Pen of Iron

Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

And it isn't about v.18.

I was commenting with one those verses on Carey's Journal when I was struck by something in v.14.
Here's what's odd: verses 16-17 describe a MARKET ECONOMY. So why in the world would the beast out of the earth tell people
"that they should MAKE an image to the beast"?

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:36 PM | 16 comments    

What a joyful experience it is to fill up gas (I actually hate it).

Last night was different though. It was rainy on my way back home, and I didn't want to, but I decided to stop by and fill up my car. The usual place I visit once a week. When I went in to pay, the young French fellow recognized me. He looked up and said, Aren't you the lady who gives me tracts all the time. What do you have for me tonight, he added.

What a pleasant surprise. How often do you get people asking you for tracts? I had none left in my purse having given them all out that day. But he was willing to wait. I ran to my car, popped the trunk open (always plenty of ammo there) grabbed about four French tracts and went back inside. Do you have this one? No. Do you have this one? No. Do you have this one? No. He took all four of them. Do you go to church, he asked (If only he knew, I thought. I go there five times a week). Sure, I do. I love God, I said. My mother goes to a seminary where they teach priests, he said. I go to a Bible teaching church, I replied. I am a born-again Christian. Evangelical, Baptist. I was so thrown off at his questions that I just stuttered and didn't know what exactly to say.

What is that, he asked. I explained that whatever is in the Bible we teach and do. What is not in the Bible we don't teach or do. Have you read the Bible, I asked? No. I don't have time was the standard reply. I quoted the verse to him: What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses himself. Next time I come around, I am bringing you a small gospel in French, I said as I was about to leave.

He bid me good night. He looked happy, and there was a sweet glow on his face. I felt so overwhelmed just to think that he actually asked me for literature. I hope and pray that he'll want to come to church with me some day. Praying for his salvation.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:03 PM | 12 comments    

I am not sure what to write. I witnessed some things over the past few days that I can not fully discuss here. It has to do with how carnal a saved Bible-believer can get, including me. It has to do with church elections.
I am burdened, more wistful than sullen. What was right took place, but at great cost. A Pyrrhic victory. I have prayed that God would shut us all up, seat each of us down and have a one-on-one talk with every individual. It is good to shut one's mouth in the presence of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Where is the profitable servant? It ain't me I'll tell you that. Believers often forget to shut up and know that He is the Lord (Psalm 46:10)
Isaiah wept not only because he was a man of unclean lips, but because he lived also in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). Fatally, as a mere lump of clay, he was in a sense vicariously guitly. It makes perfect sense. I always knew it. But now I know it a little more.
Even when I think I have acted well, wisely and with circumspection, having prayed and sometimes fasted; unfailingly, every single time I mess up some "little" thing which gnaws at my conscience.

Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

Job 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

Precisely. Then you face a flood of doctors of divinity and doctors of theology, and respected dedicated scholars, and pre-eminent textual authorities, experts of greek and hebrew, engineers and doctors and lawyers, and rubbish, utter rubbish. Vanity of vanities all is vanity.

Psalm 62:9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Also the unsaved world, with its driveling theories and paradigms of thought and dialectic materialism and ZeitGeist and periodization and self-actualization, and the progress of the human mind, the development of civilizations blablablablabla

Oh yeah?! well you still are a piece of dirt in the most literal sense of the word, buddy.
You still live in huts. And when you move to Mars, you will still live in huts! (Obadiah 1:4)
And you still die. Try to get around that one. Go on, bable on about the progress of science; you will rot in the grave before you get any news of some immortality-imparting drug.
The only divine spark you will ever experience is the raging fire of hell nourrished by the eternal wrath of God against your sins.
Oh I'm sorry, after you are buried you will be a flower?
You blithering fool have you ever entertained that idea for more than 10 consecutive seconds? Don't you know that flowers also burn? (Matthew 3:20)

It is haunting that we naturally think so highly of the self. You'll have people teaching the depravity of man and acting as if it were a truth utterly divorced from the realm of human experience.
People you love and respect begin to forget the pit from whence they were digged (Isaiah 51:1).
Slowly, O ever so slowly, almost, almost imperceptibly, a saved Bible-believer begins to think a little more highly of himself. Like a cameleon judges his steps forward with a back and forth swaying of his body, so does the aging born-again man, eye and test the next step of the ladder of self-esteem. Fatefully emboldened, the pace of ascent increases. Eventually the foot is swift enough to apply pressure just enough on a step to reach the next one before the former breaks. A numbingly mad upward rush ensues. The higher he is the more terrified of acknowledging his elevation. The heart enters the discourse. There is nothing more insiduously sinister than the heart which consols itself (Jeremiah 17:9). Usually, it will romance its owner. It will whisper him his victimhood and infuse it into his soul. As sweetly as a cradle's lullaby it will bless and nourrish his anger.
The faculties of the mind then come in to rationalize the situation so subtly it is mesmerizing to glimpse in action. You can never catch more than a glimpse, but it is chilling.

I read over verses and discover how little I believed them, even understood them.

Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

I am terrified of being proud. This is no humility. I am terrified because I feel it like a beast in me. When I am cleaving to the Lord it whimpers like a wounded dog. But give it the oddest situation, the most off-beat compliment and it will erect itself and growl the muffled fury of the ocean.
It is soul-wrenching to have to hate your own thoughts, your own flesh.
Every painful waking second. I plead with it. please, please a cease-fire. a cease-fire I beg. The concept is alien, utterly alien to it. It cannot answer for it speaks not the language. Leaven cannot be contained or paused.
I feel it. Sin exudes out of my pores. It is an overflowing kettle I cannot contain. Even here and now as I write. You see, why am I writing? You could question the very motive of my writing this. Am I seeking gratification? Compliments? We are rarely ruthless in our honesty towards ourselves.
Or is Satan using doubt to paralyze me from doing anything? You see man is utterly incapable of discernment when it comes to God. He cannot even discern his own self through his own spirit, because the latter is dead.
What does God think? He tries my reins (Psalm 7:9, Jeremiah 11:20). What does he see and know? Surely my spirit is his candle (Proverbs 20:27), let alone the rightly seeing Holy Spirit within me.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I shall know myself the way he knows me. I do not relish the prospect.

Then you begin to appreciate grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.
That's when you start holding on to grace like a dying man clings to life.
Then you start to realize what great a gulf God has bridged between himself and those who die, even without wisdom (Job 4:21)

You start to get Paul's pain as he pens

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

That's when you understand that the last thing that man is trying to be is poetic! It rubs me against the grain when people start identifying methodologies of poetry in the Bible and tell you that in greek this is called "something-something -asis". Yeah, YOU tell that to Paul as his nerves were snapping because he had another law in his members (Romans 7:23) or to Jeremiah who couldn't weep enough over Jerusalem to wet the fire which burned in his bones.
(Lamentations 1:12-13)

After that you begin to grasp Paul's fiery indignation when he writes

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Yet I am pathetically weak. Sometimes I feel I just whine for help instead of getting up and quitting myself like a man (1 Corinthians 16:13).
You know I can have the opportunity to witness to someone, and I will think, allright I have the opportunity to save this person from being transformed into a worm and spending eternity in agonizing fire.
And I will do nothing. NOTHING. I will rationalize it away or console myself in others I've witnessed to.
That's when you wax hyper-calvinist.
Those things appear at the judgment seat of Christ. Knowing this I'll admit it dampens my joyful expectation of getting to heaven. Because when you first arrive, the worst moment of your existence is about to take place. Can you imagine showing up before the Seat after any given martyr for the testimony of Jesus Christ? After any saintly old lady that spent her life on her knees lifting up her church in prayer and supplication?
I'm too lazy to pray long enough (Matthew 26:41). Where will I hide? What hole will I dig? I'm saved. I know I am. But I will stand before the God from whose face heaven and earth run away, to be JUDGED, by the JUDGE of all the earth (Genesis 18:25). I cannot lose my salvation, but I'll tell you what I'll lose once and for all, any smattering of self-righteous pride. There's the upside.

"O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be"

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 4:23 PM | 6 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 10:45 PM | 2 comments    

The following nugget is from a sermon we heard on Times Square Church in downtown Manhattan last Sunday.

Be careful what you pray for. The bible gives us a clear example in the case of Hezekiah. I have cut and paste verses both from II Chronicles and II Kings for flow.
------------------------------------------------------


2 Kings 20:1 - In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

II Chronicles 32:24 In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

II Kings 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years;

II chronicles 32:33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, ... And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
------------------------------------------------
What do we read immediately after that in verse one of the following chapter.
------------------------------------------------

2 Chronicles 33:1 - Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: 2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen,...

6 and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.


II chronicles 33: 6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, ...9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

II Kings 21:16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
King Manasseh was born to King Hezekiah during those 15 additional years.

Wouldn't it have been better if Hezekiah had just let go and accepted his lot from God's hands.

Posted by Consecrated at 11:38 AM | 8 comments    

It is no secret that this blog is dedicated to proclaim the unudulterated Word of God and aims to help readers in search for Biblical truth. So where we find a nugget, we like to share.

In what follows I would like to share what Rev. Alexander Hislop says about the nature of Simon the sorcerer in his book, The Two Babylons.

Chapter IV, Doctrine and Discipline.
Section I - Baptismal Regeneration

QUOTE
... It is well known that regeneration by baptism is a fundamental article of Rome...

Speaking of Abraham: "He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised (Romans iv.11) ...

So with baptism, it is "a seal of the righteousness of the faith" which the man "has before he is baptized" for it is said "He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved" (Mark xvi. 16). ...Where faith exists, if it be geniune, it is the evidence of a new heart, of a regenerated nature; and it is only on the profession of that faith and regeneration in the case of an adult, that he is admitted to baptism.....

God may, or may not, as He sees fit, give the new heart, before, or at, or after baptism; but manifest it is, that thousands who have been duly baptized are still unregenerate, are still in precisely the same position as Simon Magus, who after being canonically baptized by Philip, was declared to be "in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity" (Acts viii. 23).

UNQUOTE

Posted by Consecrated at 10:05 PM | 18 comments    

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:3

Am I a Soldier of the Cross?

Am I a soldier of the cross? A follwer of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize and sailed thru bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign, Increase my courage, Lord!
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

Amen for such a beautiful hymn.

