SHOULD WE PRAY FOR.....THOSE WHO HATE US?

27 But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.....(Luke 6:27-29)
The Christian life is not the way of the world. In fact, God Himself, Abba Father said so in Isaiah 55:8. Thank God, for that ….that His way of thinking, doing things and dealing with matters concerning humanity is not the corrupt, narrow-minded and incorrect thinking of all mankind. By the way, thank the Good Lord also for what He has done. If it were not for His Grace, Mercy and Longsuffering and patience with us, no one on this planet would make it to adulthood. He is a good, good Father.

It is this mindset, of a loving patient Father, which allows each of us who were perishing in our sins to be even alive to be forgiven, if we ask Jesus to be the Lord and Master of our lives and to forgive of all our sins. There is a reason He said immediately in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel”.

This shows us the urgency of our redemption, since we who are saved can grasp this bold truth. It is this positional truth which gives us the latitude to be magnanimous towards those who hate us, who will always hate us and who will never come to faith and repentance as we have.  We are heirs of a Kingdom of the One Who forgave us and then commands us to pray for our enemies.

There are those who will never like us on a personal level and as human beings. There are those who offend us in the world of the corrupt culture; media; academia and political leadership. We are called to pray for them, even those who promote abortion and every abhorrent anti-God thing out there. We are in the age where every man does what is right in their own eyes. God will deal with those things and its by-product. Our job is to pray for them especially for those who harm us.

It is not easy, to be perfectly honest. I had one of my supervisors who hated me for almost a decade. This person hated how I looked, the color of my skin, my wife and my lifestyle.  I had to put up with blood-curdling rants with eyes building and spittle flying and not respond with a single word of anger or self-defense. Instead I prayed this person constantly into the most capable Hands of the Lord. The end result of all of this, turned out to be a rare positive. The super used to asked me to pray for her family whenever there was an emergency. She ended up getting saved after her husband passed away and is now a regular church goer. This is a rare occurrence resulting from “praying for those who hate you”. A broken widow coming to the Lord after a  life of hate and bitterness is a rare and wonderful thing. However it is not so for the majority. They perish in their sin and apparently seem to prefer this, rather than submit to the Lord of creation.

What is beneficial to the Christian is this – obey the Lord and pray for those who hate us. We do so not because we want “burning coals" on their heads,  but because He says so and we want to be obedient. No matter how disgusting and evil those who have wronged us may be, when we pray for those kinds of people, we are being Christ –like just like our Lord Who looked down from the Cross and said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Our enemies know what they’re doing….but so does God and unless they eventually find His forgiveness and grace, they will have been storing up wrath for themselves, for a Day to come, while we remain above the fray, safe in the Arms of our God.

Father, in the Mighty Name of Jesus, help us to see beyond the immediate, even the hurt and pain caused by those who despise us, destroy us, degrade and deny us. Give us the wisdom to know that it is better to follow Your Word and Your counsel completely and to pray for the salvation and forgiveness of those who have done us wrong,  no matter what they have done. 

We pray that by doing so, You will give us a true peace which passeth ALL understanding and bring us to a place where we can rest under the shadow of Your wings, knowing that our position in You is not only secure, but that You, in Your Power, Might and Sovereignty – have this situation under control. We can rest in this, my God and my King. Thank You. We bless and praise Your Holy Name and ask for the strength and courage and yes, unconditional love to love like You love us, so that many will see, including our enemies and come to the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is in His Name, we pray, amen.

(Photo Credit Here)

RAY COMFORT'S NOAH, THE MOVIE....& SEA SAND DISCOVERED IN MIDDLE OF MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS

Popular (and sometimes controversial) Evangelist Ray Comfort has done it again! Hot on the heels of his life-changing (and popular to millions of viewers) Pro-life movie "180" and the even more controversial "Evolution vs God", Ray and his Living Waters ministry has gotten out in front of the upcoming multi-million dollar Paramount "Biblical Epic" Noah movie- NOAH AND THE LAST DAYS.

Using his now trademark modus operandi of releasing fast moving and unique docu-interview movies which are released FREE and directly to YouTube with videos financed by supporters as evangelism tools, Ray Comfort has not only filled in the glaring gaping holes left open by the Russell Crowe NOAH movie, but given the TRUE lesson of the Flood.

