Common Sense Commentary: "And he (Jesus) said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's". Luke 20:25. These words of Jesus are clear. Everyone has a God given responsibility to support and keep law and order for the safety and functioning of every society and protection against the lawless. However, we are not to give government "the things which be God's". If Caesar's law violates God's law, we are not to give up God's Word for Caesar's laws, opinions, or demands. God created government for the "welfare" and safety of people not to abuse and misuse them. Christians are to stand against such illicit, government actions.
Every National, Political System will, slowly or rapidly, but eventually, be moved by it's masses of people or by a strong faction of it's people to left or right of it's present state. All Nations are in flux. Even the greatest and strongest empires, in all of history, grew out of some other political system, in it's beginning, and eventually fell and changed to something else. This may not be America's turn to fall but it is headed in that direction. Only God, and our commitment to Him and what He created here, in our nation, can save us from something much worse than we have had. If we do not fight for our freedom, God will not do it for us. Because of our turning from Him, we do not deserve deliverance.
.... Here Are Seven National, Political States Of Being .....
1. ANARCHY = Total, national freedom from governance of any kind and therefore, political and social disorder. A state of lawlessness, survival of the fittest, prey and predator, every man for himself and his own tribe as among animals in the jungle. Chaos ! No Government. Example: Probably Somalia and maybe even Mexico ... soon.
2. SOCIALISM = Government ownership, control and distribution of all production, markets, and resources, with Supposed equality which has never yet been accomplished because of the inborn, sinful nature of all human beings including those who rise to power. Socialism cannot last long. Example: Every single nation which has experimented with socialism has failed. Present Examples: Half the world is going toward it and the other half is coming away from it.
3. FASCISM = Government which exalts nation, race and leadership. Fascism results in severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. A ruthless Dictatorship. Cult of personality worship. Example: Mussolini's Italy.
4. SOCIALISTIC FASCISM = Government which exalts nation, race and leadership plus Socialization of all production, markets and resources under absolute control including violation of any and all national laws and violent reaction to opposition or resistance. Requires the expansion of national borders to absorb neighbors and other countries, with natural resources or wealth, to pay for Socialistic distribution to it's own citizens. Fascist Cult of personality worship. Example: NAZI (National Socialist Party) Germany under Adolph Hitler.
5. COMMUNISM = Government of unrelenting Socialism plus Atheism. Government, supposedly chosen by the people, and ruled by the proletariat (Lowest, poorest, labor class) is god. Government worshiped but eventually is destroyed by disillusioned masses and change to some other system. This happens when they run out of nations to conquer and pilage of more wealth to sustain their socialistic, military system. Examples: Soviet Union, North Korea, and China under Mao.
6. CAPITALISM = Government of laws and personal freedom to pursue happiness, success and possessions with no outside help promised but personal opportunity. Capitalism and Free Enterprise therefore result in unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done , personal management of one's resources, time, talent, and discipline.
7. A DYING POLITICAL SYSTEM = (a) Dying Communism and Arising Capitalism or Socialism. Examples: Russia, China, Eastern Europe, Cuba. (b) Dying Capitalism and Arising Socialism/Communism. Example: United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Western Europe.
Capitalism and Free Enterprise are dying because our nation and other free nations have turned away from God to greed and materialism. There is more "revival" of Christianity in Russia and China than in America today. If we do not defend our American freedoms and pray for deliverance .... God will not do it for us.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 30, 2010
Nov 27, 2010
U.S. Liberal Party Platform For 2012 Elections
Common Sense Commentary: Politics makes Strange Bedfellows ???
........................................There's another word for that.
Liberal Party Platform's Priority Planks (LPPPP) and =Our reasons:
1. Support faster transportation for Brazilian sloths =Steep trees unfair.
2. "Feed the ocean's fish" legislation = Fairness and to Restore Oceans.
3. Plough all land Fort Worth to Eastern California =Useful Farm Land.
4. Annual "Be Kind To Rapists Week" Holiday =Fairness They can't help it.
5. Fed.SunScreen & Popsicles for all natives & Yukon Territory =Sunburn & Nourishment.
6. Federal Canal Frisco Bay to Death Valley =Potable Lake Water for L.A.
7. Federal Interstate Bridge Seattle to Anchorage =Save Time & Money.
8. Interstate Tunnel Tijuana Mex.to New York =Fairness to Arizona Tunnelers.
9. Federal Overpass Del Rio Mex to Chicago =Bypass Texas & Fairness to Jose.
10. Fed. pay all credit card debt =Fairness ! IT'S NOT OUR FAULT !
Pass it on. RB
........................................There's another word for that.
Liberal Party Platform's Priority Planks (LPPPP) and =Our reasons:
1. Support faster transportation for Brazilian sloths =Steep trees unfair.
2. "Feed the ocean's fish" legislation = Fairness and to Restore Oceans.
3. Plough all land Fort Worth to Eastern California =Useful Farm Land.
4. Annual "Be Kind To Rapists Week" Holiday =Fairness They can't help it.
5. Fed.SunScreen & Popsicles for all natives & Yukon Territory =Sunburn & Nourishment.
6. Federal Canal Frisco Bay to Death Valley =Potable Lake Water for L.A.
7. Federal Interstate Bridge Seattle to Anchorage =Save Time & Money.
8. Interstate Tunnel Tijuana Mex.to New York =Fairness to Arizona Tunnelers.
9. Federal Overpass Del Rio Mex to Chicago =Bypass Texas & Fairness to Jose.
10. Fed. pay all credit card debt =Fairness ! IT'S NOT OUR FAULT !
Pass it on. RB
Nov 26, 2010
Ministers Of Righteousness or Unrightness ?
Common Sense Commentary: Noah Webster says "to counterfeit" means "To imitate, copy or pretend with intent to deceive." Most people pretend to be something they are not at one time or another in their lives. I have pretended to be brave when I was scared or happy when I was not or calm when I was angry. David once pretended to be a lunitic, slobbering and acting crazy, when he was captured and brought before an enemy king. There is surely a time to do such a thing but the Bible says, Satan is a counterfeit and (counterfeits) "transforms his ministers into ministers of righteousness"." I think nothing in this world is exactly, precisely what it "appears" to be. It may be better or worse, but our perception, vision, hearing, understanding are not ever as perfect as God's. " ...Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1Sam.16:7.
I saw advertised on TV a "new improved bath bar". What is that ? It looked exactly like soap, and it's purpose was to wash your body but it wasn't soap, they said, "It's Dove." I'm sure they have a reason f or counterfeiting soap in the form of a bird but I still prefer that old 99 % pure stuff without the perfume. Yes, "It floats" but it doesn't fly.
I feel that way about my onions, too. I love onions (those close to me already know that) ... my wife will gladly verify it. I like onions with everything but dessert. Now forgive me you Georgia folks, but I have a serious question from all of us true onion addicts. Why would anyone develope a hybrid, streamline onion that is an onion in "appearance" and name only ? People from all over the world converge from every direction on the little farm-to-market roads of southeast Georgia to Vidalia, Ga. to pay homage to the famous Vidalia Onion. But, let's be honest, it doesn't smell like an onion, it doesn't burn even a little, it doesn't affect your breath at all, and they say, "It's sweet as an apple". That being the case, why not just slice an apple on your hamburger ? If I wanted an apple, I'd look in the fruit department.
I expect that, at any time, soneone will come out with a new pudding called "Destiny Dessert". It will have all the minimum daily requirements of vitamins and minerals and look, smell and taste like good food. It will be "Our all-new, enriched, good as home-cooked, plastic pudding." "Try it, you'll like it". But you better act quick to get a patent on the formula and a trademark on "Home-cooked Plastic Pudding" before some food chain picks up on it.
Honestly, I will not be surprised the day some guy comes to me with a marriage license, a ring, a bridesmaid, a best man and requests to be married to a gorgious wo mannequin that looks, feels and talks like she's human. Stranger things are now happening in this crazy world of pretension, lying, deceiving and counterfiting.
That brings me to my point .... It's about time, right ?
In these critical days when the truths of God are so sorely needed in the world, God's former Light lifter, Lucifer (alias Satan, the devil, the dragon, the serpent, and old slewfoot) is busily passing himself, and his ministers off as legitimate "men of God". He is, himself, running many religious organizations. He is sending his servants to seminaries, dressing them up as ministers are assumed to look, in pompous "ministerial vestments", collars, suits or dungarees and tee shirts today, with degrees and sending them out . They are like counterfeit $100 bills, passing themselves off as real ministers of God, pretending truth but skillfully dusting it with lies. They disgrace the cause of Christ, defame true ministers, cast doubt upon The Word of God and undermine the faith of weak Christians. Do such people really exist ? Ask God ....
God said of them, "For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." 2Cor.11:13-1.
