Steven Furtick Update

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

A peaceful transition of power happened again, it's one of the things that those of us who served this country in the Armed Forces hold dearest. Yeah, we care who wins and looses, but in the end the transition of power happening without exchange of gunfire and militias surrounding the White House is what we hold dear. And this transition was again peaceful... well mostly peaceful. It's quite obvious that those who have rejected God as their true ruler have also rejected the time honored skills of dignity in defeat and conducting polite conversation. I occasionally view the conversation on the "Christian" Left group on Facebook and lately have discovered that for many of them their God did not create the universe, their God lost the election. I have been known to post Romans 13:1-7 as a reminder of who is really in charge, but that is either ignored or falls on deaf ears.

This Random Bits update is late because I was busy working and other things (Hey! That Xbox isn't' going to play itself!) but also because of following coverage of the March For Life. 

Speaking of the March For Life, after the bloodbath the Democrats received at the state level a tsunami of  pro life legislation is flooding state chambers

The Free Burma Rangers are bringing food, medical aid and the love of Jesus to some of the worst places on earth

Pray for Huang Yan, a Christian woman in China who has assisted a number of Christians targeted by the Chinese government. She has suffered two miscarriages due to the beatings she has received from the government. Now she has ovarian cancer and the government has refused her medical treatment. 

I mentioned that Islamic prayers denying the divinity of Christ were sang in a Scottish Cathedral to "celebrate" the Epiphany. The Queens Chaplain called it blasphemy (and rightly so) and he lost his job over it. 

#WhyWeMarch

#WhyWeMarch

Today is the day

Spurgeon Thursday - Sermons

WWUTT Wednesday - This is Not Going To Make Some People Happy

This video will not make some people happy, but I'm not here to make people happy, I'm here to chart my progress as I follow my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you enjoy reading my words good. If this entry angers you, please leave a reply as to why it angers you. And keep in mind, I moderate.

So let me preface this video; for 20 years I served this nation honorably in arctic cold and in blazing desert heat. I served on beautiful tropical islands and on the polar opposite of beautiful tropical islands: eastern New Mexico. I gave up my youth, my family, and my health to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and all I ask (other than my contractually guaranteed compensations) is that the Constitution of the United States remains the law of the land. I also ask that it is read and understood by our leaders with at least an 8th grade level of reading.

What I mean is this - I hear (from the left naturally) that the 14th amendment guarantees "equal treatment under the law". It says no such thing, it guarantees "equal PROTECTION under the law". If it guaranteed equal treatment we'd all be paying the exact same tax rate and we'd all be getting welfare checks regardless of our actual income. I'm sure you all can come up with some very good examples of how reading the first and second amendments the way they were written would change society. And what about the 10th amendment? why is that one ignored?

And it's exactly the same with the bible, I can only ask that people read the bible and preach what is says, not what they want it to say. Seriously Frank, what were you thinking?

Montanism - Nothing to do with Montana

St. Mary's Lake in Glacier National Park Montana

I've noticed that the word "Montanism" was appearing quite often in the WatchBlogosphere lately. When you see that happening it may be the Holy Spirit using Watchbloggers to spread a word that God needs spread, so I pay attention to these occurrences.

As I said,the word that I've seen being used is "Montanism" which at first I thought was an overly complex word that Christian theologians like to invent and smack about like a badminton shuttlecock. The next thing that came to mind was 'Montana' as in the state, or 'Montaña del Norte' which was the original Spanish name for the entire Rocky Mountain area (mountainous country of the north). But, of course, Montana and 'Montaña del Norte have nothing to do with Montanism. Nor is Montanism one of those 4+ syllable words that theologians love to invent, Montanism is actually a heretical form of Christianity and has been around for quite a while.

Montanism was known by its followers as the New Prophecy and to its adversaries as the Cataphrygian Heresy. It started as an early Christian movement in the late second century and was named after its founder, Montanus. Little is known about Montanus, and what documents that survive do not paint a complimentary picture. This is probably because the beliefs of Montanus and his followers contradict orthodox Christianity. Followers of Montanism unbiblically recognized women as bishops and presbyters (overseers and priests/elders) and also unbiblically claimed that apostles, prophets, bishops and presbyters had the the power to forgive sins. Even the Apostolic Church at the time realized that only God has the power to forgive sins (however confession has to be performed through a bishop or priest) But there's more, much more.

