Repenting....Sorry for What?

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I have been extremely busy that last few months (my garden has provided me with so much to do) and I have been woefully neglectful of this blog. Sorry!

But being sorry brings me to something I've been tossing around in my head today...when a person is convicted of sin and realizes God sees it all, and is "busted", is he or she (a) sorry for their sin or (b) sorry for being caught in their sin? The Investigative Discovery Channel  provides plenty of examples of true repentance vs. a pseudo-half-hearted variety of repentance to ward off the justice system giving them their due penalty for their sin....are we simply trying to defy the justice system? In other words... if a person, let's give her a name, Betty, if Betty comes under conviction of having become convinced that there really is a God, and He is not happy with Betty's sinful behaviour, and Betty wants to be saved from hell so she "repents" of her sins to gain God's favour, to get her "get out of hell free card"....but deep down she hasn't REALLY repented, she still thinks she isn't really THAT BAD (compared to ax murderers and pedophiles), she just wants to cover her bases and hedge her bet so she can avoid hell.... is  Betty truly saved?

The Bible says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7) so I personally think Betty might be saved even if she progresses no further spiritually in this life, because it does take the Spirit of God to  (James 2:19) reveal the truth of God to us....but I myself wouldn't be very comfortable at that point of the walk with the Lord because the word of God also states that even the devils believe and tremble...and devils are not saved, so it does require something besides simply believing.

I couldn't find the true way  to overcome the fact that I wanted to be saved for selfish reasons within myself, and not finding it in myself to be heartbroken over my sinful nature and my evil desires therefore I confessed to Jesus that I was unable to do it: to truly repent in a true manner that truly grieved over the sin that grieved God. In confessing the truth of that, and confessing my inability, I asked the Lord who in His mercy can supply us everything according to our needs (Matthew 7:7 & Luke 11:9). I would say that having a true and saving faith that leads one to true repentance is something that is VERY needful. (Mark 9:24)

I have seen so many who have made superficial confessions of faith, or confessions of guilt but only for the sake of getting something for nothing by appeasing "a god" with a half-hearted confession that isn't truly heartbroken about sin. If that is your situation, come to Jesus as a beggar knowing that nothing good can come from ourselves (James 1:17), that even true faith and true surrender comes from Him, and that He will richly provide those things to anyone who will ask Him, so ask Him!

In trying to locate a good image for this blog entry, I ran across this nice piece that explains what repentance is not:

http://ekklesiamuskogee.org/7-counterfeits-of-repentance/

Spotting a Counterfeit

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Do you know how to spot a counterfeit? I've heard it many times that the best way to spot a counterfeit is to be so familiar with the true that you don't have to know the various anomalies in the fakes to be able to recognize the forgery. I have also seen that as a teaching lesson for  knowing difference between the real Jesus amongst all the fakes from the cornucopia of false religions and false doctrines that seem to abound more and more these days. I know this....and yet I still tend to look for the errors instead of continuing to keep my eyes on the genuine. This came to an ugly head for me recently when I mentioned to DebbieLynne that I disagreed with a video link she had up. I did say that it was a minor point, but that in my estimation it decreased the impact of the message.

While out and about today, my husband and I discussed various ways we can get it wrong, and that we can point to errors and shortcomings and flaws every moment of every day and still never come to the point that we discover and disclose all the wrongs in this world. Is that what Jesus meant by saying that we must not hide our light but rather put it on a candlestick (Luke 11:33)? Should we go chasing down every error and every false teacher and point our fingers at them continually? Or will their falseness become apparent if we light up the darkness with the light of Christ? 

My husband wisely said the Bible warns us to avoid those who teach and do falsely. It really doesn't say we are to make a point of continually pointing out those who do not get it right, it just says we should simply avoid them. Yes there are verses where Paul mentions some persons by name to warn others of their evil and destructive ways, but to be honest I do not see the instruction in scripture that we are to make that our way of life in showing our obedience to Jesus.

