Exposing Apostasy

New Website Open

2006-05-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

Greetings all,

My new website is open. The blog will be down for another few weeks while I work on transfering data onto the lessons, poetry, and links pages, but the forum is open for any type of religous debate or discussions.

The site is www.ourwalkinchrist.com - Our Walk in Christ

This post will conclude the writing on Exposing Apostasy, for further writings, move over to the linked site.

Over and Out,
X

New Site Update

2006-05-17T22:42:00.000-05:00

Greeings all,

Just a brief update on the new site:

The templates are in place. I need to work on reformating my old website design HTML files and itegrate them, then it should be up. I am hoping on a week or so, but don't quote me on that. I will post more dates as they come.

If there are any current readers interested, I will be allowing people to submit articles and lessons they may have written. Just need to email me if you want more details.

Thanks,
X

I'm still alive!!!

2006-05-11T15:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has been a long time since I have written. I have been on my other blog consistantly, so I wanted you to know that I did not give up totally, I just remain very busy all the time.

I am currently working on a new personal website where I may incorporate a blog about all that has been going on. If I do that, I will be using some info from this site over there and offically stoping the writing here, though I will not take this one down in the event it is link somewhere. Incase you are curious, myu personal site is up a little bit, but not enough to post a link yet. I am looking into new web hosting so I do not have to have the little cheesy domain my ISP provides. Once I get that, I will begin to write the rest of the page and I will post it then.

Sorry again for not writing in such a long time.

X

Birthday in Christ

2006-01-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

It is my 5^th birthday in the Spirit this weekend (Saturday, January 7^th 2006). Who would have guessed it? Certainly not anyone that knew me way back then. In fact, as I recall, one of my few friends disrespectfully didn’t believe it; in fact, he started to ask disrespectful questions every time I saw him just waiting for me to turn away. One guy I knew exclaimed “NO WAY! Not YOU!” My brother stated that I was too intelligent to become an “anti-intellectual.” Only a few select people that I knew gave me support. As I look back, the last few years have been some of my hardest. John 3:19-21 says that we will run from the light that is the truth of God. We run because our deeds are evil. Mine were very evil, but the Word is the mirror to show us who we are. And God is full of such love that He changes us upon our confessions to Him and to others. I don’t want to go into all the details, but I wanted to mention a few points. It was in 2001 that I became a Christian. I started to go to church in November, 11 months after my conversion. It was about a year later that I finished reading the bible through for the first time, and was baptized.

After that point in time, my past was coming back to get me. Not only did I live a life of sin, but I also was raised in a dysfunctional home, which made my life all the harder. I spent the next two years working daily on overcoming the struggles. God led me to one resource after another after another. I wrote out a detailed account of my life which was a total confession of all of my known sins before God. I also sought out the help and counsel of people that I could talk these issues out with. After all this, God saw fit to move me into children’s ministry. I have a desire to minister to and mentor kids in the truth of Jesus Christ, as I recognize Him alone as the source of all healing.

When I sent out this letter last year, I was in the midst of another spiritual battle. I did not include any details, but a few of you knew that the boy I was mentoring in Big Brothers program left unexpectedly. My heart hurt because I felt I was making so much progress with Him. I wrote one of my best poems during that struggle, I prayed, and I handed the whole situation to God. He did not restore this boy back to me, but I started to mentor a new boy.

In addition, I recognized an organization that I belonged to was a cult. My theology in my first year was deeply rooted in Word-Faith as a result of the teachings in this system. I was finally removed from that cult by the study of sound doctrine. It could have only been the grace of God, because a whole series of incidents all happened side by side which led me to some theologians with ideas contrary to Word-Faith. Under normal conditions, a member of a cult would turn away from such teachings, but God had removed me, just a week prior, to an indoctrination session. After this, I recognized what I was in and sought out sound theology. After a period of time of study cult theory and doctrine, I started a website designed to dissect the teachings of this cult (www.bwwsot.blogspot.com). This has been one of the hardest and most rewarding things I have done. I have had a lot of people giving me thanks for finally posting the details on the teaching materials, and a lot of people who have verbally attacked me for being ‘evil’, ‘of the devil’, and ‘broke, stupid’, etc. This is to be expected as we work for Christ.

Also over this last year, I have counseled at a kids camp for the first time. I recall the first morning waking up. I remember where I was and how I grew up. I remember how messed up I was, and how far I came, and that it was only by the grace of God that I had charge over five boys at camp. This was a time that I experienced the silent stillness of God: He was manifested in the darkness of the cabin, the chirping of the birds, and the light breathing of the kids. Five years earlier, that is the LAST thing that I thought I would be doing. I got the chance to get to know 12 great kids those two weeks, and I had the pleasure of praying with 3 of them for the first time in a profession of Christ.

Last year and this year I have been coaching at a Boys Club. Last year I got to know 1^st and 2^nd graders, and this year, 5^th ad 6^th grade. They are all great, full of the challenges of their age. This year, I started to teach 3^rd grade Sunday School. It is such a blessing to be able to minister the Word of God to these kids. Recently, I started to teach a Friday night youth group at a local Chinese church.

My victories over the past year include a recapturing of my finances. I have also started to rebuild the broken relationships in my family. It was this last year that I started to love and witness to the man I so desperately hated so many years ago, my step-father. I have gotten to know my father more; I have gotten to witness to him of the faith in Christ. I was also given the opportunity to share my testimony at church this year; I would encourage people to do that.

My major challenges as I move into my new year in Christ: I still need to recover my work ethic. When I go to work, I have a very hard time concentrating on what I need to do. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, it is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” I confess this sin before everyone today; I hope that some may be burdened to pray for me on this matter over this year.

I would also like to extend a thank-you to my friends and siblings in the faith. In the last few years, I have accumulated more friends than I ever had before, I felt the grace of God as he filled my heart with joy, I learned the meaning of love, and I learned the meaning of forgiveness. In all things, it is the Grace of God that carries us on.

Peace in Jesus Christ our Lord,

Xanadustc

I'm still Here

2006-01-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

Greetings everyone,

I am still here. I have not abandoned the blog! I have actually been very busy (Much more than usual). I picked up and extra teaching spot, so I have classes with 3rd grade, 5th and 6th grade, and youth group on top of everything else I need to do. I have also been busy with posting about 3 times a week on my Standing Order Tape Blog, but I took a Christmas vaction from that even. It looks like I am back. I am planning anice post for this blog to be posted on Saturday, January 7th, so if I don't have one up before that time, check out that one.

Sorry for my distance,
Xanadustc

Movie Review - Family Guy: Stewie - The Untold Story

2005-11-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

One the problems here in America would be the easy access to absolutely Godless entertainment. It has been getting worse over the years. Producers of television and movies have been pushing the envelope more and more. Popular TV series that come out are foul, to put it mildly. After achieving fame, many of them make their way to the big screen where they do not have to worry about censorship. They have been pushing more and more, getting fouler and fouler. I recall the South Park movie even having vulgar language in the chorus of the theme song. So many American children went to see that cartoon-like animated movie. A few years later, another popular series hits the movies: Family Guy.

For those not familiar, Family Guy is Godless to put it mildly. The father is the media portrayal of a ‘man’; stupid, foolish, drinks a lot of beer; the wife is the ‘pants’ of the family, keeping charge and command. There is a teenage son and daughter which are typical TV portrayals, the baby is the incarnation of Adolph Hitler and has two all consuming goals: World Domination and the murder of his mother. They have a family dog who is an alcoholic and is portrayed as the most ‘normal and sensible’ in the family (despite his drinking problems).

What follows is a comprehensive review of Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (The Hitler reincarnation is Stewie; he is by far the most popular character of the series, thus is the star of the movie. The movie scenes will be in Black, my comments in Red. Some of the issues are repeated themes, so there are long stretches that I do not make comment on.