Remember when Jesus said, "One of you shall betray me", NONE of the Apostles knew who he was talking about. They had lived and worked with Judas, their treasurer, constantly for 3 1/2 years, but NONE of them knew he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. I know that because each of them asked, "Lord is it I". Mt.26:22. Not one of them suspected it was Judas. If the Apostles of our Lord could not discern that Judas was a traitor, how can we, today, discern a counterfeit minister ? The answer is, that they did not yet have the New Testament (canonized) or the Holy Spirit as true Christians have today. Jesus had promised, "When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth ...." Jn.16:13. Jesus also promised, concerning the completion and His New Testament, "When that which is perfect is come, THEN that which is in part shall be done away (with). 1Cor.13:10. As you will remember, when He said that, very little of the New Testament had been lived or written and the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. True Christians now have both and the Holy Scripture says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". Rom.8:9. The Apostles had resources we do not have but we have resources they did not have until after Jesus ascended back into heaven. God's Holy Spirit working through God's Word will guide us in our discernment and understanding, IF WE STUDY IT. Professional money handlers do not study counterfeit bills but Government printed currency. They study it so meticulously that when a counterfeit comes to hand, they immediately recognize it as a fake. True Christians who study God's Word thoroughly and are led by His Spirit, have little trouble recognizing the counterfeit. It is not necessary to study the counterfeit religions or professing believers. Study the truth thoroughly and you will recognize the error, the false, the counterfeit.
True Christians must maintain a close, spiritual relationship with God through devoted prayer, Bible study, love and fellowship if we are to "prevail against the gates of hell", this Satanic, illegitimate, "angel of light" ,
his "false Apostles", "deceitful workers", and his "ministers of unrighteousness". God help us to be real.
Pass it on. RB
I saw advertised on TV a "new improved bath bar". What is that ? It looked exactly like soap, and it's purpose was to wash your body but it wasn't soap, they said, "It's Dove." I'm sure they have a reason f or counterfeiting soap in the form of a bird but I still prefer that old 99 % pure stuff without the perfume. Yes, "It floats" but it doesn't fly.
I feel that way about my onions, too. I love onions (those close to me already know that) ... my wife will gladly verify it. I like onions with everything but dessert. Now forgive me you Georgia folks, but I have a serious question from all of us true onion addicts. Why would anyone develope a hybrid, streamline onion that is an onion in "appearance" and name only ? People from all over the world converge from every direction on the little farm-to-market roads of southeast Georgia to Vidalia, Ga. to pay homage to the famous Vidalia Onion. But, let's be honest, it doesn't smell like an onion, it doesn't burn even a little, it doesn't affect your breath at all, and they say, "It's sweet as an apple". That being the case, why not just slice an apple on your hamburger ? If I wanted an apple, I'd look in the fruit department.
I expect that, at any time, soneone will come out with a new pudding called "Destiny Dessert". It will have all the minimum daily requirements of vitamins and minerals and look, smell and taste like good food. It will be "Our all-new, enriched, good as home-cooked, plastic pudding." "Try it, you'll like it". But you better act quick to get a patent on the formula and a trademark on "Home-cooked Plastic Pudding" before some food chain picks up on it.
Honestly, I will not be surprised the day some guy comes to me with a marriage license, a ring, a bridesmaid, a best man and requests to be married to a gorgious wo mannequin that looks, feels and talks like she's human. Stranger things are now happening in this crazy world of pretension, lying, deceiving and counterfiting.
That brings me to my point .... It's about time, right ?
In these critical days when the truths of God are so sorely needed in the world, God's former Light lifter, Lucifer (alias Satan, the devil, the dragon, the serpent, and old slewfoot) is busily passing himself, and his ministers off as legitimate "men of God". He is, himself, running many religious organizations. He is sending his servants to seminaries, dressing them up as ministers are assumed to look, in pompous "ministerial vestments", collars, suits or dungarees and tee shirts today, with degrees and sending them out . They are like counterfeit $100 bills, passing themselves off as real ministers of God, pretending truth but skillfully dusting it with lies. They disgrace the cause of Christ, defame true ministers, cast doubt upon The Word of God and undermine the faith of weak Christians. Do such people really exist ? Ask God ....
God said of them, "For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." 2Cor.11:13-1.
Remember when Jesus said, "One of you shall betray me", NONE of the Apostles knew who he was talking about. They had lived and worked with Judas, their treasurer, constantly for 3 1/2 years, but NONE of them knew he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. I know that because each of them asked, "Lord is it I". Mt.26:22. Not one of them suspected it was Judas. If the Apostles of our Lord could not discern that Judas was a traitor, how can we, today, discern a counterfeit minister ? The answer is, that they did not yet have the New Testament (canonized) or the Holy Spirit as true Christians have today. Jesus had promised, "When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth ...." Jn.16:13. Jesus also promised, concerning the completion and His New Testament, "When that which is perfect is come, THEN that which is in part shall be done away (with). 1Cor.13:10. As you will remember, when He said that, very little of the New Testament had been lived or written and the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. True Christians now have both and the Holy Scripture says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". Rom.8:9. The Apostles had resources we do not have but we have resources they did not have until after Jesus ascended back into heaven. God's Holy Spirit working through God's Word will guide us in our discernment and understanding, IF WE STUDY IT. Professional money handlers do not study counterfeit bills but Government printed currency. They study it so meticulously that when a counterfeit comes to hand, they immediately recognize it as a fake. True Christians who study God's Word thoroughly and are led by His Spirit, have little trouble recognizing the counterfeit. It is not necessary to study the counterfeit religions or professing believers. Study the truth thoroughly and you will recognize the error, the false, the counterfeit.
True Christians must maintain a close, spiritual relationship with God through devoted prayer, Bible study, love and fellowship if we are to "prevail against the gates of hell", this Satanic, illegitimate, "angel of light" ,
his "false Apostles", "deceitful workers", and his "ministers of unrighteousness". God help us to be real.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 24, 2010
No Money ? Learn From The U.S.Fed., Counterfeit It.
Common Sense Commentary: In Bible days, before paper currency, coins were in short supply and the people used weights and measures as a medium of exchange, and that according to the standard of honest and constant weights and measures as commanded by God Himself.
I read the other day about an unemployed printer who had ingeniously created for himself a very lucrative job out of paper. The first year he made something like ten million dollars. I say "something like" because it wasn't "exactly like". He produced some brand new, beautiful, homemade, paper, hundred dollar bills. They looked like money, spent like money, felt like money, but it wasn't money, it was counterfeit. That is exactly what "legal tender", fiat, paper U.S. dollars are too ....counterfeit. The only difference is, "Official", fiat (paper) currency is legal but to counterfeit it, is illegal. Yes, I said, "the greenback, U.S. currency, dollars are counterfeit. To counterfeit these "legal" dollars is something like counterfeiting counterfeit money. This is true because real money is supposed to always be worth an exact amount in buying power and our currency is not. It's "buying power" keeps changing downward because our government and the Federal Reserve Bank are constantly deflating the dollar, and thereby inflating the things we buy, so that our money and savings diminish in value and buying power. They do this by simply printing up all the paper money they want to pay for the hundreds of ways they give it away so the American voter, and nations we support, will love them and they can raise their own salaries and remain in office. This kind of theft of the American savers and taxpayers could not be done when we were on a gold and silver standard. Back then, before they dumped the gold and silver standards, we could take a hundred dollar bill, which said "Gold Certificate" or ten dollar "Silver Certificates" into the local bank and trade them for that exact amount of silver or gold coins. The Government or Federal Reserve Bank could not print more currency than the U.S. had in physical Gold and Silver Reserves, so they couldn't spend the country into bankruptcy as they have now done. Example: When I was a boy and the $1.00 bill was a silver certificate, I could buy a little package called a "Guess What", with two pieces of soft candy and a small toy in it, for one cent. Today, the price of that "Guess What" would be an even bigger surprise at about one (fiat) paper dollar bill. So, in "Guess What" terminology, our dollar today has lost 10,000 % in buying power since 1936 when I was in first grade. A "fiat", paper, U.S. $50.00 bill may be worth slightly more than the $100 counterfeit of the counterfeit, but with the U.S. printing presses smoking hot, printing more trillions, soon they will be worth precisely the same .... zero. While our diminishing dollars will soon plunge at increasing speeds, old fashioned gold and silver are rising at comparative speeds. The only thing holding a crash back now is "Stimulus Billions", "Qualitative Easing", "Printing Free Money". When that stops, the wheels come off, but if it continues, the wheels may stay on and carry our national " LocoMotive" down the mountain at twice the speed to the worst national train wreck in history. Only "Christ in you is the hope of glory" and don't forget it. . Col.1:27.
Here is what God says about honest, dependable, constant money values, weights and measures:
1. "Thou shalt have perfect and just weights and a perfect and just measure shalt thou have." Deut.25:15.
God demands that a nations money (means of exchange) must be "PERFECT and JUST", always right and always of the same value or weight.
2. "A just weight and balance are the LORD'S: All weights in the bag are HIS work." Proverbs 16:11. It is God's Work.
3. "Divers (deviating) weights and measures, both ... are ... abomination to the LORD." Proverbs 20:10. Inflation or deflation of the earner's money.
4. "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have ...." Lev. 19:36. Keep constant money values.
5. "Shall I count them pure (who use) wicked balances, with a bag of deceitful weights"? Micah 6:11. Buying or Selling perversions.
6. "With what measure ye mete... it shall be measured to you again." Mt.7:2. Honest or dishonest money, we reap what we sow.
Whether at the gas pump, gallons and cents, or a store's scales, ounces and pounds, or truck scales, to pervert an accurate gallon, quart, pint or to tamper with a scale to cheat the buyer, it is a crime and our Government will prosecute offenders. But, our Government and the Federal Reserve Bank tamper and pervert our means of exchange for those things, money, all the time and have been doing so for many years. It is time for a housecleaning in Washington D.C.
