Last Words

As we sit here after watching three celebs pass away it should make us think about what it is that we are doing and how will we leave this world. Our lives will not be forever and with every breath we are approaching that final day. Will we look back and say, "I wish I hadn't watched so much TV." "I wish I had been diligent in my work." "I wish I had loved my family more." "I wish I would have left a legacy."

What will people be saying about you as they say "good bye"?

"He was generous, kind, loving, always had a kind word, and giving. He built, He created, He mended fences, and built bridges. He was so to anger and quick to forgive."

Don't wait another day to start building the legacy you want to leave behind.

Gabriel G

You are the Redeemed

In 30 some odd minutes it will be resurrection Sunday where I am sitting at this computer hammering at it’s keys with excitement. After that day 2,000 years ago every day is an exciting day but of the 365 of them, we have chosen this day as the memorial day when Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

We celebrate his victory over death, hell, and the grave. And with out a doubt we celebrate our redemption which He bought for with His blood.
So what is redemption exactly? It sounds like a religious word but we still use it today in our everyday English. Have you ever pawned something? If you ever do, the clerk gives you a slip of paper that you can use to redeem the item you just pawned. It means to pay an amount to get something of value back. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13)

He saw value in us and paid the price so that you and I could be brought back to right-standing with God. (Colossians 1:20) With what Jesus did those 2,000 years ago you and I have been given the right to stand boldly in the throne room of God (Hebrews 4:16) We have been given the right to ask of Him ANYTHING (John 14:13 and 14 and John 15:7) We have been set free from the works of the enemy (1 John 3:8)

Jesus summed it in two places. The first was when He declared that He was to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord. That year is call the year of Jubilee. I'ld rather not get into all the specifics but in that year all debts were canceled and slaves were set free. Everything returned to it’s original state. (For us, it means the original state when God made Man.)

The second was when He prayed, what we now call, the “Our Father”. The second verse of the prayer is “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” That has to be the most powerful prayer ever. Tell me. What is God’s will in heaven? Is it death, sickness, disease, lack or death? No! On the contrary His will is Life, Abundance, and Health. In fact it may even be opulence. He does have streets made of gold. Can you imagine if God’s will were done here on earth as it is in Heaven?

We have been redeemed so that we can enjoy the life He has always wanted to give us. It is the enemy that pulls up the past and reminds us of what we did or haven’t done. But when he does just remind him of...

Colossians 2:13-14 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

What all that means is that Jesus not only paid for your sins and errors and screw ups, and rebellion and all the other stuff, but He has “blotted out” the handwriting of those acts. In other words you can’t find anywhere any document of your mistakes, sins etc. No one can find them.

So turn to that liar, the devil, and point out the fact that you don’t have anything to be ashamed of. You are a redeemed child of God, enjoying full birthright privileges, and there is nothing he can do or dig up that can change that.

Praise the Lord we are Redeemed!

The Redemption Plan

It all started many years before the cross. It was before the wise men and the shepards on the hill. It was before Babel and several centuries before the flood. To really know when it all started you have to go to beginning. . . Genesis

God is Love

In His love He created all but in particular He created Man. It was no ordinary creation but the greatest creation, since He create it in His image. He created Man a speaking Spirit. That doesn’t refer to Man’s ability to make noise or communicate with each other or with Him since all creatures communicate in one way or another. Man was created unique in that God created Him to be able to speak as God speaks. God created a creature that could create with it’s words.

He had created an entire universe for Man but especially the planet that He placed Man on was given over to Man to have dominion and prosper. God had given Man authority over the animals in the sea, those who flew and those who walked the earth. God held His first lesson in teaching Man how to use His words by telling him to name the animals. Man didn’t name the creatures with Cow, Horse, Elephant, Robin, Trout. His names gave the animal purpose and a reason for being just like God had done when He created Man. Under God’s supervision Man was the overlord of earth. That was the Beginning.

God called the beginning “Good”, which means complete, whole , not missing or lacking anything. And it was.

After the beginning an undesirable creature made its’ presence known and challenged God’s Word. The creature injected doubt that the Word of God wasn’t ultimate and final, and that there was something more. It asked Man to chose its’ word over God’s.

Man chose to take the word of the creature over that of God’s, and by doing so Man unwittingly gave his authority of the planet, the creatures, even his own life over to the creature. A new overlord of Earth was promoted and the Fall of Man happened in that instant.

There was no turning back. man was cursed by his own action. The payment for the curse is Death. But since there was no other man to pay for the curse and the curse lies in the blood then the rest of mankind was cursed forever.

The Plan

God’s mercy endures forever. His love knows no failure. So a plan was born to redeem mankind, a plan that would not fail. The plan was simple enough, as the best plans are. But God needed man for the plan to work.

In the beginning God had given all authority to man, who had in turn passed authority to the creature by putting faith in what it had said over God. God actions were bound to the authority He had given man. God needed man.