Posted by Redeemed at 9:25 PM | 4 comments    

gospel of Judas, gospel of Hermas, evolution, Devolution, DEVILution, european parliament delegates dancing to pop music, Hollywood, Bollywood, Katzinger relinquishing his title of "Patriarch of the Occident" for a more universal claim, Rome, homosexuality in churches, doctrinal compromise, 1731 different versions of the Bible, believers' blogs that you couldn't guess were believers' blogs within the first 5 minutes because of all the worldliness in 'em, Christmas (christ MASS) trees, Satan Clause eh I mean Santa Clause, Easter (ASTARTE, ASHTAROTH) eggs, Halloween,macro-evolution, apostolic succession, councils all and any, RELIGION all and any, rites, ceremonies, profane humour, disbelieving in the God of the Bible while professing to be spiritual forgetting that the devil is a spirit, Extra-terrestrials, Rome, the DaVinci code, 90 577 636 abortions, equality of results degenerating into tyranny, the media, 6 589 113 wars, reincarnation, holy cows, holy rats, holy saints, holy relics, holy water, holy wafer, holy fathers, holy icons, HAIL marys, HAIL hitlers, halos, Rome, one-world organizations, self-help books, how-to books, denying that demons have a religion, psychology, psychiatry,psychopathy, demon-possession, politicians, Idolatry outside the heart Idolatry inside the heart, Babel's tower, Watchtower, asceticism, higher criticism, humanism, feminism, chauvinism, communism, agnosticism, atheism while substituting for god any other creed, materialism, environmentalism, terrorism, ecumenism, clericalism, relativism (with which the theory of relativity has NOTHING to do) monism, mormonism, sacraments, salvation by works, sexual deviance, love of money, 27 549 007 deaths from hunger, tortures, concentration camps, criminal insanity, traffic jams, 3-hour exams, genetic manipulation, AIDS, Ebola, divorces, lay-offs, pay-offs, trans-valuation, trans-substantiation, trans-sexuality, trances, rebellions, ultimate revolutions, poisoned candy, witchcraft, occult, karma, abductions, lamas, DALAIH-lamas, beettles, the beettles, murder, rape, lust, greed, hatred, gluttony,child-prostitution, pronography, pride, cruelty, indifference, adultery, blasphemy, heart-imploding loneliness, 1 882 354 suicides, drunkneness, 500 998 297 homeless, fashion-shows, pride of life, freak-shows, Fear, horoscopes, sanitariums, hospitals, nuclear bombs, nuclear wastes, putrefaction, oil and gas, blood, sweat, tears, pollution, deforestation, global-warming, wealth concentrated in the hands of 0.01% of world population, envy, hypocrisy, denying justice, emprisoning the not-guilty, robbing the poor and simple either by tele-evangelism or by sucking'em dry for the soul-rest of a deceased loved-one, praying for world peace while having the single largest death and torture record for any organization in history,
saying Bible-believers are intolerant while teaching there is no salvation outside your own organization, Rome, political correctness gone mad, post-modern revisionist history, masonry, disbelieving the Bible while never having read it, cloned PERROTS asking "how do you know it's true" WAAK, "that's only your point of view" WAAK "yeah well WE believe that" WAAK using the poor of Africa as an excuse not to believe in the God of the Bible while the poor of Africa believe in Him, HA! asking "well what about all those people who never heard of Christ" while NEVER displaying a single one,
trying to make Bible-believers look intellectually deficient, saying "it has been scientifically proven that" as some sort of god-invoking oath that settles any dispute, claiming that Bible-believers believe because they have a psychological incentive to do so while those who say so ironically do not realize that they have the bigger psychological incentive not to believe because of PROUD SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND FEAR OF JUDGMENT, discovering one's self, victimization, apostasy, denying a literal hell while living near a volcano, changing the official greeting of a city from HELL-o to heaven-o, claiming that Jesus Christ was a great moral philosopher and by the same token calling him a madman of a liar, believing there's a divine SPARK in everyone but denying that God is a consuming FIRE...

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.


1Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?


2Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.


Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
:15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
:40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
:42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

Isaiah 63:1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
:2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
:4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
:5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
:6 And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.


Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:49 PM | 6 comments    

I'll tell you some auditive pet peeves of mine, stuff that irritates me and gets under my skin

Phrases like

"in the original languages..." or
You don't need the original manuscripts to be saved or better understand the Bible. People who think they do never actually exhaust studying the King James that they do have.
"the best and oldest manuscripts ..."
almost always refers to the corrupt Vaticanus and Sinaiticus
or

" A parable makes use of the physical world to teach a GENERAL truth"
Utter rubbish given that Jesus interprets two parables IN DETAIL

or

"THE important thing is that we are all the same because we are all Christians"

NOT IT IS NOT and NO WE ARE NOT. This kind of a phrase is often used to excuse one's conscience from standing up for THE BIBLICAL truth and seperation. The important thing is that we should be united in the Word of God. Unity should be qualified. Simon the sorcerer was NOT a Christian, neither were some other folks Paul and John refer to.

Saying "followers of Jesus" when refering to believers.

