Christian Benefits

Usually, a person’s yard is one of the safest places to be.  I always thought that about mine, until last week. A young man got into his car about five houses down the street, started it, and then had a seizure of some type.  His vehicle lurched forward with his foot on the gas pedal, crossed the street at an angle, completely removed a large crepe myrtle tree in our yard.  He then crossed the driveway and smashed into a brick retaining wall.  The vehicle was almost balanced on top of the wall with only the right rear wheel still spinning  trying to get traction.  Smoke from the tire boiled up as our son, Stephen, ran out of the house and reached through the window to turn off the engine.


My wife called 911 and Alabaster police and fire personnel responded quickly.  The young man was taken to the hospital and released that afternoon.  He and his wife came by for a visit, apologizing for all the damage.  I was home from work by that time and we talked about how quick bad things can happen.  He didn’t remember anything after starting his vehicle, not the wreck or even being taken to the hospital.  My wife told him that she had prayed for his safety and tears came to his eyes as he thanked her.

It was a bad accident which could have been horrific.  Normally, there are children playing nearby or people walking down the street.  My wife, five minutes earlier, had stopped mowing grass.  She left the section with the crepe myrtles for the late afternoon, when it would be cooler.  One more unusual thing, was that Stephen normally parks his truck in front of the retaining wall.  For some reason that morning, upon returning home, he parked on the opposite side of the drive.

I know most people don’t believe in guardian angels, preferring to let their world spin on random chance.  But I can promise you from a lifetime of examples, that God works every day in this world.  He didn’t start it spinning way back in Genesis then walk away!  He is involved in your life every day just as He is mine.

Three weeks ago, I was about to climb a pole while working on a telephone trouble.  I heard a loud noise and the pole shook.  Turning to my right, toward the noise, I saw power lines dancing violently with sparks flying just before they hit the ground.  Needless to say, I stopped working.  I discovered a large tree had fallen two spans down.  The weather wasn’t bad and there wasn’t any wind.   The tree was rotten at the base and it’s time was up.  A definite close call.

One day last week, I was in a hurry to get home from work.  Delayed by a repair job, I was only fifteen minutes later than my usual time.  Halfway home, I found myself caught with traffic at a standstill.  I waited about 10 minutes with no traffic coming from the opposite direction either.  I decided to turn around and go the long way home.  I found out that evening two people had been killed in a head-on crash at 4:15pm, just ahead of me.  I missed being near that ground zero by the time I spent on the earlier trouble.

Now, I don’t want to sound redundant, but it’s pretty neat being a Christian!  Just consider a moment how it is having the God of the universe as your life coach.  Imagine the world as a gym with Jesus as your trainer.  It just doesn’t get any better.  Or, imagine  you’ve got to disarm the next catastrophe in your life and you’re sweating bullets wondering whether to cut the red wire or the blue one… snip the wrong one and everything unravels…  But wait, with God on your side, there is no catastrophe in the first place.

Have you ever seen those people who try to assemble one of their kids toys without the directions?  It isn’t pretty and it’s terribly stressful being around them!  God’s directions make your life easier and lets the disasters become manageable.

In Christians Make a Difference, I invited those of you who aren’t Christians to come over and join us.  I hope you have been reading your Bible and understand God a little more.  He is a loving creator who has made some tremendous promises.  If you’ve got some time, check out a few Bible verses and see if it might be in your best interest to join a winning team!

This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29:11

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
   or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
   He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
   He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
   And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
   gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
   young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
   They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
   they walk and don’t lag behind. Isaiah 40:29-31 (MSG)


And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes. Phil. 4:19 (MSG)


“Because you hated Knowledge
   and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God,
Because you wouldn’t take my advice
   and brushed aside all my offers to train you,
Well, you’ve made your bed—now lie in it;
   you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it?
Don’t you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots?
   Carelessness kills; complacency is murder.
First pay attention to me, and then relax.
   Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.”  Prov. 1:33 (MSG)


But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.  Rom 6:23 (MSG)

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.  Matt. 11:28-29 (MSG)

If you feel your life is a little busted up and needs serious repair, I know just the God who can do it!  Oh, and don’t wait too long, you just never know when “something bad” might make your lack of choice… permanent!

