That damned catholic

I spend a lot of time defending Catholicism. I feel that the secular forces that wish to destroy Christianity realize that the Catholic Church is the big-kid-on-the-block, and that if they can manage to break it's sizable influence, that the smaller less significant denominations would quickly succumb as well. So while I am critical of the Catholics, I recognize that the Vatican’s influence is one of the few remaining forces pushing back against secularism’s anti-Christian tsunami. Yet I was talking to a Pentecostal pastor, a high profile one that was a district head (a bishop of sorts) overlooking many churches, and he saw nothing wrong with Catholicism. His ignorance was astounding. It makes me wonder what seminaries are teaching now? This is disconcerting to me, because catholic doctrine is in stark contrast to biblical truth: they teach different things. What this pastor was saying, wasn’t that he didn’t understand Catholicism, it was that he didn’t seem to understand the New Covenant or God. I think I can trace where Protestantism's new found open-armed policy of accepting conflicting theological viewpoints came from.

When I was younger, I remember the Church sounding a warning of the New Age bogeyman (religious relativism). As I aged, I watched this “New Age movement” infiltrate society. Many Christians thought it simply burnt out and disappeared, but it didn’t. As a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough, this fringe boggart adapted and expanded and assumed new monikers: moral relativism and cultural relativism. These further progressed into post modernism.

What happens when large segments of society adopt this spiritual poison? Well, the members of your Church are made up of that society, and their children are steeped in this satanic philosophy. It infects these kids, which as they age backwards infects the Church from within.

And what is it called when the New Age movement infects the Church? Ecumenism.

The fruit of this progressive anti-God movement was the stupification of the Church. Ecumenism is not possible if Christians are educated and Biblically literate. But the embracement of moral relativism has lead to a quenching of the Spirit’s guiding voice, as the Church stumbles over itself to appease Satan and spite God; embracing lifestyles that God has told us He hates. Yes, hates. The Churches new Golden Rule is “to be nice”. And nice apparently includes accepting and loving that which is detestable to God.

So I will redefine ecumenism as theological relativism (or denominational relativism). And this takes us back to our confused Pentecostal pastor and his mistaken views on the Catholic Church.

I did mention there are things I admire about the Catholic Church. One such thing is their stead fast adherence to Catholic doctrine. Ecumenism doesn’t affect them. It is affecting the Protestant churches. The Catholics have taken more care and due diligence in maintaining their aberrant religiosity than the Protestants have at maintaining Biblical truth. But this article is not to sieve Catholicism to find specks of gold, it is to look at all the filthy dirt that those specks are buried in. Today we will look at the elephant in the middle of the living room, the pachyderm the Pentecostal couldn’t see.

Face Flipper - Old age makes your body turn upside down!! Featuring Chevy Chase

Another celebrity example of how, with age, our head goes from top heavy to bottom heavy.

Face Flipper - Old age makes your body turn upside down!! Featuring Val Kilmer

Behold the power of gravity. As a man's muscular chest of youth falls into his large belly of middle age, so the head's top heavy appearance likewise succumbs to newton's law (and the enigmatic doughnut force) and shifts it's high center to a new low. (I've personally felt an attraction to doughnuts myself).

Val Kilmer: before and after.

Spiritual Prioritization - Learning from Mary

He was in his early 70’s and his body was almost done. He had congestive heart failure and a crippling neurological disease. He was feeling a bit down.

A mixture of frustration and phlegm tainted his words.

“You spend all of your life learning how to do something, and being able to afford to do something, and then you can’t do it anymore”.

He was a skilled trumpeter and an avid outdoor’s man. Yet he could no longer control his fingers to play any music. And he could barely walk let alone hike the outdoors.

Life is made up of windows of time. A window of a couple decades is all you have, to enjoy the skills it took decades to develop. And it takes many decades to accrue the wealth to do the things you want. But age quickly detracts from your ability to live life as you once did as a young man. That which was once taken for granted quickly extends beyond our ability to grasp.

Much of life’s enduring endeavors are meaningless and of little lasting value. It took him 20 years to get the tools and know-how to rebuild a car engine. “All that time spent, and for what”? He wondered, as he sat on a recliner.

Plum lining the plumber – Non Christians that think they’re saved.

 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ (Mat 7:21-23 NLT)

 I meet a guy named Ken. I ask Ken what he does for a living? Ken tells me he’s a plumber. “Oh, a construction trade, those are good jobs”. But Ken informs me he isn’t working right now. I ask where he worked previously? Ken tells me he hasn’t worked previously. Now I’m confused so I ask if he’s a journeyman? I usually reserve the title of `plumber’ for journeymen, and not for apprentices. I figure this is what he meant and that he’s a plumber in training. Ken tells me he isn’t a journeyman. From this I infer he is an apprentice. I ask what year of the apprenticeship he’s in? Ken tells me he hasn’t been to trade school. Again I’m confused. I ask if he’s a starter (meaning he was just hired by a company and is working off some hours before going to school)? Ken tells me he isn’t a starter and hasn’t been in contact with a plumbing company.

There are legal requirements to become a plumber. It is a regulated trade and a very skilled trade. You need to attend a trade school to acquire those skills and you need to pass a governmental certification exam when you finish school. I ask Ken why he’s calling himself a plumber? Ken tells me he’s done some personal plumbing at his house. He then elaborates to say he’s unplugged his toilet with a plunger and once cleaned the trap from under his sink.

Ken doesn't know what a plumber is

Honing in on holiness - How an unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife (1Cor 7:14)

Who you hang with will sharpen or dullen you.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (1Cor 7:14 NIV)

So how does this work? How is it that an unbelieving man can be sanctified through a Christian woman? The bi-product of sanctification is to sin less. It is to become increasingly Christ-like in one’s deeds and actions. It is holy living. So now presume we have a very carnal man, which loves over-drinking, is a brawler, and loves to steal things. These are sinful activities. Yet, by living with this Godly woman, the very nature of her presence will have a positive influence on him. Her light will bother his darkness. He might even occasionally go to Church. And he will moderate his wicked conduct to appease her sensitivities. If he is going to over-drink, but remembers it upsets her (and that she will cry) he will be more inclined to avoid inebriation (or have the shame to at least hide it). If he is tempestuous and wants to punch some bloke’s nose, she might encourage him to walk away and be the better man. Her influence will calm his evil inclinations. Her love will calm his hate. If he is going to steal something from a store, he will be discouraged by remembering that his wife will think less of him if he did. Her influence has a braking effect on his evil tendencies and inevitably draws him into a holier lifestyle (against his nature). The believer sanctifies the unbeliever. This is not to say that the unbeliever’s heart moves closer to God, but that their conduct is swayed by the believer’s influence. (Side note: please remember, we are not to marry unbelievers. This verse in question speaks of a conversion within an existing marriage).

