Nominal Christianity

Romans 10

Paul was writing to those Christians, those who accepted Jesus as their Savior. But he saw no distinction between election by the Spirit and prayer to God. Because only God who has rights to move unilaterally in human affairs can answer our prayers. Whether you truly believe it with all of your heart and soul and mind or not, God is truly in control. He doesn’t force us to do things His way, but He can intervene in the affairs of humanity to bring His purposes and His will to pass.

Considering those who don’t believe in Him, we don’t know who will respond to a sermon or to the call or touch of the Holy Spirit, so when you think of election don’t look at it as God has picked you and not this person. He wants all men to come to salvation, yet it is still up to us and our choice to believe in Him or not.

This is why, in this chapter, Paul was praying for the Jews to come to know Jesus as their Savior and we should be diligent to tell others about Him as well as pray for their salvation. It is never proper to just give up on someone because they don’t come to church or even believe like you do.

Verse 10 says: “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”

In verse 9, Paul wrote that with the mouth you shall confess the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Why did I write this after verse 10? Because, you can’t confess something with your mouth that you don’t truly believe in your heart. This is why Jesus said that “out of your mouth comes defilement”.

God’s nature and the humanity of Jesus existed in Him when He was here and after He was raised to life again, this is the confession which Christians should believe in and confess to others. It is the way to Life eternal and for our hope when He comes again. The world is moving away from belief in God and has been for a long time. Even many “Christians” today only have a head knowledge of Jesus and God. They claim to know them but they only know about them, and that knowledge is not enough.

In the USA, 70% of the population claims to be Christian, but only half of that number or less says that religion is important in their lives. I mean, if only about half of that number claim that religion is important, then are they really Christians?

So how do we define a Christian? Only God knows for sure who really belongs to Him. According to the world, anyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian.

But consider, if someone on a jihad came up to you with a knife and asked that question…what would be your answer? Would you truly answer them that you are a Christian and belong to Jesus the Christ, in the face of death? I don’t know if many people would do that, none of us know for sure what our answer would be in that situation. So, what would be your answer? Will you believe in Jesus as your Savior? Our time is growing short, so don’t take too long to find the answer to that question.

Education and indoctrination

These two words should not go together but in our time and the system that our children are taught in, from high school on through college, they are almost synonymous. Which is truly sad. One of the most famous philosophers of the last century, Bertrand Russell, said this: “Education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished” (The Impact of Science on Society)

Today, there are many in government who think this way as well. That we don’t know how to raise our children and it is the community or the government’s responsibility to teach them what they should know. Poppycock!! God gave parents the responsibility to teach our children from His Word, the Bible, so that they will know Who He is and what He expects of them! The government, city, federal or state, has no right to tell your child how to think or what to think!!

Even the teachers and supposed “educators” in secondary schools are not supposed to indoctrinate your child to the point of making an automaton out of them. God loves each person, boy or girl, and He knows exactly what they can accomplish and what they will accomplish with His strength and His Word in their hearts. Why do I say this? Because it needs to be said!! It seems that few people are willing to say anything against education or the institutions which we pay for by sending our children to them.

God’s Word should be the primary Book of knowledge and wisdom in education and if the atheists don’t like it, then they can send their children somewhere else! I am tired of the political correct police knocking down parents and teachers for trying to teach children about their Creator. If they were teaching from the Koran or any other religious book, nobody would bat an eye or even care at all. But, if you try to bring Christianity into education and there is one child whose parents aren’t believers, then the whole school is taken to court and this is WRONG!!

Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, the Bible was the beginning book, the one that was used to teach reading and history and morality. For proof see this link. Until 1948, time set aside for prayer in schools was OK. Then the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to do so. From that point on prayer and Bible reading in public schools was doomed, until 1963 when this decision was made in the Supreme Court:

Supreme Court bans individual school prayer (Murry v. Curlett) and Bible reading in public schools (Abington Township School District v. Schempp).

Just a few years after that, the number of pregnancies in school began to increase and the SAT scores of our youth began to decrease. If you look at the history of America from 1963 on to present day it seems that much of our problems in society could be traced back to that moment in time.