MLK

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I have been feeling a call lately to help free our brothers and sisters in Christ from the bondage of the modern day Pharisees of the Roman Catholic church. I've published a blog entry this week and have more planned. It appears that Glenn Chatfield is feeling the same call (but he missed another easy indulgence - if you follow Mr. Pope on Twitter you get an indulgence). So is Triablogue who realizes that the Roman Catholic church is simply making stuff up to justify their practices. (Anyone who reads the catechism or the Council of Trent will realize the truth of this)

I've mentioned before that sometimes I get the impression that the Holy Spirit needs something broadcast and He occasionally uses us bloggers. This seems to be the case right now with the Roman Catholic Church. If you feel the call to rescue someone from the bondage of legalistic heresy, any legalistic heresy, take it from me a recovering Catholic, the beauty and peace of God's word is what it takes. Put the "bug" in their ear about the truth of salvation by grace through faith and let the Holy Spirit do His thing. No need to flog them with Colossians 2:8.

Minnesota "faith" leaders are now openly violating US immigration laws, they are intent on violating Romans 13:1-2. I looked at the director of this movement's twitter page and her tweets contain no theology, but 100% anti-Trump propaganda. (If you look at this link you'll also see that it's cold in Manitoba. In other news; scientists have discovered that water is wet) I had a twitter conversation with Doran Schrantz, she appears to be very nice but she use bible verses horrifically out of context to justify violating federal law and she's very upset about the "Russian hacking of the election" which turned out to be fake news. I said to her "I find it ironic that someone who is so upset about cyber security makes their money penetrating border security" She hasn't responded

Bomb threats were called in to at least 16 Jewish Community Centers in 7 states, hundreds were evacuated. At the same time threats were called in to several Jewish schools in Britain. No explosives were found.

WWUTT Wednesday - Can a Catholic Be Saved?

Can a Roman Catholic be saved? Look at this crucifix carefully - This crucifix has a skull and crossbones on it, The skull and crossbones is said to represent the bones of Adam who was supposedly buried directly beneath the cross. It was told to me once that it symbolizes Jesus' victory of life over death (my response was "Wouldn't an empty tomb show that better?) Another explanation is that  Christ was crucified at Calvary. Calvary = Golgotha, and Galgotha = the place of the skull. 

According to ETWN the answer is the combination of all the above. Personally I believe the best answer is that there's no real answer. Symbology and iconoclasm is deeply rooted in the Catholic church, yet the meaning of these symbols changes over the centuries to reflect the popular viewpoint. The faith of their faithful is placed in gimgaws, trinkets, pomp, ceremonial babble, and gilt without end that the saving power of Jesus' sacrifice is ignored in favor of the man with a triple crown on his head who claims to represent a man who never had a place to lay his own head 

Local Carpenter Wows Them at the Nazareth Synagog

Luke was a historian so he built his Gospel on historical evidence that proved Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. Luke skipped some of the miraculous stuff that was reported in other Gospels like the wedding at Cana. Luke looked for the legal proof, it may sound that he was being legalistic but he was being legalistic. This is because he was living in a legalistic society and early Christianity was merely another facet of Judaism, so it made sense to concentrate on actual proof based on prophesy.

Luke covered the prophesies involving the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus then covered the actual births and circumcisions of both. Luke skipped the flight to Egypt, and I guess this is because even though it's an important narrative, it does nothing to advance the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and legitimately the Messiah.

What could be more beautiful than Luke's coverage of the Baptism of Jesus, explaining how Heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a Dove and God spoke aloud “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” The only time the Trinity is mentioned together in the text of the Bible

Then Luke traced Jesus linage back from his legal father Joseph to David, and on to Adam proving legally that Jesus was of the linage of David, a needed item in the checklist of identifying the Messiah:

Twitter Account

Personally I think Twitter is going to do a Hindenburg in the near future. Twitters share price has fallen 45% in the past year. They've had nine straight quarters of declining growth and they have fired 9% of it's work force as a result. Several companies (Google's owner Alphabet Inc, SalesForce.com and Disney) walked away from a potential buyout. 

Their technology is stagnant while their rivals (Facebook, SnapChat) are constantly innovating. Twitter's interface remains almost identical to the interface I saw when I peeked at it years ago. Our President elect has spoken to the American public more in the past few weeks via twitter than the Previous president (Mr. Barack Milhouse Obama) has spoken us in the past 8 years via anything. But when Mr. Trump wants to stream live video he uses Facebook, not Twitter, which when you take in account Mr. Trump's love affair with Twitter, this is a bad sign for the little bird.

With all that going against it I figure why not? After all, I am a Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabers fan, So I threw my hat in the ring for the dying underdog. You can reach this blog, Asleep No More via Twitter easily, I'm hiding behind @W_A_Christian on Twitter. Not sure If I will be verbose, but then how verbose can you get in 144 characters?