I understand the concern over the word "christian" which thanks to Rome the bloody whore, has taken on terrible connotation. But if you don't want to use a Biblical term (mentioned 3 times) then say "Bible-believers" for example.
Here's my beef with the expression AS IT IS USED

A) You are not saved by being a "follower of Jesus". It makes it sound like salvation by works.
B) it seems to boil down Biblical doctrine to "the golden rule". You are not saved by adhering to golden rule.
C) it makes Jesus sound like a humanistic philosopher. That brings up another thing, people who ALWAYS start a prayer with
"dear Jesus", or are always talking about "Christ". Christ this and Christ that. Very similar to the people of Jerusalem who were partly right

Matthew 21:10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
:11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

Folks, you want to get His title right, and that's

LORD JESUS CHRIST (Father) (Son) (Holy Spirit)

Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

I'm not saying it is always wrong to thus address the Lord, but be weary of it always being the case. Don't slight the Great King's deity. Kapich?

D) It over-emphasizes Jesus as the Jewish Messiah who roamed the shores of Galilee; the same vein as the "What Would Jesus Do?" stuff.
No mature believer takes that stuff seriously. And you will notice that believers on the milk are often overly concerned with Christ's "lost years" between 12 and 30.


2Corinthians 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

That gave some scholars some hard time a few years back. They tried to build socio-cultural analyses of the Biblical writings because of that verse. Those "dedicated scholars" (another pet peeve) didn't believe enough Bible, like all nominal Christians, to fully understand that Christ is no more a little baby in his mother's bosom, or a lowly carpenter, but that He is the Lord of Glory and Prince of Life seated at the right hand of God the Father far above every power and name that you might care to mention.


Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his (GOD's) glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

Ephesians 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Those people who are always raving on about simply following Jesus apparently never sought to see how it is Biblically defined. They're USUALLY the let's-all-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya bunch. They get all flustered if they hear you tell-it-like-it-is from the Bible to someone else. I'm venting off steam because that happened to me a few days ago. Here am I witnessing to a good friend, to whom I had witnessed many times prior and often at his instigation. He appreciates my straight-forwardness and if he doesn't like someone he will place a couple of well-placed wry jabs that will leave you feelin' somethin'. So here comes a sister in the Lord whom I love very much, sits down, and hears me tell MY FRIEND that he needs to get out of the Catholic Church. So she undertakes to mitigate my words. Man, you would think Rome differed in nothing except organization from the BIBLE-BELIEVING churches which it burned and persecuted beyond measure AND WOULD DO AGAIN. I had to rule my spirit I'll tell you that because starting an argument with her before my friend would not have been the best testimony.

Following Jesus is preaching the FOOLISHNESS AND OFFENCE OF THE CROSS AND RESISTING UNTO BLOOD. (1 Corinthians 1:23; Hebrews 12:4)

Still wanna be a "follower of Jesus?" Use the expression, but please, pleeeeaaase live it.

Now, this is not to advocate gratuiously hurting people's feelings, or going out of your way to offend them. That's not the biblical way (1 Corinthians 13:5) , but I mean come on! Quit you like men! (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 10:02 AM | 17 comments    

Today is known as Good Friday. A Catholic colleague said to me yesterday: Why do they call it "good" when there is nothing good about it. It is good because it resulted in man's salvation, I replied, however Jesus was not crucified on a Friday. I can't get into that right now, I said as we reached the train station and we had to part ways.

So what do people do on Good Friday? Some fast and torment their soul, while others just look to it as a time of soul searching. Many don't care and don't do anything at all.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

Loaded with all sorts of tracts off we went to the metro station. Three hours into tract passing I am very thirsty but could not seem to get a moment of reprieve to buy me a bottle of water from a nearby shop. People were coming in droves, when for all I remember and just out of the blue, amid a large crowd, one tall man in a black suit calls out to me in French with a $5.- bill in his hand. I could not figure out what he said. All I heard the first time was "jus". I don't sell juice I thought. Is this man asking me to buy him something. "Excusez moi", I said.

"You are serving the Eternal" he said in French, "Get yourself a juice" and again he waived the money.

For a moment, my mind went blank and not wanting to offend him by letting him down, I took the five dollars from his hand. He then vanished amid the crowd. Still feeling stunned, I yelled out to Dan and later to my daughter: Hey guys someone just gave us money to get us a juice. What would you like to drink? Dany opted for a diet anything, Sarah wanted water, and I wanter Perrier cabonated water. I went into the store and I am thinking to myself "what will I do with the left over money? This is from God and I can't keep the change". I come to the cash. The store owner rings the water, rings the coke and rings my Perrier. Total = $5.00 to the penny. Not a cent more, not a cent less.

This is amazing. How often do you get a bill so exact to the penny. When I told Dany, he too was impressed. Do you think this was an angel from God? he reflected. I don't know how all this happened. I can't remember the face of the man. How he suddenly appeared and disappeared, I can't recall. I just feel so warm and fuzzy. It was like God was giving us his stamp of approval. Our thirst was quenched, we passed thousands of tracts for a duration of four hours, all smeared with the blood of the lamb, all telling the story of the cross.

We've had people ask us for money at the metro all the time. Even today Sarah gave money to somebody, but we never had anyone give us anything. If you ask me, the whole thing this afternoon was a touch of love from "l'Eternel" (as the man put it). Praise be to his holy name.

Posted by Consecrated at 6:23 PM | 7 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 7:57 PM | 8 comments    

It seems like every time Iran threatens to become a nuclear power, the gas prices go up in Canada. It never fails. As I drove home tonight I noticed the big line up at the gas station. I needed to fill anyway so I pulled in. My radio CD was playing one of my favorite Christian songs. I hadn't noticed how loud it was and the next thing I noticed was the car infront of me pulling forward and a fellow came out. He scrutinized my car but said nothing. I have a big sticker at the back window of my car with a yield sign and it says Yield Your Heart to Jesus.

