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Excess of pride brought our nations low. More rebuilding through
pride will not bring prosperity. Campaigns that showcase making
our nations strong again and rebuilding national pride have
missed why they've come to this point.
They've turned their backs on God and what is right. God makes
nations great, but He will bring them down if they do not come to
what is right after straying. The United States, especially, has been
given wake-up calls through 9-11 and financial upheavals, yet
instead of humbly seeking to make things right with God, nations
continue to stand proud in their own logic, strength and promises -
they simply continue oblivious to what will guarantee permanent
healing and prosperity. The only way back to blessing and promise
is through God. May it be in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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The wrong kind of pride is destroying our future When facts supporting the immorality of abortion were given,
someone sarcastically commented on the hundreds upon hundreds
of adoptions being made to save those unwanted babies. There were
millions upon millions of abortions performed since the United States
legalized it, averaging over 1.3 million a year since 1973. After all,
how could so many babies be adopted? That isn't the point. It's society's lack of accountability, self-control,
and morals that are creating so many unwanted babies in the first
place. The immorality of murder is justified in the name of personal
freedom. Loose sexual morals and lust promoted by popular culture,
and the absence of self-control, proper education and discipline of
our children are promoting promiscuity that is creating all these
unwanted babies. So when serious moral consequences of abortion are given, criticism
on what to do with all the babies is given instead of the realization
that the causes of this problem are society's exchange of the moral
for the immoral. Pride in thinking that nothing wrong was done is
blinding society. It does not want to see its wrongs and
that lack of accountability will destroy our nations. |
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| Devotionals and Insights |
6/10/2016 12:42 PM |
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Allegiance to division always hinders Political parties, denominations, social castes, sects, and
factions don't serve the greater good when they work blindly to
rigidly follow their group's agendas. It undermines government
and leadership and creates strife and endless arguing. Progress
is swiftest when the gears of government and society do not
constantly work against one another. I've seen members of political parties plan to oppose leaders
even before the leader is elected into power. I've seen them
refuse to do their jobs correctly because they simply want to
oppose the leader in power. I've seen voters continue to support
their political group's lines even when a candidate is obviously
inappropriate for the job. How does this make for good
government and leadership? Leaders and citizens alike need to view things on a larger scale
to achieve what is best for all. We need a God-centric view so we
understand and act on issues without prejudice. Leave divisions
behind. Leave sore feelings made by disagreements behind.
Leave biased judgment based on loyalty to a group behind. Instead, judge righteous and understand God's will for the situation.
Even God's chosen can go astray if they do not understand what
He wants (Numbers 15:44-45; Acts 9:1-3;21:4-14).
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Pascha, not Easter
A blessed Good Friday to everyone. Remember God's sacrifice to
atone for our sin's and bring a new age for the Jews and mankind. Remember, too, the word Easter is a misnomer and inappropriate to
use for Christ's day of resurrection. The word comes from the name
of pagan spring deities and festivals. Instead, refer to Christ's
resurrection day as Pascha, which is what most of the
non-Westernized church calls the holiday. Pascha is Greek for
Passover and comes from the Hebrew for Passover - Pesach/
Pesah/Pesakh. Pascha is the correct name for the holiday because
Christ was our Passover Lamb and sacrificed during Passover
(1 Corinthians 5:7). |
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| Devotionals and Insights |
3/22/2016 12:05 PM |
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Purim is approaching and people are preparing to celebrate
God's deliverance in times of peril. Some also speak of faith to
overcome threats of every incarnation of "Amalek" or forces trying
to destroy God's People. However, the Jews and Church alike don't
realize how deeply ingrained those incarnations of Amalek have
infiltrated their midst as false beliefs and teachings. Those threats
are just as dangerous as those of Haman against the Jews in
Babylon, which Purim goes with. They have been destroying God's
People for millennia, so when Purim begins tomorrow at sundown,
pray for the Lord's People to come out of those threats and bring
them into the purity and righteousness God desires of His People -
Jew and Christian alike.
