Category: theology

I ran across two news articles this week that used a new term to me: “urban foraging.” Let’s take a look at what they are talking about.

Steal this Continental breakfast: The Urban Forager’s Guide, Vol. 1

“Times are tough, so many people are searching for hotels with free continental breakfasts.Problem is, some of those eating aren’t guests, says Hampton Inn manager front desk clerk Alfonso Tobenas. That’s right. Folks walk into tourist hotels and pose as guests to gain access to morning chow. Who would do such a thing? Lots of people, according to local hotel insiders. “It is what it is, bro, times are tough and they’re hungry,” Tobenas says. “They’re just trying to beat the system and save a buck. The first time you’re going to get away with it, the second and third time I’m going to ask you to leave. Tobenas says some people even regularly rotate hotels for their free breakfasts, but he recognizes their faces after a while. When he spots them, he lets them eat free-of-charge so they let their guard down. Then he confronts them and asks for their room number. At that moment, they realize they’ve been found out and generally leave without incident.”

Hey! Urban Foraging is like, so five minutes ago. Now it’s CREATIVE Urban Foraging

Woman Uses Dating Site to Get Free Meals
“A New York woman is being scrutinized and praised after people learned that she used a dating website to procure $1,200 a month in free meals. According to Business Insider, 23-year-old Jessica Sporty was deep in debt. Sporty found it difficult to live on her $45,000 annual salary after spending nearly $1,500 a month in rent, paying her credit card bill, and buying food. So she signed up for Match.com and was quickly going on five dates a week. Sporty even created a spreadsheet with detailed information on each of her dates, limiting each guy to a maximum of five. Sporty was taken to high-end New York restaurants, and one of her dates even bought her a $200 bottle of champagne.”

The dishonest woman was praised? In the first article, it went on to give tips for how to better scavenge for food at some of the smaller hotels, actually giving tips on how to steal the breakfast more efficiently. In the title to the essay I put ‘survival’ in quotes because the woman had an income of $45,000/year, a roof over her head and clothes to wear. Therefore her stealing isn’t a means survival but simply a sinful way to satisfy her own desires for fancy food.

Back in the 80s it was called dumpster diving but Urban Foraging has a gentrified ring to it and that is the term being used now. But there is a difference between the 80s and 90s dumpster diving and today’s urban foraging. Back in the day, dumpster divers did so usually because they were making a behavioral statement that our consumer culture threw out too many goods that were usable, even food. They “dove” to retrieve what was good but destined for the landfill and considered themselves part of a Green Movement. Even the impoverished who dove to either supplement their home or to survive, stayed within ethical boundaries.

In that time, dumpster divers used to scavenge for what was obviously thrown out. Today’s urban foragers steal. However, the shocking thing about both those articles is the response: praise and kudos for the thieves.

Isaiah 5:20 says “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” As the Geneva Bible Study guide succinctly puts it, Woe to those “Who are not ashamed of sin, nor care for honesty but are grown to a desperate impiety.” They prefer their own reasons to Godly commands. For those who are lost to God by reason of their rebellion and rejection of Jesus, this behavior is to be expected, sadly. Paul wrote;

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

But hopefully the people acting this way are not Christians, because we are called to be holy and act righteously. Peter wrote,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:11-12)
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I was born again on December 3, 2003. I was raised in an atheist family in a Godless part of the country. I had no spiritual upbringing and no religious education. Yet Romans 1:20 lived in my heart:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

In a back recess of my mind and in a small corner of my heart, I understood that there had to be God. God must exist. Nothing made sense without His presence. I understood this because He plants eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Romans 2:14-15 reminds us that we have the law written on our hearts and that our consciences as His moral barometer prick us. (2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:11). From birth, we all know He exists. How we respond to what is in us determines our destiny.

I remember being completely astounded by something that happened to me when I was in my twenties. I came across a bookmark that had the “Footprints” poem on it. Amazingly, I picked it up and actually read it. Usually I just skipped over anything that had Jesus name on it.