I was singing to myself as I pulled the nozzle and the guy must have thought I was some kind of a weirdo. I was singing to my Lord and if I am crazy I am crazy to God. He stared, got into his car and left (thankfully). I went in to pay, and there he was, the young french fellow I told you about some time ago with a new buddy. I reached for my credit card and at the same time pulled out a couple of bi-lingual tracts (the Romans Road to Heaven). "Here's something new for you to read", I said. He smiled back and willingly taking the tract he said "you come here once every a week to give me something to read whenever I have nothing to do". I like this gas station, I answered and his buddy a similar tract who also took it and started to read it immediately.

As I said, there was a big line up at the cash and again I could not stay longer. Talking about the need to evangelize, I sincerely hope that one day I will get a chance to chat with this fellow about his salvation.

Posted by Consecrated at 9:19 PM | 2 comments    

I have been living in my present quarters for over six years. One of my neighbours is a classy Jewish lady whom I had not seen in a very long time because for all I know she was out west tending to her daughter who was diagnosed with cancer.

Yesterday morning I was going through my church notebook. At the back I try to keep a list of all the people I witness to, and I noticed that I had not made an new entry in quite some time. It is true that I pass tracts left right and centre, but I had not done a one-on-one witnessing (outside the street and metro stations) in a long time. I lamented my poverty and asked the Lord to rekindle the witnessing fire in me again.

This morning I woke up with a pain in my back and neck so I decided to stay home. But I was not going to waste time so I drove my daughter's car to the garage and walked home for my morning exercise. I was checking my mail when my neighbour walks in and asks if the morning mail had arrived. We start talking and I asked her about her daughter's health. She had passed away five months ago and the husband has another woman in his life already. I saw pain in the mother's teary eyes. Why did God take my daughter was the usual question. I can never be the same again, she said hopelessly.

I felt I had to speak to her about God. After exchanging a couple of thoughts, I invited her to my apartment for the half hour that she could spare. We talked about the bad things that happen to good people. Some devout Jewish person had said that because the daughter suffered so much, she is undoubtedly in heaven. I cautioned her not to believe that heaven is a factor of our suffering but that we go to heaven because Jesus suffered for our sins.

When tragedy strikes some people turn to God, but others turn away from God. I hoped she would not be bitter with Him even though she doesn't understand why she passed. You are still alive and have three grand children to care for, I repeated.

I pulled out my Bible and started to show her how the Jews had rejected Jesus, and how they cried we have no king but Ceasar, and how the door was opened for the Gentiles, but it does not mean that God had forsaken the Jews. I explained that although a thousand years or two of suffering may seem much, in God's eyes this was equivalent to a day or two compared to the eternity ahead of us.

Then I remembered the book ZVI. She willingly took it and promised to read it (I hope that God would use it, although the Bible is a much better source, but who knows). Thankfully I also found three specialty tracts designed for the Jews. I gave her all and encouraged her to read her Bible. I invited her to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, is the Messiah they were waiting for. That he died to pay the wages for our sins and that he offers eternal life.

Throughout the lady was so surprised to see my love. I told her that as Bible Believing Christian we love her people and the role they played in preserving scriptures, and that through them the Saviour of the world came. I explained how the door was opened for the gentiles when they refused to acknowledge Him. How God said I will move you to jealousy by a nation that is not a nation and so on and so forth. I did not forget to mention that there is still hope for her and how many of her people are beliving on Jesus Christ nowadays.

Before she left my apartment she asked me about my church. She indicated a willingness to come with me on a Sunday morning sometime after she gathers her strength. I promised I will pray for her.

Isn't it wonderful how God works. For almost seven years I had known Miriam but never ventured to witness to her, and today God gave me the perfect opportunity. I can't wait to see her come to church with me.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:01 AM | 13 comments    

Today the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God is the
crown of my head
King of my heart
Lord of my knees.

About four years ago, I read something which snatched me out from a five year astrangement from the Lord Jesus Christ. I saw myself in the Word's mirror and the sight slit my heart open and brought me to my knees in tears. I was reading my Arabic Bible and I couldn't stop reareading the passage over and over and over again through overflowing eyes. It just hurt so much but it was a good hurting. But it hurt, man did it hurt.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:18-20

The following is the slightly modified testimony I gave before my church prior to becoming a member over a year ago.

"Jesus died to save me from sin,
I lived to sin

Jesus left the throne of glory for me,
I wouldn't leave my bed to be with his family

Jesus faced seperation from His Father,
I feared to offend my earthly one

Jesus with a desire, desired my fellowship,
I preferred the fellowship of the world

Jesus rebuked hypocrites,
I became chief of hypocrites

Jesus suffered outside the camp,
I chose the camp of blasphemers

Jesus bore the cross,
I crossed him continually

Jesus called my name,
I whispered his

He said "thirst for righteousness",
I lusted for flesh

"today is the day",
"maybe tomorrow"

"let your words be yea, yea and nay, nay",
I uttered a veritable flood of foolishness

"sing hymns and spiritual songs",
I bent the ear to worldly music

"be ye perfect",
I'll have a kind heart

Jesus offered the pearly gates of New Jerusalem,
I leaned on the golden gates of Rome

He said "I would be your Lord",
I said "Saviour will suffice"

Where my Lord shed blood for me,
I have shed naught but ink

and still He saith

Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 5:18 PM | 5 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 9:09 PM | 0 comments    

I do not take credit for this post. It belongs to a young man from Florida whose permission I have obtained to republish it on this blog because I liked it a lot. The post belongs to Bryan from www.Sounddoctrine1611.blogspot.com

Quote


Turn in your Bible to Judges chapter 3. Start reading in verse 12, and come down to verse 22. In this portion of scripture, we have a fine picture of what Biblical preaching is supposed to accomplish.