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Righteous government
is not run by petty politics. The President did his job by nominating a capable
and qualified Supreme Court Justice, yet Senate Republicans are refusing to even review Merrick Garland's nomination. He is well regarded by both Democrats
and Republicans alike, yet politicians blocking the nomination suggest it
should be held off because it is an election year. They have no truly legitimate
reasons to block the nomination like this and are serving to make government a
mockery. Righteous leaders will do their jobs without putting personal opinions
or alliances in the way.
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Submit To Lawful Authority
The Apple Corporation is refusing to cooperate with law enforcement
to unlock a suspected terrorist's cell phone as well as devices in
other cases. They claim it will set precedent that will affect their
customers' privacy. However, there is no problem with unlocking
the devices. Law enforcement already unlocks and looks through
criminals' computers and other devices, and if you are a criminal
suspect then your rights to privacy should be expected to be taken
away. Apple is not being told to compromise all their customers'
security or privacy by cooperating with law enforcement. In fact,
it is sin for them to refuse lawful authority when they have no valid
grounds to resist (Romans 13:1-5). God put government and authority
over us for the better good and we have an obligation to respect
that, so if there are no issues of Godly authority or commands
being violated then a righteous company or organization should
submit to reasonable requests from authority. |
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| Devotionals and Insights |
2/29/2016 5:06 PM |
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Righteous leaders should not do their jobs with
bias for their opinions or allegiances.
Why are political leaders saying they will not even review the
president's Supreme Court nomination for a replacement when it
is his job to nominate a justice and it is their job to review it?
A righteous government is not run by politics,
but by impartial logic and wisdom.
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| Devotionals and Insights |
1/13/2016 2:33 PM |
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A common misused myth of the church:
"God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV).
It should be translated, "God is not a God of disorder" (NIV),
which goes with the proper context of the Scripture there - of keeping
order in the church. The verse does not mean God never
gives or makes confusing or misleading things,
which many people have referenced it for.
God does create and speak in very confusing ways. His host
includes lying spirits who He sends for various reasons
(1 Kings 22:19-23; 2 Chronicles 18:18-22). His whole creation was made
very confusingly to test faith in man, to see if we trust Him or
what we see with our eyes. Note how He made the universe
and our world to appear ancient. And what appears to be
"evolution" without God and its evidence in fossil records and
DNA is not as straightforward as the world thinks.
God hid the details very well. I wrote about the science of these
things in my first book, 3rd Compass.
God hides the truth to test us. He hides many other things for
other reasons. God's Spoken Guidance, Scripture, and many of
His parables and prophecies are deliberately confusing. Jesus'
disciples were even confused by things He said. God obscures
things because it is His Will, it tests us, and some people are
cursed to be blind to the truth (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15; Mark 4:12;
John 9:39; Acts 28:27; Romans 11:7-10; Galatians 1:8-9). Other times, the full
truth is hidden so that people who consider themselves wise
and prudent are proved wrong. Having pride in our own
thinking is bad, while leaning on and completely trusting what
the Lord says is true is very important. We must not think or
act with gut reactions, but look deeper to understand the world,
God and His Kingdom as they truly are.
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Disciplining children appropriately can include physical punishment.
Withholding corporal punishment is not God's way.
The world is full of excessive ungodly love that focuses more
on being kind than long term well-being.
The Lord said, "Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and
beatings purge the inmost being" (Proverbs 20:30) and "He who
withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him
disciplines him diligently" (Proverbs 13:24), so truly loving our
children is not to be lax in giving appropriately forceful
discipline. That includes physical punishment.
What is the rod of Proverbs 13:24 used for after all?
Spanking is not abuse, but we must never hit out of anger.
We must always be in control or our kids will only see
unreasonable, out of control rage, which is counterproductive.
If possible, let children choose a spanking over a longer but
less physical punishment. God disciplines and punishes us
similarly (Hebrews 12:4-11, Proverbs 13:24; Jeremiah 46:28; 1 Chronicles 21:11-12).
Doing that to our children doesn't mean we are unforgiving
parents. So long as the discipline is not abusive and we hold
no unforgiveness, forceful discipline means we love our children
enough to guide them firmly so they make the right choices in
the future and turn away from sin without being tempted by it.
That is a major reason why fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7, 9:10).