After viewing the just released movie (soon to be out free on YouTube), it is clear that Ray has now become the True Voice of One Crying in America. The prophetic proclamations are evident as these modern days are even more corrupt and evil than those in the Days of Noah.  There is absolutely no difference between the depraved state of mankind from over 2500 years ago as recorded in Genesis 6, and the perversion predicted in Romans 1:18-32 (click here to read).

Genesis 6:5-8 carries the basis of the LORD destroying the earth with the Flood  5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

We are living in days where it is so horrible that everyone does what is right in his/her own eyes. Ray Comfort has listed 10 signs which every believer should be on the alert for, in such days as we have now, to avoid sin and reach the lost. This is basically the message which the massively expensive Hollywood version of Noah misses. These ten signs are:

1. Love of money (2 Pet 2:1-3)
2. Wars, earthquakes, famines (Matt 24:7)
3. Moon will turn blood red (Acts 2:20)
4. Blaspheming God's name will be common place (2 Tim 3:1-2)
5. Increase of acceptance of homosexuality (Lk 17:28-30)
6. Religious hypocrisy will be prevalent (2 Tim 3:5)
7. People will deny God as Creator (2 Pet 3:3, 5-6)
8. Fear of the future (Lk 21:26)
9. Scoffers will mock the end times saying warnings have always been, but nothing's happened (2 Pet 3:3-4)
10. People won't take the end times prophecies seriously (Matt 24:37-39)**

Everyone of these ten prophetic proceeds unashamedly in 21st Century America, where even people inside the church are committing some of these same atrocities against the Holiness of God. Each of the ten Biblical prophesies stand on their own and came alive when Ray interviewed (on camera) ordinary Americans. These people exhibit such a lack of biblical influence, knowledge and discernment, that they are living examples of each of those ten points/bible-based prophesies of these last days.

While the interviews are bad enough, the most stunning segment of Comfort's NOAH THE

MOVIE, was the interview with Professor of Geology and Oceanography, Rich Behl of California State University-Long Beach. Professor Behl argument against the Flood was so disjointed, wrong and just plain stupid that it will leave you scratching your head when you see it! He is the living example of the the Lord s word that says in 1 Corinthians 1:27 "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong."

A couple of years ago, during a visit to Starved Rock State Park in Northern Illinois, something caught my eyes in a ravine about 100 plus feet ABOVE sea level that threw me, a man who has seen a fair share of different types of beaches. There was SEA SAND everywhere in certain parts of Starved Rock! It was clean, perfect, down to the nitty gritty sea sand. It was high up in a  ravine halfway up the mountain. It was down at the bottom of deep gorges, which had layers that genuine HONEST scientists and geologists would see was carved completely out by a flood. I spoke to two local man, who said that years ago, the local native Americans told of a BIG FLOOD which caused a shift in a lot of things on Starved Rock!! (SEE PHOTOS ATTACHED HERE)

It was almost as if...and it was indeed, the Lord confirming to a man who is not a scientist

or a seminary trained preacher, that He had been there and His flood took the sands off a regular beach and dumped it in mountains and gorges in the middle of a landlocked state of a huge continent! Only my God, the God in Whom I put my trust and Faith, can do this sign and wonder! Doubters and unbelievers abound in these last days, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. This stunning discovery in Starved Rock by a nobody like me and Ray Comfort's love for the Truth with Noah the Movie are but two small examples of the depth and width and scope of the Love of Almighty God, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth.

HERE IS THE WEBSITE FOR NOAH AND THE LAST DAYS, PRODUCED BY LIVING WATERS. IT CAN BE PURCHASED AS A DOWNLOAD RIGHT NOW.    

                                                                                CREDITS:

Photos of sea sand shot with telephone camera.