Memorial Day for Lost Freedom

Listening to David Barton yesterday at Highlands made me feel like Sunday was Memorial Day.  After that good dose of Godly American history, I feel sad today.  Today’s sadness, on Memorial Day proper, isn’t for all the fallen heroes, it’s for all us Americans that have been left behind.

It is so ironic that men and women, in so many military campaigns, have lost their lives defending our freedom, and the rest of us let our politicians take it away after 9/11.  Our Constitution has been so watered down it barely exists.  The Patriot Act, along with other legislation, have taken away many of the rights we all hold dear!

• Freedom from unreasonable searches… gone!
• Right to a speedy and public trial… gone!
• Freedom of association… gone!
• Right to legal representation… gone!
• Freedom of speech… gone!
• Right to liberty… gone!

This is the way it now is – video!  You thought the “God-given rights” still existed?  No, not in today’s America.  If you don’t believe me, Judge Andrew Napolitano will tell you about it in this video.

There is a great quote from Benjamin Franklin that applies here, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  Let’s face it, we were suckered on 9/11.  You can’t look at all that happened  and NOT think it was wasn’t preplanned.  Why would anyone have to give up any “God-given right” to keep a foreigner from coming in and attacking anything in this country.  All we ever had to do was increase security!  A police state should have been out of question by even our lawmakers.  They claim there just wasn’t time to read the entire 315 pages before voting on it.  Fine, don’t vote for it then.  If you voted for it, repeal it!  There has been time to fix it and it has not been fixed.  Our freedoms are still gone!

I read the news article this weekend listing the “words not to use” to avoid Homeland Security from listing someone as a terrorist.  I think I’ve used most of them in this blog.  I’m a Christian though, so I harbor no violence against anyone.  As a United States citizen though, I feel I must urge repeal of the Patriot Act and a return to the constitutional rights I was blessed by my Creator with!  Our founding fathers said it better than I…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long-established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.     Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

This year I’ve encouraged everyone to support Ron Paul for President.  The powers that be have opposed him strongly and positioned others ahead of him via propaganda in the media.  If you listen to any Paul supporter, it is liberty that is our main theme.  Fix the liberty issue and many other problems resolve themselves.  It is obvious that neither party is moving toward that end.  The same old way of governing isn’t going to be acceptable by Americans much longer.  Our future depends on new leaders who represent the citizens. Washington has proven it is more interested in appeasing foreign governments and corporations and forgetting about the average citizen and all the soldiers that died, fighting for freedom!

Maybe the word “terrorist” needs to be redefined.  After that, we just need to vote them out of Washington and put some real statesmen back in government.  We can fix all this, but it’s going to take a few election cycles!  This “Orwellian” society has to go!

Christians Make A Difference

The hatred that spews from the network television shows, the internet, & politicians toward Christians, hurts everyone.  They try to stir up public opinion against Christians, that we are the bad guys and need to be run out-of-town.  Why?  Because we’re against most of the issues driving corporate America these days like greed and gay rights.  We are opposed to making families jobless just to make the stockholders & CEO’s more wealthy.  We are opposed to the murder of children by clinics who lie about women’s health, making profits of over a billion/year.  We are opposed to the unnatural union of gays and lesbians in legal marriage, creating a cultural abnormality.  We are opposed to polygamy and those who would declare the Bible corrupt.  In general, I guess we opposed everything that would make the cultural left happy!

Christians have made a distinct mark on civilization and America in particular.  Our founding fathers used the general principles of Christianity for our independence, our legal rights, and system of government.  The development of higher education, science, and medicine, all were from Christianity.  Art and music were inestimably benefited by believers in Christ.  It was the Christians that opposed slavery first and it is the Christian that is generally a better citizen in any government.

