Hebrews 10

Isn't it awesome how one sacrifice of one perfect man can bring all humans that are full of sin back to a perfect God who holds the entire universe in His hand.

Let us vote.

Let us vote, Let us vote, Let us vote.

Interesting way to compare the likely thinking of a conservative versus a liberal

The following are not my words, but I think they are appropriate for thought:

• If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn`t buy one.
• If a liberal doesn't like guns, he feels that no one should have one.

• If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn`t eat meat.
• If a liberal is, he wants to ban all meat products for everyone.

• If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
• A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

• If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
• If a liberal is homosexual, he loudly demands legislated respect.

• If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
• Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

• If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
• A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
  

• If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
• Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

• If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
• A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God or religion silenced.

• If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
• A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

ENDA: Disasterous and anti-Christian

Congress, in the midst of the health care debate, is working to pass a kickback to the homosexuals who helped elect the Democrats to power. The ENDA or Employment Non-Discrimination Act is designed to criminalize private and nonprofit organizations and individual who wish to have a choice as to who they hire. This law, if passed, is a disaster for any Christian. As believers in Christ and citizens in a republic with limited Constitutional powers of central government, we should have no doubt about the importance in the right to use our conscience when making business and organizational decisions. This law would make Christians criminals if we do not hire a homosexual or trans-sexual or maybe even a pedophile. Even if the reason for the selection had nothing to do with this so called "orientation", the person denied a job or contract or other benefit could sue that we willfully discriminated. Excuse me, but are we not suppose to discriminate when we hire. Don't we look for qualifications, physical ability to do the work, personality traits that complement the need. Insane!!!

The attacks continue to arrive

You notice how the attacks against Christianity and issues of righteousness are continually on great levels of attack. It is very difficult to stay involved and stay in front of everything. Language and sex on TV, the gay agenda, attacks on prayer in school and public places, family issues, abortion, revisionist history, evolution in schools, immoral sex education in elementary schools, eroding our national sovereignty, illegal aliens, double-standards on the rich, poor, minorities, politicians, and many other issues that continually bombard us. We must continue to pray and ask for the fire of God to stand in this time.

A good friend Barnabas

All Christians need to know a Barnabas and aspire to be like him. This Bible man was nick-named the "son of encouragement" for a reason. When someone was needed to put a good word about someone or something, Barnabas was it. He did it regularly, no matter the situation. When others had anger, fear, and doubt about Paul after his conversion to Christ, Barnabas had faith in God to accept Paul and give others encouragement to accept him too. Barnabas was the same way with John Mark (who wrote the book of Mark) after he abandoned Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. What did Barnabas do? He stood for Mark and took him on another mission. Paul later called Mark a valuable part of Paul's ministry. What changed? Barnabas believed in potential, not what was the seen here and now. He saw the good in people and went out in faith that God would develop the good. He took the rejects and the scorned and gave them a fresh start, and they proved him right for doing so. Oh for more men and women like him today.

Health Care

As I prepare to pay a $1,1oo+ bill to get stitches in my leg this spring and my wife has no insurance, I understand the need is there to improve the healthcare system. It needs several repairs:
1. tort reform
2. insurance reform
3. paperwork reduction
4. electronic records
5. many others.

Affordability is a huge problem. However, it will not be more affordable to the nation if we make it free for almost everyone. Let's develop a common-sense approach that stops people from falling through the cracks but does not reward illegal aliens and abortions.

Iowa football coach murdered at school

The highly profiled killing today of a top-rated and popular football coach in small-town Iowa brings to the forefront the problems young people face today in a Godless school system. The youth, a 24 year old former player for the successful coach, apparently was disgruntled with the coach and has since "fallen through the crack" with the law. He had encounters with the law in the past week.

This young man decided that his life had no value. The evolutionary theory he was surely taught tells us he is a highly evolved primate with no goal except to survive. Live beyond self preservation and self gratification has little meaning. Self loathing is the dark side of the hedonism of moral relativism that comes from the evolutionary theory and junk science people are taught today from Freud to many others.

Only when we turn to God and love ourselves and each other because of God's love and mighty creation will we not turn to destroy others in our self-pity.

Why are we so busy?