The movie starts out with a news cast where the ‘Asian Correspondent’ (Trisha Takinawa) is meeting the popular characters as they arrive in their cars (similar to any Hollywood movie opening), there are a few relatively clean jokes as the early people arrive, then Family Guy characters arrive last. Brian gets out of the car first holding a cocktail glass. Meg gets out and is silent, then Chris gets out and announces that he rode backwards in the limo so his underpants were going the right way (indicting they were on backwards.) This format follows many of the episodes. The jokes are not all foul, but there are certainly more dirty jokes than clean ones. The problem with jokes of these matter is that it takes matters that are shameful acts and humorizes them. The net result is the loss of shame. Once shame is lost, the world can go on sinning without regard to the consequences presented it. Another starting comment I have is that many of the jokes takes thinking to get. Many people look at such material as suitable because the dirty jokes go over the heads of children who are watching. They also reason that since they are and adult, they can be entertained by such materials without influence. Both of these assumptions are dead wrong.

Stewie makes his entrance announcing that it is great to be back and his short stay in politics didn’t work (there is an all-to-common flash back sequence all throughout the Family Guy shows explaining a joke or comment. In this one, Stewie is portrayed as Saddam Hussein with the toppled statue, hiding in the hole, etc.)

Lois gets out of the car absolutely drunk, swearing, and making sexual gestures to Peter (at least they are married). She vomits and then Peter picks her up and carries her away.

David Bowie shows up on the scene. After a question, the Trisha throws her microphone, grabs his leg and starts humping it. The glamorization or not portrayed here by Lois is disturbing. The humor of the scene is the purpose. The scene could be a lesson on why not to drink, but I submit that the real purpose was to get in more sex scenes. Indeed, several times throughout the movie, alcohol is used as a pre-requisite to sex, which the whole movie excelled in promoting as a desirable thing to get as much as possible without regard of the context of marriage.

The news cast cuts to the ‘inside camera man’ who is going to “provide a bootleg copy of the movie” (this is Quagmire, an Italian character who is simply bent in having sex with as many people ladies as possible. The name given to this character could be a forecast of his predicaments in the movie as well as the TV episodes). He focuses and the screen, he then cuts back and zooms in on a mostly exposed breast of a woman in the audience. He laughs with his sexual laugh (goes something like this: Gigity Gigity Goo) and then focuses back in the film. A common theme in this movie is the total disregard for laws of God as well as man. How many people out there believe that bootlegging is OK to do because the files are ‘free’ on the internet? People, that is theft! It goes like this: someone has put their energy into producing some movie or music, they sell it to make money for their livelihood, and someone takes it and puts it on the internet so that anyone who wants it is free to take it one way or another. That is theft. You are taking something that someone made to be sold and the net result is that you get to enjoy it without cost. As for the other sin here, I sure I will have to swell on about that one, so I will save that for later.

It cuts to a few jokes about previews and then a big green screen announces: “and now our FEATURE PRESENTAION Jerry, if you are reading this, I had sex with Darlene. I’m sorry, man, I felt like this was the most appropriate way to tell you. See you are karaoke tonight.” It appears that later has arrived. This movie is simply bent on getting sex. It is wrong to seek sex outside the context of marriage, yet this movie over and over again glorifies the attitude of “getting’ some”; it is a sin.

Movie officially now starts.

Brian is still with cocktail glass in the opening scene at a pool.

Quagmire comes out of a pump house with an unknown woman and exclaims that he can’t go swimming for an hour. This is a joke about oral sex just being performed, personal gratification without the commitment of love. People truly want intimacy, but the cheap substitute is sex, so they take that. It gives the momentary pleasure of intimacy, but leaves long term emptiness and shame. This shame, if ignored over a period of time, diminishes. This is the point that you are deluded and addicted.

Peter goes into a video store to get some pornography to watch, but the store (recently bought out by another) takes a ‘strong moral stand against pornography, open-mindedness, and Christians’. Tom Tucker (news caster) goes into the store about this time to get porno and Peter tells to save his time and then he goes off on a rant about where in the Bible it says that you can’t watch porno and masturbate to it. This rant gets him a role on the news program in a skit called, ‘Grind My Gears’, which is just an opinionated rant session cutting people and situations down. These occur periodically in the movie. Let me use this time to talk about the sticky topic of masturbation. The bible neither condemns nor affirms it in any way. Some people will go to the story of Onan (Genesis 38:6-10). This passage is not talking about masturbation, it is talking about failing to keep the oath of a brother-in-law, an Old Testament law which said that if a man dies but does not leave any children, his brother had to take his wife and provide her a son. (At least) the first son out of that union would be to his brother’s name, not his. Onan’s crime was failure to uphold that oath. What the Bible is clear about is sexual purity, however, the references all seem to use the same Greek word, ‘porneia’, which is impure sexual stimulation (basically, any sexual stimulation by a person not including your spouse). Never-the-less, go to the sermon on the mount, and even lustful thoughts are declared as a sin (Matthew 5:27-28). We can say for sure that if you are masturbating to the fantasy of a person who is not your spouse, you are sinning and guilty of either fornication (if you are not married), adultery (if you are and the person is not your spouse), homosexuality (if the person is of the same sex), etc. Outside of these, we can not say one way or another from the Lord, but I personally, am inclined to view it as a sin because if it does not start as a sin, your mind will soon make it one. We should not be mastered by anything. As for pornography, pretty much the same arguments apply. Pornography is distorting God’s creation to be used to the unlawful sexual stimulation of a person.

At the suggestion from Tom that Peter take the “Grind My Gears” news cast, Peter says that he is dying to get back on TV since he hosted Family Feud. There is a clip of Peter hosting a game show where he goes over to an apparently teenage woman on the team, gives an appropriate game show kiss on the cheek and then sticks his hand up her shirt, feels the left breast, and then the right leaving the girl in shock.

The news cast cut to Tom and Diane where Diane announces she finally gets her period. Tom says that she and her brother must be devastated that they will not get the ‘two headed offspring that might have been’. Reference to incest (the brother-sister kind, the other kind is coming), forbidden in Leviticus 18:6.

Brian is waiting for Stewie who says he is brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Brian opens the door to find Stewie naked on the sink covered with shaving cream shaving his whole body (suggestion earlier from Chris about Olympic swimmers). This scene is what derived the back cover of the movie which is Stewies naked behind covered with shaving cream, except he has already shaved the middle, so the most inappropriate part is already showing. Stewie asks Brian to shave his ‘coin purse’; which brain curses and leaves the room.

Stewie tries to kill Brad (a little kid that swims better than him) for simply swimming better than him. Stewie tries to kill him by explosion with dynamite, but it backfires on him and he is shown in hell, which is a hotel room where Stewie is with Steve Allen. He takes off his shirt which scares Stewie and he wakes up from his ‘near death’ experience. It turns out that he simply wanted his collar adjusted (Stewie thought it was for homosexual sex). We get the real gist of hell, the only TV show is a sitcom, “There’s a time for love and a time for living”...Different Strokes I think. Reference to murder, see Matthew 5:21-26 for details about Stewie’s sin. Mind you, these are placed in as humor, as detailed above, such humor desensitizes you to the reality of how bad it is, also promoting a certain level of acceptance.

At the experience, Stewie reasons that hell is worse than he thought and wants to stay out, he resorts to trying to ‘be good’. This here is an interesting point. Stewie wants to avoid hell, so he resorts to doing good. The idea is the promotion of doing good gets you into heaven while doing bad keeps you out. This is apparently used as a way to poke fun at religious activities and narrow minded, bigoted people like me. Sorry, Stewie, but the only thing that can save you is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Stewie becomes nice for a bit, he keeps doing nice things for Brian which causes me to think that Brian is concerned that Stewie is making homosexual gestures (This is not clear, it may or may not be their intention). Brain announces that talking with Stewie as he is getting his back rubbed was more disturbing than the cartoon he saw the other day: Bugs bunny actually getting shot, neck snapped, and carried away bloody by Elmer Fudd.

Peter uses his segment in ‘Grind My Gears’ to talk about a woman who is flaunting her sexuality into a camera and then explains that ‘no woman anywhere wants to have sex’. Lois is sitting there with the two older kids and says that is so true, and that is why she went back to men, because women are ‘such teasers’. Meg gets up and leaves nervously, Christ gets closer to Lois and says in a sexual tone, “Go on”. Here is the other kind of incest: parent-child, which is still condemned by the same verse as above.