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A wonderful, blessed and joyous Christmas to everyone!
Nollaig iontach beannaithe agus lán d'áthas!
The peace of Christ's coming be on you all. Amen.
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| Devotionals and Insights |
12/22/2015 11:28 AM |
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Darkness Masquerades As Light
Stop mixing up and supporting man-made traditions with those
of God. Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, and many other
holidays once meant to honor things of God, quickly became tainted
with ideas and traditions that turn focus away from God and Christ.
What may seem like harmless magic and celebration has made
people forget God, so leave the make-believe Santa Clauses,
fairies, and other ideas that omit God. Modern notions of joy
and spirit in Christmas/Easter/etc. without Christ only serve to
make us lean on temporary joys. Truth will be much more
valuable to people in the long run than having temporary fun
in make-believe magic.
God supplies much more real world "magic" than we can
possibly imagine, so stop teaching people to put faith in
make-believe instead of God. Keep the make-believe just that
by saying what is really true and what is not. Pretending that
fairytales are true for our children will only have them focus on
temporary joys and keep bad traditions alive.
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Too late for America to stem gun violence and death?
IrishCentral.com posted an article about how Americans could
prevent the violence and death we're seeing in law enforcement.
We are too eager to draw guns and use deadly force instead of
first trying to de-escalate a situation. I believe this attitude
comes from American culture's widespread acceptance and
glorifying of violence. Popular entertainment is full of it.
I know law enforcement here is trained to use negotiation and
de-escalation, but I don't believe officers are trained well
enough or are using it as much as they should. It comes from
giving in to fear and gut reactions instead of using more logic
and compassionate responses.
But I wonder if it's too late for our society because using
violence is so saturated in this culture. When the general public
is quick to draw guns, then should law enforcement keep theirs
holstered? I think, yes. They should be expected to set higher
examples and if you're Christian it's all the more important,
because the Lord does not want us to retaliate with violence
(Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29; Romans 12:19). We are also to depend wholly
on the Lord for protection, so we should not fear threats of any kind.
Depending on physical measures, like guns and weapons, for
your safety instead of God will always fail. We all need to learn
how to gain blessings of protection from the Lord.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2)
Reference: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Could-Scottish-and-Irish-law-enforcement-help-American-police-tackle-gun-deaths.html
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| Devotionals and Insights |
12/10/2015 12:14 PM |
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Two Big Myths Perpetuated By The Church
About Spiritual Warfare
1. Bad spirits cannot read your mind - UNTRUE. People with
bad spirits can converse with them all in their minds. Multiple
personality disorders are actually people cursed with demons.
We only have one true soul-self. Mind reading can also be an
ability of spirits, so any spirit (good or bad) with that ability
around you could read your mind. The enemy can simply
whisper into your mind. It's a ploy of the enemy to make you
think all your thoughts are your own. That's a reason why we
need to filter all thoughts by the standards of Christ and God's Will.
2. Evil spirits only come from Satan - UNTRUE. God sent
wicked spirits to people for different reasons, such as lying
spirits so they could work an end in the Lord's plans
(Judges 9:23; 1 Samuel 16:14-15,18:10,19:9; 1 Kings 22:19-23; 2 Chronicles 18:18-22).
Satan did not attack Job simply because he could. In fact, he
could not, because Job was protected by righteousness in
following God's commandments. God sent Satan to Job for his
testing and refinement, and He continues to do it today for our
own betterment and testing. God created all spirits, and He can
use anything and anyone to get something done, so don't
assume God isn't behind bad events. Seek and know God's Will
in everything so you do not go against it.
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| Devotionals and Insights |
12/7/2015 10:03 AM |
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Cancer and chronic illness are everywhere. They're especially
apparent in the church where we should be blessed as a
People of God. Why?
The Lord said, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).
He speaks about how they do not understand sin or its consequences
correctly. Sin is breaking God's laws and commands, not man's laws or
whatever man may think are God's laws (1 John 3:4; Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7).
And curses are simply judgment for sin - any negative consequence,
like serious illness, loss of property/wealth, accidents, etc.,
so it's certainly possible for people of God to be both blessed and cursed,
even when we have eternal salvation in Christ.
