Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I don't do politics. I gave it up for lent... and the other 325 days of the year also. I'm trying to rid my life of idols, those man made things that become between man and God. Yeah I post a lot of Hillary memes on my Facebook page, but that's probably my outrage over a person under investigation for espionage being nominated.

I love this country, I volunteered to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I gave 20 years of my life, I parted ways with my youth, my health, my family, my home (numerous times) and now as I find out my spine, and I don't regret one moment. In return all I ask is what was promised to me in the contract I signed.

An impassioned sermon by Pastor Paratus on the idols we build in our every day life, I looked at my patriotism and realized that my love of country was infringing on my love of God. My prayer life was suffering due to my political life. Giving up this idol was both very difficult because my love is deep and passionate, and very easy because let's face it, we haven't had true leadership in Washington since the 80's and this election cycle promises to to be even worse regardless of who wins, the biggest losers will be us. Yes these following couple of links are political in tone, but they're harbingers of what is to come

History Lessos: Those stories the hyperventilating lap dog press corps breathlessly gasp about Hillary Milhouse Clinton being the first female candidate for president - they're just blather. The first woman to be nominated by a major party was Victoria Woodhull (and don't be fooled, her party was gaining a lot of steam in 1872). A personal hero of mine, Fredrick Douglass, was nominated to be her vice president. He didn't even acknowledge the nomination for one very good reason (guess who else was a Republican - and don't believe for a second the left wing shrieks of denial)

Hillary Milhouse Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine claims to have been a Missionary, but when it comes to political graft he is just as sticky fingered as his running mate. (I don't believe I was able to write a sentence with the words 'Hillary' and 'mate' without gagging) That whole "Ethical" vs "Legal" thing must have escaped him. Oh wait, he was a Roman Catholic missionary.

Democrats hate God and his elect so much they protested against chicken sandwiches (you can't make this stuff up)

Spurgeon Thursday - Is it Bigotry To Preach The Truth?

When discussing Hillary Clinton's past CBS anchor John Dickerson recently asked President Obama: "FDR and Lincoln were both talented at letting both sides of an issue think that they agreed with both of them. Is honesty overrated as a presidential quality?"

Mister Obama said that it was, then danced around the subject for 2 full minutes. Honesty and the truth are the first victim of politics, but that's politics. No sane person truly expects honesty out of an elected official - they're humans which makes them sinners. 

However the pulpit is no place for dishonesty, but dishonesty does creep into the pulpit when the bible isn't there. This quote from Spurgeon was written over 130 years ago, just imagine what it would be like if the Prince of Preachers had heard the likes of Osteen, Meyers, Furtick, and anyone in the NAR.

IS IT BIGOTRY TO PREACH THE TRUTH?

“I cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before me. Would you have me eat poisoned meat because the dish is of the choicest ware? It makes me indignant when I hear another gospel put before the people with enticing words by man who would fain make merchandise of souls; and I marvel at those who have soft words for such deceivers. ‘That is your bigotry,’ says one. Call it so if you like; but it is the BIGOTRY OF THE LOVING JOHN, who wrote, ‘If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.’

WWUTT Wednesday - The Power of Positive Thought

Mr Osteen is famous for saying awesome positive uplifting things that just tug at your heart strings and make you want to go climb mountains and grab that treasure chest full of gold that God has miracled into existance just for you. 

He says awesome inspiring things like

“God would not have put a dream in your heart if He had not already given you everything you need to fulfill it."

And

“You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.” 

And other pastors of his ilk like Joyce Meyers and Beth Moore say close to the same thing, so God must have created the world just for me (and maybe even you) right? The bible is full of passages that tell us that the power of positive thought is all that God asks of us for us to conquor the world, right?

Not so much

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

ISIS, ISIL, IS... what ever. That name is dead to me, any of those names are acronyms I refuse to use any more. Primarily because IS stands for "Islamic State" which gives those agents of Satan a legitimacy they do not deserve. Instead I'm going to follow the example of the House of Commons and refer to these savages and murderers as Daesh. The word Daesh is an adapted acronym of their Arabic name - Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham - is similar to another Arabic word - das - which means 'to trample down' or 'crush', and these thugs don't like it. They never explain why they don't like it, they just don't. They don't like it so much, they have threatened to cut the tongues out of anyone that uses it. That's a way to raise the opinions of anyone you want to impress - threaten to mutilate them.

In the words of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott  "Daesh hates being referred to by this term, and what they don't like has an instinctive appeal to me." So yeah - Daesh Daesh Daesh. What are you going to do? Kill me? You can't threaten me with Heaven.

A great explanation why we Christians need to stand against the acts of depravity that God condemns and this sick society loves.

Why I am not a Continuationist

Spurgeon Thursday - Politics

In Spurgeon's day England had a state controlled religion (Anglican) which was kind of a compromise between Catholicism and Puritanism, competing with an evangelical upsurge that Spurgeon himself was leading. As always, his words then ring loudly now. Substitute the Church of England for the US Government's state controlled religion (Atheism) and substitute the holy sacraments of atheism: homosexuality, illegal immigration, and state sponsored race riots, for the fripperies that Spurgeon mentions and this could have been written yesterday.

