That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

According to this scripture it is important to not only believe but to speak it.  The Bible puts so much weight into faith.  The Bible repeats over and over again that faith is the moving factor that moves God.  Although it is true that we are not saved by our works, the Bible is clear that if you have this faith you will have works.  In James 2:18 it says…

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

This faith is not just a philosophy but a requirement.   The Bible clearly says in Hebrew 11:6 that if you want something from God, that you must believe…

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Simply believing in God is not enough because even the devil himself believes in God.  James 2:19 says…

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

When I say believe God as opposed to believing in God I mean that if a person believes God they will take what he says and follow his commandments.  Yes there will be failures and thankfully when we do, we have a savior to advocate on our behalf  1 John 2:1…

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

There must be a change that is visible from the outside.  If a person truly believes something there will be a visible sign.    The person’s life will be noticeably changed.  Just as was quoted in James 2:18 above, a true faith will have works…not as a requirement but simply as a result of that faith.  Another thing that is interesting to note is how the Bible puts a lot of weight behind a confession of this faith.  It is not easy to confess this faith to non believers.  This confession is an outward expression of the faith that is within.  This is not a small thing.  Even in the prophetic words of Revelation during this 1000 years the people overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and by their words.  Revelation 12:11…

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

This testimony is not just someone saying what someone else wants to hear.  This is confessing their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior against all odds.  In this story there was not physical reason for them to have faith.  The appearance of things looked pretty gloomy.  This is why I think it is important to tell people about your faith.  I do not think it is necessary to push it down their throats.  If they do not want to hear it then they have made their decision.  If you truly believe that Jesus’ death saved you from eternal death then you want to tell people.

There are so many examples in the Bible about believing God as in trusting him.  Remember the story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son for God?  In that case his faith was rewarded and a sacrifice was supplied.  Romans 4:3 says…

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Abraham did not just believe in God, he believed God.  He saw God for who he was and treated him that way.  He understood that God was even more important than his own son.  Abel’s faith resulted in works and that faith was recognized… Hebrews 11:4…

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

There are so many other examples that I could quote but the point is clear.  Jesus died and paid for the sins that we were incabable of doing.  The only way we can gain access to that payment is by faith.  This payment is free for us if we will just take it but without faith it is impossible to please God.  The only place that I have found in the Bible on how to gain faith is by hearing the word of God as spoken so clearly in Romans 10:17

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The bottom line is that you must spend time in God’s word, the Bible if you are to gain faith.  There is no other way around it.  The world is against you so you need to spend time in God’s word or you will get beat up regularly.  The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the scriptures when the time comes.  The Bible speaks of a time when you will be killed for his name.  Matthew 24:9 says…

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

I must admit this scared me when I was younger.  At the same time I was thankful for living in a Christian nation where people were friendly to Christianity.  I knew this would come some day but thought that it would not come until after my life time.  Over the last twenty years I have been shocked to see how those that oppose God have been very militant and gone to court to remove any reference to God in public life.  I have spent many hours on Friendfeed being attacked for my faith.  My point is that it is not something that is coming, but rather something that is here.  Our country that use to be so friendly to Christianity has changed to a point that sees Christianity as a threat.  The hostility is there and growing.  I cannot tell you how important it is for you to spend time reading God’s word.  Do not worry that you cannot understand it because the Holy Spirit will reveal it to you if you faithfully read it in faith.

I can remember a time when I would read the Bible with the intentions of proving it wrong.  I remember I use to take scriptures out of context for the sole purpose to show contradictions.  It was not until 1986 when I truly accepted Jesus as my Savior and desired nothing but him that his words were revealed to me.  I get chills just remembering that time because it was real and it is still real.  If you are a believer you need to spend time in God’s word and not worry about what people are going to say about you.  They will attack you for sure and you know that.  Jesus said in John 15:20…

Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

If you are doing God’s will, the world WILL persecute you.  There is no question about it.  The only way you will be able to stand in that day is if you spend time in the Bible to keep your faith strong.  The Holy Spirit will speak through you in that time.  It is not about being good or being bad.  It is about Jesus!  If you do not believe me just try an experiment.  Go into a room of unbelievers and begin a casual conversation about God in a generic sense.  Most people will not have a problem with it but the moment you mention Jesus’ name you will see them squirm.  They will either attack you, or change the subject, or just leave.  There is power in Jesus’ name and if you do not spend time in God’s word, you will not have the faith to stand.  Christian music will not do it for you.  It has to be hearing the word of God.  Remember, simply believing in God is not enough as even the devil himself believes.  You must believe God.  FAITH.  You cannot get faith any other way than to spend time in God’s word.  The world finds us as an annoyance now and in some cases as a threat.  Soon and very soon we will not be tolerated.  Now is the time to take this serious and believe God.  I just want to thank my friend Jack for bringing this to my attention.  This is something that I needed to hear myself.  Sometimes we get so busy with life that we do not allow ourselves to have time for God.  I am thankful to have friends that are there to remind me what is important.

The words of Bill Clinton are the words of ignorance. This was an attempt at humor to tell then president George H.W. Bush that the economy is where the focus should be. The media picked up on this and ran with it as they always do. The problem with focusing on the economy when you have unrepentant sinners doing the focusing is that right and wrong are often skewed. The economy was not the problem just as today. Today the stock market and the financial issues are not the problem but rather symptoms. The Bible says… 1 Timothy 6:10…

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

We are experiencing the symptoms of a greater problem and that problem is a lack of morals in America. I am defining morals as those specified in the Bible. After all this country was founded by Christians and has been blessed for more than two hundred years. Our attempt at removing God from the hearts and minds of America will continue to curse this country. The shameless unrepentant promotion of sin as a way of life in the media and government has caused an entire generation of Americans to spiral into a sinful way of life.

I have a lack of trust for either of the two presidential candidates because neither of them can be trusted. The Democrat”ic”candidate is about as left wing and immoral as they come. He claims Christianity while publicly putting down Jesus on national television. If he were the only candidate, I could not support him. On the other end of the spectrum we have John McCain. I cannot support this guy either as he has openly opposed conservative agendas in the past voting with the Democrats on numerous occasions. He is almost as liberal as Obama. Now that it is time to play the part, he is pretending to be conservative in an attempt to get conservatives to support him. It is amazing to me how many Republicans I hear supporting him in this voting for the lesser of the two evils strategy.  We have become so polarized as a nation from Republican to Democrat that we have no room for anything else.   What has resulted is having two parties that have the same moral standing while arguing over differing strategies.

If you want to know what is wrong with the economy you may want to do a root cause analysis and you will find that the economy is just a symptom of a greater problem and that is a lack of morals in America. I have decided that this will be the first presidential election in my adult life that I will not vote for either candidate. I may vote for the other offices but I will not vote for the lesser of the two evils.

I have always heard the phrase that you have no right to complain if you do not vote. I have always agreed with this philosophy until now. Once I began to think about the logic in that I began to disagree. There is no logic in this at all. If I passionately dislike both candidates and yet I vote for one of them then I do not have a right to complain. After all I was instrumental in putting them there so I am just as much to blame as anyone. So I am casting my vote by not voting for either of these candidates because I do not like either of them. Until they allow a person to vote none of the above then all that will be seen is that I supported one of them despite my very strong opposition to both of them.

Voting for the lesser of the two evils has resulted Republicans becoming more and more liberal with each successive election. They believe they have our votes already because we dislike the other candidate more. With them having this faith that we are going to vote for them regardless, they have no incentive to take a stand on our conservative issues. We have to start holding them accountable and not vote for them and let the other guy win just to show our guy that we mean business. We cannot allow our guy to believe that he or she has our vote just because they have an “R” next to their name. Think about it… If you knew without a shadow of a doubt that you will get 100% of the Republican vote even if you voted with the Democrats over and over again then you would not feel that you owed the Republicans anything.

After Ronald Reagan we have had a candidate to the political left of him George H.W. Bush, followed by another one slightly to the left of him George W. Bush. Now we have John McCain that is not conservative at all. He lives on the “war hero” mantra that everyone likes to promote. I am tired of not taking a stand for what is right and voting for someone just because they are not the other party. I am tired of voting for people that give us lip service when they are running for office and then do not follow through. It is not the economy that is the problem but the lack of morals that is the root cause. Our country has “greed” on our minds. Our country has anything but God on our minds. No country lasts forever and we will be no exception. We have turned our back on God and now we do not have his protective hand over us. I am not saying God is punishing us but rather that there are consequences for living a sinful life. Our hope should be in God instead of money.
Let’s not for get the words in Matthew 6:33…

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

The solution is not the economy but God.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)”.