The grey chest hair - an eternal reminder

The other day as I was shaving, I noticed I had a single wiley grey hair on my chest that shone like a beacon amongst its darker brethren. The song, “one of these things is not like the other” played for a moment in the back of my head, until I noticed the tune and smote it violently. These children songs from my kid's DVDs will haunt me till the end of my days

Yet this hair deviled into the germane. Despite a fleeting thought to fetch a black giffy marker to color it, I could not help but see that that hair represented time.Or more specifically, an approaching end to my time.

“Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here”. (Psalm 103: 15-16 NLT)

This Scripture, when plucked out of the Bible and portrayed individually, doesn't give us the most cheerful disposition. Yet, that is how it gives us such a profound perspective: on how we should be living in the here-and-now. Our first phase of existence is fleeting, but in the following verse we see a foreshadowing of our second phase. We see an introduction of eternal life, and this is what gives us hope.

“But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him”. (v17)

We only have a small allotted amount of time here on this big blue sphere: And that grey hair proclaimed that over half of my time was up. And I could not help but wonder, “What have I accomplished for my LORD”? He has given me talents and abilities. He has entrusted me with resources and friends. He has touched me with health and situated me in a first world nation. He has blest me in so many ways. I was once darkness but was born again into light. He plucked me up out of the mud, and cleaned me up, and loved me at a great expense to Himself. I know my purpose in creation is to glorify Him: To please Him. Yet so much of my time is spent on myself:  Which eternally, is spent on nothing.

Travel the Highway of Holiness: A call to Holy living

A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. (Isaiah 35:8 NASB) 

Is belief in Jesus all it takes to have eternal life?

 NO.

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. (James 2:19 NLT) 

Demons know who Jesus is. They believe in Him. But they do not serve Him.

Lamentation of a God nerd

I’m a God nerd.  I like talking about God and I enjoy the company of people that like talking about God. Some people will talk sports, others about popular culture, and still others video games. But my mind is consumed with Scripture. If you are to accept that God is there, how could you not want to know everything about Him that is humanly possible? Wouldn’t you want to know what He told us about Himself? When your eyes see something that wondrous, that beautiful, they seldom wish to look away. That is the perspective of a God nerd.

The sad truth though, is that my type seems far and in between. Sure you can find Christians that like an odd conversation. But I find it hard to find people that really want to consistently dig in deeply (or even shallowly). God’s there, but they almost have Him compartmentalized off to the side. It’s like He’s in a cage and they let Him out once in a while to play with Him. Then they return Him into the cage and carry on with their life,

I don’t generally care to discuss how my work day was. I want to talk about those moments when God’s light broke through. I want to discuss insights from Scripture. And I love expounding my study for those that haven’t the desire or will to study.  I don’t mean to suggest that everyone should be a theologian. Or maybe I do. It’s just the way I’m hardwired and I don’t understand how God can’t be the central point by which every conversation orbits. This is likely a reflection of the body and its many different parts, each complimenting the other and doing a different thing. There is a degree by which we should all seek God out, but even in the OT everyone wasn’t a Levite. If David spent all his time studying Torah he wouldn’t have been able to run the Kingdom. Those that studied Torah informed him of God’s will so he could rule justly. I’m talking about the depth and breadth of study; everyone should grow in knowledge of God. If you’re not growing you’re standing still. And when you’re standing still it’s easier to walk backwards.

I noticed this theological loneliness decades ago. And the unfortunate consequence of it is you learn to blend in with those around you. It’s like in the movie “The Body Snatchers”, where a couple of humans had learnt that they could pass undetected in amongst the aliens by not expressing any emotion. You learn to never talk about God. And it seems to me that when you don’t talk about Him you start to forget about Him.

Couple remediation

Couples need to find an equilibrium, and they need to work out tensions. But in the midst of an escalating discussion, with passion growing, you may note that the elements of the discussion have been lost and both parties are speaking hurtful nonsense (fool-talking). Arguing for the sake of arguing, and this is a very destructive place to be. When anger has entered into the discussion and throttles it like the space shuttle challenger, it is going to explode. Wherever the disagreement may have begun, if you find it is moving into verbal jabs for the sake of harm, it is time to take a break. The devil works within the confines of your anger. He eggs you on to try and destroy for the sake of destruction. He particularly wants to break godly fellowship.

“Do not give the Devil a foothold” (Eph 4:27)

Break away from the inferno and allow yourself and your combatant a period of calm. It is in the quiet time away from the maddening heat that the Spirit will offer refreshing water again. But you must seek His water; Talk to the Father. Take a walk and pray, and the devil’s lies will start to unwind.  Even if you are the only one that does this, you will be in a better place to diffuse the bomb that still awaits you when you return. The devil destroys. God builds. And with the Spirits light your pride will diminish and that which angered you will seem so much smaller than it did previously.

The so called hypocrite

The so called hypocrite

Ad hominem

I am going to say several things here that fly in the face of main stream Christianity’s new found tentative character. What we’ll see is that it’s been hoodwinked. Thesis statement: The predominant charge of hypocrisy against Christians is a bludgeon to silence evangelism or moral correction. 

We live in a politically correct world. People are terrified of misspeaking and being called a homophobe or a racist or a misogynist. The label and culture was purposely created to silence you from speaking light into darkness. I am going to make a strong corollary from the political world that illustrates one in the spiritual. When a person doesn’t have an argument they resort to ad hominem attacks (personal name calling). It is a tactic used to silence those that think differently than you. This is a common stratagem of the political left. But what many Christians have failed to realize is that this is also used to silence spiritual correction/direction as well. I’d say that 99% of the time when someone calls a Christian a hypocrite it is an ad hominem attack. This article is not dealing with the other 1%. 

When someone calls you a hypocrite, what really shows that something is amiss is when the validity or falsity of the charge that prompted the name calling isn’t being discussed. From this, it can be seen to be a deflection away from the topic of their sinful activity or proclivity. In essence the name callers are saying:

 “Shut up because you’re a sinner too”.

