I live. When I showed up I saw a lady sitting at the piano named Miss Zarfoss. She was a Saint of God. She along with Miss Hess, were known as the Bible Teachers. They would go from school to school back in the sixties, from classroom to classroom, teaching and singing about Jesus. They would be at Vacation Bible School in about every church in the area teaching and singing about Jesus. It is no doubt in my mind today, that their work and ministry directly impacted my coming to Christ and Him using me today. When I met her and introduced myself and told her who I was and how that she and Miss Hess had taught me for years in the Ivanhoe Elementary School, that I was so honored to see her again. She then opened her purse and pulled out a church bulletin and pointed to the message on the back. "Is this you?" She asked. "Did you write this?" I was humbled beyond measure. "I have carried this for a long time hoping that I would meet this guy" she said. She then laughed like she always did. We hugged for a long time. She is with Jesus today along with Miss Hess.

Lord; thank You for all the people You have brought into my life over the years and for all the people You have lined up for me to meet. I give You the Glory for all the messages, You know that; but I say this for all those who may think that I am something, God forbid. Jesus; Thank You. Amen.












 

Acts of Terror

Another attack on innocent people by a handful of haters. Acts of terrorism are the result of an inward rage directed outward upon the rest of humanity. They are miserable people who want others to suffer as much as they do. Many are deceived into believing that they will receive an eternal reward for killing those who do not agree with their doctrines. Jesus said in the last days there would be those who will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. The world is a violent place and will continue to be until the Prince of Peace Himself, Jesus Christ, comes back for the final time to eradicate sin; the root of all hate. Satan hates God and all of us because we are made in His image. Satan would like nothing more than to wipe out every human being in order to get rid of Gods image. Even the ones who commit the horrible acts are made in the image of God but Satan has turned them against themselves to the point that they commit suicide in order to get rid of the hate and rage that plagues their hearts. He convinces them that they will have an eternal reward if they kill the rest of us.

What do we do? How do we guard against it? We cannot. We cannot see what is in the heart of another. There are no scanners that can pick up on deranged minds that have been altered by a seared conscious stemming from a heart full of hate possessed by Satan. The only heart we can really know is our own. Jesus said that murder starts in the heart. The heart being of course the inner man. The only way to prevent such acts of terror is to change the hearts of those in whom it exists. No military on earth can do that. You and I have only one option to protect ourselves from these haters; Jesus. As His child I am safe and secure in this unsafe and insecure world. Jesus says do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Spiritual death should frighten us more than physical death. This body I inhabit will one day be changed anyway. It will either decay in the grave or be changed at the rapture of the church. A terrorist bomb or bullet cannot kill me, just this body. I do not know about you but that gives me comfort when I sit in restaurants, theaters, or church. Jesus is able to keep me from the terror of death because He overcame it. The Bible teaches that we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

For the families left behind in Paris my prayer for them is that they will take measures to protect themselves from terrorists; by being born again into Christ. I also pray that the Holy Spirit will comfort their grieving hearts. For the rest of you, put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.







 

Lost Art of Conversation

The information age, the age of technology, the digitized culture and the cyber culture communities of our day have left many people, like me, in the wake of this big ship that sails on the sea of the global society. There are so many ways to electronically communicate today that we are inching closer and closer to not even having to speak to one another at all.  I will admit that it has certainly helped us communicate quicker and over longer distances almost immediately. Just like this simple blog here. When I was in elementary school you had to get a newspaper or a magazine in order to read stuff people had to say about everything. “Communication is the problem to the answer” wrote the British Band 10CC in their song “The Things We Do  For Love” which was released in 1976. How true that line is for us today with the exception of what we do for love, but rather, the things we do to keep from talking to people. Social skills that were taught in the first grade have gone the way of the eight track tape player. Conversational skills such as listening and cadence of speech do not apply to tweets. If you can read you can communicate. Push a few keys, insert some funny faces, a few consonants and vowels in upper case and boom . . . you have sent a message. Facebook has replaced the grapevine. Gossip used to be juicy because it had time to get ripe. You didn’t know it the moment it happened. Now not only do you know at the very moment when someone falls off their commode or their wagon, you can have a video of it; within seconds it spreads to hundreds. The dirty laundry bin for families or friends has now been hung out to dry in cyberspace. Is it any wonder people do not like to talk anymore? They have no need to. People used to gather on front porches or at country stores and even at church, to fellowship and talk with each other. Local post office lobbies were the chat rooms. Now, and I’m guilty as well, we text someone in the next room to keep from having to holler for them or actually walk up the steps from the basement to tell them something.

