Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Where Do We Stand?

I noticed that the movie The Golden Compass is out on DVD now. I've decided to post a letter I put in our church newsletter in February to remind everyone about this movie.
While we are on the subject of movies I want to mention that there is a movie out now that questions why scientist are punished when they question Darwin's theory of evolution. It's called Expelled.
Back in November I wrote a letter to the Jackson Sun encouraging Christians to avoid watching The Golden Compass. This is a movie based on the first book in a series by an atheist who said his purpose was to kill God in the minds of children. As expected the atheist in the community had fun insulting me, but what surprised me was a reply by a Christian.
In his letter he stated that he goes to movies for entertainment and as a Christian he was not offended by the content of this movie and that with God on our side we had nothing to worry about.
Since then I have heard that reply several times. All of them referring to ignoring sin. Okay I realize the Bible says “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 Had the author of that letter read a little further he would have seen Romans 12:9Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” The Lord expects us as Christians to lead an example that will bring others to Him. We as Christians should stand against what is evil and not be afraid of being persecuted. In the end we will all be judged. I make enough mistakes I’ll have to account for. I don’t want to be held accountable for not standing against a movie that could possibly send thousands of children to Hell.
I realize in this day and age nearly every movie has questionable material in it. I’m not saying we should stop watching any movie that has violence, language or other issues. But we should stand against a movie whose author proudly proclaims his purpose was to bring children to atheism.
And my last argument against ignoring sin because God is on our side is based on a story from the book of Joshua chapter 7 about Achan’s sin. Most probably know this is the story where after several successful battles, the nation of Israel was chased from Ai by the Amorites for the sin of one person. In verse twelve the Lord says “I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to sin.”
God is only with us, if we are truly with Him.
MSW

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Parade of Sin

A Few Months ago, I was talking to someone who is a homosexual. They were angry that churches will not allow them to become members. I made the comment that the bible refers to homosexuality as an abomination to God. (Leviticus 18:22 KJV Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abonimation.)(also see Leviticus 20:13 , Romans 1:26-27 )Their response was “what makes my sin any different from anyone else’s.” This caused me to think, none of us are without sin (Romans 3:10 KJV As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one) even Paul had his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.) I don’t believe the church should allow sin to enter in that way, but how is their sin any different from mine. God finally showed me their sin is that they are proud of their sin (Isaiah 3:9 NIV The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.) Paul wrestled with his thorn (2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."... )All Christians wrestle with some sort of sin. The difference is that they carry it to God, they ask for forgiveness, they ask him to take it from them, and they try to avoid whatever their weakness is. This homosexual does not feel bad about their sin they are proud and feel God and the church should accept them. I will not accept it. I refuse to watch any show that comes on my TV with the intent of making me think its okay. I hate the sin not the sinner. I pray continually God will touch their hearts so that I may see them for eternity in Heaven. I hope that eventually they will see what God wants to give them, bow their knees and say Lord forgive me. I know I’m a sinner. You through your grace sent your son Jesus to die for my sin. Lord I thank you and ask that you help me for I am too weak to do this on my own. Lord take this from me and shape me to be the Christian you would have me to be.
MSW

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Letter from Hell

I reloaded this a different way since it seemed to stop working.