You become who you hang out with

"Do not be deceived: `Bad company corrupts good morals.'" (1Cor15:33 NASV)

deceived = πλανάω = seduced. to wander away.
corrupts = φθείρω = withers or shrivels. to spoil (as in food)

the CEV puts it this way:

"Don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you".

Paul was an intellectual and can be seen here quoting a common phrase of the day from Menander (a Greek dramatist) who in turn had quoted it in one of Euripides' earlier plays. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary tells us the meaning from the play indicates communion with "those who deny the resurrection". The Church at Corinth had fallen back into a sinful state since Paul had left them. And Paul puts some emphasis on the company they keep for this slippage. Your morality is strongly influenced by the company you keep. Those who deny the resurrection are bad company for close friendships.

Daughters of Eve Meme

Friendship with unbelievers

Friendship with unbelievers

Psalm 1: devotional mullings.

"Where O death is your sting"? Remembering a man of God

Billy Graham wasn’t the only great man to pass away recently. My cousin Daryl died today. He was in his mid-40s but had the intellectual development of a grade 5 or 6er. He was born with excessive fluid pressure in his brain and had several operations to put a tube in his head to drain it. As a teenager he fell into a pool and drowned, but was revived. This incident further contributed to his diminished mental state. Yet what he lacked in IQ he made up for in joy and inner beauty.

The Spiritual Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel

“The early church was married to poverty, prisons, and persecutions. Today the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.” – Leonard Ravenhill.

 If you adhere to the teachings found within the prosperity doctrine, please allow some room to consider my words. And I pray that the Bible will act as an arbiter between us and allow you to see the problems inherent in this doctrine. In fact, the teaching frequently goes by the descriptor, “the Prosperity Gospel”. I do find this to be ironic, considering it is a self-condemning name. It seems to distinguish itself from the Biblical gospel, as if it recognizes that it has some fundamental divergence from God’s word.

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed”. (Galatians 1:8 KJV)

Accursed is strong language. It suggests to us that some time should be taken to understand the ramifications of this teaching, and to determine if it passes the Biblical litmus test. If it doesn’t, it is a false teaching given by a false teacher. If it detracts from our relationship with God, it is condemnable and heretical.

JESUS CHRIST - Much greater than a "Superstar

I don't like going to church (especially a new church) and feeling like I've just seen yet another performance of the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar."

If you haven't seen the play, it ends with the suicide of Judas and crucifixion of Christ. The end.

We Christians know that the crucifixion of our Savior is not the end. It's a new beginning, a second birth, "born again," to quote Jesus' conversation at night with the sympathetic, believing pharisee, Nicodemus (John 3.)

I've heard the proverbial THE END from prominent televangelists. For instance a couple years ago I was watching Pat Robertson referencing Jesus on the "700 Club." I paraphrase him, "[It's amazing when you realize] that this man was born to die." With all due respect to Mr. Robertson, I ask how is that statement different than any other human being's fate on this earth?

Scared straight: educational ponderables as a deterrent to sexual sin.

Maintaining one’s purity in an impure society is difficult. Spiritual strength is paramount to overcome iniquitous allures. Yet, the Bible also gives us plenty of council on the practicality of righteousness, and how it is easier to walk upright if we learn to avoid temptations outright. So this article is focusing on the practicality of holiness.. and how education can give us pause from fornication and/or adultery, by showing us the fearful physical or worldly consequences that could befall us. For when sin touches this world and our lives, it doesn’t just sully our souls; it can have lasting effects on our bodies and mental state. If you’ve had unprotected sex, have a new partner (or more than one partner) this is a consideration. And if you’re a Christian struggling with this temptation, this article is meant to scare you straight and take the edge off that unrighteous desire. Sex is not a trivial activity. And Christians that face temptations should reinforce their fortifications from fornication with information.

Understanding these consequences forms a deterrent to engaging in sexual immorality. This principle is embraced Biblically as well as worldly. It’s for this reason that we are taught that cigarette smoke can cause lung cancer or emphysema. The association of the potential `what-if’ warns us of the risks involved in tobacco, and these risks help to steer us away from this product. And within the sexual niche of this discussion, it can similarly be seen in the government’s educational drive for condom use as a means of safeguarding our bodies from the dangers of unplanned pregnancy and venereal disease (particularly AIDS, which alongside unwed pregnancy has an adverse effect on social programs and hence governmental resources).

Shame

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things have become new”. (2 Cor 5:17)

This article is not for the brow beating of the saints. It is not meant to condemn or diminish the Lord’s children by suggesting they should wallow continually and eternally in the past affairs of their flesh. When we are born again, we are new creatures in Christ, and the feats of the flesh are the dead memory of our old self, our “old man”. This article seeks to look at a rare occurrence where a Christian’s standing in Christ may not be on as solid as they had presumed. And as such, is intended to cause reflection as to whether we conform to this odd spiritual malignity, a holdover from our past that has no place in our present or future.

Spiritual sociology and the zombie apocalypse

Have you ever sat in a hectic mall and people watched? It’s akin to bird watching, yet you observe the immensity in diversity of the crowds before you. They hurry to and fro in their busy lives; each with a distinctive personality and outward projection. It’s amazing how alive and invigorated they all seem, with family and friends tying them together with unseen bounds. And yet, what we perceive is not an accurate depiction of the reality before us. If life were representative of a movie, we could speculate that the world around us is an ongoing drama, perhaps with comical elements and some adventure. The cast of characters around us are each the protagonists in their own personal unfolding story lines. Such `life’ is observed within the narrative; People living and being people. I am nothing more than a simple bird watcher, a movie goer, and I sit in a dark theatre and enjoy the intrigue of this movie of life on the screen of my retina. Yet because I sit in the dark, I fail to see the reality just beyond the theatre doors: The bigger world beyond my darkened perception. God’s Word allows us to glimpse the outside world: the real world. And to see that those around us, who are like us, are not well. That something is dreadfully amiss, and that humanity is terminally ill.

Grieved in Gomorrah

Christian Allegory - The lost seeking salve in sin.

Jeremiah 8:18-9:6

taming the tongue

Flyleaf: "I'm so sick, Infected with where I live". - The Christian's Conundrum.

Flyleaf expresses our sinful sorry state with their song, “I am so sick”.

Exalting oneself above God precipitated the fall of mankind, and our created order. Questioning His judgment is to replace Him with yourself: to exalt yourself above your Creator. The prideful position that dropped Satan from the heavens likewise dropped mankind from Eden. And we landed in a world of thorns and death. Tainted flesh: Adam’s legacy lives on in his children. We desire to exercise our wills above His own. We trade happiness for sorrow and have done so millennium upon millenniums.