Say what you will and think what you want but conversation face to face is becoming a lost art. I guess that is why people don’t come to church like they used to. They don’t have to face the preachers when they preach the Word. They can read it online, like in a blog, and read the parts they like. They don’t have to hear what they don’t want to hear. It may offend them or depress them. There is one good thing about not communicating face to face; it teaches us how prayer works!

Who Can Voice Their Opinion?

If you read my blogs you will know that I generally stay out of the nations politics however with the recent opinion stated by Ben Carson one of the candidates in the race for President, I am saddened by the media's attempt to dismiss him because the man simply voiced his own opinion in regards to a Muslim president. Since when do we not have the right to say anything negative about the Islamic faith? Are we so afraid of offending them that we are just to keep our mouths shut and our opinions to ourselves? If Ben does not want a Muslim president that is his business. When a society tells people what opinions they can have and if it differs from that of others it cannot be stated, then friends we are no longer in the America our forefathers established. The Christian's in this nation are the ones being abused in every area of national opinion we have and I might add, with no repercussions for those opinions being voiced. The LGBT movement in general calls those of us in Christian denominations that do not agree with them that homosexuality is not a sin; haters. Why don't they call the Muslim's haters? They actually kill folk for being gay. Could it be because they fear them? Has the radical Islamic community put a fear of Muhammad in them? Now a Christian man voices his personal opinion in regards to whom he would want as his president and the press and the liberals are ready to run him out of the race because he does not agree with them.

I don't know everyone who reads my messages here. Some I know that are Christians that read them and you know exactly what we are facing down the road here in this country. If you are reading these and not a Christian let me encourage you to become one as soon as possible! Someone told me that we need a Christian President because we are a Christian nation. I reminded him that this nation has passed laws against murder unless someone does it to a helpless, speechless, infant. That this nation has passed laws saying it makes no difference who you marry now as long as you "love" them. I don't know what he was basing his opinion on but it was certainly not facts given to us in the Bible that constitutes a Christian Nation. America is no longer a Christian nation; we have millions of Christians living in America but we are not running the country! God punished Israel, His own chosen nation because of the disobedience of His laws given them by the majority of the people. He did not spare them just because He chose them. He will not spare America for turning from Him either. Jesus said, "I know My sheep and they know My voice." His sheep will be spared but the nation as a whole will not be. I think that is why the press and the general population don't want to hear our message, just like they don't want to say anything against the Muslims; they fear judgment. The only difference is, they fear Muhammad more than Jesus. God help them.







 

Cold Blooded Killers

Cold blooded killers are on the rise it seems. The killing of the two reporters in Roanoke this past week along with the deputy in Houston has rocked the country. It leaves us wondering what to expect next. These events affect the way we think about society in general and our decisions on who we can trust and where we go. Before this week news reporters that were not in war zones never feared that they would be killed doing a live interview. Police officers who pump gas into their cars now keep a constant lookout. We as citizens are paying closer attention now to our surroundings and we begin to study the people in stores and restaurants. What are we to do? How do we keep from being a target? Everyone is searching for answers. Experts try to analyze what was going on in the minds of those who carried out these acts by evidence recovered after the fact. When we learned of the anger of the man that killed the reporters and then himself, we try to find out what was the final straw that "pushed him over the edge." Allison, Adam, and Deputy Goforth were innocent prey for vicious predators filled with satanic rage and needing to get rid of it.

You may not want to "hear" what I have to say about such actions and you may not want to believe what the root causes are but the Bible is clear on the "whys" of such behavior. We need only to look at the beginnings of the human race to see why we have turned into creatures that are capable of such acts. A perfect man and a perfect woman were created by a perfect God and they lived in a perfect world. That in itself sounds like a fairytale but it is not, it was the humble beginning of "us." Now enter the enemy; the devil. Convincing the woman she could know what God knows he was able to talk her into doing what God had told her, through Adam, not to do. She then talked Adam into doing what he had told her not to do and what God told him not to do. Death was given birth that day. Years later, when they thought God was not going to kill them, death took its toll on their second son. Abel was the first innocent murder victim of the human race. People have been killing people ever since. When sin entered the world, death through sin entered also. Each one of us has the DNA to become a Cain. We think the Cain's of the world differ from us. They don't. The devil is still seeking out Adam's and Eve's and Cain's. He is still convincing people to do what they think they need to do and not what they should or should not do. The innocent who die at the hands of satanic influenced people join a long list of people who have died the same way since Eden. The only "protection" we have is found in Christ. Protection for the Abel's and the Cain's alike is found in Christ. We ask God to guard our hearts and minds and if we allow Him to, He will. We also ask Him to guard us from the Cain's in the world and He has: by sending Jesus to die for our sins so that if sin kills us by way of a Cain we can enter eternal life in heaven by way of Jesus. Just as death came to all men by the disobedience of one man, eternal life has come to all men by the obedience of One man; the man Jesus Christ. Does Jesus live in your heart right now? I hope He does, there are plenty more Cain's out there.

