Santa or Jesus?

Santa of Jesus?

Jolly, fat, dresses in a red suit with fur trim. Has a wide belt and black boots. Sports a full white beard. Keeps a list of who is “naughty” and who is “nice”. He refers to this list when deciding to give gifts, which he does once a year. The naughty get coal and the nice get good toys. Rides in a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer that fly. Lives in the North Pole and has elves that make the toys that he gives out each Christmas. Santa gives up one night of the year so the deserving boys and girls could get toys and such that will not last.

Looks pretty much like any other Jewish male of his time. As a man he was poor, but in reality Jesus is the King of kings. Jesus knew everything about you before the world was formed, every action, every thought, every sin, and because of that He gave up his throne to live among us so that through his death he could give us his righteousness, his holiness, his perfection, his joy, his peace, his healing, his authority. In fact, if you are on Santa’s naughty list you are the one Jesus died for so you could share in all his riches. He offers these and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, eternal life, and fellowship with God the father to anyone who would simply receive him and believe him. He is the gift God gave to us one Christmas and this treasure of fellowship with God can be received anytime of the year, and never wears out. It is eternal. Jesus gave of himself completely so that we might receive all that he is. The offer is to all of us because no one is worthy. There is no one on the “nice” list, but by his shed blood on the cross he moves us into his own home in heaven to fellowship with him always.

This is just a quick comparison, and it only bears up if Santa were a real person. We know there was a historical Saint Nicholas, but he has been dead for close to 1700 years. In contrast we also know that Jesus was a historical person and although he died some 2000 years ago he rose again and is alive forever. So when Christmas rolls around this year, who are you going to choose?

Just a couple of things

(Warning: These are my pet peeves and are not meant to be statements of Biblical truth, nor are they meant to be attacks on any persons or groups that practice these things. This is just me being me)

Worship. I believe church is to be a place of worship, but exactly what worship is has been redefined so many times by so many different people that I find the "worship service" to be anything but that.

The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God," so while I'm trying to be still before the Lord (as my form of worship) I find it difficult when I'm being told to stand up, raise my hands, clap (or offer a clap offering) not to mention the music that is blaring so loud that every parent on the street where I grew up would have complained about the noise. I can barely hear myself think, so I wonder how I'm supposed to hear the "still small voice of the Lord." Then I find distractions. The same people seem to dance (in the same place in the church to have maximum visibility), twirlers with flags or other kinds of things to twirl, musicians who are doing the rock band thing with contemporary Christian music. This distracts me. I don't want to be distracted when I come to worship. Call me crazy, but I want to focus on Jesus. And what's with these contemporary songs? I know they can be good and should be woven into the fabric of a song service, but is there any possible way of singing the same songs, I mean at least long enough so we can learn them instead of singing a new song every week? And check out those songs first. Unless really moved by the Lord I don't want to repeat the chorus 15 times. I can't help but think I'm not alone in this. Christian comedian Ron Peason talks about our worship songs this way. He says he likes to sing songs that have meaning, like, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." I agree with him. He goes on to point to a contemporary "worship" song that goes, "Our God reigns. Our God reigns. Our God reigns. Our God reigns. Our God reigns." He says, "It sounds like it was written by some 8th grade cheerleaders. Some of us old folks would like to sit down after standing for 2o minutes babbling the same words. (Remember, this is just opinion, my pet peeves. If you can't handle it read something else, because I'm just blowing off steam.)

The other thing that really gets me is these new Bible translations. Don't get me wrong, I think having something in contemporary English can be a real plus. But did you ever go to a church where the congregation was asked to read out loud with everyone else the passage of Scripture that the pastor or evangelist or whoever will be using from their text. A few of us are reading in the King James, several others in the New King James, a larger portion are reading from the New International Version, a couple from the New American Bible, and then there is this huge group reading from "The Message", which is basically an upgrade from "The Word". It isn't even a translation, but a paraphrase. So you have all these people "reading together" and no one can understand what the other is saying. Isn't that a bit confusing for the visitor?

When I grew up there were basically 2 translations, the King James and the Revised Standard, although my dad also studied the Philips Amplified Version, just like I may study from my Greek/English interlinear New Testament. But for reading out loud you really need to get everyone on the same, ahem, page, so to speak. For me it was the King James Version. We were encouraged to learn and memorize Scripture, by both my parents and the various teachers at church, all in the King James Version. Now I hear them quoting one of the verses I've memorized and ask, "Where is that in the Bible?" Read and study whatever version you are comfortable with at home, but please, for the sake of us old people who have learned the King James, read from the King James, or if that doesn't suit you, flash the version up on a screen or something so everyone can read from the same script. Otherwise, in my opinion, all you have is confusion.