How to crawl out of this hole? As the Flyleaf song sings:

"I'm so sick, Infected with where I live" 

... the allures of the flesh (of this world) are ever before us and within us. As Paul voiced this tension,
"Who will save me from this body of death (Romans 7:24)?". The Flyleaf song sings of sexual tension, but the lures are many. How does one resist the want of carnality, the hunger of iniquity? How does one deflect the attraction of the flesh? And we hear Paul’s reply,

"Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ my Lord (Romans 7:25)." Dwell not on the thoughts of the flesh, on the desires for sinful satisfaction. Dwell on and with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We are prone to stray thoughts. These we must contend with in till the Lord’s return. Yet we should not allow them to covet. We must not fixate them within our minds and entertain them in our hearts. This is a conscience act. A stray thought is a spark in the mind and easily snuffed. But if we capture that thought, and dwell upon it, and nurse it into a fire, it will grow. Carnal thoughts are kindling to fires that will burn your life. When kindling comes along, discard it. Likewise, dwelling on the things of God is a conscience act, to be nurtured and perfected.

"I will break into your thoughts with what's written on my heart
I will break, break"

 

We must take ownership of our thoughts and break out from this cycle of death and decay. We must serve God with our mind and soul, we must serve God with our flesh. And when we do so, we will shed our chains of iniquity and progress on the road of sanctification. The road that leads to Paradise.

Do what is necessary

If you're like me, you sometimes feel like you're dragging your Christian feet. Many times I ponder, what am I supposed to do? What is God's direction for my life? How am I to serve Him and engage the world around me? I think many times, I simply overthink it. Instead of analyzing how I'm supposed to change the world on some momentous scale, I need to simply be obedient in my neighborhood.

I'm not Mother Teresa, yet perhaps i can buy a burger for a homeless man on the street.

I'm not Billy Graham, yet perhaps I can share my faith with someone close by.

God can use you, to move mountains, even if only in the life of one person.

born again - the metamorphosis of sanctification

 

from a worm (a creature designed and desiring to eat .. a gut with legs)

comes the realization, the touch of God,
of birth, of beauty with the power to fly,
of metamorphosis, of being born again and at one within the sky .. next to God.
it is the path we all take from the dirt to the clouds.
thank God for the chrysalis, that changes the worm,
thank God for the Christ, that changes the soul into something beautiful.

Finding the black and white in the grey.

If only one could roll his eyes back, inside his sockets, and look within himself. Sure, we can be introspective, and contemplate our inner workings, our heart’s desire, and our soul’s ambitions. But this mechanism is also intimately tied to and thus swayed by our brains faulty conjectures and mistaken self-image. What is a good man? What is a good woman? What is your criterion for the evaluation? How do you measure yourself in light of that criterion?  Our feeble flesh is alive with justifications to assure us that our worldly interactions, our inner thoughts, our spoken words are not indicative of who we truly are. So how do we see ourselves honestly? How do we find that honest voice within ourselves? And use it to better ourselves?

We are amalgamations; Blending’s of flesh and spirit that are part of an ongoing interaction with the visible and invisible world around us. It exerts a pull on us, as we likewise exert a pull on it. The gravity of the situation, however, is such that the fallen worlds pull would overpower ours. It is simply bigger. Its influence is beyond our capacity to resist. We are specks of sand on a beach, and the tide throws us where it pleases. We are small and seemingly insignificant: fuzz in the breeze.

Evil and Augustine

Introduction:

Within the confines of the Augustinian philosophy we find a possible solution to an age old philosophical labyrinth:  what is evil?  Augustine grappled with this problem throughout much of his early adult life.  While struggling with his personal iniquity he embraced the Manichean's philosophy.  Later, upon further investigation he developed a Monistic theory that had Platonic roots at its base.  The pinnacle of Augustine's explanation of evil is described in terms of privation and perspective, it is from these seeds that evil could be rationally understood.  This paper will endeavour to trace Augustine's conception of evil from a flimsy philosophical foundation to a sturdy one. 

Hints and warnings – God’s voice through others

It’s interesting how God can jar you from your stupor and remind you that He is shaping events.  We know that He’s involved in our daily circumstance, yet I am awe stricken upon the reception of direct communication.  This month two of His children had the privilege to rattle my moorings with spoken words; Rattled by the blessed acknowledgement that He chose to include me in on an aspect of His itinerary.  The first was a sister that needed a spiritual hug. As we have all had the disprivilege of meandering through the `valley of the shadow of death’, she was currently trudging through this tired old path. I offered her my usual encouragement and direction by pointing her towards the holy mount. Yet she startled me by telling me God had revealed to her that I would be her “mentor”. This has never occurred to me before. God had told her I would disciple her. There’s something beautiful about that, and yet subtly terrifying: To be entrusted with a task, revealed through the Spirit’s good pleasure. It should not be taken lightly. And I pray I do not get in the way of accomplishing what God’s intentions are.

God’s eyes: Tale of two souls

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)

Imagine how different this world would appear, if we saw it with the Lord’s eyes. Yet our eyes are corrupted by an iniquitous infection that twists this reality. Despite the spiritual decay that lambasts our souls and stigmatizes our retina, the Lord has sent His Helper to His children. The significance of this will always be understated, for it is impossible to overstate this miracle: that the God of all would commune with us. And despite our fragile fleshen forms, He wishes to fill us with His love, and teach us to see as He sees. This is our lot, until we are brand-new and have our cataracts removed. As such, I lean on and glean on His guidance, and occasionally I catch glimpses of His honor amongst us in His children: as I see with fleshy eyes and a tainted spirit, slightly corrected by His holy lens.

 I perceived two people, one devoured by shadows and the other emitting God's light; I wish to compare and contrast these dissimilar souls, both of which I met this week. They are like opposite poles on a magnet that repel one another in lifestyle and outlook. I don’t believe I have met two more divergent individuals. Both of them are struggling with life setbacks, one more of his own making, and the other by nature of her birthplace. On the one hand a man of superficial outward strength, and on the other, a woman of veiled inward strength. It is interesting how two people encumbered in a similar happenstance would react so differently to the world around them: One with anger whose desire is for himself, and the other with love whose desire is for others. Equally interesting is how the fallen world would measure them, if it happened to share a moment in their company.