Their Sins Have Found Them Out.

Planned Parenthood, (what a stupid name for this baby killing outfit anyway), and Ashley Madison, the cheaters website set up for people to arrange secret affairs, have both been found out recently. Nothing is ever hidden from God and there is nothing that will not be revealed sooner or later. Let this be a warning to those who think their sins are hidden. Now they need to repent and seek forgiveness. Can you really imagine them doing that? Do you really think that the Planned Parenthood folk will come forth in sackcloth and ashes and mourn the millions of babies they have assisted in executing for their own personal gain? Will the adulterers that hackers have uncovered under the blankets of Ashley Madison come forth seeking forgiveness and change from their evil practices? They could . . . . but will they? I think they will defend their decisions to do what they are doing; both outfits and the people involved in them. Somehow they will blame their actions on someone else. A woman who did not want a child or a man whose wife never pays him enough attention. Excuses will be made while explanations will be offered. Josh Duggar has confessed again to even more sins this past week and has finally admitted his years of his hypocritical lifestyle to cover up his sexual immorality. He is on the road to repentance if he will endure the chastening that God brings upon His children. Time will tell.

How long O Lord will you allow these things to continue one may ask. Moses told the Israelites that if they did not obey God;  "and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23b). We know that nothing is ever hidden from God. We can hide things from people and fool them into believing we are who we say we are but the proof is in the pudding. Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." I have come to believe that devil is fooling a lot of the people all of the time!

Our duty as Christians is not to rejoice in the wickedness of these groups that have been exposed but rather to pray for the souls that make up these organizations. Abortions sometimes happen naturally but when a person reaches into a womb and drags a little life out of it they are committing murder. When a spouse decides that they need more excitement in their life and sneak into an adulterous affair they are sinning against God, their own body, and their spouse. Pray. Pray, and keep praying.

Sin that is exposed can be confessed and forgiven. Jesus died for our sins, all of our sins, so His forgiveness is for them just as it for us.

Is God About to Give Up on Us?

Is God about to give up on the human race? You will more than likely answer in your mind with either “I am surprised He has let us go this far,” or perhaps, “No, He will never give up on us.” You may know this and you may not but God did give up on the human race and wiped all of them out except eight people. Noah and his family were counted as the only family on earth that cared about God and what He wanted. We can only speculate how many people were on earth at that time but it was over 1,600 years after Adam and Eve. The speculations from scholars say over 100 million.  Noah did the right thing in God’s eyes. His family did as well. His sons were married to one woman. Not several wives and not same sex marriages. It is evident from the Scriptures that creature worship was at the center of God’s wrath. Man worshipping man by caring more about sensual satisfaction than spiritual satisfaction. “God is Spirit and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth” Jesus told us. When humankind turned their attention to each other more than to Him, He put an end to them with a flood. Everything on earth died except the eight people who cared more about God than they did themselves or each other and the animals He chose to preserve. Jesus warned that those who love spouses, children, or parents more than they do God are in violation of His commandment to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul. He used the strong word “hate” to emphasize the difference between worshipping each other instead of Him, and it was worship He was talking about. He knows we love our kids and parents and spouses but we are not to love them so much we worship them. Mankind has become obsessed with themselves again. From cereal commercials with gay guys to car commercials with old ladies the media appeals to our sensuality in order to get our attention. Sensuality can replace spirituality in our lives as it did those Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans, Chapter 1. From the time Masters and Johnson started their human sexuality studies in the name of science in 1957 the obsession with sexuality and sensuality has replaced being obsessed with God. The porn industry thrives on sensuality and has spread its sensual tentacles into the deepest depths of society today by way of the internet. Sexual addiction is rampant among society as is all other drugs that appeal to the human senses. Spirituality is perverted as well with ignorant practices such as grave soaking or mantle grabbing. Society puts more emphasis today on the creature than it does the Creator; which is what got the pre-flood bunch wiped out. He will give up on man again but this time He will wipe them out with fire, and the earth itself will be wiped out this time, (2 Peter, Chapter 3). He physically saved the righteous in Noah’s day by way of an ark. He will spiritually save the righteous next time by way of faith in Jesus Christ (Romans, Chapter 5). As a tee shirt I saw recently that read, “Jesus is coming back. It is about to get real.”