To the spiritual Churchman we would say:—Take the eighteen volumes of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, and see if you can find eighteen pages of matter which even look towards politics; nay, more, see if there be one solitary sentence concerning politics, which did not, to the preacher's mind, appear to arise out of his text, or to flow from the natural run of his subject. The abstinence of the preacher from such themes would be eminently praiseworthy, if it were not possibly censurable; for he may have neglected a distasteful duty. 

WWUTT Wednesday: The Thief Comes to Steal, Kill, and Destroy

I love the video selected for today, if anything at all, it shows that a verse taken out of context is easily misconstrued. So many bible verses can be misused, one that seems to be especially and joyfully misused is Matthew 7:1 which is the one verse nonbelievers always seem to have at the ready to justify their bad behavior.

A real classic is Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. I see that everywhere: on t-shirts, on bumper stickers, on greeting cards. It's used as a rallying cry to climb mountains, win championships, paint the house, etc. However in context it's much different, Paul was letting the church of Philippi know that God has strengthened him in good times and bad. Paul was harassed, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and finally imprisoned and he endured all due to his faith in God and his love of Christ.

Deluded by a False Spirit

What does the bible say about ethnic harmony? 

34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. (Acts 10:34-35)

People that think that their ethnicity is all that matters are deluded by a false spirit, they've been taken in by a lie. To God there's only two kinds of people, those that worship him, and those that do not.  There's no breakdown of black or white or brown or red or yellow. In fact the bible never even says "race". As Peter said in acts, there's only two kinds of people in God's eyes. Jesus said it too:

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matthew 12:30)

To God there's no race but He does categorize humans into two groups, there's those that love and worship Him, and everyone else. He makes this distinction  regardless of skin color or country of origin. Racism is a human construct, with a little.help from Satan, of course. But what does the bible say about racial harmony? Nothing. Like I said, God doesn't care about race, for He is spirit and being created in His image, we are spiritual beings. Skin color has no bearing on a spirit, He calls for us to love each other regardless of skin color or country of origin;

Emergent Monday - The NAR Has Their Own Bible Part 4

Holly Pivec at Spirit of Error is doing an outstanding job and exposing the New Apostolic Reformation so while my job has been quite ratcheted up, I'm going to repost these articles that Holly has revisited regarding the NAR bible. (Remember what I said about a cult? "Stay away from any group that has made their own bible")

In my past three posts (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), I looked closely at a new translation of the Bible called “The Passion Translation,” produced by NAR apostle Brian Simmons. I showed why it is not a trustworthy translation.

In this post, I will show four things to look for in a trustworthy translation. To illustrate those characteristics, I will contrast the The Passion Translation with another newer translation, the English Standard Version (ESV).

Four Characteristics of a Trustworthy Translation

A trustworthy translation is produced by a team of translators. Unlike The Passion Translation, which was produced by a lone individual, the ESV was produced by more than 100 Bible scholars – an international team from many denominations. Why is team translation work important? It provides checks and balances to make sure that the translation is accurate and doesn’t reflect the pet theological views of just one person or only a certain group of Christians.

A trustworthy translation is produced by reputable scholars. Apostle Simmons’ single credential – other than the fact that he claims to be an apostle – is that he assisted in a translation project of the New Testament for an indigenous people group in Panama. But he apparently has no formal academic training – only the on-the-job training he received during his eight-year stint in Panama working with New Tribes Mission.

Emergent Monday - The NAR Has Their Own Bible Part 3

A fragment of a Greek manuscript of the 

Gospel of John that dates to the second 

century. This fragment is housed at the 

John Rylands Library in Manchester, England.

Holly Pivec at Spirit of Error is doing an outstanding job and exposing the New Apostolic Reformation so while my job has been quite ratcheted up, I'm going to repost these articles that Holly has revisited regarding the NAR bible. (Remember what I said about a cult? "Stay away from any group that has made their own bible")

In my last two posts (Part 1 and Part 2), I wrote about a new NAR translation of the Bible, called The Passion Translation, which features drastically changed verses of Scripture. See three of those changed verses here.

In this post, I show how the translator of this NAR Bible, apostle Brian Simmons, attempts to justify his changes to Scripture.

In short, Simmons claims that the vast differences in meaning are the result of his decision to translate many verses from Aramaic manuscripts – not Greek manuscripts.  (Yet, I must mention that even those verses he claims to translate from the Greek are still drastically different.)

Simmons said the reason he decided to translate from the Aramaic is because new discoveries have revealed that the New Testament was originally written in the Aramaic language, not Greek.

Here is what Simmons says, in his own words.

“For centuries, it has been believed that the New Testament was first written in Greek. … Some scholars now lean increasingly towards the thought that Aramaic and Hebrew texts of the New Testament are the original manuscripts, and that many of the Greek texts are copies, and a second generation from the originals! This is radically changing translation concepts, and will result in many new translations of the New Testament based on Aramaic.” [Excerpted from “Translator’s Introduction” to Letters from Heaven by the Apostle Paul, the fourth installment of The Passion Translation]

Astounding Claims

These are astounding claims. If what Simmons says is true, then that would mean that all the standard English Bible translations–including the King James Version, the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the English Standard Version – are not based on the earliest and most trustworthy manuscripts and should be replaced by new, more reliable translations, such as Simmons’ Passion Translation. 