Romans 16:17-19

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.   For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.   For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

If we truly continue following Jesus, only looking to Him, continuing in all humility and sincerity to seek His will in our lives, we won't have time to concern ourselves with pointing to the sins and follies of others...and by continually pointing out flaws, big and small, being busybodies in the affairs of others doings, we take time away from worshiping and honouring Him who deserves all our attention, and honour, and praise. Certainly there are times when we are to warn the unbeliever in his way as the Lord gives us the utterance to speak, but more often than not the way we live our lives should show the light of Jesus enough to convict others of sin, and the fountain whereby cleansing and healing is to be found by the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So let us continue in welldoing:

Romans 12:15-21 

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.  Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.   If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.   Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.   Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Who Are You Listening To?

Last month I posted (on Bible Treasures) a sermon by R.C. Sproul on the topic of King Ahab...and in that post I focused on the fact that the scriptures are so multifaceted and complex that we tend to think in either/or and see what seem to be discrepancies. But there is so much more in this sermon, he speaks of the fact that Ahab rejected the truth that God spoke through his prophets, and only listened to the false prophets that spoke what Ahab wanted to hear, tickling his ears with flattery and falseness. Then, at the end of God's patience with Ahab, he uses his false prophets to lie to Ahab in order to bring Ahab using his own lying prophets to bring him to the place where God ends Ahab's life. Interesting side point that I also mentioned in the Bible Treasures post is that Elijah had told Ahab that his blood would be licked up by dogs at the pool where Ahab had Naboth murdered. (1 King 21:19), so Ahab avoided going to that pool...he thought he could outsmart God in this. So when Ahab followed the advice of his lying prophets that told him he'd have a great victory in battle, but just in case Micaiah was correct, he decided to hedge his bet and disguise himself so the enemy army wouldn't recognize him and kill him...but a stray  arrow strikes him, kills him.
Today, again, people would rather hear only what is pleasing to their own understanding rather than listening to the word of God. Judgment is at the doorstep. How much longer will God patiently endure the evil that people are flinging in His face?

If you haven't listened to this great sermon, please take the time, and if you already have heard it, it is worth a second hearing.

A Former Messianic Jew Says....

This is very sad for me, and again it reveals a part of the falling away that is going on today, that falling away that Jesus did tell us would happen. This Jewish man says he was converted to Christianity, with Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism. I have heard that many of these congregations are very (as Mr. Levey says in the video) cultlike, so again of course the devil can use such things to say "this is what Christianity is, it is a cult"...and this young man now preaches to Jews to warn them about people that evangelize to Jews.

 Indeed, the devil DOES NOT want Jews to truly be born of His Spirit. Satan doesn't want anyone to come to Christ especially the Jews for whom satan has a special and particular hatred and finds all kinds of ways to lead people astray, as he did with this young man, and of course that hatred then gets blameshifted to be hatred that comes from the God of the New Testament and from Jesus. Sigh. It is satan that has sent people to hell, satan is the one that made the need for one a reality. Yes God created satan, yes satan became evil and God knew that would happen...but just as you and I can predict certain things with great accuracy, and perhaps even cause things to be put things into motion that turn out to lead to tragic events does not thereby mean that we made it to be so with that as our sole purpose in mind....even so, God knew that would happen therefore He also created the antidote, the one that is being mocked and jeered about in this video, and lots of other blogs and places as well...


At about the 12:30 mark he mentioned his mother's disappointment with his becoming a Christian: "had I become a Buddhist or an atheist it wouldn't have been as bad..." and there it is, it is better to believe in a fake God or no God at all than to believe in Jesus...and the devil couldn't be behind such a thing because there is no such thing as a devil...or so the devil says....


  Being born again is not just "an experience"... if God did it, it is a reality that doesn't go away.

Conversion

I will get to the topic of Total Depravity, I promise! For now I shall touch on something that leads up to that.

Today's topic continually comes up and it ties together all "tulip" points. That topic is CONVERSION. Jesus said "You must be born again". We cannot do the works that the Lord desires from us unless His Spirit resides in us to be able to do so. Any other "works" no matter how holy seeming, are all for nothing. Sure the Lord can use them if He desires, but for that person's salvation it adds or subtracts nothing...it is what the Lord does, has done, and will do that matters. There are lots of scripture verses that substantiate that; I'll leave it for another time. However it would behoove us to look up study those verses, to do the digging.