Where I have a problem is not making the distinction between judging people versus judging sin.  I rarely hear a message about righteous living coupled with grace when we fail.  Maybe I am reading this all wrong and if I am, please tell me so.  Yes salvation is through grace but there should be a change in ones life.  What happened to the repent part?  If we are repenting, then what are we repenting from?  It bothers me that the only lesson we are ever preached to about is not to judge.  There is nothing wrong with judging sin as long as you do not judge the person.  I am a sinner just as much as anyone else but I think I have an obligation to at least make an attempt at righteous living and help each other reach those standards with support when we fail and not through condemnation.

Please do not misunderstand.  I am not saying I think we should be screaming fire and brimstone but I do think that it is not right to think “everyone else is sinning so we will have no expectations”.  Sort of like the analogy of why wash dishes if they are just going to get dirty again?  I am not saying we should expect perfection but I do think that we need to tell the whole story and not just about the loving Jesus.  There is a price to be paid if we do not accept Jesus.  The standards given to us by God did not simply just go away because Jesus came and died for our sins.

The Bible says…

“What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” (Romans 6:15).

My issue is that we are finding churches that refuse to even mention that we have an expected standard to live by.  It is not being judgemental.  I never hear churches say that you have responsibilities.  You could make the arguement that it is the parents job but you could make that argument about anything.  If that were the case, then why do we need church other than the fellowship.  I think we do need church and we do need messages about grace and we do need messages about what God expects from us.  That last one is the one that I keep missing.  Maybe I have it all wrong and am just misunderstanding.  Am I the only one that feels that with salvation comes responsibility?  What are those responsibilities?  I never seem to hear churches tell us what they are.  If making the church grow is what is important then one may be tempted to say what they think a person wants to hear.  Unfortunately as a parent I cannot always tell my children what they want to hear because I have responsibilities that outweigh being their best friend.  Again, if you think I have it all wrong, please let me know.

Looks like Obama made a comment yesterday that said something about you being able to put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig.  Everyone is saying it was aimed at Sarah Palin and I do believe it was though you could make the argument that since he paused before saying it, that it was a spontaneous thought with no calculation behind it.  They fired back and said that McCain had made a similar statement in 2007 when referencing Mrs. Clinton.  And the drama continues.  There is a reason that I usually turn the TV volume down the moment theys begin discussing politics.  Oh well, it is the same thing over and over again.  I will certainly be glad when it is over as you know that it will continue after the election regardless of who wins.

I have been attending a class at work and it has two more days.  It is called Item Unique Identification (IUID).  This is an initiative to assign a unique identification number to every piece of equipment that is either $5,000 or more.  Other items can be added if the program manager deems it necessary to keep track of them.  They used our government identification cards called the common access cards (CAC) as an example of how each of us has an unique number and no other person has this number.  This is reminiscent of Revelation chapter 13, versus 15-18.  I know this is not what it is but sure does give you the creeps.  The government has put this program into place that all items acquired by the government will have these scannable marks beginning 1 Jaunuary 2004.  What gives me the creeps is that never before in history has there been the technology for Revelation 13:15-18 to make sense.  The point being is that the technology is here. The next two days of this class we will be doing practical application.  I must say this overview class that I went to was easily the most boring class I have ever been to.  Razor blades should be issued upon entry for those that just want to end the pain .  Other than this and school there has not been too much going on.

John 14:6, KJV

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28
I went on to say that her mate should not even look at another woman in that way.  The Bible is clear and this notion of it is fine to look as long as you do not touch is not acceptable.  I must admit that I was surprised by the response I received particularly by the women.  They were real quick to tell me that a woman should not expect a man to be that faithful.  It was the women in this post that were the ones that jumped on me for suggesting that a man should not be looking at another woman to lust after her.  One woman said she does not mind if her man looks at porn or even goes to strip clubs as long as he does not physically touch the stripper.  This was a huge wake up call to me.  I know the Bible tells us that the world will be hostile to God’s word but I was surprised that some women have that low of an expectation of their husbands.  I told her that a man chooses to stay with his mate and to be faithful.  Yes, he will see other women and notice them but he does not have to stare and subject himself to temptation.