Crumbs of wisdom from a cookie

Make every day your best. You will improve yourself greatly.

Meeting adversity well is the source of your strength.

Desire, like the atom, is explosive with creative force.

These were from some fortune cookies that my family got about a month or more ago. While the first two are sound advice, the third is a bit misleading. Desire is full of creative force like the atom, but it is also full of destructive force, also like the atom.

Many of our emotions have the potential to create beautiful poetry and paintings and sometimes novels. But they can also cause bitterness and hatred, jealousy and rage which may ultimately lead to murder. Some wisdom, whether from fortune cookies or from tarot cards of any type, should be taken at face value only and put away like a gun which is loaded. Those without the training and wisdom from God are not able to handle these things without being burned in the process.

Such is the problem today of so-called “Angel cards”. Everyone hears the word angel and automatically thinks that this is from God. Not necessarily. Remember, Satan once was God’s “covering Cherub”, so he can disguise himself as an angel of light. He caused one-third of God’s angels to be cast down with him, so they too can disguise themselves as a “messenger” from God.

AngelTarotCards

Don’t fall for tarot readings from a card just because it has an angel on it. It is still a form of occult sorcery and is against God. Seek Him out in all things. When your day doesn’t begin on your good foot, then seek His Wisdom in Psalms and Proverbs. Pray to your Creator to give yo

u strength for each trial which comes your way, no matter what it may be.

We live and breathe at God’s pleasure and grace, so live your life to reflect that to the world, regardless of what they may think of you! You are a child of God, especially if you have given your life to Him and asked forgiveness for your sins. Allow Him to come into your life and change you to be more like Jesus. Then your life will be so much more in tune with Him and His will for your life.

There is much wisdom contained within the Bible and it is far better and more relevant to your life than anything that you can get from a card reading.

What does God see in us?

TaketheGospeltoAll Have you ever wondered what God sees in us? Why would He send His Son to pay the price for all of us if we are so sinful from birth?

God sees the immortal soul which He placed in each of us and that soul is worth more than the wealth of the entire world, even if it were just one of us that Christ came to save! Even if it were only you, Jesus would’ve given His life on a cross to save you! That is a love that we can’t understand or imagine!

God also sees potential in each of us, the potential to be a voice which will be heard by those who will hear it. We are not all evangelists nor teachers, nor are we all to encourage and be ministers, but if you are a born-again child of the King you can be! In your own place of business or area where you are, you can be like Paul or Silas or John! You can be an ear for someone who needs one who will listen! You can be Jesus to some who may have never heard a sermon before.

The life that Jesus gives to us is one which is supposed to be used for His Kingdom and glory, not for ours. God loves each soul on this planet and He doesn’t want any to perish, but if you or your friend refuse to hear His Word and respond to it by giving your heart to Him, then your eternity will be one of suffering and pain because of your decision not because God wanted to put you there.

We make decisions every day about which clothes to wear or what shoes to put on, but what does your life mean in the grand scheme of things? It is a very deep question but it is one which we all need to find the answer to. The problem with the answer is that, for many people, the answer is usually found in things or careers or people instead of in the Person of Jesus the Christ!

We search from our teen years on for something that we feel is missing, although we can’t put our finger on it. For a long while we can’t even give it a name because we don’t know what is missing, but it feels like something isn’t right. For some people it is a problem which they solve with drugs or sex or alcohol, and when they sober up it is still missing. Sometimes it makes us feel depressed, like life just won’t be enjoyable until we find that “something” to fill the empty place inside.

It isn’t a ‘thing” at all, it is Jesus which fills that spot and until many more people realize this there will still be a drug problem and alcoholism and all of the other distractions which we use to try to “fill” that space. Learning about Him is great but asking Him to be your Lord and Savior is better! Living your life with the reality of walking with Him beside you is the next step.