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Today is the 12th day of Christmas, so if you've been keeping track your true love should have showered you with  12 drummers drumming, 22 pipers piping, 30 lords a leaping, 36 ladies waiting, 40 maids a milking, 42 swans a swimming, 42 geese a laying,40 golden rings, 36 calling birds, 30 french hens, 22 turtle doves and 12 partridges in 12 pair trees for a total of 376 gifts.

It's also the Epiphany, the day we choose to celebrate the visit of the three wise guys magi. The word epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” In essence we are celebrating the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, who were represented by the magi. For those of us with a liturgical urge this may be a bit more important than Christmas, because on Christmas Christ was born to save the Jews, but on the Epiphany we gentiles entered the picture and He accepted our meager gifts. Have an Exceptional Epiphany doesn't roll off the tongue as smoothly as "Merry Christmas" but it will if we all remember that this is the day that we, as wild as an olive shoot can get, were first grafted in to share the nourishing of God's grace (Romans 11:17)

A new country has been added to the Top 12 list of countries that persecute Christians. Anyone who didn't expect this hasn't been paying attention

This persecuted Christian needs your help

The US Senate takes the first step in defunding Planned Parenthood

Christianity Is The Most Persecuted Religion in 2016

“This is a new age of martyrs. It’s a time when those who believe in the transcendent generosity of Christ are driven from their homes to suffer exile. It’s an age of blood spilled at a ravaged cross.

Even Bethlehem, within living memory a majority-Christian city, has driven out the followers of Jesus until perhaps a dwindling eighth of the population is Christian.” - Col. Ralph Peters, US Army Retired

It's hard to believe but 90,000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ are gone just in 2016 alone. They were taken from us and taken to glory simply for their love of Christ. This is less than the 105,000 Christians that were slaughtered in 2015, That means 195,000 saints were taken in 2 years. This years total of 90,000 martyrs in 2016 is one Christian murdered for their faith every six seconds. 

According to Professor Massimo Introvigne, director of CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, approximately 70 percent of the martyred Christians were from "tribal villages" in Africa in tribal conflicts. There they are considered easy prey because they will not take up arms. The other 30 percent were Christians who fell victim to terrorism or governmental persecution.

Furthermore, there are between 500 and 600 million Christians who can not practice their own faith in complete freedom. (source). Think about it - we have 600,000,000 brothers and sisters who cannot even open a bible in a public space, that's almost twice the population of the United States. And now the rabble that slaughtered the Christians in the middle east are pouring into Europe, raping the women. 

Bad times are coming for us, the fire that tests Christian's faith and love for Jesus Christ is slowly enveloping the world. When the fire reaches you, you are going to have two choices; deny Christ to save your hide or to proclaim your love for him and suffer here on earth. Are you anchored in your faith? Look around your church next Sunday, how many congregants in your church would be willing to profess their love for Jesus Christ if their lives were on the line? Draw close to them.

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. (1 Peter 4:12-16)

Learn more about the persecution of Christians worldwide, and what you can do to help.

Source

2016

My dad, 12/25/1935

This past year started with the death of my father, he died just hours into 2016. I needed a doctor’s signature to travel, which was difficult to obtain on a holiday weekend. When I finally accomplished all that paperwork I returned home to take my dying dog to the vet to be put down.

At the funeral I found that my mom's dementia became so bad she has no idea who I was any more. 2016 didn't get much better, not long after returning from Dad's funeral, my wife's dog died also.

There were also problems with health insurance which involved getting a drug that would deal with my pulmonary hypertension, even my cardiologist was confounded by the paperwork battle.

Then in late spring I was suddenly afflicted with non-stop back pain, and my doctor kept cancelling my appointments forcing me to find a new doctor who sent me to therapy which helped for a little while, then the pain got worse

Meanwhile at work, my work team was shook up with management changes, work direction changes, and eventually 30% layoffs.

But we know from Romans 8:28 that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God

In the weeks before he died my father accepted Jesus as his Savior. Our dogs are out of their pain and our house is now filled with a new flock of rescued cocker spaniels. In August my wife and I were able to get away on a real vacation and spend some needed time together visiting friends and family in Florida and seeing New Orleans

The drug that my cardiologist fought for was effective and I am now able to hike up to 2 miles nonstop while at the beginning of the year a half mile mosey was the end of my limits.
In fact, most of my medical issues are slowly improving, while in Florida and Louisiana I was able to operate without oxygen

2016 was filled with sorrow and pain but also with joy and love and I spent in knowing that Jesus was with me every the way guiding me and giving me comfort, as was my church family.