Notice in verse 12 that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against them, and they served him 18 years (vs.14). But when they cried unto the Lord, he raised up a deliverer unto them, Ehud, the son of Gera (vs.15).Notice in verse 16 that Ehud made him a "dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length;" This two-edged dagger pictures the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says that the word of God is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

The word of God is called "The Sword of the Spirit" in Ephesians 6:18. And over in Psalm 149:6, the Bible says that the saints should "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen (2nd Advent), and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD." Amen."

A dagger which had two edges" (Judges 3:16).

Ehud came unto the king of Moab, and he said "I have a message from God unto thee" (Judges 3:20).

When Eglon rose up from his seat, Ehud put forth his hand and took the dagger and "thrust it into his belly" (vs.21).

And this is what Bible preaching is, a THRUST, a JAB. Preachers are to take the word of God and THRUST it into the heart of sinners and saints, and they are to "draw blood".

Jeremiah 48:10 says,"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."

Yes, there is a time for the "towel". There is time for comfort. But this heart-piercing, sin-rebuking preaching is not a very common thing these days. Notice further what happens when the "dagger" is "thrust into his belly".....

"And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the DIRT came out.

"Friend, do you want to be CLEAN before God? Do you want the DIRT to come out from within? Get under some good, solid, heart-piercing Bible preaching; that'll do it.

"And the DIRT came out"!!

Praise God! This old Book will purge you, and make you CLEAN (see John 15:3; Psalm 119:9,11; Ephesians 5:26). Get that BOOK in you, and the filth will begin to be washed out. Your body can be likened unto a CUP. A DIRTY CUP. As you begin to fill it with some clean, pure water (the word of God), the DIRT rises to the top, and begins to come out over the brim (see Matthew 23:25-26).

"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." (Matthew 23:26).

Put that BOOK in, and the DIRT will come out!

Amen amen amen.

Unquote

Posted by Consecrated at 3:01 PM | 3 comments    

I have asked permission from Bryan to copy an article from his blog over here. Pending his reply and if you wish to read his testimony, please visit www.sounddoctrine1611.blogspot.com

Posted by Consecrated at 11:52 AM | 0 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 9:14 PM | 4 comments    

I read somewhere

"hammer away you hostile hands;

your hammers break, God's anvil stands"

And the burden of the Lord shall yee mention no more: for euery mans word shall be his burden: for yee haue peruerted the words of the liuing God, of the Lord of hostes our God.

Jeremiah 23:36

here's what I say, if they understood this verse when they decided to mess with the King James Bible, then they are guilty, and if not, then what business had they correcting the King James Bible?

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 7:42 AM | 4 comments    

The glory has departed and the people knew not.

I am saddened to hear of the news of the church where I first got saved. A couple of years ago, I belonged a church in Montreal that was run by a board of deacons. The pastor there was just an employee. A number of men dictated to our pastor what to preach, when to end the sermon, and how to preach. Behind the men were their wives. At some board meetings, the men would agree to a certain issue, and although they were sworn to secrecy, they'd go home and share with the wives who if they didn't like the subject, the deacons would then call the pastor and tell him they had changed their mind.

With time the situation degenerated in my church, and the church families took sides. Some believed in the authority of the pastor as the man in charge who stands accountable first and foremost to God himself, Christ being the head of the church. Others wanted a congregational church where the people would rule. Things got so bad that we got to point where members were threatening each other with libel. Finally, a general meeting was called, and lawyers were invited by a certain party to the church Assembly. The pastor was just a puppet in the hands of the deacons, and the meeting atmosphere was really really sad. I think this was the saddest scene of my life, seeing a pastor humiliated over issues that had nothing to do with his Christian conduct. It was nothing than a Power Struggle. And Power CORRUPTS. The meeting broke off, and the members were more divided than ever.

We finally called on a reconciliation team. One thing we all agreed upon was Ichabod. The glory had departed from our church and the people knew not. God's Holy Spirit was displeased with us that he had left us, and the people knew not. Some people even witheld their tithes and offerings. You know the old time trick when people thing they will teach their pastor a lesson by not paying their dues.

Samuel 4:21 - And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. 1 Samuel 14:3 - And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. Isn't it sad, when Satan reaks havoc in God's house because we are not sensisitve to God's holiness.