Well, that's it for now. You go have a marvelous day in the Lord. As I said, I was only venting, these aren't doctrinal points you need to worry about. (Of course maybe you might want to give some of the things a little consideration, but that's up to you.) - David

Heterophobia

We have all been bombarded by the gay community with the term "homophobia." It's been attached to anyone who says they are against homosexual activity, whether they love the homosexuals or not. That is the basis of something very different, "heterophobia." If you haven't heard of the word before, don't worry, I more or less coined it.

Let me set some ground rules here. I am not straight nor am I gay. I am as God intended me to be, a male with a passion for my wife. I do not hate homosexuals, but I do detest the act of homosexuality, that is the intimate sexual act between people of the same sex. I bring to you the Wisdom of God's Word as well as some very interesting observations. I also want to get something straight about God's Word. When we talk of a God who is a loving God, we don't mean that He lets everyone into Heaven and allows any activity. I'll get into that later.

In fact, let's get into that now. In 1st John 4:7,8 it says, "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and everyone who loveth is born of God; and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love." From those last 3 words people get the idea that God, being a loving God, would never pass judgment on anyone, much less send them to a place of eternal punishment. Excuse me? How could God then be a just God, for He must be both a just God and a loving God. Say for instance a person was pulled over for speeding, although they really weren't. Another person was pulled over for a hit and run. A third person was arrested for murder. The latter two are guilty of their actions, but the first one is not. Now they happen to go before the same judge (which won't happen in our society, but for the sake of the parable stick with me), what would you think of a judge who let them all go free? He might say something like, "Mr. Jones it appears that you have been tried and rightly convicted of murder. But I'm a loving God. No penalty will be given. Have a nice day. Case dismissed." Wouldn't you feel as though justice had been denied, at least for the victim of this murderer? So you see, saying God is a loving God must, by reason of logic alone, be a just God. That means there will be those who get to Heaven, and there will be those who go to Hell. The important thing to remember here is that God is the One who paid the price for all of our sins, past, present, and future, for all of us, but it is up to us to ask for His forgiveness. Failure to do so results in US choosing to go to Hell instead of Heaven. It's not God's fault. So stop blaming Christians, the church, or God for being unreasonable, and start taking some responsibility for our own choices. Deuteronomy 30:19 says, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." God clearly not only gives us a choice, but He tells us which choice to make.

Okay, back to this homosexual thing. How in the world is it right for you to judge me and not for me to judge your actions? This is the heart of heterophobia. Heterophobia is "Hate speech" directed towards people who have a different sexual orientation than homosexuals. Most Christians I know have taken a hard line against homosexual activity. My pastor, God bless him, has said he will never marry homosexuals in his church. Is this because he hates them? No, it is because he loves them. Confused? If you were sick and needed medical attention a doctor saying you were okay would be harming you, right? So would a man or woman of God. We don't hate homosexuals, but we hate the kind of sexual activity they have embarked on. We also realize that one sin is the same as another in the eyes of God, that is, none is acceptable. So we aren't putting people down, but we are letting them know they need a doctor. I remember talking with a man who admitted he was gay. I asked him if he ever wanted to get out of that kind of lifestyle. He said he did, but it was impossible to escape. That's correct, but God gives each of us His power when we come to Him to be released from our sins, whatever they might be. As I was explaining this to him another man came up and started ranting about how the homosexuals run the ad agencies, Hollywood, the fashion industry as well as most of the arts. He said this guy would be crazy to leave the gay community. This second man knew his lifestyle would bring him and all those who took part in it to death, and yet he was bound and determined to make sure others were bound to that same eternal punishment. Is that love? Is this what they mean by being tolerant? If so then count me as being intolerant, because I want to help those who wish to be helped. Plus, that little verse over in Romans about homosexuality actually talks about these people. For it says in Romans 1:32, "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." This is not love. This is lust. This is sin. This is hatred towards those they say they love, which is possibly the worst kind of hatred, because it is betrayal.