Footprints in the Sand
Mary Stevenson, 1936
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

When I got to the last line I burst out crying. I was amazed first because I was even reading something that Had Jesus’ name on it, and secondly because I was so overcome by the beauty of the sentiment. Though I was not saved at that time, and I had no knowledge of who Jesus is, my spirit was responding to the simple truth written in my heart. The bible says “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Though my sinful mind could not accept Jesus, the law written on my heart cried out for Him. And in His power and omniscience, He heard they cry of my heart. In His timing, twenty years later, I was saved. I called out to Him, fully believing, and I was born again.

It took 43 years, but I got there. If you have family and friends who are not saved, just keep trusting the verses that tell us He is implanted in us. Keep praying for an activation of the seed of truth that we all have deep in our souls, that Jesus is real, He loves us, and we can be reconciled to Him through His forgiveness of our sins.
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This is what the Lord has done this week for me and with me:

He used me for His glory and for His name. It is a hard thing to be used so well by the Holy Spirit while it is happening, but the reward is great: a closer walk with the King and a greater humility when it is over that I could be used for His name.

He gave me crystal clarity to a situation. He didn’t have to do that, but He did. I praise His name in the highest!

Another result I received a greater faith in His word, and what a blessing that is. He is steady and true, and He is with me always.

He gave me understanding of an overlooked sin, and forgave me when I repented of it.

He showed me why I am the way I am. I learned last summer that I am a high functioning autistic/adult Asperger’s, and though it answered many questions in my mind about why I think and feel about things the way I do and why I connect with the world in a different way than everyone else, I wasn’t settled about it. But this week He showed me how He could use me because He made me this way.

He gave me His felt presence in a fervent prayer session and I came away with tears, knowing that His word does not go out and come back void. He works all things for the good for those who love Him. Before, I knew it, today I know it.

He answered prayer. I had asked for provision. He gave it. No, I don’t have a bigger bank account. He delivered treasures galore: peace, conviction, understanding, nearness to Him, and joy. I’m rich!

Most of all, He ministered to me an even better understanding of His mercy, His greatness and His love. What a tremendous, tremendous God we have. Jesus is so High, yet came low for us. He will return to gather His bride, and I’m so happy for this. Until then, I seek His face always.

“For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.” (Jer 1:7b-8)

Do not be afraid to step out in faith and do what the Lord commands. He is with us.
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I like pictures. Regular pictures to illustrate a point, or word-pictures to show my thinking. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Here are some pictures that illustrate what I have been thinking about lately. Maybe they will click with you, maybe not…

Christians saved by the blood of Christ and faith in His work upon the cross are released from bondage. Galatians 4 is a great essay on the liberation from the bondage of the Law and to sin, which the people were in early on, to the release from that bondage by Christ on the cross. Matthew Henry’s commentary explains,

“He [Paul] acquaints us with the state of the Old-Testament church: it was like a child under age, and it was used accordingly, being kept in a state of darkness and bondage, in comparison of the greater light and liberty which we enjoy under the gospel. That was indeed a dispensation of grace, and yet it was comparatively a dispensation of darkness; for as the heir, in his minority, is under tutors and governors till the time appointed of his father, by whom he is educated and instructed in those things which at present he knows little of the meaning of, though afterwards they are likely to be of great use to him; so it was with the Old-Testament church-the Mosaic economy, which they were under, was what they could not fully understand the meaning of; for, as the apostle says (2 Co. 3:13), They could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.”

“But to the church, when grown up to maturity, in gospel days, it becomes of great use. And as that was a dispensation of darkness, so of bondage too; for they were in bondage under the elements of the world, being tied to a great number of burdensome rites and observances, by which, as by a kind of first rudiments, they were taught and instructed, and whereby they were kept in a state of subjection, like a child under tutors and governors. The church then lay more under the character of a servant, being obliged to do every thing according to the command of God, without being fully acquainted with the reason of it; but the service under the gospel appears to be more reasonable than that was. The time appointed of the Father having come, when the church was to arrive at its full age, the darkness and bondage under which it before lay are removed, and we are under a dispensation of greater light and liberty.”