Pass it on. RB
I read the other day about an unemployed printer who had ingeniously created for himself a very lucrative job out of paper. The first year he made something like ten million dollars. I say "something like" because it wasn't "exactly like". He produced some brand new, beautiful, homemade, paper, hundred dollar bills. They looked like money, spent like money, felt like money, but it wasn't money, it was counterfeit. That is exactly what "legal tender", fiat, paper U.S. dollars are too ....counterfeit. The only difference is, "Official", fiat (paper) currency is legal but to counterfeit it, is illegal. Yes, I said, "the greenback, U.S. currency, dollars are counterfeit. To counterfeit these "legal" dollars is something like counterfeiting counterfeit money. This is true because real money is supposed to always be worth an exact amount in buying power and our currency is not. It's "buying power" keeps changing downward because our government and the Federal Reserve Bank are constantly deflating the dollar, and thereby inflating the things we buy, so that our money and savings diminish in value and buying power. They do this by simply printing up all the paper money they want to pay for the hundreds of ways they give it away so the American voter, and nations we support, will love them and they can raise their own salaries and remain in office. This kind of theft of the American savers and taxpayers could not be done when we were on a gold and silver standard. Back then, before they dumped the gold and silver standards, we could take a hundred dollar bill, which said "Gold Certificate" or ten dollar "Silver Certificates" into the local bank and trade them for that exact amount of silver or gold coins. The Government or Federal Reserve Bank could not print more currency than the U.S. had in physical Gold and Silver Reserves, so they couldn't spend the country into bankruptcy as they have now done. Example: When I was a boy and the $1.00 bill was a silver certificate, I could buy a little package called a "Guess What", with two pieces of soft candy and a small toy in it, for one cent. Today, the price of that "Guess What" would be an even bigger surprise at about one (fiat) paper dollar bill. So, in "Guess What" terminology, our dollar today has lost 10,000 % in buying power since 1936 when I was in first grade. A "fiat", paper, U.S. $50.00 bill may be worth slightly more than the $100 counterfeit of the counterfeit, but with the U.S. printing presses smoking hot, printing more trillions, soon they will be worth precisely the same .... zero. While our diminishing dollars will soon plunge at increasing speeds, old fashioned gold and silver are rising at comparative speeds. The only thing holding a crash back now is "Stimulus Billions", "Qualitative Easing", "Printing Free Money". When that stops, the wheels come off, but if it continues, the wheels may stay on and carry our national " LocoMotive" down the mountain at twice the speed to the worst national train wreck in history. Only "Christ in you is the hope of glory" and don't forget it. . Col.1:27.
Here is what God says about honest, dependable, constant money values, weights and measures:
1. "Thou shalt have perfect and just weights and a perfect and just measure shalt thou have." Deut.25:15.
God demands that a nations money (means of exchange) must be "PERFECT and JUST", always right and always of the same value or weight.
2. "A just weight and balance are the LORD'S: All weights in the bag are HIS work." Proverbs 16:11. It is God's Work.
3. "Divers (deviating) weights and measures, both ... are ... abomination to the LORD." Proverbs 20:10. Inflation or deflation of the earner's money.
4. "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have ...." Lev. 19:36. Keep constant money values.
5. "Shall I count them pure (who use) wicked balances, with a bag of deceitful weights"? Micah 6:11. Buying or Selling perversions.
6. "With what measure ye mete... it shall be measured to you again." Mt.7:2. Honest or dishonest money, we reap what we sow.
Whether at the gas pump, gallons and cents, or a store's scales, ounces and pounds, or truck scales, to pervert an accurate gallon, quart, pint or to tamper with a scale to cheat the buyer, it is a crime and our Government will prosecute offenders. But, our Government and the Federal Reserve Bank tamper and pervert our means of exchange for those things, money, all the time and have been doing so for many years. It is time for a housecleaning in Washington D.C.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 22, 2010
Self-Righteous Blind Spots
Common Sense Commentary:
Some people's moral standards seem to allow them to steal from a stranger but not from a friend. They may lie without conscience when nobody around knows they are lying, but avoid it where the truth is known.
Good people often overlook or smile at naughtiness in their little angel but severely condemn the same thing done by the little devil next door.
You may have known the woman who screamed at her husband, "Don't you dare lift your voice to me".
Then there was the father who rebuked his son ... "I've told you a million times do not exaggerate."
Let's not forget the drunk who whipped his son for smoking a cigarette.
The truth is that a thief is a thief and a liar is a liar 24 hours a day. If he doesn't steal, it's because he fears getting caught or hasn't the opportunity. If he doesn't lie, it's because it isn't safe or it isn't to his advantage at the moment.
A wise old gentleman once told me when I was young, "If a man will steal for you, he will steal from you, and
if he will lie for you, he will lie to you. I have found that to be absolutely true.
When Jesus encountered these type people, he said they were "blind leaders of the blind." Mt.15:14. In such cases, the person seldom sees his words or actions as self-righteous or hypocritical. Most people have some such blind spots. Human nature seems to be quite ready to justify personal sins while condemning the sins of others. The double standard is every bit as common as the single standard ... if not more so.
Every prison has a pecking order. Thieves, pimps, narcotics pushers, kidnappers and murderers are all to be expected and accepted. You could be a mass murderer who ate his victims and find a place up with the top guys but sexual crimes are the most hated ... except there in the prison ... inmate on inmate ... that seems to be OK if you can get away with it and were not a sex offender on the outside.
The police drove up to a crack house in the ghetto in the middle of a cuss fight. They asked one of the young women what the problem was. "Dat ho done sweet talk my man" she said. "Where is your man"? they asked. "He done gone out to rob somebody" she said. Like he had gone to the mini-market for a loaf of bread. As if he was just on the job making a living but "sweet talkin her man" was unforgivable.
The most extreme cases of such hypocrisy were condemned by Jesus in Mat.23:27, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto (whitewashed graves), which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are full of dead men's bones, and of all (rottenness)." Hypocrisy was the sin most severely dealt with by Jesus.
There are far more examples of self-righteous blind spots than anyone can possibly see. Permit me to mention just three that are so well camouflaged they are almost invisible but are quite common.....
The first may be identified by it's unique double mindedness. It is expressed by the habitual offender whose attitude toward his oft offended wife is, "I'll forgive you of anything but unforgiveness."
The second is employed by the idealistic, pacifist type who says to his non-conformist comrades, who all look alike, "We will tolerate anything but intolerance by all those slaves to the clock hypocrites wearing suits, and we won't tolerate their intolerance of us.
The third is what I call the hate hate syndrome. This one is as elusive as a zebra standing by a white picket fence. It is seen in the eyes and facial expression of those who march and demonstrate for love, truth and equality. It says, in it's self-righteous fervency for fairness, "I hate those hypocrites who hate people".
Pass it on. RB
Some people's moral standards seem to allow them to steal from a stranger but not from a friend. They may lie without conscience when nobody around knows they are lying, but avoid it where the truth is known.
Good people often overlook or smile at naughtiness in their little angel but severely condemn the same thing done by the little devil next door.
You may have known the woman who screamed at her husband, "Don't you dare lift your voice to me".
Then there was the father who rebuked his son ... "I've told you a million times do not exaggerate."
Let's not forget the drunk who whipped his son for smoking a cigarette.
The truth is that a thief is a thief and a liar is a liar 24 hours a day. If he doesn't steal, it's because he fears getting caught or hasn't the opportunity. If he doesn't lie, it's because it isn't safe or it isn't to his advantage at the moment.
A wise old gentleman once told me when I was young, "If a man will steal for you, he will steal from you, and
if he will lie for you, he will lie to you. I have found that to be absolutely true.
When Jesus encountered these type people, he said they were "blind leaders of the blind." Mt.15:14. In such cases, the person seldom sees his words or actions as self-righteous or hypocritical. Most people have some such blind spots. Human nature seems to be quite ready to justify personal sins while condemning the sins of others. The double standard is every bit as common as the single standard ... if not more so.
Every prison has a pecking order. Thieves, pimps, narcotics pushers, kidnappers and murderers are all to be expected and accepted. You could be a mass murderer who ate his victims and find a place up with the top guys but sexual crimes are the most hated ... except there in the prison ... inmate on inmate ... that seems to be OK if you can get away with it and were not a sex offender on the outside.
The police drove up to a crack house in the ghetto in the middle of a cuss fight. They asked one of the young women what the problem was. "Dat ho done sweet talk my man" she said. "Where is your man"? they asked. "He done gone out to rob somebody" she said. Like he had gone to the mini-market for a loaf of bread. As if he was just on the job making a living but "sweet talkin her man" was unforgivable.
The most extreme cases of such hypocrisy were condemned by Jesus in Mat.23:27, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto (whitewashed graves), which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are full of dead men's bones, and of all (rottenness)." Hypocrisy was the sin most severely dealt with by Jesus.
There are far more examples of self-righteous blind spots than anyone can possibly see. Permit me to mention just three that are so well camouflaged they are almost invisible but are quite common.....