Mark
 

I ventured into the inner city to meet up with a friend that is struggling with homelessness, and while at a soup kitchen he introduced me to one of the individuals I referred too.
 

As seen with earthly eyes: Mark walked in through the front door and started looking for a seat to sit on. He is homeless and this shelter is his preferred place to eat. People seemed frightened of him. I’ve spent many days in a gym, and Mark was the biggest body builder I’ve ever seen. His arms were 21 inches thick: Which is like a teenager’s waist. His trapezoids touched his ears, and his chest and lats where like sides of beef. I am unsure if he could walk through a door without turning one shoulder forward and the other back. He was a monster who had overinflated himself with copious amounts of steroids … to the point where he looked surreal, more like a cartoon caricature of a man. He walked and acted in a way to draw attention onto himself.
 

He rotated his sleeping habits between sleeping on the streets and sharing a bed with numerous women enamoured by his physique. The frequent one-night-stands seemed to further his perceived self-worth. He was such an odd compilation … the homeless body builder; well dressed, well groomed, a good looking face, and a physical gargantuar. He preferred to spend his days in the gym instead of working. Work would distract from his size which would in turn diminish his self-worth. His need to feel physically superior actually hindered his ability to achieve employment. And the exercitation of this ego made him subsequently unemployable. I have never met someone whose desire for physical grandeur had actually made them homeless. His was a pride gone awry.
 

Mark was powerful looking; Strong looking. He carried himself with confidence and had a trigger temper. The previous week he had apparently exploded in a rage and terrified the mission. This week he seemed to receive special treatment based on his prior antics … as volunteers quickly offered him a level of service I’ve never seen before in a soup kitchen. A man came over with a pitcher of milk, filled Mark’s glass and put the pitcher beside him for refills. Another man would refill his glass whenever it was half full. Everyone appeared to walk on egg shells around him. Mark had taken a seat next to me, and I gave a friendly greeting. Without acknowledging me, he verbally disparaged me and looked down on me (he tinged my anger and I flared up, but that’s a story for a different blog post). What’s important was how he challenged a stranger and symbolically spit in my face without provocation. Because of his demeanour, and because of his Olympic proportions, he was feared and garnered some form of odd respect. Due to his powerful presence and the strength of his personae, he was someone people regarded as powerful and wished to emulate. Yet he was the littlest man I have ever met.
 

Mark was a narcissist. His world was built around pleasing himself. His ego was more grotesquely inflated than his body; he fancied himself the epitome of a tough guy, and refused to take any inconvenience from anyone. I know what a tough guy is, and this isn’t it. A strong man is strong for those around him, not for himself. In fact, when Mark was younger, he was too tough to listen to his parents. And now he’s too tough to listen to an employer. 30 years old, physically strong enough to lift an Honda, and he’s homeless and hooked on meth. All his time and all his money is spent on himself. He is the sun and everything revolves around him.
 

He is a contradiction; a visual alpha male incapable of supporting himself, let alone helping others. His spirit is so weak that he cannot see God, only himself. His mind is so fragile; that he cannot relate to people around him, for fear that his virtual reality would be obliterated: that he would see his insufficiency and need for Another.
 

As seen with spiritual eyes: Mark is on life support. His legs are so weak he is incapable of walking. He is skinny, transparent, fragile, sickly … he is barely breathing. His every thought is of himself. He has squandered all that has been entrusted to him upon himself.
 

Anna
 

And then there is Anna, the other person I referred too that is the polar opposite of Mark. My sister is so luminous she burns my eyes. A magnificent woman whose strength humbles Atlas: who fictitiously carried the earth upon his shoulders.
 

Anna as seen through earthen eyes: Anna is little, 5 foot 0 and 100 pounds. She is the eldest of 7 siblings. Her family is impoverished and lives in the Philippines. She is not affluent and fairly poor. And Anna has a troublesome and serious heart condition.
 

As seen through my teary eyes: When she was 18 years old, she could not marry her love. Her family’s impoverished state prompted her to selflessly give up her relationship and to seek employment in another country. For 15 years she has worked in a foreign land as a nanny and sent the money back home to her family. Her father became sick and Anna took the medical expenses upon herself to treat him. Anna became sick but did not have the luxury to stop working. Her family needs her. Although she is greatly indebted and very sick, she refuses to stop sending her family money. She even refuses to tell her family that she is ill, because Anna does not want them to worry about her.
 

I could tell you many stories about Anna that would leave you in humbled bewilderment. Suffice it to say, she pours her life into those around her. The extent of which, I don’t fully understand. How she could be so selfless at the expense of her own well-being and future, and unwilling to even let those she sacrifices for, know of the depths of her sacrifice for them. As such, she doesn’t even receive recognition and honor for it. She burns my eyes when I look at her.
 

As seen through spiritual eyes: Anna is a giant of massive proportions; she has strength to move mountains. My sister is so fragile and so weak by outward appearances, yet she is spiritually unmoved by the world around her. It slaps her, mocks her, and she cries but shames it with her love. Her strength is in God, not herself. She leans on the Master, not her own devices. She worships Him every morning, singing songs of praise. She walks daily, holding the Father’s hand. Her physical heart is weak, but her spiritual heart channels love to those around her.
 

She shared with me a long term goal. She wished, when she had managed to pay off her considerably large debt, to save money to help her nephew have a better life. She makes 500 dollars a month, sends money back home to her family, is paying medical expenses for her failing health and for her fathers: and her ambition (for when her debt is finally paid off) isn’t to have “me” time, or to spoil herself because she deserves it. It isn’t to try and better her own condition, but to instead help her nephew.

Two people walk into a room. The first one is a man so physically strong that he dents the door knob as he turns it. The world stares in admiration of his presence. He is a physical tiger by outward appearances. Yet spiritually, he is a dying neonatal kitten. The second person, no one notices. She is a tiny, unhealthy physical specimen. Her entire body would weigh as much as the first guy’s arm. Yet, her soul touches God, and as such, she could bench-press the universe. I wish the world would see with God’s eyes.

My Sinful Old Shirt

"I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." (Romans 7: 21-25)

An inconsistency in evolutionary logic …

Scenario 1

NASA launches a manned spacecraft to Mars.  It safely lands on the Martian landscape, and the astronauts exit the ship.  Upon exploration, they find, hidden in a wide crevice, what appears to be something resembling an horse drawn carriage.  Four twelve spoked wheels, a nice spring suspension, a robust frame held together with nails, and a canopy and a seat.  The entire construct is painted a royal yellow with some form of inscription on the side. 