In other words, we are not in a pit. We are not in bondage. Sin is bondage. If we are born again and have the Spirit in us we have been released from the pit. But Beth Moore always talks about being in the pit. Being in bondage. And of using man-made methods to get out. Listening to her depresses me. There are so many pits and strongholds and bondages in Moore’s mind the only solace is thinking that well, at least everyone else is in bondage too. Hey, misery loves company! In Beth Moore’s world, we live not as co-heirs to Christ, as salt and light for His glory, we live in Prairie Dog Town. We’re ALL in a pit!

I got out of my pit when I trusted the power of a risen Christ to release me from the power of sin.

On to termites. Have you ever seen those really big termite mounds in Africa or Australia? The termites, left untouched, make an underground city as large as London, relative to their size. Now, false teaching can be like a termite mound. The Way to heaven is narrow and the gate to get in is small, Jesus said. (Matthew 7:14) It is Jesus only. But false teaching will try to put you off the path.

If the false teaching of the termites is left alone, it grows to monstrous proportions. You try to enlarge the way around it to move forward, which puts you off the narrow path. The best thing to do is crush the termites when they are small and dig out the mound from the path so all who follow behind you can continue unimpeded.
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Prophecy of the Shepherds

The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.
“Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.” (Zechariah 11:17).

That is the Antichrist. In Daniel 11:36 we see more about this foolish, worthless shepherd. “Then the king [the foolish shepherd] will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”

“Jesus said of this worthless shepherd, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” (John 5:43)

O, such blindness to reject the True Shepherd for a man of character so evil, so foolish, so worthless! What they gave up:

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.” (Isaiah 40:11).

Look what He does for His sheep! “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)

He is the Good Shepherd!

“Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:1-18)

You can be in the flock, cared for by the Overseer of Souls! You can be carried in the bosom of the One who lives in glory! If you repent of your sins and submit to the Shepherd, you will be. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Follow Him!

Glory to Jesus, the Highest!
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MSNBC: “A chance encounter on Ireland’s Shannon River creates a magical moment for a pair of filmmakers to capture one of nature’s greatest phenomena, a murmuration. TODAY.com’s Dara Brown reports.
Dara Brown writes: “Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith experience one of nature’s greatest and most fleeting phenomena, a murmuration on Ireland’s Shannon River. The pair created a short film about their amazing row and submitted it for the World Wildlife Fund competition ‘Life, Nature and You. Make the Connection.’

Now, as you watch this, imagine these birds are in the Millennium Kingdom after the Tribulation the earth is renewed, and they are singing God’s praises (Romans 8:19) instead of groaning in His creation as they are now. (Romans 8:22)

Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalms 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

Enjoy!

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I follow David Burge (Iowahawk) on Twitter or on his blog and he is hilarious. He perfectly captures the crazy nut of today’s news in witty soundbites on Twitter and in lengthy explosions of irony on his blog. Here are a few snippets:

“Occupy Oakland dispels rumors of violence by attacking news crew filming murder scene.”
“I don’t want Occupy closed down. I want it forced to keep going.”
“We don’t need to have a bigger voice in Washington. We need Washington to have a smaller voice in us.”

The political news is crazy and bound to get crazier as the Presidential campaign heats up. The weather is nuts, the economy is depressed, the poor are getting poorer and the earthquakes just keep on coming. None of the above really matters. It is important to us now, but in the larger scheme of things, it is a gnat on the tail of an elephant, puny compared to the things that really matter. It doesn’t matter and it won’t matter because in the face of all that, we have this:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

Wow.