Posted by Consecrated at 1:39 PM | 4 comments    

Roberta's church wants to have a Lebanese night for some Lebanese youth. There will be special prayers for Lebanon and I believe our church here (which is facing serious internal and external problems)

She also wants to prepare some Lebanese sweets for the saints but doesn't know much if anything in that area and so was asking for help.
I thought maybe Consecrated and Redeemed would have some ideas.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 5:18 AM | 8 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 7:58 PM | 7 comments    

A couple of people have asked for a picture of me.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:49 PM | 4 comments    

Someone recently said I had the same personality like another fellow at the office. I took offense to that because I honestly do not think so.

Another friend solved the mystery this afternoon. I do not have the same character as that fellow, he said. What a relief.

But that got me thinking again, what is the difference between pesonality and character. Can someone tell me, please?

Posted by Consecrated at 3:47 PM | 18 comments    

I just realized I had posted this in the Poetry weblog because of a comment notification about Redeemed. Too many weblogs.

Reading the latest post on Matthew's weblog reminded me of an incident last week.
I'm walking out of the local cafe having lifted up a prayer for an opportunity to witness to someone not 120 seconds prior, when a hand stops me. It's a young man I had met in a cab returning home one night and would later on bump into a couple of times. He's on the phone, says hi, and motions me towards a elder fellow sitting across him. The latter asks me to sit down and I try to excuse myself, being hungry. He insists, so I sit down thinking I'll wait for the young man to finish his call, exchange a few words and leave.
The elder, clad shabilly, (and as I was to find out, jests in accordance) asks of my education and plans. I answer and mention a certain country.
-we can help you, we own the place; he says.
- who's we, sir?
-I tell you we own the place and you ask me who's we?

At this point I'm thinking a certain ethnicity, but doubtful.
He reaches into his pocket, brings out the plainest business card ever. White, phone number printed in ink which he hands over.
-who's we, I obstinately repeat
He reaches again into his pocket, brings out a golden ring, with the Masonic symbol.
I don't react. He starts rambling. I mean just that. Raving on about control of the world, and power they have.
I answer I have the Lord Jesus to take care of me, and He will bring about his will for my life.
So here starts telling me how they accept all religions.
There's only one true God, I say, the God of the Bible. Uniting all religions is the work of the AntiChrist, and unless you believe upon the Son of God as dying for your sins on the cross as the only way to salvation, then you will perish in hell.
The spirit behind your movement is not the Spirit of the Lord.

At that point the young man had finished his call. They both were surprised at the turn of the conversation, which for the next hour or so went something like:
- blablablabla
-hell
-blablabla
-hell
-blablabla
-hell
-(in answering a question of mine) we control the vatican and the cardinals, who do you think took out John Paul 1? We have politicians and chiefs of police, whom should we fear?
- the Lord Jesus
(Abrupt pause; conversation, not surprisingly, moves to the Jesuistes. Eventually I ask about their connection to Solomon. His face lit up. He would draw my attention to the dollar sign, an S straked by two bars. I infered that the S stood for Solomon and the bar or bars for the temple pillars; he nodded in the affirmative.)


-for all his worldly wisdom Solomon had no understanding and left the living God
(more talk)
- we will have the world
- then you'll die, so what?

(tells the young man "he's right")

- we are setting up a world system
- a gentile world system which the Lord Jesus Christ will destroy at his second coming

It got intense at some points but finished on a level note, with the elder inviting me to continue the conversation at some restaurant, which I declined after handing them two tracts.

Satan, the flesh, the world. Everyone is deceived by something.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 3:14 PM | 8 comments    

Roberta is a born-again Brazilian believer from Lebanese origins, and has cancer. Having undergone treatment in California, she returned to Brazil.
A couple of weeks ago she witnessed to some of her Muslim friends about the Lord Jesus Christ. Apparently news spread as she, and her family I believe later on received death threats from the leaders of a near-by mosque. Her family is very scared. Everyone has been beating down on her for having witnessed; I mean believers are upset with her. She didn't go to the church meeting last Sunday, and told me she feels she has done a mistake in witnessing to them. She is afraid to walk the neighbourhood streets.

I couldn't contain myself while chatting on MSN. I told her those thoughts were from Satan to shut her mouth from witnessing for her Lord. She shouldn't have a guilty conscience over obeying the Bible. I told her she had more courage than those believers and that by censuring her they were appeasing their own conscience. I didn't leave a verse from Jeremiah, Joshua, Philippians or Timothy that I didn't have her read for encouragement.
That young lady did right before God Almighty in preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to lost people.
She left encouraged, knowing she was in the right before God, and that she needed to spend time alone with the Word to find courage and consolation.
She was pleading for prayer and so I send this out with indignation, that you pray for Roberta that the Lord might use her to shame those believers who would silence her into witnessing themselves and that the Lord might be maginified by having those who heard her be saved. She needs also our prayers that our Lord Jesus might deliver her out of all snares and keep her safe.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and we are no better than anybody. People need to hear about the love of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their sins, just like once we were lost, heard, and believed

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 11:43 AM | 6 comments    

I am in the middle of a big Conference at work, but to read up a little bit on what we did on St. Patrick's day, please visit www.ThatImayknowhim.blogspot.com

Posted by Consecrated at 12:53 PM | 1 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 10:42 PM | 5 comments    

We tend to be creatures of habit, and as such I often fill up from a certain gas station on my way home from church. There is this French fellow, a young lad, who is always on duty in the evenings when I stop by. I would give him a chick tract every time I stop by, and I try to remember which one I gave him the time before so as not to give him the same.

