God may have removed His hand of protection from America

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrati ng this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too... But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said something to the affect of, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of events like ... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's grandson committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet? Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.


Written by several people...

Glorifying God BY Enjoying Him Forever!

This quote best states how we glorify God by enjoying Him, by praising Him!

"When I first began to draw near to belief in God and even for some time after, I found a stumbling block in the demand that we should “praise” God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it. We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue…but the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything, strangely escaped me. I never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game…Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible…
Men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” Indeed we can’t help doing it…because praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…Our expressions of praise are inadequate – but how if one could really and fully praise things to perfection – then indeed our delight would attain perfect development! To understand what [heaven] means we must imagine ourselves in perfect love with God – drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves…flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression – our joy no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is a separable from the brightness it sheds. The Scots Catechism says a man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But then we will know these are the same thing. To fully enjoy is to glorify – in commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him." – C. S. Lewis

Heads AND Tails

I thought this was a really unique way of putting salvation, and liked it:

“…in Acts11:18 the apostles respond to Peter’s testimony about Gentile conversions like this: ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’ And in Acts 14:27, Paul and Barnabas report the conversion of the Gentiles by saying that ‘God…had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.’

Conversion, then, is repentance (turning from sin and unbelief) and faith (trusting in Christ alone for salvation). They are really two sides of the same coin. One side is tails - turn tail on the fruits of unbelief.

The other side is heads – head straight for Jesus and trust His promises. You can’t have the one without the other any more than you can face two ways at once or serve two masters.

This means that saving faith in Christ always involves a profound change of heart. It is not merely agreement with the truth of a doctrine. Satan agrees with true doctrine (James 2:19). Saving faith is far deeper and more pervasive than that.”
-John Piper's Desiring God

Praying for Biblical Worship

"We pray that God will give us the discipline to pour our emotions into the mold of sound doctrine." - Jeff Noblit

Do you ever hear a quote that inspires you; one that gives you a new perspective on the way you look at things? This one did that for me! I think there are too many people who are caught up in "emotionalism", where there is no factor of Biblical doctrine, nor true, Spiritual renewal in Christ from a truly repentant heart in their kind of worship at all. On the other hand, I see many dead Christians, trying to die so much to emotion (thinking that to be happy in their worship is not important), that Christ is no longer their joy and ultimate satisfaction in everything they do, when He is to be what brings us the most pleasure in life. There is an extreme to both sides; you either have emotionalism with no Biblical doctrine, or doctrine with not heart-felt emotion. We must pray that God will help us to find the right balance in our worshiping Him (as it is of utmost importance in a Christian's life)!

The Church Today

I thought this was SO good, because it is SO true!

Kirk Cameron's Message to the SBC Pastors

"Can I speak to you from my heart for a moment? I realize that, theologically, I’m not worthy to wash your socks. But imagine this scenario with me, if you will: Imagine I’m a “seeker”- I’m a non-Christian, sitting in your church week after week after week listening to you. Am I ever going to hear the message that will save my soul from Hell? Will you ever tell me the truth clearly enough so that I realize that my sin has made me an enemy of God: that I am currently on the path that leads to destruction, with the wrath of God dwelling upon me, and that unless I repent and put my faith in the Savior, I will perish? Or have you decided that it’s better to simply entertain me, and on Sundays I can come to have my “felt needs” met with good music and good advice? Pastor, while I would appreciate that, it’s the ultimate betrayal of my trust in you if you don’t tell me the truth. Will I ever hear the words “repent,” “surrender,” “turn to the Savior,” “be born again”? If you don’t tell me those things, how will I ever know to do it?Please don’t leave it up to the Wednesday night small-group leader. They’re taking their cues from you. You’re leading the flock.
And now I speak to you as a Christian. If you and I fail to teach the whole counsel of God, and we don’t warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and run to the love of Christ on the Cross to save their soul, we make a terrible mistake. It doesn’t matter how happy a person is- how much a sinner is enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season- without the righteousness of Christ, he’ll perish on the Day of Judgment. The Bible says, “Riches profit not on the Day of Wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” You see, that’s how Kirk Cameron realized he needed a Savior. I had riches, but I knew that it was the righteousness of God that I needed in order to be saved from my sin."