Here I stand
Free counters
When Martin Luther dared to disagree with the known church at the time, he said plainly: "Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." Following convictions can be hard to do, "with Christ, all things are possible". I pray that I'm standing today.
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God hates pride because it dethrones Him and puts ourselves at the center of our universe…Pride slights Him [God], but it destroys usBreaking Free, by Beth Moore
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It appears to be the case that for every good and true thing that God designed, Satan has developed a counterfeit, and as time goes on, the counterfeits are growing in popularity. God designs beings which are meant to care for the Earth, each other, and above all, their Creator. Satan shows them that they should be thinking of themselves first - Eve takes from Creation what shouldn’t be taken, and entices her spouse to break the rules with her. Adam places Eve in a position of importance ahead of God and His government, and together they flee from the presence of the Creator because they realized they were naked. Fast forward to today, and almost every principal of God’s government is undermined by an idea in popular culture.
God placed man in authority over the animals, to protect and care for them. Half of society exploits animals for selfish gain, and the other half would save a drowning dog before a drowning child (if it was convenient) because they perceive the two as equally valuable in every regard.
God designed marriage as a permanent institution which is to be respected by all of society and within which a couple can share the most intense intimacy humanity knows, perfectly designed to become one both physically and spiritually. As an outflowing of the love shared between them, children are born into a home with two parents who care deeply for each other and their children. Satan has destroyed many aspects of marriage. Intimacy is shared before marriage to test ‘compatability’. Marriage is no longer a permanent institution, and to a large degree excuses are made that ‘love comes first’ meaning if a spouse isn’t loved at home, that’s a great excuse to cheat. Parents don’t care about their children, and in many cases want to get rid of those offspring before culture fully calls them babies.
Even in small things which God designed for our health and happiness, Satan has a counterfeit. God’s perfect diet consisted of every fruit and every herb yielding seed. This would basically be a vegan diet of whole foods as grown. But then their was a great flood to destroy a wicked humanity, after which God said they could eat the animals (a common misconception is that there was only two of every animal, but there was actually seven of every ‘clean’ animal - read Genesis 7:2 & 3 - and it’s likely that while they waited for plants to grow, they weren’t eating the animals they only had two of). Today, we can hardly tell someone in the midwest we’ve chosen a vegetarian lifestyle without them (usually sounding horrified) questioning the protein content of our diets. (Seriously? How do those cows people eat get so big and strong when all they eat is hay and grass?) And yet, in study after study, a vegan whole foods as grown diet reduces the risk of almost every ‘modern’ disease known to man.
What other counterfeits could be deceiving us?
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Consider, then, three reasons given for Sabbath observance and how they are related. We observe the Sabbath on the seventh day in recognition of the fact that God created in six days and rested on the seventh. We also observe the Sabbath on the seventh day because God is the one who redeemed us, saved us in Christ. And also He is the One who sanctifies us, which comes only from the creative power of God, as well.
Theories, therefore, that deny the six-day Creation tend to diminish God’s grace and magnify the value of our own efforts to be good enough in order to be saved. The Creation story reminds us of our total dependence on grace and the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ in our place.SDA Adult Sabbath School Study Guide, Jan,Feb,Mar 2013. See also Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Ezekiel 20:12, Exodus 31:13, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 66:22-24, and Hebrews 4. -
If those who profess to be Christ’s followers, and to have the light of truth, are not careful to present that truth to others in a proper manner, those who are in the darkness of error will see no beauty in it. In carrying a lantern on a dark night, to light the way for one who is following, the bearer sometimes becomes careless, and permits his person to interpose between the light and the one whom he is guiding, and the darkness of the way is rendered more intense to him from the temporary light that has been shed upon it. So with many who essay to present the truth of God to others; they hide the precious light with their own defective characters, which stand out darkly conspicuous in their deformity, and turn many from the truth. The characters of the professed followers of Christ should be so admirable, and their deeds so exemplary, that the world will be attracted toward a religion that bears such fruits of righteousness. They will thus be led to investigate and embrace its principles from the fact that the lives of its representatives shine forth with such holiness that they are the beacon lights of the world.2SP 215.1
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1984, by George Orwell. In reality, I read this book at least two months ago, I believe around the beginning of January, but I decided it was about time to catch up on blogging about it…
“The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it…At all times the Party is in possession of absolute truth, and clearly the absolute can never have been different from what it is now…And if it is necessary to rearrange one’s memories or to tamper with written records, then it is necessary to forget that one has done so…it is called doublethink.”
This book takes place in a futuristic setting (as compared to the 1950’s in which it was written) about a society in which three main powers ruled and had dominion over the entire world. Existence was war, ignorance, and blind faith in the political party governing your super-country. Everyone in a governmental position of work in Oceania (basically Western Europe and the US) was part of the Party. The Party was headed by Big Brother, the fearless leader who no one ever saw, or could prove the existence of, but who was always watching their every move. Big Brother had telescreens simultaneously surveying and indoctrinating every Party member’s house, public buildings, and streets of the city of London. The thought police monitored these cameras, looking for anyone who did not agree, in thought, with everything that the party told them was true. ”Thought criminals” were always sentenced to torture, and usually death. Unanimity of thought and action, which was defined by ideas generated from the highest tear of leadership in the Party, was the requirement of every citizen who held a position in government. Everyone else was part of a very low and very poor social class who had nothing, and so their thoughts were of no consequence to society as a whole.
Although there were times I didn’t enjoy reading this book, I definitely saw some connections between the themes of this book and similar movements within the United States which seem to be slowly brining all of America into an ‘orthodoxy’ of thoughts and ideas that are ‘ok’, and thoughts and ideas which are too conservative, or too independent, and thus ‘non-accepting’ or ‘dangerous’ to the culture as a whole. So although you may not want to read the book, do take time to think about the consequences of a society in which we are not free to have opinions that differ largely from those of our leadership. And in which we are not free to act on those opinions. Especially for those of you Christians who believe there is ultimate truth, which doesn’t change simply because of a changing country.
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Definitely worth a listen. “Its not the love that sustains the promise, its the promise that sustains the love”
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“Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.”Proverbs 23:9
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Are we followers of Jesus, or are we His fans? We know a lot about Him, are we trying to be like Him, is He guiding our lives?
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Darwinian evolutionary theory contradicts observable science. With David Berlinski.
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The gospel is like a caged lion,” said Charles Spurgeon. “It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of it’s cage.” Today that cage is our accommodation to the secular/sacred split that reduces Christianity to a matter of private personal belief. To unlock the cage, we need to become utterly convinced that, as Francis Schaeffer said, Christianity is not merely religious truth, it is total truth-truth about the whole of reality.Nancy Pearcey, the introduction of “total truth”
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When becoming a fisherman, there are some tips to keep in mind:
1) Start young, a love for fishing will be instilled.
2) Fish your own pond. You can travel the world for fish, but you’ll be surprised what you can find close to home if you know where to look.
3) Practice. You will improve, you will get better at catching fish.Tips from Hiram Rester, 3ABN live…
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“Light light light up the sky, You light up the sky to show me You are with me!” Yet another beautiful North Dakota sunset.
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Her testamony. I watched this for the first time several years ago and thought of it tonight. AMAZING.