**Additional information from The Christian Post

SEVEN THINGS GOD HATES - #5: FEET QUICK TO DO EVIL

These six things the Lord hates,

Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 

A proud look,

A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that are swift in running to evil, 

A false witness who speaks lies,

And one who sows discord among brethren

Proverbs 6:18-19 

The most famous verse in Scripture about “feet” is most uplifting. The Word says from Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him Who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness,  who announces salvation….and says to Zion “Your God reigns!” These are the feet, which are when shod in the shoes of the Gospel (the part of the Armor defined in Ephesians 6:  ), brings the approval of the Lord.

So, what brings the abhorrence of about “feet”? What does the Lord mean by. “feet that are swift in running to evil”! Some English translations use the word “mischief” here for evil.  (The dictionary describes the word “mischief” as injury or damage caused by the actions of somebody or something.)

The  perpetrators of this mischief? Well, they are evil men and women! 

When a man or woman run to commit sin, they rob God of worship and honor. 

When a man or woman commit crimes, say, like Bonnie and Clyde – they’re swift to run to evil. 

When they rendezvous, while married to other people, they’re swift in running to evil. When we gossip and carry news from place to place which hurts another, we’re swift in running to evil. 

In Isaiah 59:1-8, the Lord describes all the very thing He abhors - evil committed with through the hearts and hands of men:
"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace"...

There it is in verse 7 ""Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood"....but these actions are just the outflow of the rest of that verse. Their corrupt hearts and minds (their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity) cause destruction all around them. We see this all over the world in the various genocides and civil wars of aggression. Wars and rumors of wars....evil just cannot help itself. It must find its own level.

Just in case you thought I only quote "Old Testament",  the Apostle Paul repeats and doubles down in Romans 3:10. He says "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:

17 And the way of peace have they not known:

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The Apostle Peter continues this teaching because God wants us to run AWAY with feet shod in the Gospel recognizing what 1 Peter 4:3 says (For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles–when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries) so we would not "run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you" (verse 4). Because we "will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead" (verse 5).

In light of what Scripture says to convict us of our folly and iniquity, let us run the race set before us like our Savior. He never sinned and even in the face of persecution, saw the Joy that was set before Him. He finished His race, so that we may do the same. Let us resolve to have final words like Paul who said in 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" Paul finished HIS race without losing his faith. Let us resolve to do the same.

Finally, let us then stand on Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  (2)  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God".

SEVEN THINGS GOD HATES - #4: A DEVIOUS HEART

This entire concept (of a "devious heart") goes completely against every western concept that we are really "good people". You would never hear about the "fallen nature" of man, or corruption of the human race; or even the word "sin". Nobody, in these days of extreme political correctness would even think they (you and I) were born with a devious heart.

Proverbs 6:16-19 New King James Version (NKJV)

These six things the Lord hates,

Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 

A proud look,

A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that are swift in running to evil, 

A false witness who speaks lies,

And one who sows discord among brethren.

Yet, the Creator Who made us, recognizes every single one of us as not just capable of unimaginable evil, but possessing a bent towards it. Jesus Christ, God Who became Man said as much in Mark 7:21 "For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come--sexual immorality, theft, murder,"  This is the outflow of the Adamic or sinful nature which each human is born with.  

Mark is the first book of the New Testament ever written and it was dictated to him by the Apostle Peter himself - an eyewitness if there ever was one. Peter is an interesting study of a man who was sold out to Jesus, the Disciple of Disciples and all that. Yet, the same man who cut off Malchus' ear trying to defend Jesus from the Temple Guard was denying Jesus three times, outside that same temple as the religious leaders captured Him for their kangaroo court.

Jesus also spoke of the evil of the heart further in Matthew 13:15 and just about described every human being ever born, before the Spirit and Power of God delivered you and I from spiritual wickedness and eternal death! The Messiah said "For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'"

This is never more evident when you watch the filth and degradation coming out of American culture today. Take one look at any American TV award show to see the depths of depravity of western "humanity". The recently concluded 2014 Grammy Awards is Exhibit A. We saw everything God described in Ezekiel 16:48-50 as to WHY He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Read on:

"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.…

America is modern day Sodom where its wealth, prosperity and power led to such easy living since World War II that we have gone slack in morality and cold in heart towards the Lord. The bad news is that God never changes and He has seen this before....thousands of years now. Man, in the wickedness and lust of everything ungodly, make the same mistakes over and over and over ahead.While these mistakes take several forms, which we can talk about for volumes, the underlying issue is Sin. While we are not allowed to talk about it in modern culture and even most modern churches, that too has never gone off the Lord's Radar....and He will punish it!