Why would a Christian be a better citizen or employee you ask?  Because Jesus taught that it is wrong to steal and kill.  He taught that government is  empowered by God, therefore we should respect and submit to it.  We are taught to love our fellow-man and reach out to help those in need.  Even today, it is Christians who are quickly on the scene when disaster strikes.  Christian relief has assisted Haiti, Sudan, Somalia, Belize, Japan, and every other location where humans were hurting or in need.  So we’re the bad guys… right, you just keep believing that lie.  We still love you, but our actions speak for themselves.

The reason you really hate us is the problem you have with God.  He is the one who doesn’t approve of your sin.  If every Christian in the world signed over a letter saying you have our approval for whatever sin you want to commit, it wouldn’t carry any legal weight with God.  He is the judge and jury.  And even if we approved of your actions, you wouldn’t quit your hate filled racist attitude toward us until we actually participated in sin with you.  You want us to be like you, a guilt ridden, unhappy human whose hatred for Christianity blinds one from the truth.

Listen, our side is better… come on over!  Being a traitor to your cause has never been easier or had so many benefits.  You get to hang out with the best people in the world!  Medical plans don’t matter, it’s better on the other side for us, anyway!  We live in the light of the Son and know that God loves us!  It just doesn’t get any better.  We’ll even pay your way to the third world country of your choice and let you dig wells for clean water or teach kids to read.  Not only that, but faith in Jesus… get ready for this… guarantees you a mansion in Heaven.  Is that awesome or what?

Now, you’re going to have to read the Bible some.  I’ll give you a heads up, it isn’t what you’ve been told.  The truths contained in that book are amazing and historically accurate at the same time.  It really isn’t just a children’s book, but the “inspired” Word of God!

At least consider it!  You don’t even have to carry around a Bible these days, look at it online!  You can do it when no one is around, until you feel like you are ready to commit.  I’d recommend downloading the app “YouVersion“.  And just to make you feel better, that you’re not alone… YouVersion has been downloaded over 50 million times.  The world is full of Christians. Estimates vary, but the number is close to 2 billion!  Christianity rocks, come on over!  Join us, we’re the ones who make a difference!

Originally published May 14, 2012 at Thechestnutburr.com

Polygamy - Why Romney will Win

I just finished my first yoga workout, there’s a first for everything.  This weekend, I even did two P90x workouts.  Yes, I’m sore.  I decided that I was out of balance, physically.  My mind was strong, but my body seemed a little weak.  I can serve as an example, that its never too late to change and start improving oneself. We need to break out of the rut sometimes.

That rut is different things to different people.  For you, it might be just turning off the television and picking up a good book.  The Bible is an excellent read, by the way…  For most of our younger folks, it will probably mean turning off or putting down whatever device has you chained to it; iPhone, Xbox, or PS3.  It’s easy to get out of balance by following whatever your mind tells you it wants to do.  The mind is a good thing but it is inside our flesh.  The problem with that is, the flesh usually rules.  Teenagers would be a good example of that reasoning.

Oh yeah, about the title, I’m getting there.  Balance is what we don’t hear very much of.  Society acts like our fleshly bodies.  It wants the cake and candy while skipping the salad and the other stuff that’s good for us.

Take gay rights for instance, it’s very bad for society.  It is, however, being shoved upon us by whoever shoves stuff upon us, from the top of the power pyramid.  They want it legalized, and not only legalized but condoned by everyone in the world.  They were pulling Piers Morgan’s strings when he attacked Kirk Cameron recently.  The media elites have to ridicule Christian beliefs in order to sway public opinion to their side.  It’s a really sad way of trying to win the debate.  They have to demonize the teachings of Jesus Christ.  He’s been dead for thousands of years and His followers still stand in the way of a good party.

I believe it goes beyond the gays just having a good time.  They could do that without getting married.  It’s about changing our laws.  I never really thought about it until I heard Paul Diamond speak about the trials the United Kingdom is going through trying to redefine marriage.  He spoke about the real oddity of a Conservative Prime Minister introducing the argument supporting gay marriage, against the wishes of his own party.  He also mentioned that if gay marriage is legalized, Muslim polygamy will be next on the agenda.