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Probably the hardest thing that our Lord and Savior told us to do is to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," (Matthew 5:44), and this week we have a lot to pray for. The tribulation continues unabated for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Africa, China, and India.

Today we have people which we as Americans find it even harder to love and pray for - such as Micah Johnson who shot 12 Dallas police officers, killing five of them. And for Barack Hussein Obama who's "Shoot off your mouth now, blame the cops, get the facts later" approach which started soon after his election by saying the "Police acted stupidly" when Cambridge police responded to a breaking and entering call. His anti-police rhetoric reached it's zenith with the riots in Ferguson Missouri and the formation of Black Lives Matter which now has become a terrorist organization. (Of course to me, this says everything you need to know about Obama) Still, Romans 31:1 says Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. So not only are we to love and pray for our leaders, we are to thank God for them.

Planned Parenthood found "callous and irresponsible", which is understandable for a corporation based solely on killing over 350,000 babies a year

Gaystapo Rising Dept - Christianmingle.com has been forced by a judge in California to homosexual prowling. Will they force sites like gaydar,net to include heterosexual conservative Christian dating? I sincerely doubt it.

Sermons on biblical sexuality illegal in Iowa?

Spurgeon Thursday - The Best Sermon

Charles H. Spurgeon liked to related this story of a young English preacher delivering a sermon before a renown pastor of many years:

Upon finishing his sermon, the young man went to the old pastor to ask how he had done: "What do you think of my sermon, sir?" he asked. 

"A very poor sermon indeed," he said. 

"A poor sermon!" said the young man, "it took me a long time to study it." 

"Ay, no doubt of it." 

"Why, then, do you say it was poor; did you not think my explanation of the text to be accurate?" 

"Oh yes," said the old preacher, "very correct indeed."

"Well,then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn't you think the metaphors were appropriate, and the arguments conclusive?" 

"Yes, they were very good, as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon." 

"Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?" 

WWUTT Wednesday - Watch Your Language

Rare is the person who cannot hit their thumb with a hammer and then not express the sudden shock and pain with a verbal explosion of some sort. Even a solid Christian may let slip an expletive on occasion when in this situation. Worse yet, a Christian may also verbally explode when talking to or about someone who has been frustrating them in some manner. 

I, as a sergeant in the Armed Services, was no stranger to "blue language" (it was the Air Force, of course it was blue). If you committed a safety violation on MY beloved airplane, especially with live weapons in the area, I would let my displeasure with your heinous act be known loud and clear. In military parlance I would "Chew you up one side and down the other for 20 minutes without repeating myself, making you wish your momma never met your daddy."

The mark of a true professional sergeant was to be able to do that 20 minute chew-out without using profane language. What you are saying at full volume is still swearing, there's just no profane language being used which requires a lot more mental effort to be put into your "counseling session". Whenever I have the misfortune to hear Gordon Ramsey speak I think of the well known quote

What Did Our Founding Fathers Really Think About God?

You see numerous quotes from atheists whose hatred of God (the God in whom they claim not to believe) drive them  to fits of historical heresy whenever they find a quote from a Founding Father that espouses the joy in serving God. They find a quote and take it out of context to proclaim that the founding fathers were 'deists'

On this Independence Day lets declare independence from these self centered zealots bent on domination and find out what our founding fathers really said

George Washington
1st U.S. President

"While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."

--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

It's been a very long past few weeks. Work has been busier than I've ever seen it, mostly because I've been moved away from my traditional job of troubleshooting existing systems to developing new systems that I'll eventually have to troubleshoot. Along with work I've been visiting my doctor(s) quite often for a myriad of odd complaints that have been popping up.

Finally Dr. Awesome was able to figure out what all these weird occurances was - they were all symptoms of iron deficiency anemia. (and yes, I had ALL of those symptoms and some of them were pretty rough) Cool, all I have to do is take an iron supplement? You rock, doc! However, Dr. Awesome now wants to know why I had iron deficiency anemia in the first place... so I'll be spending a big chunk of July in and out of the hospital getting radiated, and poked, and scanned in all kinds of uncomfortable places (like the Internal Medicine lab, it's very uncomfortable in there)

All these coming appointments will be eating into my vacation time but it's such a blessing. I get to meet some of the most dedicated, caring professionals God has ever graced the planet, each and every one is a joy to visit. A few of my favorite nurses have left for other things, one up and got her commission in the USAF (Congrats Capt. Laura!) and another went on to oncology (what a tough, heart breaking job). Thank you Father in Heaven for blessing us with these wonderful men and women who dedicate their lives to making our lives just a little better (and please forgive me for the jokes I make about helping Dr. Cardio with his yacht payments) As for the rest of the world...

Who has a right to speak out about homosexuality after the slaughter of homosexuals in Orlando?