To help us avoid this trap of an evil and devious heart, which rebels against God, let us see briefly the sequence of events of Sin and how we can avoid it.

1. The world, the flesh and Satan throws temptation in our faces blatantly or subtly which triggers a thought and desire for that thing or person.

2.  Depending on the current condition of your walk with Jesus and where one is in the process of Sanctification, that thought or desire will trigger two things - either you will seek to gratify your own flesh no matter the cost OR you will be so disgusted that everything the Lord taught you will kick in and you will RUN away immediately (like Joseph and Potiphar's wife).

3.  If you choose the Biblical "RUN" option, you and I are in the clear. But here is what happens if you do NOT consider the cost of fulfilling that temporary lust of the flesh and discipline yourself - your heart will lie to you! YES! Your pride (sin #1 here) will like (sin#2)  and tell you that you "really deserve this. God is keeping him or her from you....or that new Mustang (which will put you $40,000 further in debt)....you deserve this....you work hard", And how about this one "you won't get caught"!!! DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?! THIS IS SATAN TEMPTING EVE IN THE GARDEN IN GENESIS 3!!

4.  Failure to run and instead listen to Satan and the flesh and your own wicked heart will result in death. If not immediate physical death, then death of purity...death of a clear conscience...death of a vibrant relationship with your spouse or the bank or worse - GOD!

This is where a prideful wickedly devious heart can lead a person. While God's grace extends to the Christian who sins and fall like this, there is a loss of eternal reward and the spiritual blessings in the eternal kingdom to come. This is the end result of the devious heart. This will work out in the end for the person who has been truly saved, but we should worry about those who walk in constant wickedness, such as we see on full display - not just out of Hollywood, but in our local schools; state capitols and all the way to the top of business and politics.

The only cure to make a heart right is to cry out to God, through Jesus Christ for Him to "open the eyes of your heart"! Great title for a song, as well as good theology like this will focus us on what is truly important - Salvation and getting your own heart, and mine, right with God. While Repentance may be a bad word today, it is still the only road to righteousness - from a Devious Heart! 

(MANY ASK: WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART? 

ANSWER: Sue Bohlin of Probe Ministries has a great and concise definition for us here - In the Bible, the heart is shown to have three capacities: to think (or believe), to choose, and to feel. The heart is really the "innermost part" of us to which David refers in Ps. 51)

(MANY ASK: WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE SPIRITUAL HEART? 

ANSWER: Sue Bohlin of Probe Ministries has a great and concise definition for us here - In the Bible, the heart is shown to have three capacities: to think (or believe), to choose, and to feel. The heart is really the "innermost part" of us to which David refers in Ps. 51)

KEYS TO A GODLY LIFE PART 11/12 - BE ON THE ALERT!

THE DAWN OF GLORY SERIES:

PLEASE READ THE PASSAGE, THEN - WATCH THE BRIEF EXPOSITION FROM THE PLUMBLINE VIDEO:

2 Peter 2:1-22

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who willsecretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and intheir greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals,born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

SHOULD CHRISTIANS STAY SILENT WHEN TRAGEDY HITS

PRAYER VIGIL IN NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT

Well, the answer to that question is NO! As America faces Judgment (yes JUDGMENT) from God for its mounting sins against Him, more and more events like Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Sandy or Tornadoes that destroyed Joplin Missouri (2011)...or the current horrific massacre like the loss of over 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut are going to draw people's attention to the time-worn question of "HOW CAN GOD LET THIS HAPPEN"?!!!

Whether it is an earthquake in Haiti or a Tsunami in the Far East where hundreds of thousands of lives are lost and millions affected, God always gets the blame - either the blame FOR it, or the blame for ALLOWING it to happen! We can go even farther than that - World War II and the Holocaust where six million of our Jewish brethren were murdered by the Germans and Hitler. Did God cause that? When the great American President Franklin D. Roosevelt REFUSED to allow the SS St Louis to land in the United States 1939 with 937 Jews fleeing Hitler by ship, and they were forced to return to Europe and sure death, did God cause that? NO! FDR did! They even made a movie out of it called the VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED.  We can look at the ill-fated voyage of the SS St Louis some other time. By the way, the Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King did the same thing as FDR!

