The last few days have been interesting. So much snow, that my gas furnace and on demand water heater both had their roof-top exhausts covered completely with snow. I didn’t want frozen pipes or a frozen house, so I had to get the exhausts cleared and call some professionals to get the over 3 ft. of accumulated snow off my roof. Thanks Arturo Martinez for all your hard work. If anyone needs some snow removed from their roof, message me and I’ll send you his number. The next morning of fun was realizing the pets could not go outside to do their business. I began to dig them a patch of ground out and wrenched my back. It gave me time to ponder deep topics like, “Will it get better or worse? Will I be able to get to work Monday? How many ibuprofen have I already taken?” One thing is for sure, is that the will of God will be done. This brings me to the inauguration. 4 and 8 years ago, I trusted in the will of God when the pro-abortion, (a.k.a. baby killing) perversion promoting, (LGBT nonsense) Barry Soetoro a.k.a. (Barack Obama) took office and kept it. Even while I wondered how people could condone the evils of perversion, (LGBT) perverse marriage, (Gay Marriage… no such thing) abortion, and socialist totalitarianism, I was comforted by the knowledge that God is sovereign and in control of all things, including the political leadership of this country. I honestly believe we were getting the leaders we deserved as an unrepentant people. We have been calling good evil and evil good for far too long to keep on experiencing the blessings of God. Instead, for 8 long years or corrosive evil leadership, we were under the discipline of God. I hope that the people have repented, and we will be experiencing a reprieve. God willing, may America be blessed once more. I would ask all of you to repent of your sin, put your faith in the finished work of Christ, and seek God’s glory and will first and foremost in the years to come.
Category: hate
Black Israelite or Black Hebrew Movement and Dr. James White.
Hey kids, remember the Aryan Church? Remember how they were decried as a hate group and run out of Idaho? Well now there is a black group that is just like them. They are known as the black Israelite movement. They are a mixture of groups that have as their core beliefs that black people in America are the descendants of the Israelites, and that they are the only people who have a saving covenant with their god, and that the white people otherwise known as edomites by the movement, will be their slaves in heaven or in the millennial kingdom if they submit to their rule now.(its hard to say exactly because there is a wide variance from group to group some believe white people won’t be there at all) Some of them also believe that they will get to rape white women when the time comes. White people are the devil. They believe the KJV is the only true version of the Bible. Some only accept the Old Testament. They made up their own form of Hebrew, which is basically idiotic. They reject the deity of Christ, and many more heresies. Well, Dr. James White, took a look at the movement to help out a brother who has been practicing apolgetics with these groups. Dr. White used his show, to dialogue with one of their leaders, and then later attempted a semi-formal debate. I say, “attempted” because the person on the other end was just like an unreasoning beast. I think that it would be worth your while to watch these videos so that you will know what we are going to be dealing with. The atmosphere of hatred that these groups grow in, mixed with their self-righteousness is a recipe for violence. Imagine street gangs mixed with radical muslim hatred. Got the picture? So here are the videos, and pray for them, pray for all those practicing apolgetics. Since there are so many weird variations of these groups, please forgive me if I got something wrong.
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Hurt Puppy and Angry Jihadist.
Ok, picture this, a cute cuddly puppy with an injured paw. Not his dad, but his foot.
Your first emotion wouldn’t be to go over and stomp its brains out. You would feel compassion for it. You would want to help it if you could. We’ve all seen the commercials that use emotional manipulation to make you feel guilty and send money. Now picture a person you hate, look down on, or disgusts you.
If you are a Christian, you should feel the same feelings for these people that you feel for the puppy. It is easy to hate people. It is easy to feel superior to others. It is hard to be humble and serve people who would kill you. All of the lost people are slaves to their sin and are headed for hell. They are under the condemnation of sin. We have Christ as our Savior, not because of something about us, but because of Him. We know what it is to be at peace with God, yet we somehow think it alright to hate these people. Imagine that you are holding the nails in one hand and a hammer in the other. Imagine that you have just nailed Jesus to the cross of His crucifixion. Imagine that you killed Jesus with your sins. Now stop imagining it and realize the truth of it. How much more disgusting are we when we see ourselves as better than the lost in the world? We need to repent and ask God to humble us. We need to give grace to those who don’t even know they need it.
