psalm 52:8-9 (ch 52)

psalm 52:8-9

⁸ But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
⁹ For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good.

a great verse that expresses how I feel about what has happened in my life in the last couple of months.

other o.t. posts
1 kings 8:22-53

counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders

september 23

Devotional title
God Would save us from spiritual delusion by a.w. tozer

my attempt at what I thought about this short devotional.

"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders." - 2 Thessalonians 2:9

I think it is important to point out that Mr. Tozer never says in this devotional that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased.  In fact, in other devotionals he questions why the church is so afraid of the Holy Spirit.  I have an idea of why the church is afraid of the Holy Spirit.  We do not want to be uncomfortable.  We like are cozy little rituals.  We like "proper" worship, and we like pointing it out to people whose churches according to us are not doing it in a "proper" way.  Yea, who cares about the homeless down the street, as long as we get our point across.  This devotional is more about discernment and by doing the things listed in the last paragraph how you can tell if a miracle, sign or wonder is real or not.

Mr. Tozer says, "so skilled is error at imitating truth that the two are constantly being mistaken for each other."  How do we avoid this pitfall, so we know truth as truth and a lie as a lie?  Read your bible its that simple.  I know I am captain obvious but some people treat their bibles like their museum pieces which is sad.

"It is therefore critically important that the christian take full advantage of every provision God has made to save him from delusion."  What are some of these provisions?  First, faith is a provision.  "The righteous will live by faith" (habakkuk 2:4).  Second, humility is a provision.  "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (proverbs 11:2).  Third, obedience is a provision.  In Deuteronomy 13:4 it says: It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.  Fourth, prayer is a provision.  Philippians 4:6 says - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.  In addition, three other things are mentioned but I'm only going to list them: meditation on the bible, asking the Holy Spirit for illumination, and serious thought.

the end
125th post

a faulty lecture

When people think they have wisdom its important to understand their view of ‘wisdom’ and how they define it.  Mr. Pausch says this about his brand of wisdom: I had the feeling that I had more in me, that if I gave my all, I might be able to offer something special (6).  So this professor’s wisdom is special according to him.  Let’s be clear this wisdom is humanistic since he never mentions a higher power or anything close to it.  The fact is I can say his wisdom is without God because he never mentions a Christian faith in The Last Lecture.  He in one line mentions he grew up Presbyterian but that’s like saying you’re a Jew or Catholic it means nothing without fruit.  An example of fruit in the book would be how his faith affected people in his life and the change it caused but there is none of that.  In addition, saying you have a pastor means nothing, if you do not explain the pastor’s beliefs.  Further, he says in The Last Lecture that he didn’t mention faith in his talk so he wouldn’t offend anyone.  Woo hoo, Charlie Brown way to be a coward.  What didn’t you want Lucy to take you to the p.c. police?  What did you miss the football so much it dulled your senses?  Give me a break!  Hell, I would have respected Dr. Pausch if he would at least said, “I’m a Hindu, Jew or Whatever.”  Instead we get a bunch of narcissistic thoughts on wisdom.  I guess he missed this in his college reading:  even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue (proverbs 17:20).

“I’d been yearning to find ways to leave a legacy for the kids” from the Last Lecture (9).  I respect that and I hope you did (videos, recorded messages, etc), since you have been dead for over 4 years.  However, I hope your kids don’t follow your path when expressing their faith.  I hope they find Christ.

When we arrive in life and die it’s an accident (13).  I’m sure when the Jews entered the gas chambers, they thought the same thing.  The Nazi’s were kings of “accidents.”  Sarcasm aside, the Nazi’s planned their massacre with cold brutality – mass murder doesn’t happen by accident.  I guess this statement – for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb – is inconvenient and trivial.  I guess Moses hitting the rock out of anger and dying before entering the promise land was a coincidence.  When Judas stabbed Jesus in the back and sold him out for thirty pieces of silver.  His first thought before his neck broke was I’m accident prone.  I suspect Randy took Darwinism 101… nope that was another accident.  I guess your death was an accident.  Cancer had nothing to do with it.  The fact is life and death is not accidental.  In Ecclesiastes, it says “a time to be born and a time to die.”  If you see accident in that your blind.  Plus in it says in Job 14:5 - a person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

“It’s easy to look smart when you’re parroting smart people” from the Last Lecture page fifty-three.  That may be so but that doesn’t make it right.  What happens if those people are wrong; what if their just brainwashing you?  I’ll tell you, you’ll think everything is fine and fail to realize the danger you’re facing.

An idea in this book is how important a positive attitude is in life.  This belief is true in that if you’re negative all the time it will hurt your health and relationships.  However, being positive without God in your life is concealed vanity and a positive attitude will not save you only Christ’s atonement will.

“Time is all you have (111)” according to Mr. Pausch.  The problem with this statement is time is temporal.  Humans think of time in life spans.  Like 80-years is a long life.  However, in the Old Testament (or Torah) people lived a lot longer.  Enosh 905-years (ge 5:9-11), Mahalel 895-years (ge 5:15-17), and Lamech 777-years (ge 5:28-31) are just a few examples.  Those time lengths are long compared to today’s really long lives, like 120-years.  Still they are not long in God’s eyes.  I may be called crazy or smart by saying this but God’s idea of time and humanities idea of time does not match up.  Since God created time (Ge 1:3-5) and by giving us the choice of accepting or rejecting his Son’s sacrifice.  We all have the opportunity of living beyond what humans’ understand as time (rev 21).  When we embrace Jesus and his death and believe that he rose again and that his blood cleanses us of sin, then that opportunity is fulfilled.  However, when we reject that sacrifice we get sent to a lake that burns forever and we can’t escape (rev 20:14-15).  Death is not the end it is just the beginning.  You do not have to agree and I’m not pointing this out to condemn people, I’m doing it because it is the truth.