Apart from natural disasters like tsunami, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes, criminal acts like what happened in Newtown are simply acts of Evil. 
It is the same evil of national socialism (Nazism) which caused the Nazi Holocaust.
It is the same evil of communism and Stalin killing 30 million Russians.
It is the same evil of communism and Mao killing 40 millions Chinese, some of it in an effort to wipe out Christianity.
It is the same evil of demonic tinhorn dictators like Castro, Pol Pot, the Ayatollah, Saddam....and on and on....
It is the same evil and political calculation to stay as far away from getting involved by FDR and Canadian PM Mackenzie King (re: the Voyage of the Damned).
It is the same evil at Columbine, Aurora, Waco, Jamestown Guyana...and now Newtown, Connecticut.
It is the same evil of 55 million abortions in America since Roe vs Wade in 1973.
It is THAT evil which entered the world in Genesis 3 and the Fall of Man.

The world refuses to blame Satan and the evil he has wrought on mankind since he ushered in SIN into the world, because the world has walked hand in hand with what the Bible calls 'the god of this world'. Former Pastor and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was asked by Fox business anchor Neil Cavuto the usual question which secular media people always  asked "How could God let this happen?" During Hurricane Sandy, people in the media, who do everything to dishonor, disregard and just plain "diss" God from their "exalted" chairs on ABC, NBC etc were asking the same question.

Maybe, as both a pastor and political commentator, Gov. Huckabee's answer was not as fully fleshed out as say Rev. Franklin Graham's or David Wilkerson's would be, but he was on the right track. Huckabee said "It’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we do not want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police, if they catch us, but we stand one day before a holy God in judgment…  Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we would not have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end".

Well, the good former pastor is now catching a lot of flack from it from secularists in the public square, both on the left and the right. Forget what those people think, was Governor Huckabee CORRECT? Yes. Should he have answered it that way? Maybe or maybe not, but he WAS asked a question. What was a man of God supposed to say? This is going to be a debate coming up soon, right before the evil and corrupt American culture tries to enforce laws against Christian speech, but watch for this phrase in the next two years "Freedom of Worship". US government officials at the highest levels are starting to use it both in this country and abroad. It is meant to silence Christ followers from proclaiming God's Truth of Salvation, Hope, Love, Sin, Pain, Death, Evil and the coming Judgment....and to prevent men like Huckabee from saying precisely what he said above. It is okay to preach inside your church, but "just don't take your Jesus" into the marketplace of ideas. 

When horrible shootings like Newtown or Virginia Tech happens, and well-known American pastors do not speak up, they leave a vacuum for secularism, pluralism and the growing "inter-faith" movement. You are moving to see more and more of this as the True Hope of Jesus Christ is watered down, as the followers of the god of this world play into the Hands of Biblical Prophesy. When the tragedy of Columbine happened, the good people of Colorado allowed a deeply moving service led by Rev. Franklin Graham where he brought the true comfort and hope of Christ to a grieving nation. However, we have not seen that sort of Gospel-centered message since (in response of national tragedies), except for Franklin's dad, Billy, at Washington DC's National Cathedral a few days after Evil from the Middle East hit us on September 11, 2001. 

So it is up to the people of God - us Christians - to pray for the salvation and comfort of the people of Newtown and especially the families of those who lost their precious young children, who are now in the loving Care of the Savior. It is up to us, the followers of Christ, to keep sharing the Gospel of our Lord and Savior...to keep sharing how folks can be saved from their sins...to keep sharing how to be delivered from evil and temptation and sin...to keep sharing, no matter what the world will say about us. Remember, my friends, the world hated our Lord Jesus, long before they hated us. What makes us think that they will love us now?! So be mindful WHO is watching us - God. He has the power of life and death - both now and in Eternity. He is the One to Whom we are accountable first and foremost. Let us now go and love others to Him. Evil is going to ramp up in these last days. God will get the blame. But the world will be sent to eternal shame.  Let's win many to Glory and Heaven, while there is still time. 