It is not okay for a man to look and not touch.  It is not okay for a woman to allow this to happen.  I think we have seen what the result is when a generation wants to forget about God.  We are reaping the rewards of secularism.  It is hard for me to comprehend how low a woman’s self esteem must be to think that it is acceptable for her husband to go to strip bars and “stare but not touch”.  Like my wife says… We need to teach our daughters to expect to be treated with respect.  We have seen some of the teenage girls around the schools that our sons have spoken to on Myspace.  These girls are throwing themselves at any guy who will give them attention.  This is something else that has amazed me to what depths a 13 year old will go.  I have read their posts in horror to think that they would be that way.

I do think it is tragic to think that these girls think they have to throw themselves at some boy to impress him.  I know being a teenager is a traumatic time to have to go through but surely someone has told them they are more valuable than that. If there has ever been a time that our country needs prayer it is now.  I was looked upon in that feed as though I was naive to think a husband should be expected to be faithful to his wife.  It is amazing how in my lifetime we have gone that far and I am only 42.  The Bible says…

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself Ephesians 5:28

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband Ephesians 5:33
It is not asking too much to expect a spouse to be faithful.  I believe that if you expect failure, then you will get it.  Our nation has desired freedom at all costs but has neglected the responsibility that comes with that freedom.  We have turned our back on God and now we are reaping the rewards of that rejection.  God loves us enough to warn us about certain behavior so that we do not have to go through these troubles. There is a reason divorce rates have sky rocketed since 1962.  There is a reason that illigetimacy rates have gone up so far.  Many of our country’s woes can be traced back to a Supreme Court case in 1962, Abington Township School District v. Schempp.

It was this unfortunate misinterpretation of the Constitution that tried to remove the Bible from school.  These activist judges have not let up since.  The first amendment does not say separation of church and state and it never has.  One of the faults in our country is the power we give to judges.  Congress has too often allowed the judicial branch to do their work.  The judicial branch has no business making laws but our Congress continues to shirk their responsibility to hold these judges accountable.  We have allowed these activist judges to write law and allow our media and schools to indoctrinate our children that there is no God.  Look at most any source of statistics and you can trace our problems to the early 1960’s.

You do not have to accept these deceptions as truth.  You do not have to believe this is all there is.  God has always been there and he is still there for you.  Look for a higher standard than this.  We really do not have to live in a world that looks to break every standard and tout it as freedom. Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: God, Bible, standard, faithfulness, husbands, wives

We Christians often do not spend enough time in the Bible to know and understand God’s word for what it really says and find themselves unprepared to defend the faith when it is attacked.  The media, and education systems clearly do not understand Christianity for what it is supposed to be but deals with it in a way they perceive it to be.  They see Christianity as a group of people that are disgruntled and want to enforce their beliefs on the rest of the world.  They see Christianity as uneducated and often responsible for the ills in the world.  Any time someone of faith stands for a moral issue, the media fires both barrels labeling them as people of hate.  They advocate legislation geared toward silencing the words of Christians often falsely labeling Christian doctrine as hate speech.  They do it with a vengeance and the ill equipped Christian is often left looking ignorant and backwards.  The media strategically pick issues they know are sensitive topics and use those ill equipped Christians as examples of how Christianity is dangerous and bad for society.  A few of these issues are homosexuality, abortion, and the death penalty.

The education system is just as guilty in this.  Most of them receive money from the government so they use this as a reason to silence religion because of their false interpretation of the religion clause of the first amendment.  All these things are important but they should not be a surprise to anyone because the Bible even predicted these things. We should not expect the world to be friendly to Christianity because Jesus said so.

John 15:18-20 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

The real problem is we Christians not being prepared to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).  Even our Christian leaders are not prepared as I have seen.  I have found that many Christians including myself have been content to let the preacher do the preaching because in my mind it was their job.  I do not need to trouble myself because it is the preacher’s job.  The preachers have become worried about attendance and growing their churches.  They have changed their sermons from the full truth to the half truth.  They like to tell what a wonderful God we have and how He will forgive our sins.  They preach how Jesus died for their sins for the world but they neglect to say there is a responsibility of the believer to repent.  There is a responsibility to attempt to live a righteous life.  It is true we will never reach perfection while in this world but that is not an excuse for not trying.