What would the scientists conclude from this discovery?  It’s evident that something intelligent made this buggy, no one would be so dimwitted to suggest otherwise.  The discovery would be applauded as unshakable evidence that life exists on Mars:  Intelligent life (aliens) capable of constructing crude vehicles.  Something as complex as a carriage demands a carriage maker. 

Men, ya know you're out of shape when ...

The Metrosexual Church

Men … have you ever been sucked into the Church estrogen zone? I really try hard to stay clear of any metrosexually orientated churches … which nowadays is becoming increasingly difficult to do. But last week, like a left cross with painted finger nails, I was struck and dropped to the floor. Now for those confused with what I’m talking about, a metrosexual church is a church that seemingly has a preferential style that caters to a more feminine inclination. As such, it engages in activities that can alienate men and make them feel uncomfortable. This is one of the reasons why there are a disproportionately larger number of women that attend church nowadays. Many masculine guys have been pushed out of the assemblies ... not purposefully, but unintentionally.

How demons shape our world - Tale of 2 World Religions

First, let us learn how to recognize what a demon possession looks like:

17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.  (Mark 9:17-26 NLT)

Men are pigs – advice for women wallowing for courtship

Whitney Houston once asked, how will you know if he really loves you?  There are millions upon millions of single ladies out there, musing about the pairing possibilities in their general proximity. This is not unique to the human condition, but is ingrained within much of the Animalia Kingdom. Their eyes are peeled for the magnificent, and at times odd, courtship rituals that the opposite sex will use to entice them.  These displays assure the female that the male is strong, beautiful, capable of supporting a family, and healthy.  Sexual dimorphism is the reality and starting point for the continuation of humanity.  And it creates a wondrous sexual tension, a magnetism, perhaps an animal magnetism, to draw these anatomically divergent creatures together.

Plato recognized this tension in his theory of forms.  He contemplated that there was only one “formal” reality for humanity: and that the male and female sexes, were infact two different halves of that form.  Meaning, that men and women were akin to puzzles, and only find completion when they come together in a marital arrangement.  This was the only form, as far as I am aware of, that required two pieces to find completion, or wholeness.  I say this not because I’m a Platonist or that I believe you need to be married to he whole, heaven forbid, but to illustrate the “formal” beauty and purity seen in this relationship.  Paul was actually quite fond of the single lifestyle (1 Corinthians 7:8).  But even the pre-Christian ancient Greeks recognized the importance of this union.

Dark Spirits - A black hole trying to take your light

We decided to meet at a coffee shop.  Two strangers brought together by a flyer I posted around town.  A week prior, I had made a flyer inviting people who have questions about God to phone me.  It also invited those suffering from depression to seek me out.  I try things, and if they don’t work, I try other things.  Occasionally, by God’s grace, He elects to use me for some small task.  This was one of those days.

Prosperity doctrine – a graceful elixir, going to the highest bidder

The idea that holiness equates to monetary gain is not new.  It has enjoyed a resurgence over the last generation in the outskirts of some Christian circles: encompassing different forms, yet maintaining a familiarity in message.  I say this not to diminish these believers, for many undoubtfully have a “rich” relationship with the Lord (forgive the pun).  The Bible is a big book, and takes a concerted amount of effort to understand … lifetimes of effort.  As you read it to gain understanding for some query you had, you will find answers, and also more questions based on your greater understanding.  This leads you to dig deeper, perpetuating a cycle of ever increasing theological maturity:  weaning you from the spiritual milk and giving you some doctrinal beef jerky to chew on.  Your curiosity of superficial epidermal inquiry will gradually entice you to dissect deeper, and explore wider, until you find yourself at the bone of the matter, studying the marrow.  While admittedly there are some charlatan preachers amongst us, these are not representative of their congregants in the pews.  And it’s usually not difficult to help the confused scratch through the surface of the subject to see the furuncle a particular teaching can generate.

Dr. Seuss' Prolife Lesson?

Dr. Seuss’  books are a lot of fun to read.  My favorite is `Horton Hears a Who’.  The cartoon of this classic is superb.    What is particularly striking about this story is how it accurately portrays the prolife struggle to protect the unborn.  Within the storyline we see a friendly elephant, named Horton, make a profound discovery.  He picks a flower and is about to discard it when he hears a voice emanating from it.  No, the flower is not talking, but there exists life upon it that is.  A tiny person called a `Who' lives on the flower.  The Who is too small to be seen by the unaided eye.  In fact, there is an entire city of Whos inhabiting the flower.  They are defenseless and if discarded would likely perish.  Horton is amazed that such tiny beings inhabit the flower and shares his discovery and its implications with his friends.  He wishes to protect the Whos.  This is a profound finding: one that signifies a parting from the previous status quo of his society, to a new obligation to protect the previously unknown Whos.  It makes the viewer wonder how many other flowers have Who cities:  With Who fathers, Who mothers, and Who children inhabiting them.  And how many Whos had been unknowingly eradicated by ignorance.

Listen ... I bring Good News

Whether you're broken or whole, this video's balm for your soul.

See a child enjoy life with her Creator:  a life abundant and a life of joy.  Yet, as she grows older a myriad of influences intercepts this relationship and interferes with it.  We see her lured away by the world and seeking to belong in it; Amorous men, the allure of mammon, frivolous parties, popularity, drunkenness and addiction ... empty living.  Her self worth was shaped by her Creator's perception. She was beautiful. Now lost, her worth is defined by the depraved world around her and she doesn't know how important she is anymore, she feels worthless, empty, and alone. 

But watch the Father, the Son, the Husband call to her.  He loves her oh-so dearly.  If only she would return to Him, He would return her lost joy.  Broken, despondent, suicidal, the dominoes are in place and the evil one comes. He is the man-in-black - the father of lies - and he schemes to kill the Master's beloved creation.  "You are worthless" he tells her.  Two narratives are presented in her life: (1) one from the giver of Truth, and the other (2) from the father or lies.  One makes her beautiful, the other makes her worthless. Seek the Truth sister and it will set you free.

"Cast all your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Strive for the Father and He will strive for you.  Call Him, seek Him, demand Him in your life.  He is all that matters.  A treasure of endless worth.

What joy to see her return to her first Love, her true Love, her only real Love.  She claws and fights to return to Him, while the world claws and fights to stop her. And suddenly, by turning to Jesus, she is blanketed by His impenetrable embrace and finds peace - true ... lasting ... joyous ... peace.  She is loved and remembers she is beautiful, a child of God, found once again in her heavenly Father's warm embrace.  Praise Jesus!!