This past Tuesday, I stopped by to gas up. When I went into the cabin, he had another friend and two other young men (one French and three black guys) were in there as well. To be honest, I was not comfortable for a little while knowing that a crime had been committed at a similar gas station not long ago. I said a silent prayer in my heart and reached into my purse, pulled out two copies from the French tract "Heaven or Hell, which One will you choose".

As soon as I handed the black fellow a copy of the tract, he started reading it, and immediately the French fellow says to me "Oh I read them all the time". I said, "But this is new. Did you read this one as well". He suddenly looked up at me and said "Ah you are the lady who is always giving them to me". That's right I said.

"Is it true", he asked. Is it real? Of course it is, I replied. Otherwise I wouldn't give it to you. One day when you are not as busy, may be you and I can have a chat. You can ask me questions. Good night now.

I left the station feeling so happy. I had been praying for that fellow. I remember one snowy evening in January, as I pulled away I glanced back at the glass pane of his cabin and I saw him reading the chick tract which I had left him. I remember having prayed for him that night.

I was so happy to learn that this fellow has been reading the tracts. Actually his question said a lot of things. The guy is thinking. Amen Lord. Open his heart let him understand what he read even as you opened the eyes of that first gentile convert, the Ethiopian eunuch.

Posted by Consecrated at 9:05 PM | 2 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 8:35 PM | 4 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 8:23 PM | 4 comments    

For the longest time I have been telling this colleague of mine to call unto God for help in a certain situation. Things had gone really sour and despite all efforts of good people around, the situation kept spiralling downward to what seemed like a hopeless case. In the meantime I kept preaching "Call on God". "You need God". "Read your Bible". "I gave you a Bible. It is not a good luck charm. It works if you open it and read it and call on its author for help."

Few days ago we got a glimmer of hope. Things may be finally looking up. When I asked a common friend if prayer had been lifted up, I was told that the Bible had been spotted at the desk of the person concerned. Praise God. His telephone number still works. Should you need it, here it is: Jeremiah 33:3

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Posted by Consecrated at 1:19 PM | 3 comments    

In reply to Redeem's "We Have A New Prime Minister" January post, Anonymous writes

"Mr. Harper is a dangerous theocrat who will gleefully stomp on gay rights and women’s reproductive rights. Like other conservatives, he believes that his faith makes him impervious to any kind of criticism. Canada’s reputation as a civil rights leader will forever be tarnished under that bigot. As far as I know, a Canadian Prime Minister has never been assassinated while in office. Hopefully, history will change that."

First of all, we are not naive about conservative or religious political leaders. We keep our guard and are not enamoured with any. Do we generally prefer their policies over the liberals' when they are closer to the Bible's teachings? Sure. But that's about it.

Now anonymous, here are some relevant Bible passages.

Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

This applies to all our political leaders, irrespective of their political party.

Now please consider the following and take heed, Anomymous:

Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Anonymous, we don't look unto men, we look unto the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us, and died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead.
Set your eyes on him and believe upon the Son of God who offers you redemption and peace by reconciliation with the holy God.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:59 PM | 4 comments    

Posted by Redeemed at 11:12 PM | 5 comments    

Hey Matthew,

Posted by Redeemed at 10:39 PM | 5 comments    

I have a dentail appointment this morning. I hate to go the dentist. I wonder why did God give us teeth that fall off. I wish he had just created the teeth like every other bone of our body that does not need maintenance. I mean you have your skeleton, and that's it. Why couldn't the teeth be that way.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:14 AM | 8 comments    

It's encouraging to see you all find encouragement and comfort in fellowship with Bible-believers.
I read everything, though I have less time these days to write.
Witnessing over here in my part of the world is going great. I continually pray for greater boldness.
One of the best ways is hitch-hiker picking. I pick'em up and lock the doors
ahahahaha...Ehem, just kidding.
So far two fellows got saved, one with whom I'm keeping contact since he gave me his mobile number.
So much of it is sheer plowing though.
You must plow through people thinking you're a Jehovah's witness, through people thinking they can be saved by works, through people associating Christianity with the Vatican, etc...

I love those hymns, now THAT'S worship music. Have had "My Jesus I Love Thee" in mind for a couple of days now. You know what I have written on my choir sheets?

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a twoedged sword in their hand
Psalm 149:6

A Bible in one hand and a hymnal in the other.

Name your 10 favorite hymns of all time

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 3:21 PM | 19 comments    

I love it when people ask me questions on the train. What better opening do you want for me to either talk to them or give out a tract.

This morning a lady gets on the train and sits right across from were I was. But she is not sure whether she was on the right tracks going downtown. She waits a few seconds, then puts the question to me. I gladly answered, and then something pricked me in my heart. Give her a tract, it said. I smiled for I knew it was the Holy Spirit again. I am used to this by now. When I hear that still small voice in my ears, I know the Lord wants me to move. I continued reading my Bible however, but in my heart I knew that I was not going to pass up that opportunity.

Later at an opportune moment, I closed my Bible and I asked her if I could give her something to read. She willingly took the French tract from me. As she read it, I closed my eyes and was silently praying. When I finally opened my eyes, she looked at me and with a smile on her face, said "Thank you". We didn't talk, but I was glad she accepted the tract. A seed was sown. I was happy. What a way to start a brand new day, I thought.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:22 AM | 6 comments