It (the topic of conversion) goes back to the "U", "L" and the "I" of the 5 points. http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm however there is something that we can find from delving deeper into the reformers writings that we do not get from a superficial study of the 5 points....the drawing of the Lord (irresistible grace) includes a determined seeking (which of course also comes from the Lord, because we cannot do anything good unless it is from the Lord to do it). His word goes out, those who act on it and receive it do so because the Lord has activated this call in those He calls, causing them to seek Him and not stop in that seeking until He allows us to find Him.

"But (you may ask) aren't there many who seek and yet never find Him?" Only the Lord knows who it is that TRULY seek Him. The proof (for us) is in the pudding, as the saying goes, because those who sincerely seek Him will do so until they find Him. Those who give up or turn away, were never sincere, no matter how much they argue to the contrary. How do I know? It is because of the fact that they stopped and they turned away, that is the proof given to us in scripture (gospel of John ch 6 and 1 John ch 2) and since the Bible says so, I believe God before I believe those who protest their own innocence in the matter.

Isaiah 55:6-7  

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, 

call ye upon him while he is near:  

Let the wicked forsake his way, 

and the unrighteous man his thoughts: 

and let him return unto the LORD, 

and he will have mercy upon him; 

and to our God, 

 for He will abundantly pardon.(KJV)

Luke 11:9-10

  And I say unto you, 

Ask, and it shall be given you;

 seek, and ye shall find;

 knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

   For every one that asketh receiveth;

 and he that seeketh findeth;

 and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.(KJV)

In these the Arminian or semi-pelagian will flatter himself with the notion that it is his own seeking and perseverance that forces God's hand to move. Nothing of the sort. He is not moved by our manipulation. It is His choice that He answers, His goodness that moves Him, His promise that He honors to answer us, and not our pleadings (which may or may not be sincere).

Then there are those that say: "But God DOESN'T always answer, in fact, more often than not, He does not answer when suffering people cry unto Him" and I would argue that He always does, but not according to our fleshy notions of what an answer is supposed to look like. Jesus had plenty to say about the foolish generation that seeks after a sign, and yet He supplied the sign needed, the sign that meant exactly what He meant about moving mountains and spiritual blessings, the sign which was rejected...but that would be another topic for another time.

There is a passage in the book of Esther...the Jewish people are about to be annihilated because evil Haman wants all Jews murdered. Esther asks Mordecai to tell the people to fast and pray for 3 days. After the 3 days she approaches the king to bring him her request. If he leans his scepter towards her it means he honors her presence, if he doesn't she would face execution. That is the same situation we face if we stand before an almighty and holy God, He has the right to kill us on the spot and we would be powerless to say anything in our own defense. It is God's grace (and often prayers of others who are faithful in Christ) who make way for the Lord to receive us unto Himself. When we see Him we will know it is all because of Him, not anything we did, not our choice, that saved us.

 

Likewise, those that are left outside, eternally without God, seething, ever hateful, ever shaking their fist at God, will know that their choices brought them nothing, and will forever hate the Lord for not choosing them saying that He denied them their rights. We do not have the "rights" that we demand of God. We are beggars before our sovereign. Like Esther, we come before God knowing HE has THE RIGHT to kill us for our imperfections, our inner hidden sins, our pride that we would consider ourselves to be equal or higher than Him. Yet these will go on seething with this idea of their rights having been denied them, and will do so for all eternity, gnashing their teeth, weeping that they didn't get what they feel they deserve.

However, this little blog article won't convince anyone that believes in "their rights" being denied by God. It won't convince those who see the Bible by the "light" of their own darkened understanding....those who have determined (for themselves and do their best to try to convince others) that the Bible doesn't make sense, or contradicts itself...

 

 2Peter 3:16  

As also in all his (Paul's) epistles,

 speaking in them of these things;

 in which are some things hard to be understood, 

which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest (torture, pervert),

 as they do also the other scriptures, 

unto their own destruction. (KJV)

 

I won't convince anyone, but I do hope the Holy Spirit will convict some, and bring them to true repentance in true humility before Him.