The first may be identified by it's unique double mindedness. It is expressed by the habitual offender whose attitude toward his oft offended wife is, "I'll forgive you of anything but unforgiveness."
The second is employed by the idealistic, pacifist type who says to his non-conformist comrades, who all look alike, "We will tolerate anything but intolerance by all those slaves to the clock hypocrites wearing suits, and we won't tolerate their intolerance of us.
The third is what I call the hate hate syndrome. This one is as elusive as a zebra standing by a white picket fence. It is seen in the eyes and facial expression of those who march and demonstrate for love, truth and equality. It says, in it's self-righteous fervency for fairness, "I hate those hypocrites who hate people".
Pass it on. RB
Nov 20, 2010
A Thousand Fiery Advocates
Common Sense Commentary: I first wrote of the following experience in 1990 after pastoring 33 years and beginning to burn out physically and emotionally. I type it now as a blog addressed to Pastors, zealots, active Christians, Go-getters and Do-gooders too. My purpose is to help fire-brand people refocus and follow God's leadership for your remaining years just doing His will and work as Jesus taught us .... not someone else's good causes.
I think I must have more opportunities to "participate" in good causes than anyone I know. Invitations, RSVP's, challenges, pleas, and warnings arrive in almost all of my mail and most of my phone calls. There must be thousands of good causes for ministers and hundreds for laymen to get involved in .... each more important than the others.
There is hardly enough time in a day to do the survival things, much less the optional things. I neglected my wife and children for years trying to correct a steady stream of serious injustices, solve explosive world problems, right ten thousand wrongs, defend all the downtrodden, house all the homeless, feed all the hungry, shelter the fatherless, love the unloved, befriend the friendless, champion all good causes and snatch up every opportunity commanded in the Bible.
While recuperating from open heart surgery, I inventoried my life and all the good causes flooding my old, painful heart. I asked myself, "what is the most important thing in the world you can do for the rest of your life "? Examining all the possibilities, I visualized myself surrounded by a thousand fiery advocates of a thousand good causes. Each, in turn began to answer my question to myself for me.
A white-haired senior citizen spoke up first, "Take care of the elderly.' He that careth not for his own is worse than an infidel.'"
A precious widow raised her hand and said, "Look after the widows and orphans. The Holy Bible says, 'this is pure religion.'"
An inebriated street person spoke up, feed the poor and fight greed. The Good Book says, 'money is the root of all evil.'"
A tither stepped forward and said "tithing would solve all the world's problems. God's Word says, 'the tithe is the Lord's and is holy unto him.'"
A newly saved sinner volunteered, "We must forgive one another. The Bible says, 'to err is human, but to forgive is divine.' " "Those are Alexander Pope's words," I said. "Well", he said, "I knew one of those apostles said it."
Up jumped a flag-waving patriot, "Fight atheistic Communism and Socialism. It's still the biggest threat in the world. Glasnost and perestroika are Communist tricks. Stop Socialism in America.
"No", answered a Pro-Lifer. "Abortion is the worst evil in the world. There were two million babies murdered by this infanticide last year."
Someone in the back cried our, "Stop child abuse".
"Yes", answered a good citizen, "but pornography and drugs are causing most of these problems."
A middle-aged man responded, "If we don't stop this wave of crime, we are doomed, It is bankrupting America."
Deep conviction could be heard in the voice of a preacher-type, "Plain ole sin is the problem. Hebrews one says God hates it."
A well-dressed state Representative said convincingly, "Get out and vote. Support candidates who will correct all these things."
In the meantime", agreed a political activist, "write your Senator. If we let Senate Bill #666 pass, you can wave goodbye to America."
The weary wife of a philanderer wept as she said, "Strengthen the home. As goes the home, so goes the nation."
"Brethren, Brethren, intoned a pastor, "support the church. The Scriptures declare that Christ gave Himself for the church. The church is God's instrument in this old world."
"That's true," answered the parent of a teenager. "But if we don't reach these young people, the whole next generation will go to hell in a hand basket."
An elementary teacher could take it no longer. "Teach the children", said she. "Jesus Himself said, 'of such is the kingdom of Heaven' "
Wait just a minute", chimed in a music minister. "Evil music is the problem and good music is the answer, Remember the Pied Piper."
A saintly prayer warrior whispered, "Pray continuously. It's talking to God about our problems and prayer changes things."
"Yes", bellowed a type-A shaker and mover. "But faith without works is dead, dead, dead."
"But love and forgiveness covers a multitude of sin. We must forgive and love all these sinners", said a sweet little old lady.
Nine hundred and eighty two other advocates were waving their hands and jumping up and down to get my attention ......But as I drifted off to sleep, I heard a nurse say, "You need to walk, Mr. Blair, It's the most important thing you can do right now." Oh me !
"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already unto harvest." John 4:35.
Pass it on. RB
I think I must have more opportunities to "participate" in good causes than anyone I know. Invitations, RSVP's, challenges, pleas, and warnings arrive in almost all of my mail and most of my phone calls. There must be thousands of good causes for ministers and hundreds for laymen to get involved in .... each more important than the others.
There is hardly enough time in a day to do the survival things, much less the optional things. I neglected my wife and children for years trying to correct a steady stream of serious injustices, solve explosive world problems, right ten thousand wrongs, defend all the downtrodden, house all the homeless, feed all the hungry, shelter the fatherless, love the unloved, befriend the friendless, champion all good causes and snatch up every opportunity commanded in the Bible.
While recuperating from open heart surgery, I inventoried my life and all the good causes flooding my old, painful heart. I asked myself, "what is the most important thing in the world you can do for the rest of your life "? Examining all the possibilities, I visualized myself surrounded by a thousand fiery advocates of a thousand good causes. Each, in turn began to answer my question to myself for me.
A white-haired senior citizen spoke up first, "Take care of the elderly.' He that careth not for his own is worse than an infidel.'"
A precious widow raised her hand and said, "Look after the widows and orphans. The Holy Bible says, 'this is pure religion.'"
An inebriated street person spoke up, feed the poor and fight greed. The Good Book says, 'money is the root of all evil.'"
A tither stepped forward and said "tithing would solve all the world's problems. God's Word says, 'the tithe is the Lord's and is holy unto him.'"
A newly saved sinner volunteered, "We must forgive one another. The Bible says, 'to err is human, but to forgive is divine.' " "Those are Alexander Pope's words," I said. "Well", he said, "I knew one of those apostles said it."
Up jumped a flag-waving patriot, "Fight atheistic Communism and Socialism. It's still the biggest threat in the world. Glasnost and perestroika are Communist tricks. Stop Socialism in America.
"No", answered a Pro-Lifer. "Abortion is the worst evil in the world. There were two million babies murdered by this infanticide last year."
Someone in the back cried our, "Stop child abuse".
"Yes", answered a good citizen, "but pornography and drugs are causing most of these problems."
A middle-aged man responded, "If we don't stop this wave of crime, we are doomed, It is bankrupting America."
Deep conviction could be heard in the voice of a preacher-type, "Plain ole sin is the problem. Hebrews one says God hates it."
A well-dressed state Representative said convincingly, "Get out and vote. Support candidates who will correct all these things."
In the meantime", agreed a political activist, "write your Senator. If we let Senate Bill #666 pass, you can wave goodbye to America."
The weary wife of a philanderer wept as she said, "Strengthen the home. As goes the home, so goes the nation."
"Brethren, Brethren, intoned a pastor, "support the church. The Scriptures declare that Christ gave Himself for the church. The church is God's instrument in this old world."
"That's true," answered the parent of a teenager. "But if we don't reach these young people, the whole next generation will go to hell in a hand basket."
An elementary teacher could take it no longer. "Teach the children", said she. "Jesus Himself said, 'of such is the kingdom of Heaven' "
Wait just a minute", chimed in a music minister. "Evil music is the problem and good music is the answer, Remember the Pied Piper."
A saintly prayer warrior whispered, "Pray continuously. It's talking to God about our problems and prayer changes things."
"Yes", bellowed a type-A shaker and mover. "But faith without works is dead, dead, dead."
"But love and forgiveness covers a multitude of sin. We must forgive and love all these sinners", said a sweet little old lady.
Nine hundred and eighty two other advocates were waving their hands and jumping up and down to get my attention ......But as I drifted off to sleep, I heard a nurse say, "You need to walk, Mr. Blair, It's the most important thing you can do right now." Oh me !
"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already unto harvest." John 4:35.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 19, 2010
Truth
Common Sense Commentary: "He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." Jn.3:33.
This verse describes a condition of the soul which develops out of salvation. When someone believes on Jesus and receives His " testimony", God redirects their thinking and they have a new awareness of truth. From the moment of salvation, the converted soul may declare with Paul,"Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar", who contradicts God. Rom.3:4. King David expounded upon the subject of truth many times. In Psm.100:5 he said, "His truth endureth to all generations."
The prophet Isaiah faced similar problems as we do today. He declared that, "None calleth ... nor (any) pleadeth for truth ." Isa.59:4. Jeremiah lamented, "Truth is perished, and is cut off ...." Jer.7:28.
The reason for that sad situation was and is, "They are not valiant for the truth ..." Jer.9:3. Moses looked for spiritual leaders when he specified these qualifications in Ex.18:21 ... "such as fear God, men of truth ..."