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Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?
Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?Are you acting like a child? Are you following people who act like unreasoning beasts, and encourage others to do the same? A child allows his emotions to rule him. He is without discipline and only knows want. A false teacher promotes what is against God. He acts like an unreasoning beast, “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,” (2 Peter 2:12 NASB)
Do you let your feelings determine how you view God, and treat others? Love is a big deal. People go on and on about feeling like they are in love, wanting to feel love. People also feel other emotions like, hate, impatience, greed, jealousy, envy, apathy, and pride. People desperately want others to validate their feelings, by agreeing with them. When we allow feelings to determine how we treat others, and how we view God, we are behaving like children. All they know is what they want. Their wants are not informed by anything else, just their will alone. As they get older, hopefully their parents discipline them, and train them. If you are an adult, and your feelings rule you, then spiritually speaking, you are a sinful little child. If you believe all of the self-help gurus out there, teaching you how to get in touch with your feelings, and how to be happy. God tells us how we should feel about others, about situations, and He also tells us how we should feel about Him. When we obey our feelings that are against what God commands in His word we are definitely in sin.
Viewing God through any other lense than His word is creating an idol in your mind. When you just go by your fallen, sinful, emotions, to build a picture of God, it will most certainly be a false god, not the one true God of the Bible. If you find yourself disagreeing with long-held orthodox doctrines, in favor of your own personal interpretation, chances are you are worshipping a god of your own making. Repent, and worship the God of the Bible. Let your mind be informed by the word of God, so that the God you worship is the true one.
As Christians, we are not to behave, think, or feel like the world. We are to obey God in all things. So when God tells us to love our enemies, that is what we must do. Love needs to be thought of as an action as well as a feeling. All of the emotions must be thought of as actions as well as a feelings, because they move us to action. Unless God changes your heart and mind, in regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will not be able to think or feel rightly. When you are truly born again, and you resist feeling the way your know you should or you indulge a feeling you know you shouldn’t, you are sinning. Sinning this way is accepted by the world and encouraged. We are not to be like the world.
There are benefits to obeying God. Yes, God gave us emotions, but they are under the effect of sin. They are affected by the fall. Knowing this, hopefully you can see how they need to be conformed to God’s will as expressed in His word? Don’t reject the will of God, for your own childish feelings. Bring your feelings into obedience to God. You can do it with His help. It will be a blessing to you and to all of the people you come in contact with. God’s will is always better. So next time you are feeling your way through life ask yourself if those feelings are sinful or are they in obedience to God?
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Christians, Firearms, Self-defense, and Protection of Others.
First off, let me say that this is not a matter that should cause us to break fellowship with one another, or to become polemic. We reserve polemics for the enemy. We should never turn our cannons on ourselves. No friendly fire inside the camp. This is a matter of adiaphora. Personal convictions on this should be arrived at via much study and consideration of scripture.
That being said, recently Dr. John Piper wrote an article on the topic. His view is one of personal pacifism. He does not own a firearm and does not encourage others to own one. He strongly believes that the Bible is clear on how a Christian should respond to evil and violence. Here is the link to his article. Dr. James White wrote an article that expressed an alternative and different position. His article was not polemic, nor was he demonstrating a lack of love or grace. You can read his article here. There have been many knee-jerk emotional responses on both sides of the issue. People are pulling out the, “Depart from me! You are of a different spirit!” phrase and flinging it around. This is an issue we can disagree on. It is not a primary article of faith.
Personally, I’ve always thought it was more loving to defend the victims of evil against evil, even with deadly force. I recently read an article from Dr. John Piper where he explains his convictions about guns, and using them in defense. He seems to be pretty clear that he doesn’t think it is something a Christian should do. I, along with many other Christians disagree with him on this issue. However, I won’t let this become a divisive issue. It is a matter of adiaphora. I happen to agree with Dr. James White’s stance on the use of weapons, and the reasons to employ them.