Why are we such a busy society that we fail to do what God would have us do? We know the devil goes around and tries to distract us. He knows our weaknesses and we simply fall into his traps. We get too busy to pray for God's help in fighting this trend. The very thing we need the most is what gets left out so we cannot overcome the problems. It reminds me of Paul's struggle in his letter to the Corinthians. I do what I don't want and I don't do what I want. How are we going to live as Christ did? Only first by taking a step back, organizing our life, and going forward in Him fully and prayerfully.

Hebrews 5:9

Hebrews 5:9 is worth reading and meditating upon. We see from this verse that Jesus is the source of eternal salvation of those who obey Him. Obeying anyone is not a hot word today. Christ is no exception. We want to be saved, but we don't want to have to obey anything. However, to become saved in the first place, we must obey Jesus. Salvation is possible without it. We begin by obeying the gospel. This truth, taught in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, tells us that we are separated from God eternally if we fail to obey it. However, today many religious people who are good moral believers fail to accept this. They say we simply must believe the Gospel, not obey it. Give consideration for this.
In Him.

Tiller's Death

We now see the major mainstream media making attacks and accusations against "anti-abortion" people like me. The media would never do such investigating if one of our people were killed by the pro-abortion side. Now the media is trying to find out what groups helped lead this man to do such a crime. While I don't condone this behavior, I was by no means saddened by Tiller's death. The man murdered 60,000 babies and I do not want to know what his eternity is now. It was just too bad the man did not have a chance to repent before he died. Let us pray for healing in our land and forgiveness of those who have had part in abortions and in killing those who perform them.

Man Is Arrested for Protesting School Field Trip

Don't know if you have heard about the father who was arrested for supposed "hate crimes" because he protested his child's KINDERGARTEN class going to a gay pride type of event, with no notice or permission from parents. It sounds like the school should be arrested for this breach of parental rights. Yes, the Gestapo is coming for us Christians that do not follow the beliefs of the State Almighty.

Can I get a ......... style/position license?

Folks,
We know that our state's legislature (er... supreme court) has decided that we need to issue gay marriage licenses. Don't the people realize the gay people are not treated unfairly under our laws. They have the same rights to marry that I do. I can marry my wife Angie, and they can marry any Angie that agrees to marry them. Apparently the justices do not eat Wheaties and they have a foggy mind sometimes. Anyway, somehow people believe that this ruling automatically means we should issue marriage licenses to people of the same gender. No, this ruling does not do that. It simply tells the legislature that they should pass a law allowing for same-gender marriages. Simply by ruling unconstitutional a law does not create marriage for a new class. If that is the case, and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is thrown out, it would mean anarchy in terms of marriage. There are no laws on the topic in this philosophy, so anyone can marry. So can I have special rights in marriage because I love my dog, my children, or a certain sexual position? Special tax bracket? Don't you see the absurdity? How about if I am a pedophile or necrophiliac? (hope you didn't just finish eating)

Point is this: we need to have laws to determine what marriage is, not merely allowing anything by striking down the law that determined what marriage is. Too bad our legislature was too "busy" to deal with this legislative problem. God sees what is going on.

Proud to be an Iowan?

As many of you know, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a decision that effectively strikes down Iowa's version of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which has been part of the Iowa Code for over ten years. The action of the court has essentially removed the main obstacle for homosexuals to request marriage licenses. Now, anyone knows that the action of the court cannot legalize anything but only make judgements as to the Constitutionality of an existing law, which then generally requires the jurisdiction affected, in this case the State of Iowa, to address the problems with the law. However, in no way does this allow for or even more require the State to issue licenses for marriage of anyone not already called for in state law outside of the DOMA law. Because the Democrats are in favor of this abomination to right and wrong, there will be no effort to fix the problems and protect God's design and common sense when it comes to marriage. My solution, let's counter-sue, call in your dog Fido, and ask why you cannot marry him. You see where this is going! We cannot allow 5,000 years of tradition and man's oldest institution to be trampled.

Hebrews 4:1-2

Can we fall short of the promise of eternal rest in Christ? Sure we can, but how?