(if video doesn't load, use link to view:  https://youtu.be/g8vL3cN1fRc)

(if video doesn't load, use link to view:  https://youtu.be/g8vL3cN1fRc)

Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (NLT: Matthew 11:28)

Lifehouse's Everything Drama

Abortion's Forked Tongue

“Evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin.” (G.K. Chesterton, Eugenics and other Evils)

There is a contingent of pro choicers that have an ingrained dishonesty about them. While the majority fall within the spectrum of Lenin’s useful idiots, parroting disingenuous theorems outside of their fields of knowledge, the zealots are the ones of interest. They are like political spin doctors that try to shape circumstance to fit their ideological bend. Truth is of no concern to them, it is meddlesome and stifles their agenda. You would think that truth was everybody's ultimate goal, but this is not the case. Ultimate truth as a concept is contingent on a truth giver, a God from which it emanates. So for those unshackled from God, truth has no cord tying it to a pre-existent foundation. To them, truth is created in their own minds and subject to their passing fancies and purposes. They have replaced the foundations of truth, the omniscient almighty God, with themselves. In essence, they have declared themselves almighty. As such, they are unrestrained by morality in their quest to remake a counterfeit degenerate Eden. Power is the means and the means justifies the ends.

“There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.” Lenin

But to what ends? Well, that which is the ends depends on the ideologue. And there can be many ends had in the pro choice brothel, unifying different people with different objectives on a common issue. For some it is racial. For some it is communist. For some it is a blend of male hatred and gender superiority. For some it is self-hatred. For some it is hedonism. For some it is irresponsibility. And for some it is satanic. For most, it is a blend of these. There can be many reasons to tell a lie. In part, this is what separates the pro choicer and the pro lifer. Truth. The pragmatist verses the moralist. Yet the pro choice pragmatic is only pragmatic in regards to their personally created version of truth. Ironically, by presuming themselves almighty, some have succumbed to their own lies. Forgetting that they deceived for a pragmatic purpose, which was to usher their utopian objectives. The lie told is no longer a pragmatic means to an end. Thinking themselves god, it now has moral equivalency. Some are so unhinged that they have forgotten their beginnings and now consider themselves moralists: Of a morality they created themselves, within their own minds. This is the maniacal truth of the spiritually ill.

24 reasons why cats are evil

1. Cats litter. And littering is bad for the environment.

2. Witches always have a pet black cat. Need i say more?

3. Cats pretend they want to be petted, but then walk away. That’s dishonest.

4. Cats will destroy your furniture and curtains, just to see your facial expression. It amuses them.

5. Cats watch you when you’re sleeping. You didn’t know, ‘cuz you were asleep.

Misplaced Faith

Christian, where does your faith lie?

I was having supper with a pastor. And as is sometimes the case when believers intermingle, testimonies and past stories abounded. Nothing was particularly interesting about this pastor's back story. He was raised in a Christian home by Godly parents. He thought himself rebellious as a youth, but his stories indicated he was not. He seemed a nice man to shepherd the flock. As his story progressed, he discussed how his uncle and aunt were pivotal influences for his Christian walk and the rudder that steered him to Bible school. A nice story (perhaps a little boring), but good enough to share between chews. But then he said something startling. Amongst his fawning over his godly uncle and aunt, he said they were so important to his decision to believe in Jesus, that he was unsure if could believe if they renounced their faith.

What?

How could this be? This man was raised in a good Christian home, had gone to seminary and was leading a local congregation, and he had a faulty foundation for his faith. His eternal salvation was built on the perceived holiness of a fallible man and woman: Instead of the infallible Lord Jesus Christ. The foundations of his aunt and uncle’s faith should have been his foundation, not the aunt and uncle themselves. Even if his uncle and aunt remain faithful to the grave, this foundation would be weak when tested by trial. Your faith should not be contingent on the faith of another.

I am troubled by this dynamic, and man’s capacity to follow man, and not God. I understand the close bond that can form when disciplining and that is healthy. But I am always terrified by the prospect that someone’s faith would be contingent on me (not my faith, but me personally). What a terrible burden for the fallible to carry. In a post about role modelling, I discussed how important it is to have Godly examples to shape Godly character. Yet this is not what I’m referring to here. Your Christian walk should be carried on legs marbled by Biblical truth and a sound relationship with God. You shouldn’t be piggy-backing someone else’s faith. If they fall, you fall.

The Sad Anti-Christian Atheist Troll

As you gander about online, perusing your interests, you will inevitably stumble across two age-old combatants locking horns on eternal issues. In particular, I refer to the endless discourse between Christians and atheists. I suspect a sizable percentage of the internet’s content is composed of these two fractions engaging one another.

Many the times, within google+ or elsewhere, you carouse for some meaningful snippet to uplift and nurture your soul. I find it is always a joy to meet a kindred spirit that loves Jesus as much as I do. Yet curiously, upon any Christian site you choose, you will quickly find an antagonistic atheist presence there. Some seem to spend more time on these sites than many Christians. Many of my siblings-in-Christ relish the opportunity to witness to these unusual personalities: unusual, in that they apparently find some form of need, or perverse pleasure, in trolling Christian sites. A troll by definition is a twisted and ugly creature with an unnatural hostility towards creatures of the light. The name is fitting for these particular atheists. Many Christians view them as a ministry opportunity, and some as an annoyance to be ignored. I hold both these views depending upon the particular atheist, and whether they are potential seekers or vulgar haters.

Yet, the other day I suffered an epiphany of sorts that gave me time for pause. While I understood my motive to converse with these atheists, I began to consider the uncomfortable reality of what their motivation would be to seek me out. This yields a particularly interesting insight into the psyche of an anti-Christian atheist troll, given their beliefs and how they choose to spend their time. Given the blink of life they have, they seem to have an unhealthy preoccupation that borders on manic when it comes to religious people. While they should be living out their moment on hedonistic pursuits, they preoccupy themselves with an activity that takes time away from pleasurable endeavours. The only explanation would be that they take pleasure in trying to hurt Christians, to rattle their cages and shake their world views. - And when you take the time to think about it, you begin to see the sad, empty, little lives that they live. And this insight shifted my perspective - of the nameless God-hating troll on the other end of the keyboard - and evoked my pity.