Throughout history God asked man to have faith in Him. For those who listened and believed He was able to work in their lives. And in their lives He was able to show man the blueprint of His plan. A perfect, Good Man had to die to pay for the curse. God spoke of the plan through prophets, kings, and even celebrations. God couldn't ask a man born of man to make this sacrifice, because every man was born already cursed and therefore not perfect. It had to be a Man created as He had created the first one...with His Word.

The creature had been warned by God that the plan would work and that man would be redeemed. And from that moment the creature sought to kill or undermine all those who showed promise of being the perfect Man, born of God.

Many years of oppression past and man was no better off. Sickness, disease, poverty, slavery and death reined on the world God had once called “Good”.

But the day arrived when a woman was asked to participate in the plan. God spoke His Word, and when she accepted His Word took form. The child was born of faith and the Word of God. (John 1:14).

From a very young age, the Word made Man, spoke of what He was ushering in. A redemption, and the kingdom of God. It wasn’t to frighten man but to prepare man to accept their redeemed birthright.

The creature took notice of the Man and did all in his power to destroy Him, but the creature was thwarted at every turn.

When the time was right the Word made Man allowed himself to be taken. The creature thought he had outwitted God and quickly took the Man to die on a cross. But when he did he unwittingly exposed himself and had to relinquish the authority he had coned Man out of in the Beginning.

You see, since all those born were born in the curse they all deserved to die, but the Man born of God’s Word was not born in the curse. He was perfect and the creature had no death-right over Him.

When the Man gave His spirit up, the price for for mankind’s redemption was paid.

The creature had to relinquish the authority back to the Man who had paid the price. And on the third day the Man was reborn with all the authority.

God’s plan succeeded and Man had the authority they once had in the beginning. The relationship between God and Man was restored. Death, sickness, poverty, and slavery were no longer linked to man, as long as they accepted the gift of redemption they were free of those tools of the enemy.

How is your cup?

As I look at my life and see what my wonderful Lord has blessed me with I am happy to say that "my cup runneth over".

Join me in celebrating the goodness of our God. For He is good and His mercy endures Forever.

Thanksgiving Proclamation

As we prepare the traditional turkey and thanksgiving pumpkin pie, I think it is only right to remember where this day comes from. In elementary we were taught that the first Thanksgiving Day started with the pilgrims when in reality they didn’t celebrate a Holiday named Thanksgiving Day. The other thought that is being promoted is that the thanksgiving that the pilgrims had was towards the Native Americas for their assistance. That too is wrong. They were thankful to their Lord God who had helped them in the new land.

On this very special day, let’s follow suit and remember the greatness of our God, His Majesty, and His powerful but merciful hand.

Thank you God.

May He bless and keep you.

------------------------------------------------------------

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our fincere and humble thanksfor His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the fignal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpofitions of His providence in the courfe and conclufion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have fince enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to eftablish Conftitutions of government for our fafety and happinefs, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are bleffed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffufing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleafed to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in moft humbly offering our prayers and fupplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and befeech Him to pardon our national and other tranfgreffions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private ftations, to perform our feveral and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a bleffing to all the people by conftantly being a Government of wife, juft, and conftitutional laws, difcreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all fovereigns and nations (especially fuch as have shewn kindnefs unto us); and to blefs them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increafe of fcience among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind fuch a degree of temporal profperity as he alone knows to be beft.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-nine.


(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

I'm a Christian. Who are you?

I know that you will find this shocking but not everyone who calls them self "Christian" is an Actual Christian. According to the website dictionary.com the term Christian is defined as "of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ". This is not a shock nor does it cause us to shutter.

If we compare how we define other ways or walks of life we accept this definition as normal. Take a person who calls himself a Buddhist. This would be a person who follows the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Right? If you allow me to take it one step further, we can't call a person a Buddhist if they only follow some of his teachings. In other words holding the sole belief in reincarnation or Karma doesn't make you a Buddhist, nor does living at a Buddhist temple or in a Buddhist community make you a follower of Buddha.

Are you following? Am I beating a dead horse?

If we look at Luke 6:46 (in the Bible) we can see where Jesus points out the people who call him "Lord" but don't put his word or teachings in practice. In Matthew 7:21-22 Jesus is even more blatant and divides those who are followers from those who are not.

So if we take those verses we can see that a "Christian" is one who not only listens but puts into practice the Word and the Will of God. Simply going to church or living a "nice" life doesn't make you a Christian, right? Even holding the position of a pastor, priest, or minister doesn't make you a Christian. I like one person's analogy about race horses. He said that you can put a mule in a race horse stall but it doesn't make him a race horse, likewise you can sit in your garage but it doesn't make you a car. Once, I saw a VW bug with a Ferrari car shell. It looked great and I thought it was a fast, sleek, sophisticated car, until I was told that it was a VW bug under all that Cool Exterior. When the owner started the motor I could tell, and when it pulled out of the parking lot I could tell it was nothing like a Ferrari.