One of Hebrews' central themes is that we can lose out on our Sabbath Rest, which is not a Saturday but Heaven forever. It is because of unbelief, either the loss of or never obtaining a kind of faith that saves. In other words we can hear the truth of the gospel and then reject it.

Romans 10:17 tells us the faith comes by hearing, but only by the Word of Christ. If we hear but then don't hear, we fail to grasp faith. Without faith, we cannot please God. Even if we were once saved and that salvation is eternal, Hebrews tells us we can harden out hearts, as the Hebrews did in the Sinai desert. Praise be to God that he is patient and willing to wait 40 years or more for us to repent and turn or return (whichever is the case with you) to Him.

Amen.

Hebrews Chapter 1-2

Hebrews is a very rich book, even for the most Gentile of Christians. We are reminded how God in Christ is such a powerful and majestic God who became man. When reading this, how can one not wish to have a personal relationship with the one who created us. He is higher than the angels. He ministers to us. He created the angels to minister us. He calls us to him as heirs of a mighty throne and as brothers, sisters, and sons. He humbled Himself to allow us to be close to His perfection despite the fact that all of us sins. He knows our nature and fellowships with us despite the fact that He is God.

For an atheist, there is no relationship with any God.
For a Hindu or Buddist, there is only ceremonies and not relationship with God.
For a Muslim, you die for your god.
As a Jew, you serve a God who has moved on to a better relationship. Your relationship is through a goat or lamb.
For a Christian, your God dies for you so you can live with Him forever.

Abortion to expand greatly under Obama Administration

To date, with little real criticism, Obama has overturned three Bush policies that will cause abortions to explode in America:
1. Ended the Mexico City policy, one that uses tax dollars from US persons to pay for abortions overseas. This is both murder and unconstitutional.
2. Signed an unconstitutional executive order to remove the rights of doctors and others in the medical community to refuse abortificative treatments on the grounds of conscience.
3. Overturned the Bush policy forbidding the use of taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research. Also unconstitutional use of tax funding. Can't the private sector fund this. What is the cancer fundraiser funds being used for?! Adult stem cells are easy to get and we don't want to fund them. This is a political ploy by the pro-abortion community to get funding for abortions. Why do we throw away the umbilical cord and placenta rather than save that! Govt funds can help us preserve these things.

We watch while abortion explodes and we stare at our checkbook and paycheck and stock report. Not I. We need to fight against these things and pray to our God!

Proverbs 6:23: God hates the shedding of innocent blood.

Dan Smith Revival

Our family was blessed to have Dan Smith, evangelist from Ottumwa, over to our home for two nights for a mini revival meeting focused on working in unity under the leadership in the ministry of Christ.

It was a great blessing to have Dan over and learn from him both at church and while he stayed at our home. His messages were both uplifting but also very thought provoking and convicting.

Being a Christian means thinking more than about myself, my job, my family. Dan helped me focus on what it means to be a minister and servant in the Lord's church. Only when we work as a team can we grow into the bride of Christ He deserves.

Topics came from Ephesians: What we have from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Unity of the Spirit and Body; and Working the Ministry God has given us.

Thanks, Dan and God.

Pro Choice?

President Obama intends to or may already have signed a law or some document overturning Bush's policy commonly called the "conscience doctrine." This doctrine allows a doctor or other health professional to deny any type of medication or treatment related to or potentially causing abortion. It gives the doctor a choice to say, "No I will not prescribe this pill or that procedure, but you can go to another caregiver that will." Obama's plan will take this right of choice away from the doctor.

Now tell me, how can the pro-abortion side say they are "pro-choice." Pro-choice is okay as long as abortion at the whim of the woman is the only choice. Let's see how the "pro-choice groups in the nation stand on this. They don't care about the doctor's choice.

What hypocrites!

President's Economic Speech

You won't hear too many praises about the new President, but he spoke with clarity and conviction tonight about his vision for this country. While I don't trust him and his people surrounding him to do lead our nation to a notable recovery, I commend him for his sincerity and for saying things that are no always popular with his own party and those that vote for him. I reserve judgement for now, because I'd like to see his budget. What do you think of this speech?

How does this relate to us fighting the good fight? I am not sure, but we as Christians need to stand firm for what made America great and be there for those hurting in our current national situation.