This is something which many people don’t understand and it isn’t taught in many churches. When you have asked Him into your life, not just saying it but actually meaning it, He comes into your heart and He is with you every minute of every day! He wants to be involved in your life, not just on Sunday or Wednesday but every day! You and I were not created to be observers of this world, but just like the disciples, we are meant to take His message to every place that we go!

I don’t mean that we are supposed to be street preachers shouting that the end is near. Rather, we are to tell others about the Savior and what He has done for us!

New Age?

There are many different healers and mediums and those who read “angel cards” and Tarot cards who are using angels in their “practices” to fool many people into thinking they are in a ministry sanctioned by God. This is just not true! The Bible says “do not consult mediums“. These cards and the “angels” associated with them are from Satan, who can tell you all sorts of things about your life especially if you are not a Christian.

The end of the Church age is upon us and the time is drawing near when all of these who practice such “arts” will be exposed for who they are and the spirits that they use in their so-called ministry. Don’t be fooled into thinking that these people are not fooled because they are. They have been fooled into believing that they are consulting God’s angels and getting them to perform good things in your life.

Only God can command an angel to do anything, we do not have that power in this life. God can and will help you in all of your good and bad days, but you have to seek Him out. Living your life without Him and then calling on Him just when you need Him isn’t a good way to have a relationship. Jesus gave His life so that you and I could have eternity in Heaven and so that we could tell others now because people NEED to know.

Many people NEED Jesus although many of them really don’t realize it. They are looking for something but they don’t really know what at least not yet. Some try to fill that emptiness with alcohol or drugs. Some try to do it with career or family or even money. All of these are temporary and utterly useless when it comes to saving your soul, only Jesus and belief in Him can do that!

Jesus loves you and since He is the Living Word of God, He is also the Creator and sustainer of your life and mine. Seek Him in all things and follow His path and His wisdom because the wisdom of man will fail you and the religion of demons will take you exactly where they want you to be…in hell with them.

A little sumptin from Facebook

I found this on my page today and I wanted to share it wit you. So, here goes:

One Sunday morning in a small south Louisiana church, the new pastor called on one of the older deacons, Mr. Boudreaux, to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head, and said, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.”

The pastor raised his head ever so slightly, opened one eye, and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, “Lord, I hate lard.”

Now the pastor was really perplexed. Old Mr. Boudreaux continued, “Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour either. But, I must told you sumting Lord, after you mix them all together, and bake them in a hot oven, I just love me some biscuits.”

“Lord, help us to realize dat when life gets hard, when tings come up dat we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what You is doing, dat we need to wait and see what You are really making. After you get thru mixing and baking, it’ll probably be sumting even more better than biscuits. Amen.”

Romans 8:28

Ain’t much you can say after dat. Seek the Lord and see what He is cooking up for ya!

The wrong road home

Sometimes we think that we are on the right road or path when we are really on the wrong road. So, how can you find out which road you are on? The first clue is finding out how many actual friends of yours are on it too. If you are alone or have found new friends then you are very likely on the right road. If most of your old friends are with you and you are still going to the places that you always have, then you are on the wrong road.

Many people think that the path which leads to Heaven is one which is traveled heavily, but Jesus said that the road to Heaven is a narrow one and there are few who find it. The broad road may lead upward for a while but in the end it leads to hell. The world is on that broad road which so many seem to truly enjoy walking on. Why? Because it is easy and carefree with no thorns or rocks and it isn’t very steep. Satan makes it easy to believe that you are on the right path and it is so fulfilling in this life to walk on it because of the rewards you have in this life.

When it seems too good to be true, it is. Money, fame and fortune are all available on this wide road and sometimes they come to you very easily but there is a price to be paid. Some people think that they will give up all of their freedom and fun in order to become a Christian which is not true at all. I don’t miss waking up with a hangover or wondering where I was last night or who I was with (or in some cases what happened during that time).

When your heart is changed your life will be too. Your friends will either follow you in your walk with Jesus or they won’t. If they can’t follow you then you will make new friends in Christ. Living your life for Him is far more rewarding than many people think it is. I have never seen a street paved with pure gold in Hollywood or anywhere else, so eternity is going to be far more rewarding than anything could be here.

