Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Is Jesus worth the effort?

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:22-27)

In the bad old days, billboards were allowed to promote cigarettes. Everyone smoked and the cancerous result was either not known or squashed or ignored as health concerns arose over the decades. Some advertising tag lines stick. One of these that lasted for decades is Camel cigarettes’ “I’d walk a mile for a camel!” which first appeared in the 1920s. Continue reading “Is Jesus worth the effort?”

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Noah’s Ark: A cute little story? Or a devastating historical event?

Years and years of Sunday School, VBS, and Children’s lessons about Noah’s ark like this…

…have led thousands and thousands of people to believe Noah’s ark was a cute little tub happily bounding along the sunny seas, and not the serious event that it was. I personally rate it as the third most serious event in the humankind’s history, after the Fall and the Crucifixion.

Ken Ham and the Creation Museum folks have built an Ark to biblical size. Guess what? In the face of this world’s current love affair with massive buildings, its penchant for tremendous construction projects, and its historical stunning size (it was twice as long as Caligula’s ships at Nemi) the fact is, at 510 feet long and 7 storeys high the Ark is the biggest timber frame structure in the world today. Imagine how stupendously awesome the structure would have been to the ancients. The pyramids were not built yet.

The above picture (the cover of a children’s biblical storybook) displays the unfortunate reduction in majesty and scope of the entire Noah/Flood/Judgment event. Below is the reality.

Here is NBC Nightly news’s video report on the Ark building from July 1, 2016.

Picture storybook illustrations are just as much a part of the recounting as the words. Be mindful of the diminishing of the seriousness of the event with the illustrations you share.

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MemeHeresy: Christine Caine’s nudges & whispers from God; Visual Theology: picture of unified scripture

In our ongoing series #MemeHeresies (originated by Jessica Pickowicz at Beautiful Thing), we have here a tweet from Christine Caine. She asserted that we should never ignore a nudge or whisper from God. This might seem Chrisitany-y or even possible and hopefully true. But it’s not. First, the canon of the Bible is closed. That means God is not speaking directly to people today. If He was, then every whisper would have to be written down and obeyed, because God had spoken. Secondly, nudges do exist. We are led by the Holy Spirit every day. How or when is not detectable by us however and definitely not when it is happening. It’s called Providence.

Continue reading “MemeHeresy: Christine Caine’s nudges & whispers from God; Visual Theology: picture of unified scripture”
Posted in biography, Uncategorized

Re-Post: 4th of July Memories: Bicentennial, Tall Ships, Messing Around in Boats

Originally published July 4, 2013

I’ve been reminiscing this morning about the 4th of July in 1976. It was our nation’s 200th anniversary, and I lived in Rhode Island then. I was 15 1/2 and massively excited about the Tall Ships.

My grandparents had bought a beach house in 1938. The thing to do back then was buy a seasonal cottage by the bay or ocean, and the family goes to the cottage all summer while the men commuted to work. The state’s nickname is The Ocean State because of so much ocean coastline everywhere.

So in 1938 my grandparents bought a cottage on a small hill overlooking Narragansett Bay, which led to the Atlantic Ocean. It was unfortunate/fortunate…the 1938 hurricane wiped out RI as far inland as Providence, and destroyed huge swathes of coastline and many hundreds died. It wrecked the cottage pretty bad. It was unfortunate that they had the beach house only a few months before the state’s worst hurricane hit, but fortunate because they could rebuild it to their liking. Over the years they added on and enlarged it, slowly.

The Bay was great. It was a giant playground for us kids and cousins.

Continue reading “Re-Post: 4th of July Memories: Bicentennial, Tall Ships, Messing Around in Boats”

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Praise for the Light

Before I was saved I breathed in the air of common grace, grace that is filled with the creation knowledge of Him. It was poison to my lungs. I flopped around like a caught fish on the deck, breathing grace but longing for the murky waters to envelop me once again, the weeds wrapping around my head, because I loved the darkness. (cf Jonah 2:5b)

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19).

as it is written:

None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
(Romans 3:10)

And yet He loved me, a sinner, and set me upright, washed me, gave me common grace and and added saving grace to my soul.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.(Romans 8:2).

After salvation I breathe in the sweetness of special grace, the savor of Jesus and His sanctifying work of atonement. The Light came.