 

Examine Yourselves

2Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (KJV)


Yesterday I was notified of a cousin's passing, he passed away while at church, and I pray that his heart truly was converted and that he is with Jesus.

Yesterday was a day for much thought and prayer and self-examination while thinking about my cousin (who was a little younger than I) and his now widowed wife.

This had me reflect again on my acquaintance who I gave the name "Isabel" in "A True Story" (tabbed above). Isabel came to a point in her walk with Christ where she, like the people in the gospel of John chapter 6, realized upon self examination that her heart truly wasn't transformed by the Lord, and was still a reprobate, and instead of asking from the Lord without ceasing until her request became a reality of a true conversion, gave up on God, thereby giving up on herself and her own eternity with God.

I also came to such a point of a personal meltdown, a time of truth, when I had to confess that I was a reprobate because I did not truly have Jesus in my heart, soul and mind, and that I was the source of my own strength instead of truly relying on the strength, goodness and power of the Lord. I begged God for His mercy in the light of this truth, this understanding, and I would not let go of asking for the miracle of a true conversion. I asked with the centurion that begged Jesus: "Lord I believe! Help Thou my unbelief!!!" and then trusted that He would help my unbelief, and each time my unbelief would rear it's ugly head He would remind me that His faithfulness was greater than my unfaithfulness, and to trust Him.

This world is full of trouble and evil on every side, and our lives are but a tiny candle in a wind tunnel, only flickering for a short time until it is snuffed out, and by God's grace remains lit for the time that it is. Let us use the time wisely, to seek Him while there is yet time, and not follow the sick world in it's debaucheries and insanities.

Hold fast to what is true, Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life. Ask, seek, and knock, and do not give up and give in to the weakness of thinking self is all you need because you err in thinking that God is too far from you...He is very near, even at the door, continue to persevere and He will give you the strength to go on persevering. Do not be cut off from Him, from Him flows life, and truth, and endurance to be with Him and of Him, continue in well doing by His might, not your own strength. Our own strength is very weak indeed, and in the end (even if we think we are being loving of others and selfless, we lie to ourselves if it isn't God doing it in us) the only true love can come from God through us to others. If we love others by our own strength there is always an ulterior motive, some selfish need being fulfilled, to seem virtuous to others and to try to gain their honor and respect for ourselves. Would we still love them if they spat in our faces the way Jesus continued to love and forgive those who despised and hated Him? We cannot, unless it is He loving others through us and forgiving others through our forgiveness of others,  as He also has forgiven us.

Trust Jesus instead of honoring yourselves,
                                                                    for without Him we are nothing.

2Peter 2:17-18
These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with a tempest;
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness,
those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
(KJV)

Eternity
in blackness 

of self-reflection without Jesus 

is a long, long time...

When a "Believer" Stops Believing

I enjoy listening to John MacArthur and Phil Johnson. I do not always agree with every word, I do agree with most of what they share and approve of the fact that they back up what they say with where to find what they are talking about in the Bible so one can read these things in the proper context and thereby form one's own opinions on the things discussed.

This morning I found an audio broadcast on the topic of apostasy given by both Pastor Johnson and Pastor MacArthur in an interview style, Pastor MacArthur being the interviewee with Pastor Johnson asking the questions.

The topic of the falling away or apostasy was a topic that I viewed with slight interest in an academic sort of way. I was aware that people that said they believed in Jesus were (and are currently) falling away from their faith, but in my immediate circles people either believed in Jesus or they didn't. They either do or they don't...and it made it easy to feel that I had a handle on it...the falling away is something that happened "out there" somewhere and had nothing to do with me or anyone I was directly involved with. When it did involve someone that I knew directly (through the internet community that is), the apostasy became more relevant to me. It no longer hovered "out there" far away from me, a topic for research and detached discussions which involved statistics and involved knowing the Bible verses that spoke on the topic. It used to be safe.

When it finally did touch someone that I knew, someone who I discussed Jesus with as a fellow believer, someone I trusted and enjoyed fellowship with, it involved me in such a way that it immersed me into the problem. It was no longer just about knowing the Bible verses and the statistics and the reality of it "out there somewhere". It involved me and now it had a face and a person that I knew, or thought I knew.