If I see an elderly person being mugged, I will stop the mugging. If I see two men beheading a person in the street, I will stop them. If I see a group of men gang-raping a woman, I will stop them. If you are the victim of evil men, then you better hope that God, in His providence, directs someone like me to your aid. We are supposed to love people, seek justice, and what is right. I strongly believe it is more loving to defend the victims against the evil of sinful men, than it is to allow those evil men to work out their demonic desires. If it can be stopped without employing lethal force, then I believe that is what we should do. If a person is physically able to pull someone off of their victim and hold them for the police, then they should do so. If they are looking at a situation that requires lethal force to stop the taking of human life, the rape of a person, be they man woman, or child, or the brutalization of a person by a group of thugs, then it is more loving and just to end the evil being wrought. It is actually hateful to allow the evil to continue. It demonstrates contempt for law, justice, and righteousness.
On a larger scale, like the Nazis and Jews, Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to the conclusion that he must act against the Nazis. He could not sit by and watch the genocide of the Jewish people. America couldn’t sit by and watch it either. I believe it is actually a hateful thing to sit by and allow evil men to murder others. I would not feel, or reason myself to be in the will of God, by allowing atrocities to go on around me, while I sat patiently waiting for them to be finished. I wouldn’t act out of a sense of self-preservation, but rather out of self-sacrifice, compassion, and love for the victims.
While Bonhoeffer drew the line at killing. He himself would not directly kill. I would. I would not do it lightly. I don’t come to this conclusion with bravado or some egocentric notion of heroism. I don’t have a Master’s degree or a Doctorate. I am not a seminarian. I am a Christian. God has given me a functioning mind that can reason and think. He has also given us His word and His Spirit. It is our obligation as Christians to think deeply and honestly about this topic. We should not take it lightly, nor should we lack grace for brothers with a different strongly held conviction on this topic.
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They Hate Christians, Why?
The hate and vitriol, I’ve witnessed from liberals, and atheists has been some of the best supporting evidence that the God they hate is truly who He says He is in His word. They deny Him so passionately, while leaving false religions alone. They can see hundreds, thousands, no millions of murders committed by Muslims, Communists, abortionists, and even justify eugenics, and euthanasia with Darwinian evolution, without batting an eye. They will even call it, “good.” They don’t even have the ability to judge anything good or evil without an external moral authority like, oh… I don’t know, God! Yet, let a Christian preach Christ and they want you locked up as hate criminal.
It has always made me wonder, why it is, that so many people hate Christianity, and God. It caused me to read the Bible more. The Bible, God’s word, makes it clear why they hate us. It isn’t because we are the most charitable and giving people on the Earth, and we are. It isn’t because we preach to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, and we do. It isn’t because we disrupt society with bombings, shootings, and decapitations, because we don’t.
It is simply because, people hate the thought that their idea of their own personal righteousness isn’t good enough. Not only is it not good enough, it is actually offensive to God. They hate the fact that, God Himself in the second personage of the Trinity, according to His sovereign, will, foreknowledge, and love, offered Himself, as a Holy sacrifice, to justify wretched sinners to Himself. The transcendent Holiness of God is so offensive to the self-righteous that they would kill him over and over again, throughout eternity if they could. They hate what He shows them about themselves.
The fact, that all have sinned and deserve death and hell. That none are good, not one. Friends, if you hate Christ, His cross, or His people, ask yourself today, “Why do I feel so strongly about this? What is it, really about them that I hate so much?” be honest, repent, and believe in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross. Submit to Him and follow Him as your Lord, master, and Savior. You can be free of all of the hate that you’ve been harboring, you can have the burdensome load of bitterness, loathing, and guilt removed from you shoulders. Humbly come to Christ in repentance and faith. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
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The Real Problem is Islam and True Believers.
Cartoon credit, John R. Houk© March 1, 2013
A friend of mine asked me for a response to this article he read on the net. Here was my response.