While it is true that your life on Earth has to end before your eternity begins, for me that is not such a big deal. I mean, there isn’t much here besides my family that I would rather stay here for anyway. One day, they will be with me in Heaven too, so my time will be short without them. It sounds as if I am ready to go and I am really, but I am going to wait until God decides on the day and time.

The title of this piece almost sounds like “the long road home” and for some it may be. Some days it feels that way to me as well, but if you look at how short our life really is compared to eternity then it is easily put up with. I mean, our life at best can last say one hundred years. When you compare that to ten thousand or one million years, it is just a small speck like the period at the end of a sentence.

Granted, time won’t be measured in hours or days or years in Heaven. Really, time won’t be measured road2eternity at all, so you won’t even know how long you have been there. And…it won’t matter. No more death, disease, pain, or suffering of any kind. No more sunrise or set. Days and years won’t have a measure to stand anymore. The pathway which is wide and easy leads to eternity too but it is a different one than that in Heaven. It is the punishment for denying God and denial of His Grace and His Son’s sacrifice for your sins. Consider this before your life ends because the time to make that decision is today because you don’t have tomorrow…yet.

Used or Loved? Which are you?

In our world today it seems that there are many people who fall into one category or the other. So, which one are you? Do you feel that you have been used or are you loved? Have you ever felt used? I have. Do you know how much you are loved? That is something which I can’t quantify. My wife loves me, my son loves me, my dog loves me in her own way, but God loves me far more than I will ever understand! God loves each of you more than you will ever know or understand too!

BreakingDownWalls I got a message a few minutes ago about being used or loved. There was a lesson in this message because a man was waxing his car and making it shine and his son came up and scratched a note on the side with a rock. The man became so angry until he spanked the son on his hand but didn’t realize he did it with a wrench until it was too late. The boy’s bones were broken so badly that they had to take his fingers in the operation. The man was so distraught until he went home and found what the lad had written. It was, “I love you, daddy.” The next day the man took his life.

That is a terrible way to use a wrench and it is a terrible way to discipline a child, but you know when that child found out about his dad later, he likely blamed himself. We tend to use people in our lives too and that is wrong. Sometimes we don’t intend to use them, but then again sometimes we do.

Things like a car or a tool are supposed to be used. People like your wife or your son or daughter or your friend are supposed to be loved. Love people and use things like tools or hammers or cars, don’t love a car or motorcycle or even your career. Because when you do this you are using love in the wrong way and it gets our priorities all mixed up.

Even though life itself gets mixed up at times when we are too busy with our extra-curricular activities and our career expansion opportunities. Whatever you call them, many activities take up far more time than our family and it is supposed to be family first. I know, your career has to come ahead of some things just so you will HAVE a career, but don’t you consider a ball game or a piano recital or a karate tournament important too?

While we are on the subject of relationships and how to keep them going, what about the one that you are supposed to have with your Savior? Do you use Him like a 911 service and just call Him when something really goes wrong and you know that you can’t fix it? Or do you walk with Him every day, reading His Word and praying about it and ask Him about how to apply it to your life?

Maybe you fall somewhere in between those two descriptions. How do you think Jesus feels about your relationship with Him? It is true that the word “relationship” doesn’t appear in the Bible but read these verses from John 15 about living with Him;

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend

and isn’t living with Him..a relationship?

Unreasonable expectations

In today’s world every person on Earth looks for something or someone who is unreasonable, impossible even because we are looking for that “perfect specimen”. We not only look for an immortal beauty but we want her to be strong but gentle and one who can fulfill all of our desires and our needs. No woman or man exists which can fulfill these expectations! Sometimes we get these ideas from watching movies or reading books like romance novels or maybe some other form of lesser entertainment.

But…perfection in all areas doesn’t exist in this mortal plane. There isn’t a man or woman on Earth who can be all of these and be in love with us because each of us is also imperfect. If the perfect man or woman exists then anyone or anything less than perfection, such as you and me, just won’t cut it! It is something which we learn as young adults usually to our own peril and disappointment.

