Think

I do not understand men who are courting pornography and wanna have a little small group fellowship and talk about our struggles, when you have not yet cut off the computer and cut off the television and cut off the magazines. You have not yet fled youthful lusts. Your blood is on your own hands" ~Steven Lawson

A First Date

Today I have a date with my beautiful God-given angel, Maegan Taggart. I was trying to find a good movie for us to watch and stumbled upon a site all about dating. I knew it had to be biblically incorrect, but I was stunned, because on the description it said make sure to keep distance. I read that and was excited that secularists would hold to such views. I was wrong. As I read they were talking about distance from your family...intimacy with the girl you hardly know. It made me sad, sick, mad. It had points such as movie that will "turn her on", and make sure there is a blanket to "cuddle in", and keeps the lights off, and make sure to get really close.

Let me now tell you my ideas about what a proper date for me should be. This is what I have been called to by the LORD, not to kiss, hold hands, hug, cuddle, etc until I am married. I vow never to hold her hand until her father blesses me by giving it to me at the alter before the LORD to hold. That same day will be the day that I kiss her. Now I trust myself not to do anything wrong if we are alone, yet I don't want to put myself in such a situation. Therefore a double date is always a must. A date with my parents is common, today my brother, mother, grandma, and her sister will be present. There will be no blanket to "cuddle in". The lights will be dim, but that's because I'm going all fancy on here with candles and lights on behind us tv before us. We are keeping our distance. Same couch, but different cushions. We are not going to touch, hold hands, kiss, get comfortable together etc. That for me is my calling for a proper date.

And yes I do get ridicule from everyone about that, even some "are you serious," from close friends. Yes I am serious. I know, I'm weird, but I will not brake that vow. I see it like this...God has called me to do this, if I stay in His will and His authority then my Christian life and my relationship will be blessed. If I brake his command, my relationship, I believe, will be compromised and may be ruined. As well my spiritual life will not thrive. That is how I see it. I will not change. I will hold my vows.

Are you ready

What were you doing on Sunday evening? Did you skip church because you 'weren't in the mood"? Were you at the bar? Were you with a woman? Did you lie? Cheat? Steal? Sunday evening a massive tornado struck the heart of Joplin, Missouri. 116 dead with the number still rising. Over 400 injured. How many souls went to heaven? How many were ready to die? Just something for you to think about. If you died tonight would you be ready? Would your best friend be ready? Or would your work partner be ready? Would you go to heaven and know that your last thoughts were that of lust, or of laziness? I pray not.

The Sacred Romance

We find that the Christian life is not a sad, depressing thing we must do in order to go to heaven. If that is the case, if heaven is the only reason you "got saved" then you must rethink your Christian life and attitude. You see, Christianity is not an action, but a romance. It is the love of Christ. You see, Luke 10:26-28 says,
"'What is written in the Law?...How do you read it?'
He answered, 'Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.' ' 'you have answered correctly,' Jesus said. 'Do this and you will live'."

The truth of the gospel is intended to free us to love God and others with our whole heart. When we ignore this aspect of our faith and try to live out our religion solely as correct doctrine or ethics, then our passion is crippled, or perverted. It then becomes works trying to get us in heaven and not a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Rapture of Responsibility

Todays church wants to be raptured from responsibility ~ Leornard Ravenhill
This is a very interesting statement. As we see all throughout America that the church is dying. Satan has invaded the church throwing the prosperity gospel, with thoughts such as if God really loves me then (fill in the blank). The modern society of "Christians" are led astray with actions like "the bible never said don't drink, just don't get drunk," and "I'd die for my LORD, though I know He really doesn't want me to. What good am I to Him dead," and "I can dress however a please. Morality is all a matter of opinion." These quotes are not uncommon. These quotes are not fiction. These quotes I have taken from "Christians" whom I have talked to personally. So the entirety of the gospel is basically what they make it out to be. Which is a sin. It is called idolatry. The church of modern America seeks to make itself feel good. People don't like the hell-fire destruction preachers anymore. I know a pastor of Spiro, Oklahoma who was banned from his small, community baptist church for preaching a sermon on hell on evening. It was "too extreme. People don't like that." Yet the pastor stood his ground. He preached hell, and he preached the truth. We see this arising quickly throughout America. We see the "Christian" refuse responsibility for his/her actions. No one will help the poor anymore. It's not their problem. Let India save India, why should I go on my summer holiday in the heat and tire myself telling them about God. They're smart. They can do it. Do you see something here. Basically, the gospel of the American "Christian" is totally wrong. Think about it. Jesus died. He really died. He suffered. And America doesn't want to think about that. They don't want to hear about hell. They want His Sermon on "love thy neighbor as thyself" sort of stuff. Yet when it really comes down to it, they don't even do that command. So there are those who remain true to the faith. And all that I can say to them is if the whole world goes off into deception, that is no excuse for not following Christ. Ravenhill said once, "the world is not looking for a new definition of Christianity, they're looking for a new demonstration." Wouldn't that be nice. How do we fight this. For one we need to get back into the Word. Some women spend and hour every morning making themselves look nice for work and for others, but what great things do you think would happen if we spent that same amount of time in Christ? Second, is the world crucified to you, or does it fascinate you? Are you being drawn to the world and it's wicked ways, or are you saying "No, that is not what God calls me for. He has greater things for me. I will live for my LORD." Think about that. It comes down to the shows you watch, the way you dress, the places you go, the music you listen to. Do you love the world, or do you love Christ enough to ban yourself from the world.