Next we are at a scene with Brian, Stewie, and Meg. Stewie gives a blessing over the meal. Once again, trying to be good and displaying religious activity hoping to be saved.

Brian gets Stewie to be mean again by destroying a “perfect spider-web” as Stewie explains it (too wordy to explain the context, and not too relevant). Stewie says that he was faking being nice.

We have a spiritual conversation between Brain and Stewie. Stewie says that he does not want to go to hell, but he can’t fight his nature; he is a hateful person. This is precisely the problem: Stewie has a sinful nature. We all do, but when you believe in Jesus Christ and accept the Lord, you are transformed into a new creation, old things pass away and new things are created. The power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change that hateful nature of Stewie into a new loving nature. When that occurs, he will not be a milquetoast, but a powerful soldier for God. When regenerated, Stewie would have a new nature that he would not have to fight, it would flow out of love.

Brian says that Stewie just needs to control his anger, which puts the thought into Stewie’s mind to get drunk to get nice. Brian discourages it and walks away leaving Stewie at the liquor cabinet. He drinks a cocktail and says that it is time for a sexy party, so the house fills up with girls, apparently mocking a scene from something, but I don’t know what. Now we have the promotion of alcohol for fun (see Proverbs 23:29-35). There is a lot of temptation and pleasure in the bottle, and it comes with a terrible price for the over-indulger. To be fair, this movie shows the ‘bad side’ of the alcohol, but again, in a humorous manner (movie details below).

Brian confronts Stewie about being drunk, “You are drunk”, and Stewie responds with, “You are sexy”. Brian takes Stewie to the bar to get him “so drunk you will never want to drink again”. They party all night. They have a bag of olives from all the cocktails. They are arguing over the keys and who is going to drive home. Stewie gets the keys and crashes into the bar. This is part of the example of humorizing the situation. It is a very funny scene with the both of them stammering and talking senselessly. To the youth, it may be appeal to have a lot of fun. In the morning, the consequences are shown.

Stewie is very hung over. As Brian pulls off the covers, Stewie is sleeping naked (causing Brian to scream), and there is a tattoo branded on Stewie, “Property of Roger Moore.”

Now we cut over to Quagmire who has a new motor home. He calls it his ‘Wanna Bango’ because he wants to “bang a broad in every state.” As already mentioned, Quagmire is a character whom desires the pleasures of sex. Later on in the movie, he gets robbed by a prostitute (details later), but the glorification and promotion of his character is a sick portrayal of a ‘man’. Truly I say this movie seems to have one goal: promote getting as much sex as one can possibly get.

Stewie tries to raise money to go to San Francisco to meet a person he believes is his father. He tries to sell lemonade, but everyone is ignoring him. He finally hits a passerby with a baseball bat and robs him.

Stewie still needs more money and he tells Brian to give him the rest of the money or else he will email the contents of the hard drive to the FBI. Stewie turns on the computer to several child-pornography pictures of Stewie in suggestive positions on the computer.

Peter and Lois get interrupted in their sexual desires the second time by Chris and Meg so Lois suggests that they should be out dating or something. They decide to start spending time with the kids to teach them how to date (Lois with Chris and Peter with Meg). Once again, the teachings that the parents supply to the teenage kids is how to get a person of the opposite gender and engage in sex with them.

Quagmire is now getting ready to go across country in the motor home. Quagmire writes on the side of the motor home, we never see the actual sign, but Brian questions the spelling of ‘country’ suggesting that Quagmire forgot the ‘o’; Quagmire says that he did not forget the ‘o’, it is not supposed to be there.

While Quagmire is in the hotel room with a prostitute, Stewie is trying to find the horn. He is in the drivers seat while Briain is in the passenger seat. Stewie pushes a few buttons that lock Brian into the seat, turn the seat toward him, then one that grabs Brians head and throws it into Stewies crotch. He says that he is afraid to push anything else.

Quagmire gets tied up and robbed by the prostitute and Stewie finds him and steals the motor home, leaving Quagmire tied up. Quagmire gets out by pulling the phone closer, turning on a porno movie and using his privates to dial the phone.

Stewie gets on an elevator with a person who is on a cell phone. As Stewie leaves the elevator, the wall is smeared with blood and the body of the person is twitching in the background.

Stewie finds the man he is looking for and learns that it is not his father; it is him from the future.

At this point, there is an intermission where the screen is black and says “Intermission”. The audio in this scene continues with many sexually explicit comments.

The future Stewie explains that the previous year for vacation, he went back to see Jesus Christ. He says that his abilities were exaggerated a bit; there is a scene where Christ is portrayed as a hippy with Peter’s voice. He is humming a peace demonstration. This type of attack on Jesus Christ is become more common, mostly with the creation of the “Jesus Seminar” where a bunch of blind, non-regenerate people who do not know Jesus personally debate around a table and vote on what Jesus ‘actually’ said verses what was ‘forged by other people’, they are also working on the miracles of Jesus.

Little Stewie grabs onto adult Stewie as he is going back to the future, so from here, we are in the future. More details will follow, but adult Stewie is portrayed as a total weakling, ignorant in the world, a pacifist, etc. This pacifism is rooted in his ‘trying to be good’ and ‘wanting to avoid hell’. As such, they basically are making another attack on faith in general that to follow any particular faith just makes you a weakling milquetoast.

They go to the family’s house for Sunday dinner. Chris walks in with his wife, who is a foul mouthed woman named Vanessa. The language is beeped out after you know what is being said as mockery of censorship. Peter falls down and says he hurt his back as he scoots over to look up Vanessa’s dress, a scene which lasts longer than a brief second.

Meg, who had a sex change and now is Ron, comes in.

Big and Little Stewie go home to Big’s apartment which is a total wreck. Next, they go to his job; he works at the appliance store (a take off on Circuit City as the logo is a big red circle). Little Stewie is appalled that Big reads Parade magazine. Another employee named Fran comes over and talks and Little makes a logical jump that they are sleeping together. Big states that he has never slept with anyone. Little Stewie gets mad and knocks him over, jumps on him and screams, “I could handle the crappy apartment and the pedestrian job, but now you are telling me that I am a 35 year old Parade magazine reading virgin?! Well, you, Sir, are pathetic!” He then screams that he needs to do a complete overhaul on life.

Little revamps the apartment to a ‘sexy’ locale and tells Big that he needs to get Fran over for an evening. Neither of the Stewies knows anything about sex except little Stewie comments about beer commercial innuendos and the Stork myth. At this point, there is a stork clip where a stork comes in with a sack in it’s beak, opens it up with a woman in the room. There is a red light in the sack. The woman asks where the baby is and the stork says, “We are going to make the baby” as he moves over closer to the bed. Yes, in the book of Leviticus sexual acts with animals is indeed condemned.

Big and Little Stewie are reading a book called, “The Joy of Sex”, and then Little is guiding Big in practice. He starts moving his crotch back and forth. Little then grabs Swiss cheese and says to take it from the top. The next scene, Fran is over. The two adults are nervously talking back and forth. Little jumps up and screams ‘lets have sex’, which Fran responds ‘definitely’. She goes in and puts in a diaphragm. It moves to the two of them in bed and they are talking about Stewie taking eight seconds during sex and then forty minutes of crying.

We find that the whole situation with Big acting as a pacifist is caused by the near death experience in the beginning of the movie.

Little Stewie goes back in time to prevent the experience, but stops at Chris and Vanessa’s wedding first to stop the marriage. Stewie blows up Vanessa with a rocket launcher and leaves the scene.

Stewie stops the explosion and the other little Stewie kills him with some sort of ray gun.

The end is displayed, then the camera goes back to Tom Tucker of the news. For about 5 seconds, he has his hands behind the desk and moving as he is moaning. The implication is that you are supposed to think that he is masturbating. After a time, you see that he is actually playing a hand held videogame.

There is an after-party for the movie. With an interview with Peter, he talks about some series he produced, one was a porno with Cleveland (The black neighbor) and Lois, and the other was an incest video with Chris and Lois.