Wicked King Ahab swore he wanted the absolute truth from God's prophet ..."And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord ?" 2Chr.18:15. But when the prophet told King Ahab the truth, Ahab wouldn't believe it and hated God's man for saying it. Many follow "Ahab's Contradiction". They want the truth ... but only if it conforms to their beliefs and fits their plans.
Wise King Solomon declared, "The lip of truth shall be established forever." Prov.12:19. This verse says plainly that the truth cannot be changed ! When the truth is twisted into a lie, it is no longer the truth. When the truth is denied or rejected ... it is still and forevermore the truth. "Know the certainty of the words of truth " preached Solomon in Prov.22:21. One lie can motivate the masses to stampede over the facts and evidence of a matter, in their flight from God's Truth of the matter. Isaiah exclaimed, "truth is fallen in the street...." Isa.59:14.
That great prophet, Zechariah, challenged, Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor .... therefore love the truth." Zec.8:16 & 19. The truth is our only means of reasoning with ourselves or communicating with others, or with God. "This above all: To thine own self be true." Shakespeare. Truth is the only thing which can solve a problem, help a bad situation or build a life. But the truth is, most of the world does not want to hear God's truth unless it conforms to their own philosophy or understanding.
Jesus told it like it is in John 3:21. He said, "He that doeth truth cometh to the light." Anyone who does not "come to the light", is not "doing the truth" of God. He may be practicing "religion" or he may be pretending or doing what he "feels" is right, but he is not "doing" truth until he "cometh to the light".
The whole world is seeking truth and freedom .... freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of action, sexual freedom, racial freedom, financial freedom, and a thousand other freedoms. But, there is just one door to freedom and that door is marked "TRUTH". "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Jesus said it in John 8:32. He didn't mean the American truth or the Russian truth. He didn't mean my version of the truth or your version, but THE TRUTH as God knows it. Jesus asked the people, "If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me ?" Jn.8:46. Only a small percentage of the world's population has "believed" His truth. Of those who do believe, Jesus said, "Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." Jn.18:37. In fact, He went further than that ..."I am the truth". Jn.14:6.
Governor Pilate, who must have been an early advocate of "situational ethics" and the "truth is relative" philosophy, questioned Jesus about these things in Jn.18:38, "Pilate saith unto him, what is truth" ? Many seek to pacify their miserable conscience and justify their lifestyles in the gray area of uncertainty or the darkness of error. God threw the spotlight on these argumentative souls in 1 Tim.6:5 where He calls their debate, "perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth." "So do these also resist the truth." 1 Tim.3:8. Surprisingly, many people enlist in that drumbeat of agnosticism. "And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 2 Pet.2:2.
The primary problem, and root of conflict, in the world today is, "Because they receive not the love of the truth."
2 Thess.2:10.
Pass it on. RB
This verse describes a condition of the soul which develops out of salvation. When someone believes on Jesus and receives His " testimony", God redirects their thinking and they have a new awareness of truth. From the moment of salvation, the converted soul may declare with Paul,"Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar", who contradicts God. Rom.3:4. King David expounded upon the subject of truth many times. In Psm.100:5 he said, "His truth endureth to all generations."
The prophet Isaiah faced similar problems as we do today. He declared that, "None calleth ... nor (any) pleadeth for truth ." Isa.59:4. Jeremiah lamented, "Truth is perished, and is cut off ...." Jer.7:28.
The reason for that sad situation was and is, "They are not valiant for the truth ..." Jer.9:3. Moses looked for spiritual leaders when he specified these qualifications in Ex.18:21 ... "such as fear God, men of truth ..."
Wicked King Ahab swore he wanted the absolute truth from God's prophet ..."And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord ?" 2Chr.18:15. But when the prophet told King Ahab the truth, Ahab wouldn't believe it and hated God's man for saying it. Many follow "Ahab's Contradiction". They want the truth ... but only if it conforms to their beliefs and fits their plans.
Wise King Solomon declared, "The lip of truth shall be established forever." Prov.12:19. This verse says plainly that the truth cannot be changed ! When the truth is twisted into a lie, it is no longer the truth. When the truth is denied or rejected ... it is still and forevermore the truth. "Know the certainty of the words of truth " preached Solomon in Prov.22:21. One lie can motivate the masses to stampede over the facts and evidence of a matter, in their flight from God's Truth of the matter. Isaiah exclaimed, "truth is fallen in the street...." Isa.59:14.
That great prophet, Zechariah, challenged, Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor .... therefore love the truth." Zec.8:16 & 19. The truth is our only means of reasoning with ourselves or communicating with others, or with God. "This above all: To thine own self be true." Shakespeare. Truth is the only thing which can solve a problem, help a bad situation or build a life. But the truth is, most of the world does not want to hear God's truth unless it conforms to their own philosophy or understanding.
Jesus told it like it is in John 3:21. He said, "He that doeth truth cometh to the light." Anyone who does not "come to the light", is not "doing the truth" of God. He may be practicing "religion" or he may be pretending or doing what he "feels" is right, but he is not "doing" truth until he "cometh to the light".
The whole world is seeking truth and freedom .... freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of action, sexual freedom, racial freedom, financial freedom, and a thousand other freedoms. But, there is just one door to freedom and that door is marked "TRUTH". "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Jesus said it in John 8:32. He didn't mean the American truth or the Russian truth. He didn't mean my version of the truth or your version, but THE TRUTH as God knows it. Jesus asked the people, "If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me ?" Jn.8:46. Only a small percentage of the world's population has "believed" His truth. Of those who do believe, Jesus said, "Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." Jn.18:37. In fact, He went further than that ..."I am the truth". Jn.14:6.
Governor Pilate, who must have been an early advocate of "situational ethics" and the "truth is relative" philosophy, questioned Jesus about these things in Jn.18:38, "Pilate saith unto him, what is truth" ? Many seek to pacify their miserable conscience and justify their lifestyles in the gray area of uncertainty or the darkness of error. God threw the spotlight on these argumentative souls in 1 Tim.6:5 where He calls their debate, "perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth." "So do these also resist the truth." 1 Tim.3:8. Surprisingly, many people enlist in that drumbeat of agnosticism. "And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 2 Pet.2:2.
The primary problem, and root of conflict, in the world today is, "Because they receive not the love of the truth."
2 Thess.2:10.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 12, 2010
Hey, It's Consequence Time !!!
Common Sense Commentary: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal.6:7. "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."Ho.8:7.
God's law of sowing and reaping is inviolable. He set the standard in Genesis, that everything would bring forth "after it's own kind". The tiny seed has within itself eons of generations of exact duplicates of itself. Every plant and animal will bring forth "after it's own kind". Even the first man, Adam, was "created in the image and likeness of God" and the human race in the image and likeness of Adam. So it is with our words and actions. Sow truth, reap truth. Sow sin, reap the consequences of sin. Every sin has within itself the seed of it's own destruction.
America's people have followed the example of our government's reckless, extravagant spending for so long, we think it is normal and our right to spend more than we take in. Half the nation thinks a welfare check and food stamps are an inherited right of passage. Their parents owned it; their grandparents owned it. It's theirs as much as a salary is to those dumb people who hold a job and they will riot if that government check doesn't come in, and it better be on time. It doesn't stop there. We have all benefited materially in some or many ways in the U.S climate of "free stuff". Free food, free money, free medical care, free schools, free parks, free highways, free a thousand things. So the result was predictable. It's Consequence Time !!
Outrageously, out of control spending by our credit card addicted people , our 'free stuff" culture, and our greedy, power hungry, dumb politicians have left our ship of state, a rusted, rotting, hulk sinking with a quadrillion spouting holes. Our once proud, ship of state, conservative country, leader of the free world, model of freedom has been attended by a drunken, negligent, overpaid crew of idiots and misfits. We voted them in, let them set all the terms of their own lavish benefits. They promised utopia but have run our titanic country into an immovable, monetary iceberg in the middle of a sea of sharks, with no lifeboats !!! Makes a preacher want to say "dangit". We should have voted the windbags out back when the wind was just a little Texas Dust Devil named Lyndon. We sowed that windbag and reaped a whirlwind and the whirlwind a hurricane and now a tsunami.
"Quantitative Easing" (what a lying word) has a momentum factor. When carried to infinity (borrowing money to pay debts), as seems the Fed policy, it results in diminishing dollar values. Our dollars go down, down, down to the finite, where dollars still look the same but are worth a penny. Farther down, a dollar will buy a grain of rice. This was what happened to the German Weimar Republic when Moms pushed wheelbarrows full of fiat currency to market to buy a loaf of bread. Quantitative Easing is another way of saying, rev up the printing presses so we can suffocate this monetary fire with a flood of new paper dollars. You know, a spark often dies on it's own. A flame is easily extinguished with a cup of water or sand. Trash fires can be doused with a garden hose. Even an out of control grass fire can be extinguished by dialing 911 early on .... but what we have here is a full blown Dresden, Germany Fire Storm that feeds on itself by creating it's own wind and metal melting heat. Such a fire cannot be controlled but must burn itself out until everything is ashes and rubble.