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The Ark, The Rainbow, and True Liberty

“America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.” – Woodrow Wilson

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,a the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him. (Genesis 7:1-5)

Six years in the planning and making, The Ark Encounter exhibit opens July 7, although the word “exhibit” might be understating it a little. The Answers in Genesis Creation Museum just over the state border from Cincinnati in Kentucky has almost completed their life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark, ready for thousands and thousands of visitors from all over the world. More from Wikipedia. The Museum itself is about 45 miles from the Ark Encounter Theme Park. Here are a couple of still shots from their May 2016 promo video. Continue reading “The Ark, The Rainbow, and True Liberty”

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Prata potpourri: Spiritual warfare, Salt of the Earth, Kings Kaleidoscope, Carthage cooling, Busy Nothings, more

My summer at home is halfway through. School ends in late May and we teacher’s aides have June and July off. School begins again August 1 for us and August 5 for the kids. It’s been great to be at home, with long stretches of time to myself. I enjoy reading, studying the Bible, crafts, web surfing, learning something new (this summer, bone china history & collectibles), and watching movies. How about you? What are your favorite things to do in the summer?

Here are a few offerings that resulted from my enjoyable summer web surfing of late. Continue reading “Prata potpourri: Spiritual warfare, Salt of the Earth, Kings Kaleidoscope, Carthage cooling, Busy Nothings, more”

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

“Homosexual sin is different”

I was as grieved by the massacre in Orlando as much as anyone. I shed tears over the article that recounted a youth’s last texts to his Mommy. I shed tears over the bartender’s recounting of his and others’ escape. Omar Mateen perpetrated a heinous crime.

But another heinous crime in the face of God is homosexuality. In reading these articles, I was saddened by the sudden change of the newspapers publishing them of their website banners to rainbows. There were rainbows all over the place, in ‘support’ of the homosexual lifestyle. False teachers such as liberal Glennon Doyle Melton and influential Rachel Held Evans immediately responded with Facebook statuses in support of homosexuality. Evans said in her note that Christian theology “hurts” gay people. Evans’ note about the Orlando massacre got 2176 shares and over 200 comments before I quit looking.

I quote the passage at Romans 1:18-32 a lot. It is the section where Paul shows what God does to a society/individual that rejects Him. At the last, God judges them with homosexuality and that means that “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.” (Romans 1:29).

Homosexuality is the judgment upon a person. Its widespread presence in a culture indicates that the judgment upon a society is already here.

Continue reading ““Homosexual sin is different””

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Why I am grateful for apostasy

If you listen to old time radio pastors from the 1930s through 1950s and later, each one at some point, has said that this generation of church-going Christians or this era of Christianity is going downhill. Charles Spurgeon famously published an anonymous article actually written by his friend Robert Shindler (with input from Spurgeon himself) addressing a visible downgrade in an 1887 issue of his magazine, Sword and Trowel. That article, and its follow up, famously brought the “Down-grade controversy” to the public’s attention.

A hundred and fifty years before Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards wrote about the devil’s triumph in squelching a religious revival in New England and a lack of religious affections that had become evident in the people.

We can trace the genealogy of apostasy back to Genesis 6, or to Genesis 3. So is it anything new to say that this generation of church-going Christians, that visible Christianity itself is downgrading itself in a compounding manner, faster and faster as we go? No.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, (1 Timothy 4:1)

Continue reading “Why I am grateful for apostasy”

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Kay Cude Poetry: Desertion

Kay Cude is a poet whose sensitivity to the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ is uniquely expressed through poetry and picture. Here is her latest offering, in which she explains her thought process. Enjoy

—————————–Kay Cude—————————–

If you look closely at the tower, you’ll see a tiny figure of someone, which refers to the statement, “As gazed I o’er the valley fair, to there below from tower high.”

That little figure caught my eye, as well as the city lighted up and the storm approaching from the left (approaching spiritual death). So I began to write. The city represents the safety of true salvation in Christ and understanding His Gospel.

The people represent those captured by a “different gospel” suggested as the “real” place of safety. Even though they “know” God’s truth — they are persuaded to run to false teaching and reject Christ.

Christ’s refuge is known to them and still stands in its truth, but when extreme peril approaches, they are convinced by someone’s whim (spiritual deception), to flee to eternal death and separation. Even the donkey digs in his heels against the “unknown” way,” and the dog barks at their sudden rejection.

Their end is eternal separation and eternal living death because they quickly deserted Christ’s truth for a distorted gospel.

 

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