Dr. Pausch thinks that living your life you should live it the right way (206).  What does this mean?  In the world’s system ‘right’ is subjective.  For instance what’s right for you might not be right for me and according to the world that’s fine and dandy.  The world loves it when lines are blurred to the point of it being unrecognizable.  However, as a follower of Christ I realize the importance of absolute truth.  That means that truth is not subjective but black and white.  This makes some people uncomfortable, because it means that if the bible says its wrong, its wrong, whether they like it or not.  Christian’s lives shouldn’t be about moral ambiguity it should be about following the truth.

“If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself (206).”  So I get it if I’m a nice guy and do not mock deaf people for their dance moves.  I win a car and get to marry a hottie!  Yipee!  What, there are goons who say I did this (mock deaf people) in Atlanta?  Those freckled faced knapsack loving misogynist pigs!  Oink, oink, Porky!  No wonder omertà isn’t embraced by spineless turncoats!   I called you comrades, when you were just little boys who played with little guns.  You better call the police and the morgue because I’m going get dangerous!  I’m going to make some bacon and think of you.  Then, I turned on the news and discovered that karma is a delusion.  Wow, I am no longer a fool.

As a Christian I can not believe in karma since they do not mix.  Since Jesus said (paraphrase), that the rain and sun falls on the good and the bad (mt 5:45).  I fail to see circular vengeance in what Jesus said.  So the whole “what comes around, goes around” is just another crack pot idea.  Does oil and water mix?  I think not and neither does Christianity and karma.  However, I do find it sad when ignorant Christians act like karma and Christianity do mix.  That belief is like throwing water on a grease fire and like a dumbass expecting it to go out.  Why would you embrace a Hindu (India religious belief) belief?  You tell me!  I would hope that you realize your error and walk away from it.

the end.

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ballot box bunny

directed by fritz freleng 1951

"As I stand on this platform, I stand for union.  Union Suits and union stations for the little people.  There's enough fresh air and sunshine in this great country of ours for everybody.  And I'll see to it that you get your share.  And I'll keep my promise to rid this country of every last rabbit." - yosemite sam

"Shut Off that cutie box, I can't hear myself a-speeching." - yosemite sam

"And besides I love babies!  Show me babies!  Lots of babies!" - yosemite sam

"I'm just wild about children!" - yosemite sam

"The bad man bit my little nose." - bugs bunny

"Step up, gents, big hearted sam is giving away cigars because he loves the people." - yosemite sam

"Let good old sam light it for you." - yosemite sam

"St. Louis?  Emma!  Emma, here's your sammy boy!  Same old emma.  Full of laughs." - yosemite sam

"You stupid rabbit!  Like this!" - yosemite sam

numb

numb - devoid of emotion

Pain is not fun.  When people cause it and seem to enjoy it, its sickening.  I encountered a lot of these people growing up, I seemed to attract them.  They didn’t seem to care that I had feelings.

Their came a point were my emotions just seemed to die.  The funeral happened in my teen years and I was the only guest.  The flowers at my emotional grave rotted away and I was content since you don’t feel anything when you’re living a lie. This lie breed apathy in me but still some nights I would stay up half the night angry over what had happened to me (teasing, surgeries, etc).  The more years that passed, the less and less, this happened, eventually it stopped. 

Well, the heartache has returned and with it the emotions.  Why, did it return?  God has taken and still is taking my ability to hide behind a mask.  This is scary for me, sometimes I feel like I’m going to be found out.  My heart gets heavy and I don’t know what to do since I don’t remember having to deal with this when I was a kid.  I cried recently over some things which will remain private since I’m not here to bash people.  Plus, they might not even know that they hurt me.  This may sound weird to some people but I’m glad this has happened since its proof that God is really changing me and working in my life.

the girl that got away

I can't tell you her name or age.  I can tell you that she went to a different bible college than me.  We met on a mission’s trip to ocean city maryland in the early 2000's.  We had great chemistry.  I am pretty sure she liked me, I know I liked her.  She was blond and pretty.  This was one of those mission trip bondings that never bore any romantic fruit since I forgot to get her contact information.  I know some people might laugh at me for this but it wasn't funny at the time.  A couple years passed before I had peace about this "mistake."  Since time has passed, I'm not really interested in dating a long lost love.  Though I would love to see her just to catch up and talk about our lives since that summer.

ps. I do have a picture of this girl in a team photo from that trip it's just not online anywhere.

another black tablet writing
it hurt

reverence

you're wonderful, i'm powerless in your arms
you've shown me love, in the surrounds of hate
and restored my strength
and i proclaim my life is yours
so break my will
and surely not in vain,
i keep my life pure
for great is my reward

by overcome

I love this song, because they play it acoustically but scream the lyrics, gives me the chills.  you can feel the passion which is unique.
















other overcome songs:
when beauty dies