The interview with Lois, she explains some of the period between the series and the movie, one was a fight with a police officer, another a party prostitute, another a convenience store fight.

Right before the ending with more fart jokes, there is a scene with two naked people in the bar at the party. Their private areas are covered with a guitar on one person and a beer on the other.

I would like to end with some concluding remarks:

Remarks to Non-Christians

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you will find that such things as this movie may entertain you. Please accept my caution that such behavior is sin. The only thing that can save you is the grace and love of Jesus Christ. The bible is very accurate, very clear, and very true. It tells that all people will have a resurrection, some people will be resurrected to heaven with peace and worship with God, and the others will be resurrected to hell, where the most eternal suffering will be for eternity. What is hell like? I do not think that I or any one else can tell you for sure, but being a very wretched sinner in my past life, I would like to offer a proposal. Hell is not like the euphoria you attain with drugs or alcohol, it is like the hangover the morning over, the pain of wanting more, the lustful tears as you try to resist. Hell is not like the temporary pleasure felt during a one night stand, or even during fornication with a non-spouse, it is like the moment you felt regret, contracted HIV, or had a pregnancy scare. Hell is not like having the new item you just stole, but like the feeling you get when the police show up to your house. In short, the brief moments of pleasure are the bait in the snare, the aftereffects are the consequence. I believe that a very gentle part of Hell will be an eternal feeling of these painful after-the-fact feelings. But it will go much deeper.

There was nothing that Stewie could do in this movie to gain favor with God. He could be saved the only way you and I can be saved: By believing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please take the time to read it and ponder it in your heart. Let me know if I can help. Those unpleasant feelings I mentioned above do have an end in Christ.

To the Christian

If you are watching this kind of material for your regular entertainment, you are out of alignment with the will of God. In no way does He desire you to watch such garbage for your entertainment. If you truly enjoy it, it is possible tat you are not in a state of Grace at all. I beseech you to ask yourself this question: If Jesus Christ was with you, would you watch such material? Would you say, “Lord, I am too mature to have it effect me?” This kind of material contains nothing worth watching. It is wrought with sin. When Paul speaks about freedom in Christ, he always prefaces that with an admonishment not to use your freedom to justify or participate in sin. Please pray over this material and ask yourself if you think that Christ would engage in such entertainment. I will submit that He would not. He is your model.

Peace in Christ,

Do Not Be Deceived

2005-11-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

In pondering how far to take this particular verse, I considered verse 16-18, but my heart has set on this one verse. I chose to talk about it alone because it has come up as a popular refutation against the Calvinist view of Justification. James 1:16 says:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

This is a transition point from the previous verses. Apparently, the people that James were addressing had a problem of blaming God for the sins. He just tells them where the sin is birthed, that is, in their own lusts and passions. Next, he will talk about how God is the author of everything good, but I settled here on the transition: do not be deceived, James echoes. Do not be deceived into thinking that God is responsible for your sins, indeed, God is not the author of evil, but good.

I am a Calvinist. I am sad to say that many people think that a “Calvinist” is actually what a “Hyper-Calvinist” is. I will not take the time here to detail all the points and implications of Calvinism, but in brief, it is the belief that we are all in the same boat (in very general terms:

Corrupted to the core (that is, not absolutely in the sense that we can not do ‘good’, but in the sense that all parts of us are fallen). In such a state, there is nothing in us that can follow God.
We are selected before hand to come unto election. Again, I will not go into specific verses, but I encourage you to read into Revelations. You will find that the Lambs Book of Life is already written. God is not sitting there with a pen in hand nervously waiting for you to accept His salvation.
That the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was performed to redeem the chosen people (the elect), not the general population
Of those that are chosen, all of them will come to belief in Jesus Christ
Once a person is saved, it is impossible for that person to fall away from grace or lose their salvation in any way.

The Hyper-Calvinist position is a sick perversion which goes so far as to become fatalism, people never praying, never witnessing, or never doing anything to the glory of God with respect to helping other people come to Christ. That is not the case, because God so decreed that we are the ones who will take the message of Jesus Christ to the world and it is through that message that people are saved. I can not know who is elected and who is reprobate (non-elected), so I have to keep witnessing until the good Lord calls me home. I have to teach people, I have to pray; those are so important.

In all this, there is a view that Calvinists place God as the author of sin. This is not the case. That is what this one little verse is talking about. Do not be deceived, God is not the author of sin.

Now, this is topic of Double Predestination. If people are elected to heaven….that must mean that people are also elected to hell. That is correct, but there are two views of the matter. R.C. Sproul has a book called, “Chosen by God” which covers this in fine detail, but let us examine it briefly here.

The Wrong View – Symmetrical Predestination

This view holds that since God works positively in the elect to regenerate them, he must also work positively in the reprobate to keep them sinning. To borrow from Paul: “May it never be!” God does not NEED to work to make someone a sinner, every single person is already a sinner. Every single person is already hell-bound. All God does is pardons some of those people by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. God is not the author of sin, He does not work to make people sin.

The Correct View – Asymmetrical Predestination

This view basically holds that God works to regenerate His elect while leaving the reprobate to their own lusts, passions, and desires. Have a brief look at Romans 1:20-24.

God is not the author of sin, He is the author of good. Do not be deceived into believing that God will cause you to sin.

Fixed….Sort of.

2005-11-02T05:04:00.000-05:00

The United Methodist Church has had a small dispute over Pastor Beth Stroud. The problem is that she is a homosexual. I have a few problems here. The first is that a woman should not have a Pastoral position at all. The scripture is very clear about the roles of women in the church. They are not to exercise any authority over men (1 Timothy 2:12, Genesis 3:16). John MacArthur comments on the power struggle that develops in sin when people fail to recognize the position of each adult (the male and female):

So in the same way sin tries to dominate us all, fallen women desire to overpower their husbands, and fallen men tend to oppress them in the same way sin oppresses the sinner. The intended balance, of course, is achieved when men and women lead and submit in a godly manner (Ephesians 5:22-33). (FAQ: Can Women serve as elders in the church?)

That is all I will say on that issue, because my focus here is on homosexuality. Indeed, I have been asked a few times about the standing of homosexuals in the Christian life. They will say their own things, but the Bible is very clear about the position.

What does the homosexual community say and what does the Bible teach?

They attempt to rebuke the way the mainstream church interprets the Bible. This is nothing more than an appeal to post-modernism. The Bible contains millions of applications, but only one correct interpretation (with the exceptions of some of the cryptic prophecies which often had multiple levels of fulfillment…apparently even God decreed that history wrinkles and repeats itself). Here are some of the verses that the homosexual community pulls out:

Genesis 19:1-19 – Their own sources say, “That was a case of ostensibly heterosexual males intent on humiliating strangers by treating them "like women," thus demasculinizing them.” The problem is that this interpretation seems to imply a single event. Go back a bit and gather the context. In Genesis 18:20-21, we see that indeed, these angles are going to Sodom and Gomorrah because of detestable sin. In any case, a whole group of men seeking to homosexually rape two angels is quite a case for concern. The pro-homosexual site defends this by saying, “Their brutal behavior has nothing to do with the problem of whether genuine love expressed between consenting adults of the same sex is legitimate or not.” I will grant them that position. (Here is the source of those quotes as well as more that will be below.)

Deuteronomy 23:17-18 – They state that, “[This should be] pruned from the list, since it most likely refers to a heterosexual prostitute involved in Canaanite fertility rites that have infiltrated Jewish worship.” This is more or less correct. It was not what had infiltrated. This law was given in the middle of the 40 year desert wanderings. It was, however, intended to separate the Israelites from the other surrounding nations of the Promised Land. Indeed, this verse has nothing to do with homosexuality, just male and female prostitutes.

1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 – They say, “It is not clear whether [these verses] refer to the "passive" and "active" partners in homosexual relationships, or to homosexual and heterosexual male prostitutes. In short, it is unclear whether the issue is homosexuality alone, or promiscuity and "sex-for-hire."” This is totally incorrect. These verses are clearly total bans against the Christian being a homosexual. Both of these are just lists of some of the behaviors that are not consistant with the Christian life.

Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 – This one is one of my personal favorite defenses they make for homosexuals, “Such an act was regarded as an "abomination" for several reasons. The Hebrew pre-scientific understanding was that male semen contained the whole of nascent life. With no knowledge of eggs and ovulation, it was assumed that the woman provided only the incubating space. Hence the spilling of semen for any non-procreative purpose--in coitus interruptus (Genesis 38:1-11), male homosexual acts, or male masturbation--was considered tantamount to abortion or murder. (Female homosexual acts were consequently not so seriously regarded, and are not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. One can appreciate how a tribe struggling to populate a country in which its people were outnumbered would value procreation highly, but such values are rendered questionable in a world facing uncontrolled overpopulation.” Houston, we have a problem. First, let me tackle the Genesis 38:1-11 verse. Onan was not killed for the act we now call ‘pulling out’, he was killed because he sinned in two primary ways, 1. He failed to uphold the law of a bother-in-law, which was to secure a name for a deceased brother who died without any children (Deuteronomy 25:5-6) and 2. He lied and said that he would fulfill the duty. The thing was, if Onan fulfilled his duty to his brother, he would have to give his brother’s inheritance to his nephew, but if he did not impregnate the wife of his brother, the inheritance was his own.

Romans 1:26-27 – The defense the pro-homosexual site places forth here is this, “No doubt Paul was unaware of the distinction between sexual orientation, over which one has apparently very little choice, and sexual behavior, over which one does.” A few problems here: The first is that sexual behavior is not necessarily intrinsic, there is much evidence that it is learned environmentally. In either case (that is, whether it be intrinsic or learned) is of little issue. The issue is that Paul’s writing is inspired and a direct statement from God Himself that committing a homosexual act is an abomination. The site continues on, “Paul knew nothing of the modern psycho-sexual understanding of homosexuals as persons whose orientation is fixed early in life, or perhaps even genetically in some cases. For such persons, having heterosexual relations would be acting contrary to nature, "leaving," "giving up" or "exchanging" their natural sexual orientation for one that was unnatural to them.” First of all, Paul is inspired by God, therefore, Science bears absolutely no weight what-so-ever in the issue. Next, it is ‘nature’ here that we are concerned with. I will detail that one later. The last comment here is that, just like Satan in the garden (Genesis 3:1), notice how the Word of God was twisted? Paul says,

for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,²⁷and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another…(Romans 1:26-27)

and they say, “For such persons, having heterosexual relations would be acting contrary to nature, "leaving," "giving up" or "exchanging" their natural sexual orientation for one that was unnatural to them”, under the presupposition that heterosexual sex is the twisted motive.

The website listed above contains many more arguments, I will not go through them all, these just give you a basic idea

How should a Christian today treat a homosexual?

I heard a story not too long ago that a person was talking another who claimed that, “All homosexuals are just going to burn in hell”. A am very sorry to say, but that attitude is very wrong. A homosexual is a sinner just like the rest of us. But just like the rest of us, he must embrace his homosexuality as a sin, confess it before God, loath it in his heart, repent (that is change his mind about it), and take all steps to not engage in it. He must, therefore, become straight. He can only do this by the grace of God.

I can say that for a person who has lived a homosexual life, that will be his primary temptation. It will be very hard, but a homosexual can, in absolutely NO CASE maintain being a homosexual and live in a state of grace. He must embrace the Gospel, as it is, live by the word of God.

Here is a key verse,

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) (Emphasis mine)

Christians, we must realize a few things: 1. Homosexuals need to be treated with the same love and respect of any other of God’s creations, including your selves; and 2. they are redeemable.

Homosexuals, you need to realize that you are in sin if you embrace that homosexuality is a ‘lifestyle choice’ and not a sin. You need to know that you can IN NO WAY enter the kingdom of God holding onto that sin. You also need to know that there is hope because the Gospel of Jesus Christ can regenerate YOUR heart, just like it did every other person in history who has accepted the gift. To do so, you must repent and abandon the actions that you have been told are your nature. God is must wiser than any man, and he clearly states that homosexuality is a sin, but you have been led astray and told that it is not. Repent in the name of Jesus Christ. Be washed in your sin. Here is the Gospel of Jesus Christ if you wish to read it. Contact me if you would like assistance.

Here is the purpose of all that: The Methodist Church is in sin. I admonish you as a brother in Christ, you have the obligation to show Beth Stroud where she is living in sin, give her the chance to repent. If she does not repent of her sin, you are commanded by God to cast her out from you. She should not be a member of your church, let alone, teaching, preaching, or ministering in any way if she continues to embrace homosexuality. Please read 1 Corinthians 5 (I know the context is of an adulterous relationship, not a homosexual, but the same situation applies).

Hook, Line and Sinker

2005-10-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

How many of us still sin after we are regenerated? The answer is all of us! When we are regenerated, however, we start to know what we do that is a sin, and what we do that is not a sin. The bottom line is that we still sin. How? Because we still have a part of our old fleshy, sinful nature. It is still wrong, it will cause chastisement by God if not handled properly. James 1:13-15 tell us the mechanism for our sin. By understanding the mechanism, we can overcome sin in our life. James 1:13-15:

¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

¹⁵Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

While it is true that God allows you to be tempted, He does not tempt you. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist (1 Corinthians 10:13). In reality, you are tempted by your desires. We all have our pitfalls: alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, pride, etc. I am not a person tempted by drugs and alcohol. I think that they are just plain stupid. I was, however, a very prideful person before Christ and I am designed by God as a person that has a tendency to want to get prideful. He does not tempt me, I do that on my own. Other people may not be able to go into a bar because the very sight of alcohol causes him to want to drink to a drunken stupor. The point is that we all have our own snares. John MacArthur gives the example of fishing. You use certain lures for certain kinds of fish, but those lures will not work well on other kinds of fish (Commentary on James).

Once you get the desire for something, lust sets in. When lust comes in, you can be sure that sin is right behind it if you don’t stop it. When sin occurs, death is in the works. A Christian is redeemed, but does not give him license to sin; if he thinks he has such license, he is probably not redeemed at all because the mark of a Christian is righteousness.

With all that said, what do we do? Chip Ingram has the best course I have seen on this application. I will summarize the material from the series “How to Slay the Dragon of Lust” (Study notes here.) This series is applied directly to sexual lust, but the application goes to all areas of sin. First, consciously recognize your specific temptations and make pre-decisions to avoid those temptations. When you are tempted, draw back immediately; Stop all desires for the sin (this is a good place for thought stopping techniques); If you get past this step, just stop and pray, perhaps you will collect your thoughts; If you find yourself sinning, stop the behavior and confess your sin to Jesus Christ.

What then is sin? The answer is anything contrary to the Holiness of God. I can not create a comprehensive list, but here are some that Americans tend to struggle even seeing as a sin, let alone, stopping themselves from sinning. If you are doing any of these things, let it go. Talk to someone if you must; you can also talk to me if you wish.

Some sins that America often fails to recognize as sin:

Homosexuality

Greed

Excess Consumption

Pirating of software, movies, music, or other media

Adultery (sexual relationships with a person other then your spouse)

Fornication (sexual relationship outside the context of marriage)

Selfishness

Gossip

And many, many more

Endure to the End

2005-10-17T20:31:00.000-05:00

Today’s verse is a ‘rest of the story’ to James 1:2-4, which I posted here. Where as verses 2-4 talk about trials making you strong, this covers another caveat of trials. James 1:12 says:

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

This verse is about endurance. The trials are coming, you are under pressure. Do you snap? Or do you have faith in God?

The perseverance through trials makes us strong as I stated previously, but in this case, He is looking for your commitment to follow Christ to the bitter end. Here in America in 2005, we generally have taken the soft, comfortable ride choosing to follow our pleasant desires instead of God; a sort of modern day mysticism. Preachers of the word have told us that God is seeking to fulfill our very needs. I have news for you. It is not about you, it is about God and the advancement of His kingdom. Will He grant you comforts? Perhaps…I don’t know what is in store for you, but history paints a picture of a lot of people giving their all, lives included, for Christ. I recommend that every person have a read through Foxes Book of the Martyrs for detail about what kind of endurance He is asking for.