Just as Galatea and Pygmalion, we too are bound by expectation and disappointment to some extent. In the story, he prays for her to be made into a woman who is like his ideal and his goddess grants his request. In reality, unless perfection is mated to perfection, the relationship is doomed to fail because an imperfect being, such as you or me, cannot fulfill the expectations of the other.

God can change you into a new creation when He comes to live in your heart, but until you are brought to Heaven there will always be a human who fails and falls in this life. Is it possible to have perfection in this mortal body? No, it is not. It is an unreasonable expectation of our existence to even think that it is possible.

Even God cannot look on us and we cannot look Him in the face without dire consequences. Perfect love and sinless Life cannot stand in our presence without causing our death because we are unable to be perfect in any of those areas. Perfection doesn’t exist in this realm of existence and since God exists outside our reality it only exists where He is. Did God expect too much of mankind? No, because He knew when He created them that they could not be obedient in all of their imperfect ways.

God does give us an image, an ideal to work toward in the person of Jesus Christ, and we can strive toward that goal but in this life we will never attain it. Learning about Jesus, following hard after Him in this life, reading and studying Scripture and prayer asking Him to grant us wisdom enough to understand Scripture’s true meaning, these are the works which guide us toward Him and His image.

As long as we don’t create an imperfect, human inspired image of Him, changing Jesus into a more attainable human ideal then we will do fine. If we do that then we are guilty of creating an idol of our own which resembles Jesus only in our minds, because it is not Him but an imperfect copy. Our copy or idea of Jesus or even God is based upon the only form that we are familiar with and that is ourself.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Why don’t relationships work?

Truly the reason that this happens is because of the foundation. Many marriages begin on the wrong foot and certainly on sand or loose gravel for a foundation. Why do we pursue a relationship that ultimately will fail?

IAM-Jesus We do this because we haven’t found the Relationship which can’t fail. We are born searching for something or Someone but for years we search and look for things and people to fill that void, that empty place which always feels as if it needs…to be filled. It is a scientific principle which states quite accurately that “nature abhors a vacuum”. At some point, something will fill that space whether it is good or bad, God or Satan, it doesn’t matter which, but it will be filled.

If we try to fill it with a career or a family, that can work for a while but it isn’t permanent. If we try to fill it with drugs or alcohol, our life and our relationships are doomed to fail because those things are designed to destroy whatever they come in contact with! But…if we will seek out our Savior, Jesus the Christ, and repent of the attempts which we have tried before, and ask Him to come in and clean our heart up, then our life will be placed on the right path.

Following Him, learning about Him by reading and studying the Bible, praying about your family and your problems, all of these will begin to fix your pathway and your life in such a way that your foundation will become complete and solid. When this happens, your relationship with your spouse and your family will begin to level out and become less bumpy and more smooth. This is the foundation which should guide our lives today but we tend to follow along with the rest of the crowd at school or church, if we go at all.

If everyone at school or at church is just going along to get along for the sake of being thought of as a “pillar of the community”, that is the wrong reason. Trying to earn a place in the eyes of people and “fair weather friends”, no matter how you earn it, doesn’t help you in the long run. Why? Because it isn’t built on God’s foundation which is Jesus.

You can decide to ignore this advice if you wish or just don’t read this at all, it doesn’t hurt my feelings one way or the other. But…what if I am right. When your life is going to hell on a slippery slope, which of your friends could possibly pull you out of it? A rich kid that you went to school with? No, they are likely off enjoying life just as they think they should. What about your dear friend from work? Not likely, they come home feeling even more tired than they did last year.

The only One Who can get your life back on the right path and give you strength enough to make it through all of your trouble is Jesus. No other religion or “holy man” or prophet can do that because all of them are dead! He is alive at the Father’s right hand and He is able to help you in your time of need. Seek Him out and make sure that He is your foundation and your Solid Rock, your Savior. Because without Him, we can do nothing.

Get your relationship with God and His Son, Jesus, right and the rest of your life will be so much better than it has ever been before.

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