Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

As you may have noticed, I've been "off the air" quite a bit lately. I've had some back issues and recently I had surgery on my spine to alleviate some of the pain (And if you want to ask how the operation went I can only say that I was unconscious at the time so I really can't say) Ok, so I'm in Recovery Mode and I have plenty of time to write, right? Time I have, brain cells not so much. LOTS of great ideas come to me, the Holy Spirit is shouting great things but the pain killers are making the connection between thought and keyboard Oh wow! is that a squirrel? Cranberry

BREAKING NEWS! IRS agents have raided the office of Benny Hinn. No one really knows what they were looking for, some claim it has something to do with an unregistered lightsabre, others claim is involves a friendly fire incident involving dozens of military members, while others insist the blame lies with his Jacket of Smite. Personally I'd like to see him investigated for turning the worship of Jesus Christ into a circus

This is both Awesome and Horrible. Awesome because if this catches on we're going to see some big name folks whose fortunes were built on false teaching switch to prison ministry the hard way. (I personally am ready to testify in US v. Furtick - I have documented evidence that Steven Furtick is NOT in the bible). Our ranks are going to be cleaned of chaff and the goats are going to set loose and will have to look for some other social club to fill their time (I suggest a bowling league, there's no annoying karaoke at a bowling alley)

However it's going to be Horrible because for one thing, many of these goats that were cut loose probably won't find a suitable bowling alley and many will infest legitimate churches with their selfish desire for signs and wonders and corrupt those once Christ centered congregations with their sinful desires.. But mainly because these former preachers/current felons are going to become the face of Christianity in the US. There's a real potential for a future that when America thinks of Jesus they think of Mark Driscoll being frog-marched into a prison bus, Creflo Dollar hiding his face coming out of a court room enroute to an extended stay in Attica, Joel Osteen wearing an orange jumpsuit picking up trash on the side of the road with a stick and a nail and an armed guard

As delightful as these mental images are, these thieves are going to be the image of Christianity. We are going to be treated as pariah, outcast from society because of the image of these wolves. And the more that I think of society rejecting us and the bandwagon followers leaving our fellowship the more I'm looking forward to it

Happy Earth Day

On this Earth Day, rather than worshiping an inanimate rock that doesn't know or doesn't care about you, let us praise and worship God, who gave us the earth because He loves us

HE IS RISEN!

To Deceive, if Possible, Even the Elect.

There is a ton of videos on YouTube that show the similarities between Easter and pagan rituals, beliefs, and fables. The saddest part is I have only paid attention to the videos that are from Christian sources and they concentrate on those similarities. Many of these videos concentrate on rabbits, eggs, hot cross buns and crossing oneself, and tie them to ancient Babylonian beliefs and much of that is unrelated to modern silliness regarding rabbits, eggs, hot cross buns and crossing oneself.

The silliness about rabbits, and eggs comes to us via German Lutheranism and has it's roots more in Christmas and Santa Claus than in ancient Babylonian myth that Europeans had completely no idea of until the 18th century. The word Easter doesn't come from Ishtar - it comes from the word Eostre which is the early Anglo-Saxon word for the Spring Equinox 

Ishtar the Mesopotamian goddess has nothing to do with Easter and everything to do with Isis the Egyptian goddess and Aphrodite the Greek goddess. Each of these "mothers of Heaven" had a lover that was slain and was restored in some form thanks to Ishtar/Isis/Aphrodite. Ishtar restored Tammuz, Isis restored her brother/lover/husband Osirus, and Aphrodite restored her lover Adonis. 

All of this has nothing to do with Jesus, the true Son of God, brutally tortured and executed as a sacrifice for our sins and risen in glory from the dead. If anything these fairy tails prove only that when Satan comes up with a good lie that's pleasing to ears desiring a good tickle he likes to tell it over and over to distract us from the truth and to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 

I'm sure we can all agree that there is no queen of heaven even if one is being worshiped by the neo-pagans and has crept into LDS teachings, and that to worship one is purely blasphemy as loudly proclaimed in Jeremiah 7:18. At first glance (and second and third glances) these Christian sourced videos appear to connect Easter with these pagan rituals. Rather than properly showing the difference between these fables and the pure truth of God many of these videos instead concentrate on the similarities between the truth and the lies. 

I believe that this is a plot crafted by Satan. A 'baby christian' still trying to grow in their faith sees this or someone who is still considering the possibility of God's truth sees this and their reaction is that Christianity is all a lie. Satan wins. 

We should be concentrating on Jesus' victory over sin, not the lies of Satan. and if your 3 year old finds a colored egg behind the couch, so what? We are commanded NOT to quarrel about holidays which includes how we like our eggs after Easter service - hard boiled and colored or over easy 

5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. (Romans 14:5-6)

Spurgeon Thursday - I'm Sick of Being Sick

My personal health has been waning these past few weeks, but some things will get better soon, but still, I'm sick of being sick. 

Charles Spurgeon on the other hand actually saw the Holy Spirit at work in his maladies. Spurgeon suffered from chronic nephritis, a kidney inflammation similar to Lupus. At the age of 35 he was diagnosed with gout, a painful inflammation of the joints. In 1886 he said, “When I am suffering very greatly from gout, if anybody walks heavily and noisily across the room, it gives me pain” 

But worse, he Spurgeon also suffered from depression. “I do not suppose there is any person in this assembly who ever has stronger fits of depression of spirits than I have myself personally” Early in his career he witnessed seven people trampled to death during one of his services. After that he said “The very sight of the Bible made me cry” and later  “I think it would have been less painful to have been burned alive at the stake than to have passed through those horrors and depressions of spirit”

But he came through the fire, and was aptly named the Prince of Preachers. Here's several of his quotes regarding how the pain of illness is one of God's strongest tools

“Perhaps at this very moment, down in some cabin, or amidst the noise and tumult, and the raging of the ocean, when many are alarmed, there are Christians with calm faces, patiently waiting their Father’s will, whether it shall be to reach the port of heaven, or to be spared to come again to land, into the midst of life’s trials and struggles once more. They feel that they are well-cared for, they know that the storm has a bit in its mouth, and that God holds it in, and nothing can hurt them; nothing can happen to them but what God permits.” “Safe Shelter” (MTP 15, Sermon 902, p. 650).