Christ as our Intercessor

Creeping the dark of the night, rain clouds hiding the moonlight, the army slowly advanced through the field wet with rain. The large city walls before them. The Colonel orders the company to sneak in through a small break in the wall and take captive the building there. This is exactly what Satan does. You see, when fighting to take over a city (or a soul) the enemy doesn't go straight to the front gate. The enemy sneaks around the walls in constant search for the breaches in our lives. These breaches are the ways that Satan gets control over our lives. Most Christians blindly, and foolishly, guard the main gate of our lives. This being perhaps drugs, murder, pornography, cheating on our spouse. We have the mindset as "American Christians" (which is not Biblically correct and is idolatry) that if we can stay clean from such sins then we have succeeded in keeping Satan out of our lives. Praise God that nasty beast didn't get in...not through our front door that is. Consider every lie you told, every bad thought you have had, every time you sinned in your anger, even every time you have not loved Christ the way He deserves (which is impossible). All of these create breaches. They form openings in the walls our of lives that allow the Devil to get inside and take captive a certain part of our life.

Recently I was reading a book by Tom Clancy called EndWar. The opening of this book American soldiers disguised at Russian Spetznaz sneak in through a breach in the city and take captive a Russian Colonel. The Russian military was so caught up in the "front gate" that they ignored the small hole in the wall in which the enemy invaded. Notice the Americans were in disguise...so is the Devil. He puts thoughts in the Christian mind such as, "Man, it's only one small lie. It won't hurt anyone." "I can think bad about this person, so long as I don't hurt him by telling him." "I can trust this person not to repeat what I am about to say, so did I ever tell you the time that she (fill in a bad story about someone here)..." Does this sound familiar? If you say yes then I can say...I know. If you said no, you just lied and you know it. Everyone has been in this situation once in our lives (most of us far more). Satan disguises sins to make them look ok, or good, or even pretty and beautiful, and then he rushed in through the breach in our wall and takes captive a part of our life just like the Americans took capture an entire Russian building.

The Russians didn't wait long. They immediately took action. They faced the issue of the invading Americans and fought back. Sadly most of us do not address these issues. "I just lied, but it didn't hurt anyone. Moving on with life." When instead we should be going to a holy God on our knees begging Him saying, "God! I have just sinned against you! God you are holy and I am filthy." Now look here, what is the difference? A repentant Christian verses one that does not look up sin with disgust. You say, but it was a small lie so it's a small sin. WRONG! Ask God if there is such a thing as small sin. Sin is sin. Even our righteousness is like filthy rags to a holy God. Think of that. If you sin, the simple fact is that you have sinned.

So how do we face these breaches in our lives? Daily we must ask God like David did in the Psalms for Him to search our hearts and reveal to us our wrongs. Only then may we see many our the breaches we have created. And Christ...Christ is our intercessor. We can not fill the hole alone. No matter how hard we fight we can not take back the part of our lives that Satan is invading. Only Christ and Christ alone and fill the hole and make Satan flee.

Judge Not

So not long ago I was listening to Billy Graham. He said something that goes like this, "No matter what religion, no matter what belief, we should never tell a man that because they do not follow Christ they are not going to hell." Now this really caught me off guard. Jesus Christ said that He is the only way to heaven, but Billy Graham (whom I highly respect) was saying something that I didn't know if I agreed with or not. Why would he tell me to say to a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Mormon that because of their belief they will not enter into heaven? It really troubled me. I prayed about it, and finally talked to a great Godly man I know who seemed to clear it up for me. So based off what this man told me, Billy Graham is not saying Jesus is not the only way, but it follows right along with the sin of idolatry. Think about it...who is man to say what God can and can not do? Who is man to say a certain person is not going to heaven? Isn't that taking power away from God? And isn't that also creating a God in what we say He is? What Billy Graham was saying is that we are not to judge someone...that is God's job and God's job only. We as men can only present the truth to those who don't believe. That is all. We can't go around saying that certain people will never get into heaven. We have a job, and that is to tell the good news. God's job is to judge, so we can't take that position upon ourselves.