Once you have been tested, you will most likely be tested again, and again, and again. To those who preserver in the faith, holding fast to Christ and Christ alone, those people will be given eternal life.

Now, I am not teaching a works based system. The Faith to hold fast to Christ only arises from the free gift of Grace. When you have that Grace, you will love Christ with so much passion that you will naturally follow through with steadfast faith.

The Fading of the Flowering Grass

2005-10-10T17:26:00.000-05:00

Some people are well off and boast about it. They may be in sin. Others are very poor and hide in the scenery, determined to never be seen. They may also be in sin. What does the Bible say about these living in poverty or wealth? Today’s verse is James 1:9-11:

But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;

¹⁰and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.

¹¹For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

The One in Poverty

Verse 9 deals with a person who is living in poverty. You see, you don’t need material things to be happy; you don’t need them to be loved, either. This verse tells that the people who are living in poverty who are Christians have something to rejoice in: they are chosen in the power of Jesus Christ. They are regenerated, and such a person has a higher position than all the people with a comfortable life who do not know Jesus Christ. They can witness faith in our Lord, lead people to Him, love unconditionally, and they will always be taken care of, as a promise from God himself is that He will take care of the needs of those who have faith in Him (Matthew 6:25-34).

The One in Wealth

Verse 10 tells us that the wealthy have glory of Christ when acting in a humble heart. There are many people in the world with money that flaunt that money, hold it over other people, act powerful, etc. These people are living in sin. There are also people who live very humble lives even though they have money. They do not show their wealth, they are humble in giving, grace, and love. This is what James it getting at here. When you are poor, have glory in your faith, when you are rich, have glory in humility.

Trials

Trials will always come as we have seen previously. They make you strong as you live out your faith. That is why this explanation ends with the analogy of the passing fields. Life is a fleeting moment; to short to flaunt what you have or hide for what you don’t. If you know Jesus Christ, share His truth with others. If you do not, I invite you to read the Gospel and learn who He is and what He can do for you. Feel free to contact me if you want more information (xanadustc@hotmail.com) or else look at the links in the side bar for some good ministries and excellent resources.

Peace to you,

Driven by the Wind

2005-10-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

Small worries often overtake us. As students, we worry about exams, as employees, we worry about job concerns, as parents, we worry about kids, as adults, we worry about aging parents. The list goes on. How should we live our lives? What decisions do we make? Are we making them from faith?

This post will be on James 1:5-8:

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

⁶But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

⁸being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The wisdom James is speaking of here is not a wisdom rooted in vast amounts of knowledge, it is rather, wisdom for how to manage daily living concerns. God is able to give to anyone such wisdom, but as Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10 teach us, fear of God is the beginning of such wisdom. The verse says to ask God, but can we ask if we do not view Him as able to fulfill our request? This is the essence of this verse.

First, fear God. He is all knowing, all powerful, and all just. What is not to fear? Such is the catalyst that sends us into His arms broken over ourselves. God will give it to us under such conditions.

Once you fear God, you must have faith that He will fulfill His promises. Remember that His promises are two fold: Damnation for those not keeping in faith of Jesus Christ, and Salvation for those in obedience to Him. All will have a resurrection, but only the chosen ones of His will have it unto life, the rest unto death. Matthew 25:31-46 is clear about this. Have faith that He will see you through any struggle.

To doubt means that you waver between believing God will see you through and wanting to do something about the situation on your own. It is like you draw a line on a floor and if that problem stays on the other side of that line, all is good and you ‘trust in God’, but if that problem crosses that line, it is time to do something about it because you don’t trust God will help you.

God will fulfill your request for wisdom if you erase that line and trust in Him alone. Any other way and you move to and fro with the surging stressful wind of our day.

Such a person who draws that line is a hypocrite. He wants the world’s pleasures in one hand as he reaches up to God for help with the other. He is like a man walking a tightrope with a net below him to catch himself if he falls. God asks you to take away the net, because its presence is the evidence that you do not have faith in Him who promised to fulfill your request.

Fear the Lord, keep His commandments, and don’t let the stress of life toss you to and fro over the landscape of sin.

Get Strong in the Struggle

2005-09-26T20:06:00.000-05:00

Greetings all,

Once again, in my busy schedule, I have let this site go out of date! I am thinking of doing a regular weekly post, an exegetical study of some verses. I am still toying with the idea, but I figured that I would go ahead and put up one anyway.

I have been working through the book of James. I find this book to be a very valuable text in the bible, one of the better ones, and along with Romans, my favorite.

James 1:1

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Verse 1 is a salutation explaining that the book is to the Jewish people that are scattered around the known world. Not much else to be had (except that a few cults think that the Jewish nation is ‘lost’, that is not the case).

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

This verse tells us that problems will occur. Living through these problems produce endurance and a faith in God. Like our physical bodies gain strength when we exercise and our minds get sharper as we study, our faith gets stronger as we endure challenges around us. Once we struggle through a specific problem, it gets easier to tackle others. Just as living the life of sin gets easier with each sin, living in a life of enduring faith gets easier as well.

What kind of problems will challenge our faith? Many kinds. Here are just a few:

Natural Disasters

My first real experience with this type of problem came when I was rather young. On May 31, 1985, a series of severe storms blew across the state of Pennsylvania. We had just moved a few months earlier from Reno, NV, and I asked my aunt if there are Tornados around here. She said “No”, just to comfort the ears of a little child, but those words were eaten when one of the largest tornado storms hit the state!

I remember leaving the house the next day and seeing all the debris that clearly came from houses. I was not yet old enough to comprehend it, but I was in the midst of tragedy.

We don’t have to look too hard to see other natural disasters about us, especially since the southern part of our country was just hit hard by Katrina. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, volcanoes. They all hit, but it is how the Christian preserves in all this that makes the difference.

When such a disaster strikes, the Christian seeks solace in the arms of God, knowing that He is still in control. With that support, he can reach out to other people who do not know this love. This leads to the opportunity to share the love and Gospel of Jesus Christ. All this is easier said than done, but surviving such a tragedy gives you a powerful strength when coupled to the grace of our Lord.

Sins of Past Generations

Coming from a dysfunctional home, I can write volumes on this one topic alone. If you are not there, you will not understand as well as one who is there. This is one of the hardest things to overcome. The question lingers on the hearts and minds of millions of people who are in this situation: How can a loving God place me in a such a wreck as this home? Before I give you the answer, here is a basic picture. My childhood was not as bad as it could have been, but it certainly was not good. We fled Reno from my step-father who was a ‘less than perfect’ example at that time. We lived at a relative’s house for a few months before we rented our own house. My mother worked a lot to pay the bills, so we were alone a lot. I picked up the habit of stealing, eventually getting caught and serving some community service. My mother called me a (profanity) thief, the people at the fire house where I put in my hours treated me like a second rate human being, if even that. I didn’t want much more to do with that stuff (mind you that most people don’t, but never change), so I decided to dump those friends I was in with and get some new ones. They were into drugs…it would only be the first time out of thousands. I never did the drugs, but I was peer pressured by more people than you could imagine. I thought that they were stupid to take, but I found out when I was 14, that my mother was doing drugs, too. I went totally inside myself. My mother married again which caused numerous problems. My life was threatened a few times, but my mother always said “He is only talking, he won’t do anything”. He attacked me when I was 18 and I fled for a few weeks, I almost killed myself, but reasoned that it wasn’t worth it. I would finish my degree in college and disappear into the sunset. How did this happen? There are at least 6 generations of alcoholics on one side of the family and at least 3 on the other side. My mother had a lot of problems which were passed on to myself and my brother, but they were not entirely (I repeat ENTIRELY) her fault, she was simply doing what she had learned. I broke the cycle, recognized the problems, and corrected them. That is a tiny fraction of my story, I hope you get the idea.

The answer that I promised above is this: God places people in such situations to make you strong. That is what He did to me. I came to know Jesus Christ and had to sort out all the things of my past. It was very hard, but it was necessary for God to do His work in me. Because I preserved through that trial, I have been made strong in Christ.