Nothing is impossible with God .... but why should He "bail us out", considering our national unfaithfulness to Him? No, "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " Yes, it's consequence time ! Human nature doesn't learn lessons quickly. It took time to get here and it will take time to get back to solvency, sanity and the American Dream.You know it's bad when Mexicans go back to Mexico to find work. How can we pay a nearly sixty trillion dollar debt and federal commitments, in a lifetime ? America is addicted to spending and free stuff and can't break the habit easily; but pain, hardship and desperation will work it's perfect work. "Tribulation worketh perseverance". You can endure it and come through it. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil.4:13.
The national debt is beyond huge. We cannot even pay the interest or sell enough new bonds to pay our bills. So our Federal Reserve simply prints trillions of new fiat dollars to buy our bonds from ourselves... It's Alice in wonder land stuff. It is exactly like the college student who received his new, low limit, credit card in the mail, spent it to the max, applied for another from a different company, spent it to the max, over and over and over until he had ten or twelve credit cards all empty of money and full of debt. When nobody else would loan him money or issue him another card, he just went to the college print shop at night and started reproducing (counterfeit) "fiat" hundred dollar bills. That's like counterfeiting counterfeit dollars. That was logical in his little brain but Master Card smelled a rat before they even opened the cash stuffed envelope. He's in jail now where our Federal Reserve and Political accomplices, to their crime, should be. We cannot spend our way to prosperity or borrow our way to solvency as is and has been their adolescent policy.
At this point, neither Democrats nor Republicans can wave a magic wand and miraculously pay off the national debt .... at least with good money. They can print up a few trillion of "worth a nickel each" dollars, that still says "One Dollar" on both sides, and pay those poor bond holders with weak, worthless dollars that say "In God we trust". They call that "Inflating away our debt" or "Monetising our debt" or "Quantitative Easing" .... all of which mean robbing the loaners (donors) and American dollar savers. We are monetarily terminal unless we either default on the debt or debase the currency . Either way, we ruin our reputation and credit rating with decades of repercussion Consequences. To "Default" is simply reneging on our promise to repay. To "Debase" is to print shiploads of fiat, worthless dollars and repay our legitimate debt with illegitimate paper. That will make them love us again.
Inflation has already eaten up most of the buying power of our paper dollars. Fifty years ago, a "solid silver" dollar would buy a good meal for three people. When our children were all under ten (in age not number), I once bought breakfast for all seven (less Kaye) of us for $1.52. Today, $1.52 won't buy a cup of coffee in most restaurants. What has changed ? Why is a dollar bill so anemic ? Consider this: A real "silver" dime is now worth $3.00 and 3 of today's dollars are worth one silver dime and will only buy what that dime would buy 50 years ago or today. The real value of silver isn't going up; the value of paper dollars is going down. For our government to say the CPI (inflation) rate is 2% is a political fabrication ...which is to say, false ... which is to say, a lie. Like bedbugs in New York City, lies flourish and breed promiscuously in our Hallowed Halls Of Justice .... D.C.
"How shall I pardon thee for this ? thy children have forsaken me ... when I fed them to the full, they then ....assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses." Jer.5:7
Our national debt and commitments have grown too large and gone too far down the slippery slope of monetary excess to stop the slide. It must hit bottom now, before we can begin to pick up the pieces and rebuild our country. Goldman Sachs Chief Economist, Jan Hatzius, says it will take $4 trillion more in "asset purchases"" to turn our free fall around. How do you DO that. Last week, his friends over at the Fed said it would take "another $400 Billion or just a tenth of Hatzius' guesstimate and that doesn't touch all the federal debt, commitments, retirements etc. Neither bit of propaganda is correct if we owe upward of a sixty trillion dollars. Our Liberal leaders have chosen to Soothe us Titanic passengers by calmly telling us that "more lifeboats are in the bilges", and "the water is warm around icebergs", "Don't worry, be happy ... things are getting better".
God is good and Christians were praying .... but the Titanic sank anyway .... Christians and all. In the long term, no one can depend on anything .... except God. I recommend that we all get to know Him better; for no matter what the future holds, we all know life is fleeting and our turn will come when only Jesus Christ can deliver us safely home .... as He always has .... and always will.
Pass it on . RB
God's law of sowing and reaping is inviolable. He set the standard in Genesis, that everything would bring forth "after it's own kind". The tiny seed has within itself eons of generations of exact duplicates of itself. Every plant and animal will bring forth "after it's own kind". Even the first man, Adam, was "created in the image and likeness of God" and the human race in the image and likeness of Adam. So it is with our words and actions. Sow truth, reap truth. Sow sin, reap the consequences of sin. Every sin has within itself the seed of it's own destruction.
America's people have followed the example of our government's reckless, extravagant spending for so long, we think it is normal and our right to spend more than we take in. Half the nation thinks a welfare check and food stamps are an inherited right of passage. Their parents owned it; their grandparents owned it. It's theirs as much as a salary is to those dumb people who hold a job and they will riot if that government check doesn't come in, and it better be on time. It doesn't stop there. We have all benefited materially in some or many ways in the U.S climate of "free stuff". Free food, free money, free medical care, free schools, free parks, free highways, free a thousand things. So the result was predictable. It's Consequence Time !!
Outrageously, out of control spending by our credit card addicted people , our 'free stuff" culture, and our greedy, power hungry, dumb politicians have left our ship of state, a rusted, rotting, hulk sinking with a quadrillion spouting holes. Our once proud, ship of state, conservative country, leader of the free world, model of freedom has been attended by a drunken, negligent, overpaid crew of idiots and misfits. We voted them in, let them set all the terms of their own lavish benefits. They promised utopia but have run our titanic country into an immovable, monetary iceberg in the middle of a sea of sharks, with no lifeboats !!! Makes a preacher want to say "dangit". We should have voted the windbags out back when the wind was just a little Texas Dust Devil named Lyndon. We sowed that windbag and reaped a whirlwind and the whirlwind a hurricane and now a tsunami.
"Quantitative Easing" (what a lying word) has a momentum factor. When carried to infinity (borrowing money to pay debts), as seems the Fed policy, it results in diminishing dollar values. Our dollars go down, down, down to the finite, where dollars still look the same but are worth a penny. Farther down, a dollar will buy a grain of rice. This was what happened to the German Weimar Republic when Moms pushed wheelbarrows full of fiat currency to market to buy a loaf of bread. Quantitative Easing is another way of saying, rev up the printing presses so we can suffocate this monetary fire with a flood of new paper dollars. You know, a spark often dies on it's own. A flame is easily extinguished with a cup of water or sand. Trash fires can be doused with a garden hose. Even an out of control grass fire can be extinguished by dialing 911 early on .... but what we have here is a full blown Dresden, Germany Fire Storm that feeds on itself by creating it's own wind and metal melting heat. Such a fire cannot be controlled but must burn itself out until everything is ashes and rubble.
Nothing is impossible with God .... but why should He "bail us out", considering our national unfaithfulness to Him? No, "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " Yes, it's consequence time ! Human nature doesn't learn lessons quickly. It took time to get here and it will take time to get back to solvency, sanity and the American Dream.You know it's bad when Mexicans go back to Mexico to find work. How can we pay a nearly sixty trillion dollar debt and federal commitments, in a lifetime ? America is addicted to spending and free stuff and can't break the habit easily; but pain, hardship and desperation will work it's perfect work. "Tribulation worketh perseverance". You can endure it and come through it. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil.4:13.
The national debt is beyond huge. We cannot even pay the interest or sell enough new bonds to pay our bills. So our Federal Reserve simply prints trillions of new fiat dollars to buy our bonds from ourselves... It's Alice in wonder land stuff. It is exactly like the college student who received his new, low limit, credit card in the mail, spent it to the max, applied for another from a different company, spent it to the max, over and over and over until he had ten or twelve credit cards all empty of money and full of debt. When nobody else would loan him money or issue him another card, he just went to the college print shop at night and started reproducing (counterfeit) "fiat" hundred dollar bills. That's like counterfeiting counterfeit dollars. That was logical in his little brain but Master Card smelled a rat before they even opened the cash stuffed envelope. He's in jail now where our Federal Reserve and Political accomplices, to their crime, should be. We cannot spend our way to prosperity or borrow our way to solvency as is and has been their adolescent policy.
At this point, neither Democrats nor Republicans can wave a magic wand and miraculously pay off the national debt .... at least with good money. They can print up a few trillion of "worth a nickel each" dollars, that still says "One Dollar" on both sides, and pay those poor bond holders with weak, worthless dollars that say "In God we trust". They call that "Inflating away our debt" or "Monetising our debt" or "Quantitative Easing" .... all of which mean robbing the loaners (donors) and American dollar savers. We are monetarily terminal unless we either default on the debt or debase the currency . Either way, we ruin our reputation and credit rating with decades of repercussion Consequences. To "Default" is simply reneging on our promise to repay. To "Debase" is to print shiploads of fiat, worthless dollars and repay our legitimate debt with illegitimate paper. That will make them love us again.
Inflation has already eaten up most of the buying power of our paper dollars. Fifty years ago, a "solid silver" dollar would buy a good meal for three people. When our children were all under ten (in age not number), I once bought breakfast for all seven (less Kaye) of us for $1.52. Today, $1.52 won't buy a cup of coffee in most restaurants. What has changed ? Why is a dollar bill so anemic ? Consider this: A real "silver" dime is now worth $3.00 and 3 of today's dollars are worth one silver dime and will only buy what that dime would buy 50 years ago or today. The real value of silver isn't going up; the value of paper dollars is going down. For our government to say the CPI (inflation) rate is 2% is a political fabrication ...which is to say, false ... which is to say, a lie. Like bedbugs in New York City, lies flourish and breed promiscuously in our Hallowed Halls Of Justice .... D.C.