Pastor Johnson and Pastor MacArthur explore this phenomenon in light of people they were acquainted with and explore the questions that I had, discuss the same scriptures that I sought out regarding this issue, and came to the same conclusions about this as I had come to see. I tell about it in "A True Story" in the tabbed page next to my testimony at the top of my blog. Their discussion again reiterates the fact that Jesus knows what is going on with these persons more than we know, and more than those persons (like Judas) know about themselves. Their discussion digs a little deeper, giving their own insights from their having handled the scriptures faithfully for many many years. They discuss the difference between the person who struggles with moments of doubt and the person who rejects Jesus and the Bible...and if there is any hope for the person that rejects Jesus while having a full understanding of what and Who he/she is rejecting.

It is a discussion that is important and needed for this time...many changes are taking place these days, we need to be awake, aware and in prayer, and we need to know what it is we need to be in prayer about. Please take the time to listen, and if you wish to comment on this, know that I would love to know your thoughts regarding the topic at hand, however be mindful of the commenting guidelines. Thank you.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111510129269

Beth Moore

DebbieLynne has a couple of posts touching on this false teacher.



I had to take many breaks through this because I cannot take much of Beth Moore at a time. She is one dingy woman for certain. I think many love her because she comes across as a dingy blonde. Who can fault her for not getting all of her facts straight. She's just a blonde after all, right? It seems like that is how she tries to excuse her lack of Biblical accuracy. She is one of those who make Christians a laughing stock amongst unbelievers (atheists, yes I lump everyone who is not a Christian as an atheist, because either you are with Him or against Him). I don't know if she is a Christian or not. Just because she (or anyone) claims to be one doesn't make it so (as I have seen time and time again). The proof is in the pudding. God will reveal the truth about her, and about everything in His perfect time. In the meantime, please, please, please know and understand how these things get mutilated by these false teachers, the likes of which you can find on TBN every day.

 See if you can suffer through her rantings with that horrible overdone southern twang. Chris Rosebrough takes us through her "message" and tries to untangle what she rants about with the searchlight of the Bible. At one point he says "I think my ears are bleeding".  Sigh. She turns all of scripture on it's head...and I can see that people who follow people like her (instead of following Jesus Himself) can wind up in confusion or worse, end up losing what little faith they might have had before they began following her. She needs to confess that she doesn't teach what Jesus or the Apostle Paul taught. She needs to stop.

Listen if you can stomach this stuff  enough to be able to understand the difference between the truth of the gospel and the rantings of people that think they teach the Bible but instead butcher what it actually says.

Listen to the broadcast at DebbieLynne's website (I cannot get it to embed here)
http://debsheadstick.blogspot.ca/2014/07/beth-moore-confidence-and-looking-at.html?showComment=1406572630526#c7118769919111099094

Hypocrisy Clearly Displayed

Something we should often ponder and speak up about:

Have you ever had an atheist (or homosexual, or pro-abortion person) tell you that they aren't trying to recruit people however their cause (against God, heterosexuals, babies or a combination of the three) is practically the only thing they talk about, and get angry or call you "insensitive" about it if you disagree with them?...hmmmm  Do you think that is being a hypocrite and a liar? I'll tell you straight out that I do.

"Mr. O"

That has been my name for him, and I'm sticking to it. Mister Zero was in the Netherlands last month for the "Nuclear Security Summit". His reception was rather cool, if not cold, and believe me when I say the Dutch loved Obama, so this was actually a surprise for me. He's not fooling anyone anymore:

Was and Is and Is To Come

Finally, spring is really here...there still are a few patches of snow here and there in the wooded patches, but for the most part it has finally been vanquished!

soon, very soon, we will be enjoying nice meals outside!

 

 in the distance, it is apparent that the trees haven't budded...yet,

the only green is still from the beautiful evergreens...

Can a Truly Saved Person Fall Away? Part 3

This has to do with the falling away of a person by means of mixing truth with untruth. This person truly believes he or she was saved but now gives in to doctrines of demons who mix truth with lies. This was the devil's trick from the beginning, wasn't it? He got Eve to believe his trickery and caused her to believe him over God the true Creator, making her think his ideas and temptation was more fair, more in line with what she truly deserved. And what did it lead to? It led to her and her husband's undoing.