So, should Christians stay silent when evil and tragedy like Newtown hit? No...and a thousand times NO! We speak loudest when we speak directly to our God in prayer and through our love to our fellow man, regardless of what the world says.
Amen

THINK ON THESE THINGS - HALLOWEEN EDITION

The following article was written 10 years ago by elder Richard T. Ritenbaugh, son of pastor John Ritenbaugh who once pastored here in Illinois and Michigan. He wrote about an incident 10 years ago, when the Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas cancelled official "TRICK OR TREAT" so-called "celebrations" across the city!
Here is his essay on this day, Halloween:

HALLOWEEN RISING:

Howls of protest arose this past week because the mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, advised residents not to allow their children to trick-or-treat from door to door this year, due to the recent terror attacks on the U.S. 

His critics prated on several "how dare he?" themes: 

How dare he "cancel" Halloween? 

How dare he take such "fun" from our children? 

How dare he dampen our esprit de corps during our war on terrorism? How dare he further stifle our recessed economy? 

How dare he!

Though this happened in just a few places, it became a modest national uproar, even appearing as a major topic on national talk shows. A majority of Americans just love Halloween—many enjoy it more than Christmas, July Fourth, and Super Bowl Sunday! In terms of its impact on the economy, it already ranks second to Christmas, and it is comparable to Super Bowl Sunday and St. Patrick's Day in beer sales. Only Christmastime sees more sales of holiday decorations, and of course, candy sales are off the charts before Halloween!

What is the attraction? Are people really into ghouls, spirits, devilry, and monsters? Are Americans really that attracted to the otherworldly theme of the holiday? No, probably not. Polls to the contrary, most Americans do not believe in demonic or even angelic spirits enough to think of Halloween as some kind of celebration of them. 

The answer lies in the donning of costumes and the consumption of alcohol: Halloween is the year's biggest escape from reality!

The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (November 1), from which All Saints' Day and All Hallows Eve derive, was a kind of New Years holiday. Along with the days immediately before and after, it was special because the Celts believed that the boundary between this world and the spirit world relaxed or lifted, allowing spirits to cross between them more easily. As this idea terrified superstitious people, they mollified the spirits by leaving out food and treats so that they would not curse them. 

Some practiced various forms of divination to contact departed loved ones. Druids thought this to be the best time to seek guidance from the dead, and the bards sought otherworldly inspiration for their poetry and song.

Another interesting aspect of Samhain's celebration is that the Celts considered it to take place in "no-time," that is, neither in the old year nor the new. Since this "no-time" was a time to itself, normal laws, order, strictures, and customs were held in abeyance for these three days of merriment. People thus did whatever they pleased.

So, the fool held court as the wise man. The baseborn acted as the noble. The servant became the master. Women dressed as men, and vice versa. Farmers turned out their cattle, pigs, and sheep from their pens and pastures, allowing them to roam free. Some entered houses through windows rather than doors. No work was done because it was a time of total abandon: of revelry, feasting, drinking, taking dares, disguising oneself, and pretending to be something one was not. Those three strange days were "chaos time."

Our modern version, Halloween, is a "tame" descendant of this Celtic celebration, and its popularity is rising steadily. Revelers use the holiday as an excuse to escape their mundane, banal, yet stressful lives and "take a walk on the wild side." Laws, customs, mores and order cease for a short time, as participants indulge themselves in whatever they desire.

Probably most consider it "blowing off steam" or "having a good time," but self-indulgence is sin. Instead of releasing the pressure by coming out of a world conducting its affairs apart from God (Revelation 18:4), celebrants compound their troubles by adding on sin and its destructive consequences.

We have been called to a different life, one in which we "put off" our former corrupt, lustful conduct and "put on" new habits and behaviors that reflect the righteous and holy life of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Paul concludes in Ephesians 5:8-12, 15-16:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), proving what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. . . . See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because they are evil.

(Image by Google

(Credit: Church of the Great God, Fort Mill, South Carolina)