"How shall I pardon thee for this ? thy children have forsaken me ... when I fed them to the full, they then ....assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses." Jer.5:7
Our national debt and commitments have grown too large and gone too far down the slippery slope of monetary excess to stop the slide. It must hit bottom now, before we can begin to pick up the pieces and rebuild our country. Goldman Sachs Chief Economist, Jan Hatzius, says it will take $4 trillion more in "asset purchases"" to turn our free fall around. How do you DO that. Last week, his friends over at the Fed said it would take "another $400 Billion or just a tenth of Hatzius' guesstimate and that doesn't touch all the federal debt, commitments, retirements etc. Neither bit of propaganda is correct if we owe upward of a sixty trillion dollars. Our Liberal leaders have chosen to Soothe us Titanic passengers by calmly telling us that "more lifeboats are in the bilges", and "the water is warm around icebergs", "Don't worry, be happy ... things are getting better".
God is good and Christians were praying .... but the Titanic sank anyway .... Christians and all. In the long term, no one can depend on anything .... except God. I recommend that we all get to know Him better; for no matter what the future holds, we all know life is fleeting and our turn will come when only Jesus Christ can deliver us safely home .... as He always has .... and always will.
Pass it on . RB
Nov 11, 2010
"Christian" A Litmus Test For Political Office ?
Common Sense Commentary: Jesus suggested that sometimes, the "unjustified" stewards of this world are "...wiser that the children of light". Lk.16:8.
My question is, should Christians use a "Christians Only" litmus test on candidates for political office ?
Judas was a "professing" Christian. Jim Jones was a "professing" Christian, as is Rev. Jerimiah Wright, Jimmy Carter and both Clintons . Tammy Faye and Jim Baker, and Jimmy Swagard "professed" Christ. Which of these would you campaign for as President or Senator ? Of that limited lot, I would simply choose the most Conservative ... if there is one.
The fact is, none of us can read another person's heart or sincerity or motives. We cannot say whether a person's profession of Christ is real or not. We can't "see" their faith and their outward appearance actions may be politically motivated to gain status and stay in power. What we can do, is look at each candidate's history, his or her past record not empty promises. We can study their voting record, where they stood on the issues in the past. Are they mentally, physically, emotionally capable of standing long and firmly against error, waste, corruption and terrorists ? Will they tell Americans the truth without giving away national secrets to our enemies ? Have they always been meeting the world with humility and strength. We can tell a great deal about them by who they choose as close friends and associates.
I would prefer a strong, Conservative Newt Gingrich with three marriages to a Liberal Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton with only one marriage. I would choose a Dennis Praeger, who is a wise, honest, strong, all American Jewish Conservative to a Baptist, Sunday School Teacher like Jimmy Carter.
I think we are going to have more upright, Conservative, Patriotic Candidates for political office in 2012 than we have had in years. I also think there will be more chameleon, deceptive, issue claim jumpers, and plain liars than we have ever had .... before the 2008 fiasco, of course. That election was a high water mark for voter ignor-ance, a willful blindness to the plain facts.
Yes, I would prefer a Christian, in high political office, but only if they were also Patriots, prepared, honest, humble, strong Conservatives who would surround themselves with other such men and women. That is my preference but being a "professed" Christian ONLY, is not. If I were choosing a mechanic, eye surgeon, pilot or investment advisor, I would want the very best, most informed, honest, experienced one available. I wouldn't choose a novice or a Christian who didn't know what they were doing.
Similarly, I would vote for a Black, Mexican, Jewish, one eyed Female convert to Mormonism who met my litmus test of "excellence and conservatism" ahead of any "professing" Christian who did not. There are more "professors" than "possessors". So, the answer to my original question above is, "NO we should not". And remember, I am a straight-laced, hard nosed, Bible believing, Fundamental, Baptist Preacher. So you see, all that Liberal propaganda about "Fundamentalists" is false. The "fundamentals" are simply the major Bible doctrines which are clearly established. A "Fundamentalist" simply believes a few things are "essential" if a person is a true Christian. So call me an "Essentialist" if you like. Just don't call me a Liberal on Jesus, God, His Spirit, His Bible, Creation, Salvation by grace not works, or Christ's Death and Resurrection . I cannot be other than Conservative concerning God's Holy Word. I believe it all.
Pass it on. RB
My question is, should Christians use a "Christians Only" litmus test on candidates for political office ?
Judas was a "professing" Christian. Jim Jones was a "professing" Christian, as is Rev. Jerimiah Wright, Jimmy Carter and both Clintons . Tammy Faye and Jim Baker, and Jimmy Swagard "professed" Christ. Which of these would you campaign for as President or Senator ? Of that limited lot, I would simply choose the most Conservative ... if there is one.
The fact is, none of us can read another person's heart or sincerity or motives. We cannot say whether a person's profession of Christ is real or not. We can't "see" their faith and their outward appearance actions may be politically motivated to gain status and stay in power. What we can do, is look at each candidate's history, his or her past record not empty promises. We can study their voting record, where they stood on the issues in the past. Are they mentally, physically, emotionally capable of standing long and firmly against error, waste, corruption and terrorists ? Will they tell Americans the truth without giving away national secrets to our enemies ? Have they always been meeting the world with humility and strength. We can tell a great deal about them by who they choose as close friends and associates.
I would prefer a strong, Conservative Newt Gingrich with three marriages to a Liberal Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton with only one marriage. I would choose a Dennis Praeger, who is a wise, honest, strong, all American Jewish Conservative to a Baptist, Sunday School Teacher like Jimmy Carter.
I think we are going to have more upright, Conservative, Patriotic Candidates for political office in 2012 than we have had in years. I also think there will be more chameleon, deceptive, issue claim jumpers, and plain liars than we have ever had .... before the 2008 fiasco, of course. That election was a high water mark for voter ignor-ance, a willful blindness to the plain facts.
Yes, I would prefer a Christian, in high political office, but only if they were also Patriots, prepared, honest, humble, strong Conservatives who would surround themselves with other such men and women. That is my preference but being a "professed" Christian ONLY, is not. If I were choosing a mechanic, eye surgeon, pilot or investment advisor, I would want the very best, most informed, honest, experienced one available. I wouldn't choose a novice or a Christian who didn't know what they were doing.
Similarly, I would vote for a Black, Mexican, Jewish, one eyed Female convert to Mormonism who met my litmus test of "excellence and conservatism" ahead of any "professing" Christian who did not. There are more "professors" than "possessors". So, the answer to my original question above is, "NO we should not". And remember, I am a straight-laced, hard nosed, Bible believing, Fundamental, Baptist Preacher. So you see, all that Liberal propaganda about "Fundamentalists" is false. The "fundamentals" are simply the major Bible doctrines which are clearly established. A "Fundamentalist" simply believes a few things are "essential" if a person is a true Christian. So call me an "Essentialist" if you like. Just don't call me a Liberal on Jesus, God, His Spirit, His Bible, Creation, Salvation by grace not works, or Christ's Death and Resurrection . I cannot be other than Conservative concerning God's Holy Word. I believe it all.
Pass it on. RB
Nov 10, 2010
The Empty Tomb .... Is Still Empty !
Common Sense Commentary: "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay." Mt.28:6
Twenty witnesses walked quietly into the beautiful Garden of the Tomb, at the foot of Mount Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem. We had come there, as millions of believers before us, to walk where Jesus walked and to see Galilee, Calvary, Gethsemane, and the tomb where He was buried. As we walked through the garden, everything was green and blooming but the sun was behind the hill of Calvary and cold shadows filled the garden as we neared the tomb of Jesus. A leafy frame opened between us and the dark entrance where He was carried, by His disciples, to be buried on that fearsome day. The open door to this famous sepulchre dimly revealed a hollow interior and the cold slab where He once lay.
We approached in a whisper and with reverent steps to the most notable spot on the face of God's earth.
A solid rock cliff loomed over the tomb. In front of the entrance was a 10-inch deep channel, about 15 inches wide and 12 feet long, in which once rolled the four thousand pound stone which sealed this door. As Simon Peter, so many years ago, in Luke 24:12, "... ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld ....", we 20 witnesses stooped down and entered the tomb where the body of Jesus was buried. There, in the semi dark quietness of the sepulchre, we saw the most fantastic sight ever seen by human or angelic eyes, since the day He arose .....the grave of Jesus Christ .... empty !
Every time I see that empty grave, I can almost hear the angelic words echoing down through the centuries ... "He is not here but is risen." Thank God, neither His body nor His bones are in that death grave and have not been since three days after His crucifixion.
"Death could not hold it's prey." Jesus left this tomb with absolute and final victory over death and sin. His crucifixion without resurrection would have meant nothing. Though His death is the heart of the gospel, His resurrection is the power of the gospel.