Here is an article that I found which explains this more fully, and again examines the phenomenon we are seeing of this great falling away that is happening today:


 Excerpt:

If someone is not standing in biblical truth they are not standing in Christ and are not being sanctified unto God.

We therefore see that in the Last Days those not loving doctrinal truth really do not love Jesus Christ, as one is the barometer of the other. Such unsaved people will be easily taken in by the antichrist (as indeed they are already under the influence of what theologians and philosophers call by the German term the zeitgeist or 'spirit of the age' which is the spirit of anti Christ -1 John 2:15-18). But this text shows us that it also includes

Privacy? or Sneakiness?

There is a difference. I understand the desire for privacy. My dear hubby hates his photograph being taken, let alone having it published on the social media websites (!!!). His reasoning is somewhat unreasonable to me, but I respect it because I know it is not out of a sense of wanting to hide something.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their first reaction was to cover themselves. They did not want what they did to be in full view. That is why they made fig leaved aprons for themselves. There was a slight difference between Adam and Eve's situation and our own situation today. Adam and Eve were not in the midst of a sinful (sin-filled) culture, but were alone with only animals and plants...and the Lord...I personally don't believe they were trying to hide their sin from the plants and animals, so the only One they were trying to keep from finding out about their sin was God. God did not accept THEIR MEANS of covering themselves but instead provided them with a skin of an animal (something had to die as a result of their sin) and HE PROVIDED the proper way to be covered.

Are we so different from our first parents? We too try to cover the wrongs that we do in ways that perhaps we think will make them appear less bad, or make ourselves look good (in our own eyes, at least). Is that the correct way? Of course not. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but THROUGH HIM. Those are not just pretty words. They are the truth that sets us free from having to cover ourselves with our own ways of trying to "look good", or hiding altogether from others. I have been to websites where the blogger cleverly hides everything about what they really are about. The website is pretty, pretty pictures, pretty (but empty) words, things that inspire others to want to know more about this family and this blogger, and this blogger always, ALWAYS, had me wondering about what they really stood for, and why it was not openly proclaimed. Why hide? Privacy? Then why blog? And if we truly are in Jesus, why not proclaim it in everything, truly showing that we have HIS covering over OUR SIN, which is something we as Christians are to proclaim, especially in a time such as this....

And yet, instead, there are excuses, and charming alternatives that Jesus "must also bless" because He is a loving God after all, isn't He? Yes. He is a loving God. And like a truly loving Parent, He won't allow for self-deception, especially self-deception in Christians (or those who when pressed will say they are) who have as their main self-interest the desire to gain other people's praise for themselves, instead of where it rightly belongs, with God alone. Then it is still our own works, fig-leaves, that we want others to be impressed with. When we truly love our loving God, we only find comfort in desiring that others know how Jesus alone gets all the glory..... if there is any good to be found in me, it is ONLY because of Him. Is that something that I should keep hidden? Will God be "ok" with my attempts at making Him a hidden "side-kick" of mine that I once in a while bring out so that I can show myself to be a "good Christian"? What can we learn from our first parents regarding such behavior?

This is something that I've been wondering about with all the "big brother surveillance" lately. Many want to do away with such surveillance and I agree in part that it is again the way this world operates, it wants to replace God, to make itself God, watching over us. But do we need to hide ourselves? Do we need fig leaves to make ourselves appear good to others? Or can our lights shine all the brighter when those in the world are calling evil "good" and calling good "evil"? Do we hide our light under a bushel when it is unpopular to be a Christian and only display it for self gratification? Or must we proclaim it even if it gets us, like the early disciples, killed?

Time will tell who the "real Christians" truly are. We have nothing to hide, because we have an Advocate to the Father. :)

False Teachers: Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen leads a megachurch. Many think that if many people agree then the message must be true....is that what the Bible says? Is that what happened when Moses went up on the Mount, and then all the people were dancing around a golden calf?