I'm writing all of this because the New York State legislature, in their vast wisdom (or lack thereof) have made same sex marriages legal. The thing is I have yet to meet a homosexual couple that are pure homosexual. By this I mean there is a male and a female in each partnership. Oh, they might not have the body parts or the right chromosomes to be one or the other, but these couples are clearly defined nevertheless. Without getting too raunchy here if you look at a couple of gay males, one will be the dominant male, the other takes the role of the submissive female. "She" usually is the one who dresses like a woman, or at least softer than the "male" counterpart. In lesbian relationships you find the same thing. One is acting out the male part, while the other is acting out the female part. So even homosexuals agree that their relationship can only work if there is a male and a female, even if it isn't strictly biological. That should be telling us something. It should be telling us that they are aware that the laws for marriage should be between one man and one woman. But because of their lust they have decided that one can play the part of what is missing. Do you realize what harm this does to both of these people? And we aren't even talking about an eternal punishment. In Genesis 2:18 God says, "It is not good for man to be alone." In the 22nd verse we see how God takes a rib from the man and fashions from it woman. Then God brings the woman to the man. Why, because it is not good for man to be alone. Most interesting is what God says in verse 24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Listen up you who think that homosexuality is something God thinks is okay, or something that is natural, or something we should accept. Man, that is Adam, was formed first. In him, and only in him, did both the male and the female life in one body. When God took from Adam and created Eve the ONLY way for that special union to occur again would be if a man and a woman came together. It's not just to make babies, as some have said, but it is to bring man back to that perfect union with God. He needed a partner, because he was alone, but he needed that loneliness to be filled with himself in the form of a female counter part. You cannot get away from this. You cannot join two men together and get one. You only get two men. You cannot join two women together. You just get two women. However, if in love you take a man and a woman and join them, then, and only then shall there be "one flesh", one union that will stand the tests of time. One union that can be filled with the glorious Light of God.

My dear friends in the gay community, please hear what I am saying. You are dealing dangerously with your life. I do not want that. God does not want that. For this reason He sent His Son to come down and die so that all your sins could be wiped away, and mine as well. If I stepped on your toes, perhaps it was to keep you from continuing on and falling into the abyss that stands before you. It isn't to hurt you but heal you, although only God can truly heal. Do not claim that God accepts what you are doing and condones it. Own up to your sin or you can never be free of it, for you will never repent of it. It would be the same for me if I denied that I had problems with my temper. I wouldn't ask forgiveness and therefore wouldn't receive it. Both those who are homosexuals and those who act on rage will go to the same place of punishment, but both can be restored through the love and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, whose blood can make us perfect and holy before God.

What the Bible Really Says About Swearing

By David Brollier

Some of you may not like what I’m about to say. Others will try to use my words as an excuse to use foul language. So let me preface this with this statement: I am giving this teaching as a writer, one who tries to portray characters realistically, and in no way do I endorse foul language.
That being said there is a false teaching that swearing is an evil thing and must be avoided. People tend to go to Exodus 20:7 to prove their point, but that verse says, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. In this instance God is not talking about swearing, not even as we would call it swearing. Instead He is talking about using His name in a way that is empty and does not recognize the fullness and greatness of God. In some sense then, people who will use God’s name in a sentence, or more likely a profane utterance, are guilty of breaking this commandment. Yet so are people, who claiming to be Christians, use the name of God in a more subtle, yet more evil manner. They might talk about how God has sent them to speak to you personally when, in fact, He has not. This is taking the Lord’s name in vain. Whenever we use God’s name in a manner that does not exalt who He is we can be sure we are breaking this commandment, at the very least.
However, swearing is quite a different matter. To swear means to take an oath. In our culture we have revised it to mean saying anything profane. Now some people will use, among others, the following Scriptures to prove that swearing is the same as cursing:
Leviticus 5:1 And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
Jeremiah 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
Hosea 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Hos 10:4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
The Hebrew word for swearing can best be interpreted adjure, according to Strong’s Concordance. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines adjure with these words:
1. to command solemnly under or as if under oath or penalty of a curse
2. to urge or advise earnestly
So then one who swears is one who makes an oath. These bind themselves in a way that God did not intend for us to be bound. Still, we see that this word does not, necessarily, mean cursing, although it may include that. An instance in Scripture is when Peter denied Christ, then denied Him with an oath, and finally cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus. (Matthew 26:69-74) There is instructional teaching here about how we can bind ourselves with our own words, but we’ll pass on that for the moment. I just want you to see that swearing isn’t necessarily what our society has re-defined it to be.
The closest we really get to our social definition of swearing, which we also call cursing or using profane language, is found in the usage of vain speech. Here are a few Scriptures that speak to that topic:
Ephesians 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
1Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.
Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision.
1Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
Even here the definition of the word vain is empty and much of the time either deceitful or lying. Profane speech is also mentioned, but what is profane speech? Strong’s Concordance defines profane as being; properly to bore, that is, (by implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one’s word), to begin (as if by an opening-wedge); denominatively to play (the flute): - begin (X men began), defile, X break, defile, X eat (as common things), X first, X gather the grape thereof, X take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.
Profane speech then is that kind of speech intended to inflict harm. Often it slips out of our mouths during times of frustration or anger. It is both improper and sinful, but like all sin, can be removed by taking it to the Cross and letting the blood of Jesus wash it away.
I’ve put all of this together because Christian writers are being bound by a social understanding of what swearing is rather than a Biblical understanding. Even were these publishers and Christian markets correct they are avoiding the fact that we all have used words that were profane, cursed, swore oaths, and were otherwise empty or vain. When a Christian writer wishes to portray something in his story he or she may well have someone utter something that is inappropriate for the Christian. This is because they are either not Christians in the story, or because even as Christians we often fall short of being the holy people God has called us to be. We can actually use these words to show the difference between the people of God and the people in the world. We can also show how a Christian must deal with the awesome, and sometimes deadly, power of the tongue.
I am not an advocate of putting in curse words just to spice up the story, but I and many other Christian authors, recognize that this is the way people speak. In a recent work I used the word Gosh!” This in itself is watering down what he really would have said. My editor advised me to change it to Horse feathers. Can you see how ridiculous this is? We are talking about a hardened NYPD detective, and although he’s a Christian he’s dealing with the stress of being in uncomfortable surroundings. The word I should have used was damn, but somehow I don’t think the Christian community would like that either.
So I am, cautiously, advocating using certain curse words in a Christian work if they are needed to make the character realistic. I do not want to see these vile words punctuating every sentence, but I do want to see publishers and markets open to the usage of these words in an artistic and sparing manner. It is not the way we should talk, and as such gives us an example of how we should not speak. It is, however, the way people do speak, and making your characters realistic is a good portion of the story. Without realistic characters you may not even get the story out.
So I’m asking for there to be an open-mindedness about using these words. Is the author using them to harm people or be dramatic? Or are they using them to create a more realistic atmosphere for the story?
As a parting thought I’d like these people who have tried to bind Christian writers to take a hard look at the Bible. If any book were to be banned on use of language it would be Scripture, but God makes no apologies for His Word. If He is the One helping us to write shouldn’t we have the same freedom as the Author and Finisher of our Faith?