Come out of false beliefs and understand what God says is sin today.
Then leave it behind so more bad things do not happen to you
or your family (our sin can affect our children and vice versa;
Exodus 20:5; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9; Jeremiah 2:9,32:18).
That's why Jesus told the man He healed,
"Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you" (John 5:14).
Curses will come back even though God may grant healing.
It's because if we keep sinning, we can be accused of sin again.
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| Devotionals and Insights |
12/6/2015 12:12 PM |
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Jew and Christian, bound to be one in Christ -
Hanukkah should not just be a remembrance of rededicating
God's temple in Jerusalem. It needs to be linked to God's
dedication of new temples in the Body of Christ Jesus -
through Him and all who are saved in Him. Jesus' coming and
our spiritual rebirth through Him with God's Spirit in us are
miracles as real as the one remembered in Hanukkah.
The Lord said of His People, "I will heal them; I will guide them
and restore comfort to Israel's mourners" (Isaiah 57:18), and so
His promise came as Jesus said, "I will destroy this temple
made with hands, and in three days I will build another
made without hands." (Mark 14:48; John 2:19)
Jesus' death and resurrection marked the new age of dedicating
God's temple within His People through salvation in Jesus.
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,
Who is in you, Whom you received from God after your
confession of faith in Christ Jesus? ...the temple of God is holy
and that is what you are."
(1 Corinthians 3:17,6:19, Romans 10:10, 1 John 4:15; Acts 2:38)
Remember this, Jew and Christian alike, for we are one in Christ
(Ephesians 2:11-16)
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The more we know of the truth of God and spiritual things,
the more the Lord reveals to us and the harder the tests of
faith become. Hold fast to your faith in the Lord in Christ Jesus
no matter what may come. Likewise, the more we deny God,
the more blind we become to the true nature of things.
God taps everyone on the shoulder with small signs and wonders in our lives. Don't dismiss them as mere coincidence or accident. There is meaning in it. Look further and open the door to more in the purpose of your life and the universe.
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PARABLE OF THE SHREWD MANAGER
It's not just about making friends with God's wealth.
Its hidden meaning supports how God wants us to tithe today and that
the church truly does rob Him as He prophesied in Malachi 3:8-9 for our time.
See the details and become a righteous steward of God's money in
"Properly Handling God's Tithe & Our Taxes"
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Someone said "Expectation is the root of all heartache,"
but actually it is "Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)
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| Devotionals and Insights |
10/9/2013 12:43 PM |
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"Keep what is worth keeping
and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
- Dinah M. Craik
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God often gives freely and promises,
but He usually does not say when.
Abraham waited 13 years for God's promise of
a son to inherit all he had before Isaac was born.
God promised Himself as Jesus Christ in the flesh
many hundreds of years before He was born by Mary.
Many years is the norm for God's promises
to sprout from their seeds, so if you know He said it,
Keep Faith, Hold on with Patience,
His Promises are always kept...
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Studies show our will power is limited. Resisting temptations
and climbing to the heights fail when we rely on ourselves,
so before failure even has a glance at you, rest in Christ
continually and ask for His Power to overcome your obstacles;
to change your very being, so you can leave behind sin
as well as any bad habits you should be rid of.
Only God's Power is unlimited and
can change you and all things permanently.
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A jar filled with pebbles and sand can still be filled
further with water, but not by much.
If the pebbles and sand are unsound, false beliefs, and
the water is Truth, then the jar is like ourselves - full of
rocky notions that are the dust of the Earth.
To understand the Full Truth, we must empty ourselves of the
rocks, sand and dust so we can be full of Water that is pure
and filtered. Heavenly things cannot be understood with small
amounts of Truth or contamination from the dust of the Earth.
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Could we ever grow up with cupcakes
and candy stores on every corner?
The soul who suffers knows all the better...
Without pain there is no healing.
Without sorrow there is no joy.
Without death there is no renewal.
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Having good manners, respecting elders, helping others
when you can, etc... isn't "Old School."
That's how it's supposed to be.
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Seek friendships, that which are close and complementary.
The power of together is uncountable.
Two people can support each other and "a cord of three
strands is not quickly broken."
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
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