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time’. Babies, like babies. If you ever gazed on a sleeping baby you have seen beauty in its time. ‘He has set eternity in our hearts’, and if you are saved by grace and faith in Jesus, then you will experience eternity with Him, in joy. If you have not accepted Jesus as your savior then respond to that eternity in your heart, you know you’re yearning, asking, seeking. ‘No one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end’. No, I can’t, and that is the beauty of it, the eternity of it. A mysterious, omnipotent God who is unfathomable yet places Himself in our hearts and makes everything beautiful. I am glad I know Him.
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“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach.” (Titus 2:11-15a)

So we live as we should, we wait, and we do good. We are waiting for The Blessed Hope, therefore we have HOPE! Hope of a life eternal, a life transcendent above these puny worldly concerns, a life with and among the glory of God in the crystal city. Do not despair, do not be downcast, because we are rich,we have the Blessed Hope!

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I’ve posted one thousand, three hundred and one times (1,301). That’s a lot of ideas. (Holy Spirit gave them)

Almost a million people have visited this blog. That’s a lot of people. (Holy Spirit sent them)

My first post was just over two and a half years ago. That’s a short time. (God knows the day and hour.)

I am so blessed when I see that many people have visited here. Even if they came to read a weird entry on UFOs and were not looking for Christ at all, the plan of salvation is prominent, and resources for left behind and tribulation chronology are listed up top. Just seeing the banner art of Jesus coming in the clouds might be enough to convict a person.

I’m humbled to see the Holy Spirit working in this blog as He does in so many others whose message is consistent with the Word. There’s lots of blogs that get less traffic and lots of blogs and websites that get more. The numbers don’t matter as much as the gratitude I feel for being used to promote Jesus and His message to us all, which is “Repent, then look up, for our redemption draweth nigh!”
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Later or tomorrow I am going to post a carefully considered, thoughtful theological essay on the decline of American cities as evidenced by what is happening in Camden NJ. Maybe not tonight because I have church and I don’t think I can get it done in time. When I post it, it may be well received and get a decent number of hits.

But nothing will get people’s attention like this story today from MyFox Orlando:

One eyed albino shark sparks internet frenzy

“(NewsCore) – An incredible picture of an albino baby one-eyed shark was going viral Tuesday amid reports that, despite looking like a sci-fi spoof, the creature had been verified as real by researchers. The white fetus was reportedly cut from the belly of a dusky shark by a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California earlier this year and the picture posted on the blog of Pisces Fleet Sportfishing, based in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. However, the website cited shark expert Felipe Galvan Magana, of Mexico’s Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias del Mar, who told Pisces Fleet, “This is extremely rare. As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.” Researchers said they had examined the shark and found that its eye was made of functional optical tissue. Magana and his colleagues are to publish a scientific paper about the find. Seth Romans, a spokesman for Pisces Fleet, told LiveScience that the fisherman who caught the shark was “amazed and fascinated” by the attention and was hanging on to its remains.”

The thing that gets me is the level of sin in the world is so corrupting that God’s creation doesn’t even look like itself any more. The other thing that gets me is that posts on cryptozoology (weird animals) and earthquakes/volcanoes/natural disasters always get the highest amount of hits. The Dust Storm of Lubbock the other day got a massive number of views. The Elenin post is still going strong even though the comet is dissolved by the sun and no longer in existence.

I guess we all want to know why weird things happen and huge natural disasters are always an attention-getter. Maybe because they feel so out of our control. As many dams as we put up, rivers still flood. As much as we learn about volcanoes, they still explode unpredictably. As many zoning codes and engineering strengths we place on buildings, they still fall down in a quake.

My hope and prayer is that people allow the Holy Spirit to draw them to the Father, and once converted, have the same thirst for information about Him as they do about the weird stuff. I personally believe that the Rapture will be not only the culmination of one of the Lord’s plans, but a sign unto itself to many who have heard the Good News and put off deciding whether to believe it. Of course, it is not good to wait that long. God’s mercy has room for all repentant sinners whether they repent before or after the tribulation. However, living through what Jesus Himself described as the worst time there shall ever be is something I don’t wish on my worst enemy.

Be “filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col 1:9), even as you take some time to read about the one-eyed baby shark, meditate on your eternal status as well.
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