Well, he does what we all do and addresses the issue from his presuppositions. I did the same thing when I wrote my article on the topic. I disagree with him on some points. I think he, like so many others, misses the elephant in the room. Fundamentalist Islam is an evil ideology. Even the so-called moderate Islam, is false and satanic, just like Mormonism, and any other false religion. The only Islam that is not a danger to us is the Islam that doesn’t adhere to the Quran, Hadiths, or Islamic scripture. Just like liberal Christians, Jack-Mormons, and Roman Catholics who are RCC in name only. The main difference is that Non-violent Muslim voice seem to be in the minority.
In the article there is the lack of a solution to the problem. We as Christians, should be wise and compassionate. It is fine to love people and to want them to be free from oppression. Noting that, why do we have policies that directly prejudice the Christians from those countries, by keeping them out? Why is it our responsibility to bring the Muslims here? Why are their brother Muslims not taking them in? Why are we being guilted by the media and shamed by liberal Christians for being unloving? Seems like Satan’s opinion via his servants is that we should bring them in. Why can’t they stay and fight against the so called Islamic extremists who are ruining their homes? I think we should bring in the Christians who are fleeing certain death. I think we could talk about bringing in women, children, elderly, and handicapped people fleeing from the true Muslims. We would have to put them in internment camps and secure them until it could be determined if they are a threat. If we could determine that they are not fundamentalist Muslims, then I don’t have a problem letting them in through the normal immigration process.
The claims that the alien with Israel was treated well with no other conditions is wrong. When people wanted the rights of an Israelite, they had to become circumcised, believe the God of Israel, and obey Israel’s laws. They became naturalized Israelites. Other sojourners were treated well as long as they peacefully obeyed the laws and were not enemies of Israel. Israel never accepted an enemy in the camp blindly and identified them as, “refugees.” This kind of madness is pure liberal delusion. Fundamentalist Islam is the enemy. People who are, “true believers” are the enemy of America and her citizens. Christians are not the only citizens of America. We have the duty of warning people in love that they about to cut everyone’s collective throats. It is not unloving to keep out murdering satanists. Since you can’t easily tell the difference between a fundamentalist Muslim soldier in civilian clothes and an oppressed refugee, we shouldn’t just fling open the doors and the coffers to let them in. Since we are compassionate and loving, we should let the fleeing Christians in. We should look for solutions, like air strikes against the fundamentalist Muslims all over the world, including the ones that are causing the exodus. We should shut down all travel all over the world from and to Islamic countries. We should declare war on fundamentalist Islam everywhere. If the liberals are so quick to declare what the ancient Israelites would do, let me do the same, they would go out in spring with their king and wage war against them with God empowering them to strike down all of the evil of fundamental Islam so that it doesn’t spread. This isn’t out of fear as the liberals would have you believe, but out of a hatred of evil, and a desire to honor God. Of course that would require national repentance and conversion to Christianity. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I don’t hate Muslims, but I hate fundamentalist Islam. I’ve read the quran. It is an evil lie. “True believers” of Islam are sold out to evil and though it is true that they could hear the gospel and repent, it is also true that they are, and have been, and will continue to kill everyone that fails to convert. So to reiterate, I think he misses the boat a bit, just like so many others do. The real problem is the evil of fundamentalist Islam, not conservative Christians.
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If you remove microaggressions and triggers from the Bible?
Let’s examine what the our favorite Bible verses would look like if we removed microaggressions and triggers from them.
[Matthew 23:27 NASB]
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
Now let’s see what it would look like without microaggressions and triggers.
[Matthew 23:27 NASB]
“to you, scribes and Pharisees, For you are like washed which on the beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and all.
[Acts 2:38 NASB]
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now let’s see what it would look like without microaggressions and triggers.
[Acts 2:38 NASB]
Peter said to them, “, and each of you be baptized in the name of for the forgiveness of your ; and you will receive the gift of the Spirit.
[Mark 15:24 NASB]
And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take.
Now let’s see what it would look like without microaggressions and triggers.
[Mark 15:24 NASB]
And they , and divided up garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each should take.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB [9] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, [10] nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Now let’s see what it would look like without microaggressions and triggers.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB [9] Or do you know that the will inherit the kingdom of ? Do be deceived; neither nor , nor , nor , nor , [10] nor thieves, nor the , nor , nor , nor , will inherit the kingdom of . [11] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the and in the of our .