Friday, April 18, 2008

God's Forgiveness

My daughter has a Barlow Girl’s CD with a song on it called I Need You To Love Me. It starts off “Why are You still here with me, didn't You see what I've done?” Wow that is so true. I know in my past I’ve asked God how can You still love me. I went through a rough time in my life were I was angry at God. After I got over my anger, I spent several years feeling that because I had abandoned God .He wouldn’t take me back. When I started back to church I had to fight the demons of my past. Just as Satan used Paul’s Guilt over the stoning of Stephen. Acts 7:54-68; 8:1 He used my guilt to keep me from going back to God. I prayed about it and asked God how could He feel I was worthy of the price His Son had paid. All he told me was to get ready. I didn’t understand what he meant. How am I supposed to get ready? What am I supposed to get ready for?
I picked up my Bible and started reading. I had heard the Bible stories as a child. I had even tried reading the Bible before. Like most people when they start begatting I begot bored. This time I prayed first. Lord I want to read your word. I want to understand it. I want answers. As I read I realized no matter what I had done God still loved me. He had been there all along waiting for me to return to him. My sin was washed as clean as snow. Isaiah 1:18 God gave me so many examples of His love and forgiveness. Jacob stealing his brother’s birth right.Genessis 27 how he wrestled with God. Genesis 32:24-29 and how he stood by and did nothing as his sons massacred a village.Genesis34:25-30(Old Jacob sure knows how to make someone feel good about theirself.) God still blessed him. God speaks of David with Pride. Acts 13:22( I give this example but God used David as the standard to measure all kings from this point on) Yet we know David committed adultery 2 samiuel 11:4 and arranged a murder 2 samuel 11:14-15 to hide the fact. But when we read Chronicles God has forgotten about it. Why did He forget? David went to Him in Sincere Prayer. Psalm 51 He confessed his sin and asked the Lord to blot out his transgressions. That’s all we have to do. The day I got down on my knees and told the Lord these are the things I’ve done please forgive me. Immediately I felt as if a bag of rocks had been taken off my back. A few years later I’m doing a church newsletter working with the children and youth of our Church, and now doing this blog in the hopes that I might help someone else.

MSW

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Rapture Cartoon

Monday, April 14, 2008

Miracles

In March Nick Vujicic From http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/ was on 20/20. He mentioned as a child he would pray God would give him arms and legs. Near the end of the interview the interviewer tried tripping him up by asking do you still believe God could give you arms and legs. You could see the disbelief in his face when Nick said "I believe in a God who can do all things, but if He chooses not to give me arms and legs, I know it's for the better. And I may not understand it, but all I need to know is that He's going to carry me through, that there is a purpose for it." It’s typical for someone who isn’t a Christian to doubt miracles. What amazes me is how many Christians doubt miracles. I’ve heard Christians ask the question “Why doesn’t God speak to us today like he did in the Bible”. I believe he does but most people will not listen for the “gentle whisper” I Kings 19:12 Many times I have heard that whisper telling me to wait and when I listen a chance to witness will come.
Jesus tells us we can move a mountain Mark 11:23 We don’t have the faith to make it happen though. If a prophet showed up tomorrow and said Mt. Everest would sink into the ground. Seven days later it’s gone. The news media would be coming up with a million possible explanations, none of them including the word God. The truth be told we, being Christians, would look for a natural explanation. We would say God caused a sink hole to swallow it up. We can not believe because we lack the faith of a mustard seed Matthew 17:21
If God sent someone today to perform miracles as Jesus did, we would accuse them of blasphemy and Satanism just as the Sanhedrin did Jesus. Matthew 26:65 , Luke 11:18 God performs miracles everyday for those who truly believe. I’ve heard of many cases where someone was told they had cancer. Then they go back for surgery and the doctor says it’s gone. If I tried to name personal examples of things that were impossible that just suddenly worked out I could spend days writing. Recently a tornado hit the Campus at Union University. If you look at the pictures and think about how many people where inside, you can’t deny God had a hand in saving those students. Not one student died even though many were trapped in the rubble for several hours. Did the national media say God protected those students? I know many students said it but our news media will not acknowledge it. Dr. David Dockery, president of Union University spoke out saying this was a miracle. I read an opinion in the Memphis paper from someone who said “It is amazing that a seemingly intelligent man like David Dockery, president of Union University, says that he "can point to the overwhelming grace and goodness of our God"”. This writer said instead of praising God we should praise the sciences that went into designing the dorms. Sadly, I believe many people who sit in our churches feel this way.
MSW

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I do a newsletter at my church. I started having to occasionally write articles to fill space. Well I enjoyed it and I got to where I was writing more than I could use. So at the encouragement of a friend I started this blog so I could post the ones I wasn't using. I really don't know what all I will be putting on here. I look forward to comments and I pray that God will use this blog to touch peoples hearts.

By the way I often criticize Christians in my writing. This is a general term, if I use it negatively I'm referring to the ones who feel they are being a good christian because they go to church every Sunday but Forget about God the rest of the week. I feel I go to a church filled with people who are genuine, but I've been to churches I didn't feel that way about. Matter of fact it kept me out of church for a long time.
MSW