Pay Attention to What You Are doing

VERY GRAPHIC

If you look at this, you'll never text or cell phone
While driving again!!!


THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT BE TEXTING OR USING YOUR CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING.

This is the last few feet of a car that hit a semi head on!!

This guy was texting a friend when he crossed the center line!!!!


THIS IS WHY...


AND THIS ....

AND THIS ...

AND THIS ...

AND ESPECIALLY THIS ...


WE'RE NOT DONE YET... But If you have a weak
Stomach you might reconsider scrolling any
Further.




This is not the way you want your picture to be taken.
Every time you make a call or pick Up the phone while driving, think about how this guy's day ended.

STAY OFF THE PHONE! HANG UP AND DRIVE, OR PULL OFF THE ROAD!!!!

Jesus said, "No man having put himself to the plow and turns to the left or to the right is fit for the kingdom of God." He said that He would rather that we be either hot or cold, but if we are lukewarm He will vomit us out of His mouth. How many of us, however, have allowed our walk with God to grow cold? How many of us no longer feel that intense love we once had for our Lord? How many of constantly keep turning to the left and right? We are like that man on the cellphone trying to drive. Yet there is one difference. Our eternal spirit is at stake, not just the life of our body. Focus. Fix your eyes on Christ, the Author and finisher of our salvation. Be sure that you are in Him and that His word lives in you. In Revelation the Ephesians are warned because they strayed across the center line and lost their first love. Jesus warns them to consider the height from which they have fallen.

While we are in this sinful flesh we are going to make mistakes and be in constant struggle, for our flesh wars against the very will of God. Yet, we can be assure of these facts; if our mind is set upon the things of God then even our sins are committed, not by us, but by that sinful nature we carry around with us, that our holiness is not in ourselves, but in Christ. He has made us worthy to stand before our Heavenly Father. Only do not take this for granted. Those who take this for granted do not have their minds set upon the Spirit of God, and their end is destruction. They stray across the center line, as did the man above, but they shall not run into a truck. Instead they shall run into the full wrath of God. Turn while there is yet time, for His love for us is boundless. Nothing can separate us from the Love He gives us through His Son, Jesus Christ. So focus, but not on the things around you, but rather on Jesus. Then follow the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and love others as He has loved you. In this you will find peace and safety, not just after we die, but now.