I have to admit that I didn’t think about that one.  So, we have the Muslims who normally have four or more wives and they want it to be legal.  The end run on this political play is to make a little change in the law for a bigger change later on.  A change, that I suppose, even Mitt Romney could support.  If you want the American people to soften up on polygamy, why not elect a Mormon President?  Make him likeable, let him even bring the economy back from the brink.  Why, he could be the next Kennedy… in the eyes of the people.

Politics is never random!  The backroom deals have been made long before the election.  The think tanks have used supercomputers for all the variables and the outcome is written in stone.  We just won’t know for sure, until it happens.  I  want you to be aware and exercise your mind a little.  We’ve gotten soft when it comes to liberty.  We’ve thought that “as long as the Government leaves me alone, everything is okay.” Wake up, things are not okay.  We need to be the watchdogs that the founding fathers intended.

Maybe a little 1776 history workout would do you some good.  There is an awesome website that you could spend fifteen to twenty minutes a day on, and it would have you in shape in no time.  It’s called Wallbuilders.  Their website is at HTTP://www.wallbuilders.com.  Next, go work the soreness out by seeing the movie “Monumental” that should be showing in March at a theater near you.  It looks like a great movie which will stretch those liberty muscles in ways unimaginable.  Then, stay involved.  Look for people to follow on Twitter that can keep you informed.  A couple of  examples would be Judge Napolitano and Ron Paul.

Things are happening that we all should be aware of.  You won’t read it in the news because you aren’t supposed to know.  They just want you kept fat, happy, and anti-Christian.  That way, the money and good times just keep on coming… for them!

I’ll close with the last line of Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.


Originally published at Thechestnutburr on March 19, 2012


 

Ron Paul is a Christian Too

I am perplexed to keep reading how the evangelicals are flocking to support Rick Santorum, a Catholic.  The other candidates that the media keep pushing are Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Newt Gingrich, a recent Catholic convert.  I guess there isn’t anyone else for us Christians… we have to choose between those three!

But wait, there is another candidate.  What’s his name, I heard it once or twice on the news… oh yeah, Ron Paul.  But he isn’t a Christian and he’s against the military, right?  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Ron Paul professes his faith in Christ in this video, if you need to see it for yourself.  Ron Paul worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist from the 1960′s to the 1980′s.  He’s against abortion!  He’s against borrowing money by constantly raising the debt ceiling!  Wow, that’s another  Biblical principle and where do the other candidates stand on that???

Many of you believe America won’t be #1 militarily anymore, if Ron Paul is elected President.  Again, that is a misunderstanding of what will happen that has been publicised  in the media and proclaimed loudly in the Republican party.  Ron Paul is against the undeclared wars we’ve pursued in a misguided foreign policy.  Yes, I believe the neo-conservatives will have to look elsewhere to support their money addicted habit in defense spending.  But let me ask you a question, how big does the military have to be?  Honestly, it has to be big enough to defend this country and protect our allies.  We don’t need to keep attacking countries who haven’t attacked us.  Hey, that’s another Biblical principle.

I’m going to stray into college football a little here, just for an illustration.  I’ll say up front that I tend to be an Auburn fan, so no one will take this personal.   In Alabama, the Crimson Tide football team has to be #1 to all their fans.  In my mind, they’ve been spoiled with so many national championships, that a single season loss is a ruined and disappointing year.  If the coach were to leave, the fans would demand the best(highest paid ), most talented around as a replacement.  There are other things going on at the University of Alabama, but most football fans aren’t aware of it.  A lot of kids actually get an education there.  The illustration is this, there are more important issues confronting America than her military power.  We’re going to be #1 for decades to come, lets stop throwing money at the pentagon!  We are overburdened with debt brought on by imperialistic ideas, encouraged by corporate greed.  It’s time to focus on the home front.

It’s time to bring some relief to the financial pain most Americans feel.  I believe Ron Paul will work hard to that end.  President Obama promised us change and didn’t deliver.  Ron Paul has made that promise and will keep it!  For Christians who are searching to someone to support, I can’t think of anyone in the race that has been more consistent than Ron Paul.  His beliefs haven’t changed through the years like the other candidates… Hey, that’s another Biblical principle, faithful to his word!

 Originally published Feb. 25, 2011 at Thechestnutburr.com