Acts 7:55-60 NASB But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; [56] and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” [57] But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. [58] When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. [59] They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” [60] Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
Now let’s see what it would look like without microaggressions and triggers.
Acts 7:55-60 NASB But being full of the Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of , and standing at the right hand of ; [56] and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the of standing at the right hand of .” [57] But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. [58] When they had him out of the city, they began him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young named Saul. [59] They went on Stephen as called on the and said, “, receive my spirit!” [60] Then falling on knees, out with a voice, “, do not hold this against them!” Having said this, fell asleep.
Are we getting the picture yet? When you start acting as the thought police, making up rules for society that are totalitarian, rules that have as their authority the fallen sin nature of man, rules that require complete adherence, so much so that you must be silent, then you remove God, His will, sin, human sinfulness, the atoning work of Christ, and the gospel from the God’s word itself. We must never consider fallen human desires to be accepted over and above what God has declared and decreed in His Holy Word!
It is not a God given right to go through life and never experience trauma or shame. Nobody should demand or expect this. Because we live in a fallen sinful world, there will be sin. You will have to deal with it. You must deal with it. Making laws against everything that is potentially offensive to someone is ridiculously ludicrous. We need to hear that we are sinners. We need to understand how transcendently holy, good, righteous, and authoritative God is. We need to contrast our lowly, sinful, unrighteousness, and sinfulness, to God. We need to be offended and traumatized. This is how God’s Spirit brings us to new life, repentance, and faith. Remove microaggressions and triggers from society, and you get a silent, malignant, homogeneous, sinful, tumor. The truth is offensive to those who reside in a lie of self-deceptive idolatry. Don’t have the golden calf of microaggressions and triggers. Don’t enthrone yourself as the god of your life. Repent and believe, on and in, the finished work of the resurrected, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
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Why do You Hate Me?
Is it because I give to the needy? Is it because I am compassionate to the undeserving? Is it because I help the sick at my own peril? Is it because I endure your ridicule? No, it is because of Jesus.
As a Christian who shares the gospel, I have experienced the hate of some. Don’t misunderstand me. There are some who will earnestly listen to the gospel. Out of those most don’t repent and believe, but at least they were genuinely interested in listening to what I had to say. There are others who feign interest. Some just walk away while they shake their heads and mumble. I’m not talking about any of these types. I am talking about the type who get outraged that you would even dare to mention the, “J” word to them! The people who get so angry that you are afraid they might punch you in the face. It is as if you burned their house down or something. These are the types I am talking about.
We all know that the Bible tells us we will be hated and mistreated, but until it happens to you it is difficult to grasp why. You might see yourself doing all kinds of benevolent things and loving on people like no bodies business, so it is a shock to you when someone hates you. Jesus said, “…32Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”…” in John 10:32-33 (NASB) This often sticks in my head. Jesus’ biggest offense was to claim to be God. Some of the Pharisees hated Him for this. It was a good reason to stone Him to death according to them. We can see this same attitude today towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about it for a moment. All of the kind loving things you have done in Christ’s name, poof! Vanish in a moment out of the memory of the hateful person who recoils at the mention of Jesus. It is all fine and dandy as long as you are being benevolent, but mention the reason why you are being loving and merciful and watch out. The next thing you might see could be a rock headed for your noggin. It just doesn’t compute to us right off why someone would respond like that, but we have to look at some truths to understand. If a person is not saved they are a friend of the world. James 4:4 says, “…You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. …” So if you are God’s child how do you suppose the enemy will desire to treat you? In John 15:18-20 Jesus says, “…18“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.…” It makes me wonder if we aren’t too concerned with having easy or being well liked. I mean, nobody likes to get hurt or suffer right, but Jesus was pretty clear about capitulating and being a friend of the world. Cheer up though, if you are sharing the gospel in the face of this suffering Jesus also said this to His disciples, “… 21“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22“You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
23“But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. …” If we learn from their example, we can see that all, but John was martyred for their testimony of Christ crucified. They persevered all the way to the end. We can to with God’s grace.
Snyder's Soapbox 