Accidents

Some people suffer the loss of a husband, wife, mother, father, or ‘breadwinner’ for the family. Such a tragedy can leave people feeling hopeless and alone. These situations produce financial strain, emotional strain, and a whole host of other problems. To rebound from an accident takes creativity, often times people have to move, sell property, learn to live with less, get food stamps. The people effected might not understand, but the people in the Lord must recognize that indeed, God is still in control. He will supply all your needs, but perhaps not your wants. Read Matthew 6:25-33.

Persecution without a cause

This often occurs when people are active in ministry in some area. This goes to classic martyrdom where people are (even today) killed for their profession of faith in Jesus Christ, down to being teased. They are all forms of persecution. I have not been killed for my faith, but I have endured some other things. My family thinks that I am a ‘religious nut’, my brother questioned how I could be so stupid to believe in a God when I know so much about science (the ironic thing is how much God actually reveals about Himself in science that my brother doesn’t know about because he knows nothing about science). I am active in children’s ministry at church and beyond the church. I have had people pass Michael Jackson and Catholic Priest jokes at me for being single and working with kids. Such things can undermine your faith if your faith is not genuine. I know I have nothing to hide because 1. I have not done anything inappropriate with a child, and 2. As the adult in the situation, I have the responsibility to guide all conversations and actions in a Godly way.

All such persecutions from teasing up to killing are all things which test the faith and make you stronger. To get a firm grasp on this, I highly recommend you read John Foxes ‘Book of the Martyrs’.

In conclusion, when you find yourself in the middle of a problem, pray to God. Ask for endurance, patience, perseverance, knowing that it will make you a stronger Christian in the end.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

2005-09-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

It’s been a while since I have written. I have been busy posting weekly on my other blog and doing a bunch of other things. The year is starting to normalize again, so I should be able to write more, but I wanted to place up a Gospel of Jesus Christ in condensed form. Mind you, people want to find the short ways to tell the message of Salvation. I don’t often agree with these. There is the ABC method, the Romans Road, and a series of other things. Let me clarify something for you. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Testament of the Bible are there AS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE. It does not do much good to condense it. Therefore, if you read this post and want more information on the life and purpose of Jesus Christ, don’t ask someone who does not know Him! You can contact me (by posting a comment or sending me an email) or you can read it! A bible is available in any bookstore, or you can simply go to The Bible Gateway and read it for free.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

It starts with the Creation. God created a wonderful planet which operated perfectly (Genesis 1:31). God had fellowship with Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:8) in perfect love and harmony, however, there were rules they had to follow (Genesis 2:16-17).

With the deception of Satan under the disguise of a serpent, the human race fell (Genesis 3:1-7). With the fall of the human race, sin entered the whole world [not just people] (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 5:12). The most devastating thing about the fall was our separation from God (Genesis 3:23-24). We became corrupt with sin, death is now on our lips, our deeds are evil and twisted, we seek darkness (Romans 3:10-18).

God created the human race for fellowship, but through our sins and transgressions, we earned nothing but eternal separation from God, the wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23a).

God came onto the planet as a man named Jesus Christ (John 1:14); this was to set into motion His plan of redemption (John 3:14-15). Jesus was the incarnate God (Philippians 2:5-8), taught disciples to carry on His message of repentance from sins [that is, to change our mind about sin] (Luke 24:44-47) and set out to pay for our transgressions out of His love for us (Romans 5:15-17).

Jesus Christ died on the cross for His elect (John 10:22-29; 19:16-30). He rose from the dead to assure us He could raise us in the last days (Luke 24:1-12).

He kept us in the world to pass on the message of repentance from sins until He returns (Luke 24:46-47). We are not justified in any way by our sacrifices or good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but on God’s own sovereign election (Romans 9:16).

Prior to genuine belief, He transforms your heart to give you a desire to follow Him in obedience (John 3:4-8, 2 Corinthians 3:18). Salvation comes when you believe Jesus is the Son of God who paid the sacrifice for our sins (John 1:12). When you truly believe [not in a casual sense, but a full sense], you will have a desire to renounce your sins and follow Him in obedience (1 John 5:1-4).

He promised to return to gather us to Him later (Matthew 24:29-31). All people will have a resurrection. Those that are His will practice His commands in obedience to Him, they will be returned to fellowship with God after a judgment period (Revelation 21:3), but those that refuse His commands, will be cast into the pit of fire where there is eternal separation from God (Revelation 20:15).

The point is this: Repentance from sins is the mark of the regenerate elect [those that are both elected AND in the state of grace]. Salvation is about restoring what was created, a physical earth where there is no more sin.

Answered Prayer

2005-08-10T17:44:00.000-05:00

In my other Blog (www.bwwsot.blogspot.com), which is about the false teachings about the Britt World Wide (BWW) motivational organization attached to the Amway / Quixtar business, I analyzed a tape under the title of “Is Quixtar the Hummer that will lead you to your dreams?” I found the following teaching in that tape: Your prayers will never go unanswered if you pray with a right heart; a right attitude. I wanted to expand on this point from a biblical perspective.

Old Testament

I was in a Bible study last night where we discussed the story of Gideon (found in Judges 6-8). In chapter 6 verse 12 we read “The LORD is with you, O Valiant warrior”. Now, if you read the context, Gideon was your classic wimp. In fact, the Angel of the Lord caught up with him as he was hiding his only food from the enemy so he didn’t have to fight to protect it! This ‘valiant warrior’ stuff got to Gideon, so he asked God for a sign immediately (vs. 19-22). Later, he asked again two nights in a row for a miraculous sign of his victory (vs. 36-40).

To understand the context, Gideon was not TESTING God, he was asking for a sign, which was the Hebrew thing to do. That people always wanted a sign (which humorously was rejected in asking for a sign that Christ was God [Matthew 12:38-42]); this aspect does not apply to us today. What does apply is prayer, which DID apply then as well. It seems that some people confuse those two points. Prayer goes back to the book of Genesis where we read about the first prayer (Genesis 20:7) with the last reference in Revelation (Rev 8:4)

Praying in the New Testament

Prayer is actually misunderstood as it also tangles a twisted web with sovereignty, election, reprobation, and a host of other theological issues. I believe that prayer will change the course of things, but never outside the sovereignty of God. For example, I believe that the doctrine of election is very biblical and very clear. As such, I do not believe I can pray a reprobate into election (though I must pray anyway because I also lack the power to discern an elect from a reprobate), but I can, through prayer, effect the timing of ones salvation (this is just a thought and is open to correction if you have a clear argument to the contrary). There are also a host of other things that occur with prayer that I or anyone else would be foolish to suggest he knows what they all are. We do, however, have some particularly clear things about what prayer can and can not do.

Let us now examine the phrase: Your prayers will never go unanswered if you pray with a right heart; a right attitude.

In Charles Capps (a proponent of Word-Faith) “The Tongue – A Creative Force” page 12 we read:

YOU CAN SPEAK GOD’S WORDS AFTER HIM AND THEY WILL WORK FOR YOU. But, they must be formed in your spirit. They must be a part of you. They must abide in you continually.

Above that, we read that “Faith will make prayer work”

Apparently, all this means that God will give us our desires if we speak them (i.e. prayer) and have faith; i.e. a right heart and a right attitude. The Bible verse often pulled out to accompany such is found in Mark 11:23:

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea’, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted of him.

This verse relates to a metaphor, as John MacArthur states in the “MacArthur Study Bible” “’rooter up of mountains’, which was used in Jewish literature of great rabbis and spiritual leaders who could solve difficult problems and seemingly do the impossible.”

Examine now James 4:3:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Notice the negative conditional. The condition of the heart or the attitude is not that which is in question, but your motives. When we are conformed to the image of Christ, we will pray is motives that are pure, and in total alignment with the will of God. If you listen to the tape where I got the initial phrase in question, it was very cult-like and sought to fill your pleasures.