It is an interesting fact and conclusive that, in the early part of this past century, when an Englishman by the name of Gordon uncovered this tomb for the first time, .... it was empty. There was not a sign of bone or cloth or metal in it even then. It has been empty since that first Easter morning in 33 A.D.
The nearest and dearest thing I know to compare with a visit to the Garden Tomb of Jesus is to bury a true, born again believer in Jesus and His resurrection, and KNOW that I shall see this friend or family member again. PRAISE HIM!
Pass it on. RB
Twenty witnesses walked quietly into the beautiful Garden of the Tomb, at the foot of Mount Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem. We had come there, as millions of believers before us, to walk where Jesus walked and to see Galilee, Calvary, Gethsemane, and the tomb where He was buried. As we walked through the garden, everything was green and blooming but the sun was behind the hill of Calvary and cold shadows filled the garden as we neared the tomb of Jesus. A leafy frame opened between us and the dark entrance where He was carried, by His disciples, to be buried on that fearsome day. The open door to this famous sepulchre dimly revealed a hollow interior and the cold slab where He once lay.
We approached in a whisper and with reverent steps to the most notable spot on the face of God's earth.
A solid rock cliff loomed over the tomb. In front of the entrance was a 10-inch deep channel, about 15 inches wide and 12 feet long, in which once rolled the four thousand pound stone which sealed this door. As Simon Peter, so many years ago, in Luke 24:12, "... ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld ....", we 20 witnesses stooped down and entered the tomb where the body of Jesus was buried. There, in the semi dark quietness of the sepulchre, we saw the most fantastic sight ever seen by human or angelic eyes, since the day He arose .....the grave of Jesus Christ .... empty !
Every time I see that empty grave, I can almost hear the angelic words echoing down through the centuries ... "He is not here but is risen." Thank God, neither His body nor His bones are in that death grave and have not been since three days after His crucifixion.
"Death could not hold it's prey." Jesus left this tomb with absolute and final victory over death and sin. His crucifixion without resurrection would have meant nothing. Though His death is the heart of the gospel, His resurrection is the power of the gospel.
It is an interesting fact and conclusive that, in the early part of this past century, when an Englishman by the name of Gordon uncovered this tomb for the first time, .... it was empty. There was not a sign of bone or cloth or metal in it even then. It has been empty since that first Easter morning in 33 A.D.
The nearest and dearest thing I know to compare with a visit to the Garden Tomb of Jesus is to bury a true, born again believer in Jesus and His resurrection, and KNOW that I shall see this friend or family member again. PRAISE HIM!
Pass it on. RB
Nov 8, 2010
How Many Crosses Can A Body Bear ?
Common Sense Commentary: How many crosses can a Christian carry anyway ?
Jesus challenged all who would follow Him, "Take up the cross and follow me." Mk.10:21. Notice that He said, "the cross". "The" is specific, a definite article, one of a kind. He also said, to His disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me". Mt.16:24. These two verses reveal that "the" cross is singular in meaning, but plural in that each of us has our own to bear. To better understand how this can be, consider this; There is only one Holy Bible but many Christian's have a copy. So it is with "the" cross each Christian must bear if we are to "follow" Jesus.
So what is your cross ? Is it your particular physical flaw or mental shortcoming ? No! Is it your private perversion ? No! Is it your ridiculed denomination ? No! Is it your strict, personal convictions ? No! Is it your "besetting sin" ? No! Is it your "that's just me" personality ? No! Is it your fat or skinny body ? No! Jesus bore His cross and we, as Christians must each bear the cross He has assigned us.
When Jesus carried that cross through Jerusalem and up Mount Calvary, it represented all that He stood for, preached, taught and lived for. It represented all those things about Jesus that the world hated, ridiculed and for which He was condemned and crucified.
So what is your cross ? It is all those things which you bear for our Lord Jesus Christ which is hated, feared and denied by the world and for which Christians are "crucified with Christ". Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..."Gal.2:20
So what is your cross ? It is all those similarities of Christ in you which separate us from the world ... even the religious world, upon which they nail your reputation and testimony and lift it up for the world to see and ridicule, even as they did our Lord. It is Christ in you. It is confessing Christ in a worldly crowd. It is rough hewn and painful to our flesh. It is hard to consistently bear this "Jesus cross" in a wicked world where it is unwanted but so desperately needed. Our cross is to believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word Of God in a world which doesn't believe a word of it. Our cross is to believe God created the world and universe, as the Bible says, in a world which worships the "false science" of evolution, worldly accomplishment, wealth, power, possessions and sophistication, but not the true God. Our cross is to believe Jesus, God's Son, died for the sins of the world, was buried dead but arose back to life.
Our cross is to believe Jesus is coming again, to this world where Satan keeps inspiring religious counterfeits to grab the public eye by setting dates for His second coming and the end of the world. Our cross is to be classified with some lying, pseudo preacher pleading for money, on television, when he already has three mansions and a five million dollar jet and he calls that "Christian". Counterfeit Christians are NOT following the humble Jesus or bearing His glorious cross. They are carrying their own load of self styled, comfort crosses and hundreds of "offering" buckets.
Being a true, Bible Believing, faithful Christian is enough of a cross to bear to occupy all of our time, all of our energy, all of our endurance and all of our credibility. How foolish and wasteful it is for a true Christian to add a bunch of plastic or lead crosses to "the" cross assigned to each of us. How destructive and unnecessarily offensive it is to heap up on top of the Fundamentals of the Faith a pile of personal convictions which cannot be clearly confirmed in the Bible. The lost world sees our inconsistent convictions, self-righteousness smoldering, and unholy tirades, and reacts with an outpouring of contempt against all that we stand for .... including the good part. We unequally yoke together Holy Writ with dubious personal convictions and spoil it all ... when lost souls are at stake.
No human being can carry both burdens. It is enough to bear our cross of Divine Calling and Holy Purpose. It is enough to consume all of you, for life, just to carry God's gospel of Jesus Christ, without adding your own gospel and trivial, plastic and dead weight causes to it.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Heb.12:1.
Pass it on. RB
Jesus challenged all who would follow Him, "Take up the cross and follow me." Mk.10:21. Notice that He said, "the cross". "The" is specific, a definite article, one of a kind. He also said, to His disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me". Mt.16:24. These two verses reveal that "the" cross is singular in meaning, but plural in that each of us has our own to bear. To better understand how this can be, consider this; There is only one Holy Bible but many Christian's have a copy. So it is with "the" cross each Christian must bear if we are to "follow" Jesus.
So what is your cross ? Is it your particular physical flaw or mental shortcoming ? No! Is it your private perversion ? No! Is it your ridiculed denomination ? No! Is it your strict, personal convictions ? No! Is it your "besetting sin" ? No! Is it your "that's just me" personality ? No! Is it your fat or skinny body ? No! Jesus bore His cross and we, as Christians must each bear the cross He has assigned us.
When Jesus carried that cross through Jerusalem and up Mount Calvary, it represented all that He stood for, preached, taught and lived for. It represented all those things about Jesus that the world hated, ridiculed and for which He was condemned and crucified.
So what is your cross ? It is all those things which you bear for our Lord Jesus Christ which is hated, feared and denied by the world and for which Christians are "crucified with Christ". Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..."Gal.2:20
So what is your cross ? It is all those similarities of Christ in you which separate us from the world ... even the religious world, upon which they nail your reputation and testimony and lift it up for the world to see and ridicule, even as they did our Lord. It is Christ in you. It is confessing Christ in a worldly crowd. It is rough hewn and painful to our flesh. It is hard to consistently bear this "Jesus cross" in a wicked world where it is unwanted but so desperately needed. Our cross is to believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word Of God in a world which doesn't believe a word of it. Our cross is to believe God created the world and universe, as the Bible says, in a world which worships the "false science" of evolution, worldly accomplishment, wealth, power, possessions and sophistication, but not the true God. Our cross is to believe Jesus, God's Son, died for the sins of the world, was buried dead but arose back to life.
Our cross is to believe Jesus is coming again, to this world where Satan keeps inspiring religious counterfeits to grab the public eye by setting dates for His second coming and the end of the world. Our cross is to be classified with some lying, pseudo preacher pleading for money, on television, when he already has three mansions and a five million dollar jet and he calls that "Christian". Counterfeit Christians are NOT following the humble Jesus or bearing His glorious cross. They are carrying their own load of self styled, comfort crosses and hundreds of "offering" buckets.
Being a true, Bible Believing, faithful Christian is enough of a cross to bear to occupy all of our time, all of our energy, all of our endurance and all of our credibility. How foolish and wasteful it is for a true Christian to add a bunch of plastic or lead crosses to "the" cross assigned to each of us. How destructive and unnecessarily offensive it is to heap up on top of the Fundamentals of the Faith a pile of personal convictions which cannot be clearly confirmed in the Bible. The lost world sees our inconsistent convictions, self-righteousness smoldering, and unholy tirades, and reacts with an outpouring of contempt against all that we stand for .... including the good part. We unequally yoke together Holy Writ with dubious personal convictions and spoil it all ... when lost souls are at stake.
No human being can carry both burdens. It is enough to bear our cross of Divine Calling and Holy Purpose. It is enough to consume all of you, for life, just to carry God's gospel of Jesus Christ, without adding your own gospel and trivial, plastic and dead weight causes to it.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Heb.12:1.
Pass it on. RB
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