Saturday, December 29, 2012

2013 is a New Slate

       Soon it will be 2013. A new year. A clean slate. 2012 will disappear and soon be only a remembrance.
        In 2012 we saw the re-election of an American President. The choice this time was between more of the same liberal agenda and policies of hands out to the people who feel entitled to be taken care of just because they occupy land on the earth-- programs they didn't earn (The Bible says that if a person will not work, neither let him eat.-- in other words, earn what you get through activity.)  and a man who felt you need to earn what you get.    
    After all, Romney had a job and knew how to earn what he got. Obama hasn't had to sweat for anything. He even had the entitlement feature of being black. And Americans seem to be afraid of blacks and tend to bend over backwards to give unearned favor to a person of color.
      But 2013 is before us. We can decide how we are going to leave our imprint on the year.
      Christianity Today has a report that we are becoming as a nation less centered on the teachings of the Bible and more humanistic. True, we are not a theocracy and never have been.
      You will hear someone say we were not founded as a Christian nation. If they mean we were not founded as a theocracy, a nation that was set up to have God as the ruler , in that I will have to agree. But George Washington did believe in God. Sure, he was a deist. He still had a sense of a supreme being ruling over the nation. A high percentage of our founders did believe in a supreme being and based their writings on that. And this was passed down to us in our Constitution which in the twentieth and twenty first century is being torn down and made to say something it was never set up to say.
      Let me step off my soap box. I just feel deeply about this.

      So in 2013 we can make new resolutions that we can strive to keep. Hopeful one will be to keep America  free. Also to be strong as a nation. We must also resolve to do to others what we would have them do to us. But at the same time we shouldn't allow them to take advantage of our stance that all people are worthy because all have been created in the womb by God. They are somebody. Even those who don't see things the way we do.  

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

World, the Flesh, and the Devil

  We read in the Bible that there are three areas that Satan uses to influence us to sin.
  I was reading a book on Demon Possession and the Christian. Can a Believer be demonized? If by demoinized we define it as possessed or owned.. no, a Christian can not be owned by the devil. A christian has been bought with the price of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Our ownership is not something we can give.
   But if by demonized we mean influenced and maybe even harbor a spirit, yes, that is possible. A spirit has no corporal demensions so taking up space is no problem.
    Anyway, the three areas satan and his demons can use to influence us to sin are
  • The World- that is the philosophy of the world system around them
  • The Flesh- that is the evil sin nature that is still within us.
  • The devil- Need I introduce who I am referring to?
    Those three

Friday, December 21, 2012

Still Here?

  Are you still here? Well, if you are reading this the answer is yes.
   All that hype about the Mayan calender ending on 21 December 2012 at the exact hour of 5 am and therefore the end of the world and life as we know it.
   Following that logic every December 31st at midnight the world ends. Why? Because there is no more dates on the calender.
    No. The world is not going to end because a calender runs out of days.
   Those of us who are still here, and that means you, know better.
    Some say this signifies an era of better mind expansion and spiritual insight.
   We have always had that. Spiritual insight comes from connection with God our creator. That is true insight. Insight also comes from drugs but that is the false type of insight. Also the wrong type of meditation, yoga, wrong information not grounded in truth, can give you insight but insight that can't be trusted.. 
  No, true insight is only given by God and the only way you can get true insight from God is to be related to Him through a process known as the New Birth. And that is only available if you come to the Father through Jesus Christ.
   He said he was The Way ,The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father but through Him.
   True wisdom and insight came a long time ago. It didn't have to wait until the Mayan calender ran out.
 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Forerunner To Jesus Happy

   So we have Mary after the announcement that she was to carry the baby who would be Jesus, The Savior of mankind, running nine miles (Well, maybe not running. She went by donkey or she walked) to her cousin ,Elizabeth whom she has heard is pregnant. Elizabeth is an old lady. But it is Elizabeth God had chosen to carry and give birth to John, the baptizer, the forerunner of the coming Messiah.
  A greater site. Mary, fourteen years of age, goes to Elizabeth maybe in her seventies. Neither one of them complains about their state. Elizabeth is old. She is about to have a baby to nurse and diaper and bring up to adulthood. Here was Mary, a young woman, unmarried and a virgin. Plus she had no idea if her espoused one, Joseph, was going to marry her. He was as far as we know, unaware at this point of Mary's pregnancy. He would find out when Mary returned that she was with child. An angel of the Lord, Gabriel to  be exact, would have to calm him down and Joesph would by faith beliefve the dream to be correct.
   When Mary enters the room, the fetus, who is John, jumps in Elizabeth's womb signifiying this is the mother of the Messaih coming. John was prophesized to be the one who announced the coming of the savior. He was the Elijah which was to come.
     Beautiful throught.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Best Question

Buying
    
   Are you aware that there is a question you can ask yourself that could save you from making the wrong  decision? At all times? That question is a simple one.
    "What is the wisest thing for me to do?"
      Not what is the easiest or most expedient. Just a simple, What is the wisest thing for me to do?
    I wish I had known this earlier in life.
    Of course everyone says that. There are things you can look back on that you wish you had not done. Like my present finances.
    I should be saving up for retirement. Instead I felt I could start a business to bring in money for retirement. But the costs of setting up have exceeded the on-hand resources so I am left with debt far beyond what I have cash to cover.
   Sure, someone will say, but it is an investment in your future. Fine. If that explanation works for you, you run with it. It is not working for me.
    Now I have to hope my business takes off and stays steady.
     I am selling vitamins online. Yes, you can buy vitamins online. You can go  here  and you can shop and buy.
     It all depends on my being able to keep up payments on the program that includes the web site.

Researching
     Would I have invested if I had asked myself that question, "What is the wisest thing for me to do in light of my past history concerning business ventures?"
       Knowing what I know now the answer is probably not. But I must press forward. Whatever the outcome,-- the business takes off or fails,-- I will still have to pay off my debts.
  

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mary And Her Place In History

  Mary, the young girl, about fourteen, whom we read about in the gospels, was an ordinary person. There was nothing to make her stand out among all the young girls of her day.
   She was promised to a man called Joseph. That meant she was set apart by her parents to marry this business man named Joseph.
   And one day as she was praying an angel appeared to her. And greeted her and told her she was going to be the woman who was to carry a special child.
   She was highly favored of God.. Not a special person. Not really out of the ordinary. Well, maybe there was something we don't know about how God chooses. All we know is that God wanted her to carry the fetus that would be Born into the world as Jesus.
     Joseph was a favored person also. Can you imagine. A Jewish gentleman who was promised to a virgin suddenly discovering his betroved was pregnant., It wasn't his. And he thought he knew she wasn't one to play around. She was a virgin.
   A virgin is a person who has not had a child. He himself was a virgin. They didn't play around. If they had, in a small town such as Nazareth was, word would get around and they would be stoned.
   And it is recorded that he was about to give her the divorce papers when an angel of God, Gabriel to be exact, appeared to him in  a dream at night and let him in on the plan. The baby wasn't his . The baby was placed in Mary by the Holy Spirit.
     And after this dream there was no longer any thought by Joseph to seek a divorce.
    They both knew the Bible well. They were God fearers. Mary's song to God recorded in Matthew was full of references to the Psalms and the Prophets. She knew her scriptures. She had memorized the passages and had hidden them in her heart and that was what came out when she spoke.
     She was not and is not a sinless person. She needed a savior as much as any other sinner. "My heart rejoices in  God my savior.."
     What a great thought to carry with you this Christmas season. Mary is not someone to be put on a pedestal and worshipped.