Predictive Parenting

In Dueling Madonna’s, I touched on the idea that the accumulation of incremental bad-influences acquired through negative role modeling can inversely damage our Christian walk. Based on this realization, it allows us to be cognizant and defensively proactive in regard to who we choose to admire, and why. These principles are of particular importance to the impressionable minds of children, and should be considered in our parenting strategies. However, I would like to expand beyond the constraints of only discussing role models and start to include the contemporary culture around us. It shouldn’t be a surprise that a sinful culture is a stumbling block to a godly family. Yet the `barely sinful’ aspects within the ungodly spectrum can like-wise accumulate and, given years of exposure, lead us into an acceptance of the `overtly sinful’ aspects. Sitcoms with sexual innuendo, while not overt, start to influence one into an unhealthy preoccupation with sexuality. We see this come to the forefront in later teen years with a blatant over fixation with virginity. And given societies diminishing morality, that fixation has shifted from admiring the virgin a couple of generations ago, to stigmatizing them today. I was once a teenage boy and I can attest that their minds are overly preoccupied with thoughts of sex. And these thoughts are actively uploaded into their minds via sitcoms, movies, MTV music videos, and questionable friends. Now don’t misunderstand me, sex and sexuality are a gift from God. The tensions between male and female interactions as one struggles to find a marital partner are indeed an important part to enjoying ones limited time on earth. But as our society pushes to sexualize our children, they are replacing our kids’ mindset from wanting to play playground games, for the sake of fun, to a perverted understanding of youngins engaging in adult interaction.

The Dueling Madonnas - Saint verses Sinner ... And How it Affects us.

We all have role models, even when we don’t realize it. Influences from what we’ve seen and admired subliminally exert a gentle pull on our souls. An undetected yearning to be like `that person’ or like a particular quality `that person’ has. After watching Schwarzenegger or Stallone I feel an heightened manliness. Their testosterone pumps mine up. I think my chest even get hairier after I watch their movies. I had to stop watching Jackie Chan after I ripped all my pants. You girls may admire the style or attractiveness of some lady, and wish to copy her makeup, hairstyle, or the way she carries herself. If you put a child before the tube with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on, within an hour they’ll be kicking holes in your walls. They want to be a ninja turtle. I’m not talking about idol worship, puppy love crushes, or deification. I’m articulating a principle in humanity where we actively shape ourselves and are shaped by what we see and feed on. And whether good or bad, we are pumped when we see things we wish to identify within ourselves. This when recognized, can be a source of immeasurable spiritual strength. Or when ignored, the means of our destruction. And it is a powerful ingredient in a parent’s cookbook for the development of Godly children.

Windows 10 is Linux

I don’t know if anyone’s been paying attention, but I think there’s been a code merger between those old rivals, Microsoft and Linux. I can hear all you Linux adherents say, “What the heck are you talking about”? And, in some secret backroom in Microsoft headquarters, quiet whispers can be heard, “Oh oh, someone noticed”. Whether a merger, appropriation, or sale, it is fairly obvious that Microsoft Windows 10 has adopted much of that which is Linux (which I will document below). To be clear, it was Windows 8 that first adopted Linux, and this has now been refined into Windows 10. I failed to see it in Windows 8, however. But with the advent of 10, it became glaringly obvious.

Faith Bubble - An Unhealthy Substitute for Foundational Faith

Faith is a wondrous thing.  Some people are gifted with it and have a propensity to move mountains. Others are not, and struggle to move the covers off themselves so they can get out of bed.  My mother is a creature of pure faith.  She doesn’t know much about science and isn’t particularly well read historically.  Yet when the antagonists of God berate her, their faulty conjectures strike her as hollow plenitudes: They have no more substance than the breath that carries them.  She isn’t trained in a particular academic field and as such, capable of correcting their folly by referencing publications and learned men.  No, that is not within her scope.  But what she does have is an innate God given PhD In faith; Such that, their attempts to rattle her are futile.  And her exemplified relationship with God rattles them.

We can’t all have my mother’s faith (or a gifting of faith).  And neither do we need it.  Paul instructs us that that which we believe is rational, and he is correct.  What he means is, we can see and affirm many things about God and Christianity without faith - and that this in turn, builds our personal faith. God is evident in His creation, and this insight is unmistakable to many by simple observation, and to others by study.  This does not negate faith.  There are areas where faith is required.  This is God’s intent and prerogative.  Many wonder why He wouldn’t simply reveal Himself to the degree that we could not deny Him.  How could you not believe in Him if He shook the earth from a pillar of flame and commanded us to listen?  Or, wouldn’t it be easier to evangelize the world if Noah’s ark was perched in plain site, and all we had to do was point at it?

Attacked by advanced browser hijacker – See who fared better, Google Chrome or Pale Moon Browser.

I recently had the misfortune to stumble across a browser hijack.

I used this opportunity to compare two browsers, Google Chrome and Pale Moon.

View on to see which browser surprisingly fared better. (I also ran a couple security related browser apps at it to see if they helped).

Mr. T - Strength in God.

Hollywood is a spiritual wasteland and a distributor of moral decay.  So I am always pleasantly surprised when I see a man strong enough to proclaim God in these badlands. `Strong' is a good descriptor for Mr. T.  He is known for being a strongman.  I just never realized that his true strength was spiritual.  I used to love watching him on the A-Team.  I think it’s fair to state he has the best sneer in the business.  In fact, I’d give him an Academy Award for it.  Yet beneath his rough and gruff persona is an heart attuned to God.   

Google AdSense doesn't like me anymore. Alternatives? ... Bidvertiser, Chitika, etc tryouts.

Google AdSense doesn’t like me anymore.  We were once friends, but I did something to upset their algorithms.  I think `algorithms’ is just google's code for referring to their unseen overlords.  I suspect it’s a Dr. Who kinda thing, where the good Doctor would find that the Daleks (or some other evil alien presence) was secretly the mastermind and controlling factor behind some innocuous looking front organization.  Maybe, it’s more of a Terminator sort of thing, with an enlightened super computer controlling Googles operations (?).  Whatever the reason, the algorithms were offended.  Oops.  And apparently, if they told me why, they’d have to kill me (why else would they withhold that information from me?).  Seeing as I don’t want to die, I’ve chosen to live in a grey shroud of ignorance concerning this subject matter (luckily for me, I’m really good at that).  Dr. Who has taught me that this route maximizes my personal survival:  For whenever someone meets the Daleks, the Daleks meat them.