What is conformity to the image of Christ? It is acknowledgement of Christ as fully God and fully man, faith that since He rose from the dead, He can raise you as well, and obedience to the Word of God (The latter of those will be the RESULT of the former two). This should involve a confession of your sins and the need for a savior, being broken over who you are, and repentance, which is literally to change your mind about the sins you commit and lose the desire to do those sins. Contact me should you want more information.

I’m sure volumes more could be written on this topic, but that will have to do for now.

Stop your whining, you little Brat!

2005-08-02T08:12:00.000-05:00

Sadly, some parents do talk to their kids like that. Even more sad, is the proliferation of books to teach the parents NOT to talk to their kids like that. Very sad, indeed. That language is a good sign that something is not right in your heart. How then, do you handle a child that whines?

Well, let me start by saying I have over 11 years of work with kids. Very few, if any, ever whine to me. Those that do, tend to only do it once. Why is that? I will tell you later, but first, here is what the experts say:

Starting with James Dobson (I must say that as a Christian, I do NOT like or support the majority of his work). On July 20, 2005, his ‘James Dobson Family Minute’ was talking about how to stop your child’s whining. It struck me when I heard it because it was similar to the ‘advice’ given by some other books I was reading at the time. I disagreed with the books and then also with Dobson. His advice for when your child whines:

I can’t hear you; you are talking with a whiny voice. My ears are funny and I can’t hear a whiny voice.

He explains that once you hear the normal voice, you say ‘OK, now I can hear you’.

To examine this, the Bible is very clear about lying. 2 Peter 2:1 states:

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

This includes little white lies and those such instances which you are USING THE LIE TO CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR OF YOUR CHILD! This is a form of manipulation.

I thought it funny that Dobson also stated in that same message that any behavior learned by reinforcement will be retained. What happens when your child takes after you and starts to use ‘little white lies’ to change YOUR behavior. I think you see that you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

Other suggestions in the field are such things as leave a note for your child, even if he can’t read. Such will result in him running to you to ask what it says which point you can ‘non- threateningly’ tell him ‘oh, it says mommy and daddy don’t like to hear a whiny voice’. I think there are a few other methods as well, but my books on the topic are still packed away. I’ll post more later as I see it.

What works:

I mentioned earlier that I have never had many kids whine to me. How do I accomplish this? I simply understand a few points:

1. Kids need attention

2. Kids are fallen creatures and prone to the same sins that we are

3. Kids are made in the image of God and need to be treated with total respect

Method:

1. LISTEN TO THEM. They are whining because they feel hurt, alone, or scared.

2. Help with any immediate need. They may just want to be held, they may need to understand a brother or sister just yelled at them (which needs dealt with), they may need to know that you are indeed thinking of them, they may need to be told politely and with love to go and play for a little while.

Considerations:

1. YOU are the parent; the child has one and only one command from God: Obedience! This means that you don’t bow down to his every need, but you are polite and considerate of his feelings, especially because a child’s feelings can be hurt a lot easier than an adults.

2. You must learn the balance between your child’s needs and desires. You need to help to meet the needs, but not necessarily the desires. Use the desires as first point disciplinary devices, NEVER the needs.

3. Don't try to do more for your child then you need to. It can be damaging doing everything for him, particularly if he can do it for himself; however, doing such things occationally is not a bad thing, especailly if he has a lot od stess and might need help with things from time to time.

I have found all these points critical. The child will honestly stop whining if you treat him like a person.

Is it OK to eat your baby's clone?

2005-07-26T07:39:00.000-05:00

This one is not about parent child communication; this is a current event…

I was struck by the introductory comment on today’s short message called “Just Thinking” by Ravi Zacharias. He started out with this introductory comment:

Science can not tell you if it is right or wrong to eat your own baby’s clone, but it can tell you that’s what you are doing, and then can tell for yourself if you think it is right or wrong.

With an introduction like that, I had to listen. The fuller extent of the story goes on to explain that a chef cooked a human placenta and fed it to people. One person pointed out that this act is an act of cannibalism. Another pointed out that it is the clone of the baby that grew within it.

So, it is right or wrong to eat your own baby’s clone?

Post-modernism has a death-grip on this world. To understand post-modernism, we must go back to modernism. Francis Schaeffer was a prolific author on these two trends. Modernism happened when society as a whole cast off the idea that we can come to truth only by revelation. It believed that truth could be found in the pursuit of knowledge; searching high and low until discovered. Many people wrote what they believed were truths (all contradicting God, of course), but many others intellectually refuted the writings. After a while of this, people came to the thought that indeed, there is no truth; in such a world, people make up their own truths. This is where we are today. Everything is right if it is right for you. Of course, since sin is prevalent in us, what is perceived as right to us is what we desire to do. As our nature, we seek our pleasures and justify them when we get there.

The reality of the matter is that there are absolutes in this world and they extend far beyond a simple thought that only taboos are taboo. In reality, the definition of truth is that which has fidelity to the standard. In a world created by God, the standard is God. John 14:6 says “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” In John 3, Christ says that He is the light. It is REALITY. He explains it in full detail in John 3:19-21:

¹⁹"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰"For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹"But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

And this is why people get so offended with the truth claim of Jesus Christ.

Science tells us that we need to decide what is right or wrong based on the facts, God, however, decrees what is right or wrong. You will be tired, worn, and weary as long as you resist the will of God. If you are doing things that bother you, listen to that voice. It is the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. The scripture reads in 1 Corinthians chapter 6:

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

But there is also hope to be cleansed, as the next verse reads:

¹¹Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

In conclusion, first, it is wrong to eat your own baby’s clone. Listen to Ravi’s message, he is a very intellectual Christian who can answer a lot of questions; he is one of the regular apologists for the Christian faith that I listen to. The website is: www.rzim.org. Next, if you have not placed faith in Jesus Christ, repented of your sins, and begun the long journey of obedience to the word of God, I encourage you to do so. Please contact me if you would like any further assistance.

To ask or not to ask; that is the question

2005-07-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading many books on adult-child communication. This is yet another area where non-Christian society has finally said "My golly, what we are doing is not working!" And then they try to find the way to fix it (without God of course).

I just finished reading some of the books that are supposed to be the best in the field. I found myself crying and praying to God for the duration. That seems to be what I need: A good apostic book to increase my prayer life. There are far too many things to tackle in one post, so I will break it up. This is the first I will tackle.

In the book "Between Parent and Child" by Haim Ginott, (and repeated by his 'disciples'), if your child has done something wrong and you know it, you are not supposed to ask as this places your child in a hard situation (that being to confess or lie), if I remember correctly (the book is packed away, I will confirm this when I get it out of storage) this was brought up under the section on how to encourage your children not to lie. With this in mind, turn in your bible to the book of Genesis and Chapter 3. Verse 11 tells us:

"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

To examine this in detail, did God know that Adam and Eve ate from the tree? YES! He knows everything. Did they lie? No, they passed blame and that is just as bad. I agree with Ginott that asking the child WILL place him in a position to lie. That is why you provide the evidence...then he will simply pass the blame. This is HUMAN NATURE..i.e. SINFUL NATURE. What the child needs is to be confronted with the truth of his wrongdoing, admit that he did wrong, admit that he lied (if he did), admit that he shifted the blame (if he did), and accept the responsibility for the action.

The next step is to let him know that God still loves him, you still love him, and let him know that everyone does wrong and his discipline is to help him overcome the desire to do 'bad' things, and that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is suffient to pay the penalty for the sin, but the consequences of the action are still there (i.e. if the child stole, the he still must face the social legal system, though the sin is paid for.) Look in the next few verses. God still loves Adam and Eve, but they still must face the consequences; in this case removal from the garden.

In conclusion, either God did not read and know Dr. Ginott's book, or else Dr. Ginott is missing a few pieces to his logic. We don't need a source to teach us how to effectively communicate with children, we need to exude the love of Jesus Christ and then all this will be added.

2005-07-20T17:07:00.000-05:00

Greetings all. Just a short post here to get things under way.

I am a Christian. I have no tolerance for apostasies to the Christian Faith. I will work on this blog to expose some of the apostasies that I see around me as I live my life.

Peace In Christ,
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