1 John 2:1-3

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

We need to stop being afraid to point out sin fearing that our churches will not grow.  I remember a conversation on the ham radio repeater a year or so ago when I was reading an article about a large church in Houston Texas having 30,000 people attending every weekend.  A fellow ham radio operator chimed into the conversation and said “Maybe it is because they are saying what people want to hear instead of the truth”.  At first I dismissed those comments as statements disparaging another church because it was a different denomination.  I have since changed my mind and have realized that he was on to something.  I have noticed this church spending a lot of time preaching on how God wants the best for people’s lives but virtually never preaches that Christians have a responsibility to live a Godly life.  I am not putting this church down because I often enjoy watching it myself because of its positive message.

My point in all this is not that I think we need to bash homosexuals or people that do other sins but not be so afraid to speak the truth fearing what the world will say about us. We Christians need stop worrying if the world is going to persecute us because we know this is going to happen.  We need to educate ourselves and pursue careers in the media and educational institutions to turn the tide.  Instead of bashing these institutions and writing them off as lost, we need to become better equipped and join these institutions on God’s terms. What brought this important topic to mind was the fact that my own children and their friends who claim Christianity seem to have missed that being Christian means there needs to be a change.  We have spent so much time telling them what a great and forgiving God that we have that we have forgotten to tell them that we also have a responsibility to repent and live Godly lives.  Yes we will slip from time to time but we cannot use that as an excuse for not trying.  It is sort of like washing dishes.  Why would we wash dishes since we know they are just going to get dirty again.  It is too easy to take that lazy approach and listen to the world and accept their argument that says it is just human to make a mistake so why try.  We try because God says so. We try because it is right.  We do not try because we want to follow the crowd because we know the crowd will be going the other way.  We need to be relevant in the world today and speak the truth knowing that persecution will come our way because it is guaranteed.  If you are not being persecuted, then you may want to check and see if you are following God’s word. Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: christianity, God, Jesus, liberal, politically correct, Bible

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I needed to learn this myself as life tends to overcome me. This message is just as much to myself than anyone else.  This is a day to be thankful what Jesus has done for us.  His death on the cross was payment for our sins.  His resurrection on this day shows that he has overcome death and sin.  Sometimes it is easy to let the cares of the world distract us from that comforting knowledge.  I went into a rage yesterday and scared my family because I forgot this myself.  You may wonder why I would tell such personal things on a blog for the world to see.  There is a good reason for this and that can be found in Revelation 12:11…

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

I think the message in Revelation though not directly aimed at us, was setting a standard.  When these people were under attack of the devil, their testimony had power.  I think this precedent is relevant now.  If you think of it, there is something to it.  Although once you have accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for your sins and repented, the devil does not have you anymore. If he can make you feel guilty for something you may have done, he can quiet your testimony to others.

Today is a much better day and I hope everyone will appreciate this day for what it represents.  If you think of it, as a Christian, this is the most relevant day of the year.    Sunday and I decided to take the evening off last night and watch movies together.  It was a very relaxing evening.  The kids were at their friend’s house so we enjoyed our evening together.  It is pretty cool this morning and hopefully it will warm up some this afternoon.   Tomorrow I go back to work to my new job.

Thanks for the prayers for those who prayed that I would get the new job.  I did get this new job and am very thankful to have it.  Right now I sit for eight hours a day because my supervisor has not determined my role in this new office.  Then I have to go to several classes.  I have been reading some of my new duties and it sounds like it will be very good when I get trained.  It looks like my college finally paid for itself.  Working for the government is not like any other job in that if you are already a government employee, it is hard to get new education to apply to your resume.  It looks like I will be writing and revising technical manuals for depot maintenance for KC-135 aircraft.  There is a lot to learn but I am happy about it.  My office is just right down the hall from my wife’s office.  I guess I have rambled long enough so I better get this posted.

Thanks for stopping by. Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Jesus, Easter, resurrection, God, Bible, stress