It's what is under the hood that confirms its' true identity. You could go to a junk yard somewhere and find a Ferrari bashed up, broken, and maybe with other car parts welded on to it's chassis, to such a degree that you may not even recognize it as a Ferrari. And even though that vehicle may not look like a Ferrari it hasn't changed into a VW, a Ford, Dodge, or whatever.

The same logic applies when being called a Christian. There are many who desire to live a "good", kind, and righteous life who have joined a good church and have called themselves "Christian". But these acts (albeit good acts) are not indicators of being a Christian. Jesus said that "if you love me you will obey what he commands" and in a later verse he says that the person who loves Him will do what He teaches (John 14). He didn't tell anyone to go to church. He didn't say live a "good" life. He said love your neighbor as yourself, he said forgive, he said seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.

One time when he was asked by his disciples to show them the Father He said that if we were to see Him (Jesus) then they had already seen the Father. He was teaching by example. In His (Jesus') love for the father He imitated everything God did to the point that He could say "if you've seen me you've seen the Father". It wasn´t the church he attended, or the good life he lived that qualified him. It was His Love and His imitation, or walk. Jesus said that the World will know who are His disciples by their fruit. It is what we do, from the inside out, that defines who we are.

Can you say that you are doing what Jesus would do? Can you say that you are speaking what Jesus would say?

I realize that we all screw up every now and again but we are defined by how we stand firm or fall from the pressures that surround us. Do the circumstances in the World dictate how you will turn and what you will do? How does the economy influence you? What about the office pressures? And what about the pressure from our friends. How you stand up in the face of pressure that would have you choose another path, dictates who you are.

Who are you?

Have you noticed how Hollywood makes fun of Christians? In the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" (2005) there is a scene where Dick played by Jim Carry is trying to pee in a cup for a subsequent drug test. One of the store clerks working as a Human Resources personnel offers her pee for 100 dollars 'cause she had been of the "pipe" for 6 months. She punctuates her offer with "Praise you Jesus". Her hypocrisy is what the Worlds sees and defines as Christian. It's the hypocrisy that causes us to slap our knees and laugh. Why? Because we all know of people in church and may have participated in something similar.

They see the "Christians" that want to live a "good" life, and not the Christians that Walk like Jesus. It is the influence of those type of people that cause many youth to turn away from Christ, and embrace Atheism or Agnosticism. And it causes many others not to embrace Christianity since they too can live a "good" life without Christ.

So who are you? What does your fruit look like?

Halloween

Alright, it's that time again and the stores are doing a fabulous job at selling us on the "Coolness" of Halloween. The kids are getting ready to dress up in different costumes from Superman to the Doctor Seuss' Cat-in-the-Hat. The spooky movies are out on TV and Hollywood turns out the most horrific tales of the undead, Psycho killers, and basically our worse nightmares. Our churches are putting on alternatives to the traditional Trick-or-treat custom and some of our spiritual leaders are denouncing the day as demonic and a celebration of evil. While on the other hand the "enlightened population is promoting this "holiday" and a celebration.

So where is the truth in all this? Is it demonic? Or just a simple celebration? Should I participate or allow my kids to do so? What?

Well, I've included a few links at the bottom of this blog that details the origin of Halloween. The History channel has an interesting article, free of Halloween promotion while the neopagan has a more positive Halloween spin on things. The Wikipedia site is no doubt interesting but it is in a constant state of flux. I've added the links so you don't have to read me drone on about the history and the specific meanings behind the day.

I would rather settle down on the practical nuts and bolts of this celebration (which is not a holiday) and what it means to me.

Halloween has traditionally been synonymous with death, darkness, fear, pain, and destruction. If you read the history of the celebration, you'll find that it is was developed around the day in which the druidic practitioners’ believed the veil between this world and the spiritual realm was the thinnest. During this time they believed that the dead and other spirits could cross over to our world.

When I was a kid the kids in the neighborhood dressed up as demons, Dracula, zombies, mummies, witches, and ferries. Today we have added princes, princesses, super heroes, Joe the plumber, etc. But the underlying celebration still remains. It is still done in ways to represent groups of spirits knocking on doors as our innocence dresses up and visits house after house after dark.

Halloween, glorifies death, the undead, fear, and those who conjure up and speak to them. Just watch the television, look at the movies coming out, check out the decorations in the schools, stores, and malls.

My house doesn't celebrate death. If we want to dress up in customs then we dress up. We don't need to wait for the 31st of October. If my kids want candy they can ask me for some and I will be more than happy to give it to them without the need to coerce me with "Trick or Treat."

Wikipedia - Halloween

Neo Pagan - Halloween

History Channel - Halloween