"But Joel talks about Jesus and forgiveness, and he's just trying his best to bring a positive message. Why be so negative. He's a nice guy, really, and he and his wife are such a beautiful couple, and they encourage people. Let up a little. Quit picking at his splinter while you have a whole tree in your own eye, you hypocrites!" (I've actually heard people say things like this!")

If you truly want to know the truth about this type of preaching, if you truly want the Lord, and not the charlatans, not the deceivers who are fleecing your pocketbook, then watch and listen to the following and compare the teachings with what the Bible actually does say, when you read the few verses they "preach" on in their proper context:

When to Keep Silent

link to picture

Let me just say right off the bat that I have a problem with keeping my mouth shut when it is probably best that I do. Is my saying something every time I feel the urge to do so really that important to God? Speaking the truth in love, even when it seems unloving to the world is certainly important and necessary, is it not? Yes, AND, however, the Lord also wants us to do so with wisdom and compassion and love with the eternal consequences ever before us.

A long while back, a friend in the Lord gave me this illustration to help me understand what I was doing wrong. He said:

Say you have a cat. This cat loves fresh salmon. One day you put down a dish of fresh, yummy salmon for your cat, and your cat decided, for whatever reason, that he wasn't hungry yet. You, on the other hand, decide that it is time for the cat to eat the salmon you have placed before him, and you want him to eat it NOW. So you take the cat by the scruff of the neck and start jamming this yummy salmon down the cat's throat. This cat might never want to eat salmon again, especially if it is coming from you. 

Sigh. Wise words.

James 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

Now having said that, I don't want to confuse the saying or not saying with something that is similar but ever so different. I also see this being done today, and it is just as wrong as saying things that need to be left to the Holy Spirit to convict the person of in His own time. What I mean is, it is also wrong to not say something because one wants to feign being "loving" but it comes out of a fear of losing the other person's affection. We are to speak the truth in love. That doesn't mean going on and on about something when the person stopped listening hours ago. It also doesn't mean not saying anything at all. It is somewhere in the middle. We need to have the wisdom to speak the truth in love, once, maybe twice AT MOST, and then leave it with the Lord to do His work in the life of that person, and just show that person how much you love him in the Lord.

Have I perfected this? No. It is still something the Lord is working with me on, to develop that wisdom of when to speak, and when to STOP IT and let Him do His work...this is difficult for me, extremely so. I go from one extreme (to go on and on about something) to the other (to not say anything at all, and do a "loving act" phoney as can be).

Thankfully, the Lord knows what to do with a few measly loaves and fishes (my feeble and much less than  perfect offerings), and make them abound with His good nourishment for the soul. :)

I Knew It!

Finally it comes out that politicians can do things "legally" that are illegal for us "regular folks"
Link to article

Why am I so surprised?...I mean I suspected this all along, so why is this still shocking to me?

Nothing New Under the Sun

From: Curious Presbyterian

 The past few days there has been alot of hoopla over some metal plates that were found in Jordan..(or was it Egypt?) a few years ago (or was it 100 years ago?) It seems those who are leaking this "news story" can't get their facts in order.

I want to thank Matermuse for getting me started in the right direction on this. Her thoughts and links led me to more links. I share her Youtube video at the bottom of this blog entry.


According to "Curious Presbyterian", David Elinkgton wrote to Dr Thonemann this letter
which CP got at this link 

That Dr Thonemann letter is also here, with added comments at the bottom that are worth the read, if you are truly interested in this topic.

Christianity Today quoted  Larry Hurtado who is Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh:

"I'm impatient with people who go to the press and claim that they have something of enormous scholarly value and do not provide the materials for independent scholarly analysis. Controlling access to information is not how we do business in scholarship." (emphasis in bold added by me)
Christianity Today link

Seattle Examiner also suspects these to be forgeries: Examiner article link

This blogger thinks it was a very funny April Fool's joke: Lead tablets deciphered



 ...and here's another link:forgeries

Sigh....remember the P.T. Barnum saying? "There's a sucker born every minute"

P.T. Barnum (now dead) isn't the only one who has counted on making money on that fact. As the time of Jesus return draws nearer there will be plenty of deceptions to try to draw us away from keeping our eyes on the truth...and many people will fall for it, unfortunately.