Following Christ begins with the heart

Recently I was reflecting upon a time when I volunteered at a Salvation Army. It was just a week before Thanksgiving a few years ago and worked in the kitchen. I would not normally mention "doing alms." However, because it was a social service college assignment that was required, it wasn't exactly the same thing..

While I was there, I do remember that certain workers seemed really dedicated to thier work of feeding and sheltering those in need. However, a few of the "paid" workers didn't seem to really be as passionate about the job as others.

Prior to this, I also had the opportunity to get to know a little old lady, an ordained minister of the Church of God, who ran a mission in Detroit. It was so obvious to anyone who knew her that she genuinely cared about each person.

I was thinking about the differences I saw at the two missions tonight, and then I remembered certain words of the Apostle Paul.

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." - 1 Corinthians 13:3

I think we make a serious area if as Christians we only pay attention to what we are doing in service for God, and not what is in our heart, that is to say, what our motivations are.

"But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man:" - Jesus

Jesus did not do away with the law, but he brought it to a higher level. Now its not just don't kill, but if you hate you have committed murder. It's not just don't commit adultery, but if you lust with your eyes you have already committed adultery.

Our relationship and love of God starts inwardly. If we love him we keep his commandments in our hearts. If the commandments are not in our hearts we can't say we really have a relationship with Him. The two go hand in hand.

So let us examine ourselves under the microscope of the Word of God that we may seek to serve God and our fellow man in sincerity and indeed, and not in hypocrisy, nor just in word.

On my mind

Tonight I got a little work done on my book. Most of my work up until this point has been studying. My book is more or less about afterlife theology and Christian apologetics. This has and continues to involve a great amount of study. I have been studying a lot about the brain, because basically the mind/body/soul argument is at the core of the debate between naturalism and super-naturalism.

I am an old earth creationist, but the main area I want to specialize in is not creationism. I will leave that to Hugh Ross, or Ken Ham if your a young earther. By the way, I am keeping an open mind to young earth interpretations of scripture. I can only say that from both my biblical studies and my knowledge of the world, I am presently of mind that the Earth/Universe is older. I know that this is a major disagreement in the body of Christ. I don't see any reason for me to try to convert young earth creationists to my view. It is not a critical matter for salvation. Many great Christian thinkers like CS Lewis and Allister McGrath have believed God used macroevolution to bring about mankind. I strongly disagree with that position, but again, it is only the rejection of the cross and Christ that are most critical. I honestly think that Christians fight about too many things already, though I am always up for a rational conversation about disagreements.

God said something to Job that I think should keep us all humble as we discuss our different understandings of Genesis.

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone," - Job 38:4-6

As far as my studies and apologetics are concerned, I think the bigger area for me is demonstrating evidence, or reasons to believe in the existence of the supernatural, in addition to theological questions about the afterlife and spiritual things. Of course I will deal with other areas of apologetics, but nobody should try to pretend or set themselves up to be an expert at everything.

In other news, I am waiting for a couple doors to open in my personal life. I am trusting God, and putting work together with my faith. I am really exited about a couple opportunities that are before me. God's will be done. In the future I would like to begin holding apologetics/theology meetings here in the Detroit area. I will keep you posted on that. 

BTW I have lost a little over twenty pounds. I still have more to go before summer, but I am excited about getting into the best shape of my life. I hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Who created God?

The first cause argument goes like this...the fact there is something rather than nothing points to a first cause, and that first cause must be a purposeful being existing outside of time and space (i.e. God) Critics of this argument state if there must be a first cause for everything then you must answer who created the creator. Bertrand Russell, the famed atheist, made this criticism popular. 

This criticism, however, deserves to be criticized. Let's try applying it to something else. Suppose I was an archeologist, and during one of my digs in Michigan I found some very ancient tools, predating Native Americans as we know them. It would be a very significant find. I would immediately know that there were people here who made these tools. I would not need to know how they came to ancient Michigan to know that they were here. However, if I were to apply Bertrand Russell's criticism to the first cause argument to this situation, I would need to know the first cause of the ancient civilization, and the first cause of that first cause, and the first cause of that first cause etc. before I could conclude that there were people there at all. It is entirely illogical, and if you applied this to science or history we would never know anything about anything.

I would say then that when one concludes from evidence that physical reality must have been created by a personal and intentional creator that this does not put a burden of proof on them to explain the origins of the Creator. It is not a logical criticism. 

God's sense of humor

A number of years ago I underwent the darkest days of my life emotionally. I wanted to hear from God. I needed to know that He had not forsaken me, and unfortunatly I was so emotionally driven that I was not trusting Him at His word on the matter, even though I had wanted to. God tried to reach me a number of ways. It seemed like every time I would turn a Christian channel on or open a book, it was like I was hearing exactly what I needed to hear.

In fact I even had a number of people of God tell me that God had shown me what I was going through, even though I told absolutely nobody. There was no way they could have known the details had it not been revealed to them. I am somewhat of a private person for an extrovert. If I begin exposing my weaknesses and feelings to someone it tends to mean I have really gotten close. The rest of the world gets my ideas, my beleifs, my interests and my jokes  (well most get my jokes but anyways... )

Speaking of humor, that is what this is leading to... God's sense of humor. God most certainly has one. He would have to since we are created in His likeness and image. A good healthy sense of humor is actually an admirable thing and it is one of the finest most unique gifts of being human.

At any rate, with all the ways God used to reach me, none of them seemed to be enough. I was in a very poor emotional state. Then one night I became really desperate! I remembered that Jesus said if we ask anything in His name and do not doubt we will have exactly what we pray for. So I opened my Bible to Mark eleven and I read it. I remembered that Kenneth Hagin Sr. had said that he was healed off of that verse because of his faith. So I became bold, not so much in my spirit but in my emotions. I told Jesus that I wanted Him to let me see Him that very night and I told Him He had to do because I was going to beleive and not doubt. I fell asleep with that mindset.

Then just before I woke up I had a night vision. There are some distinctions between a night vision and a dream, but to explain those is not really the purpose of my note tonight. In this night vision I simply saw a bible before me and I opened it to the book of Acts where I was reading Peter's words at the gathering of the day of Pentecost. I litterally saw every word and was reading my bible just like I would had I been awake.

When I got to the part where it said "this is that spoken by the prophet Joel" something strange began to happen. Peter's words began turning read as I would read them. As I kept reading, more and more words were turning red. I started franticly flipping pages to other books and every scripture was not only precisely where they would be as if I was awake and holding a bible, but each word was fastly turning red until I flipped over to the book of Revelation and even it was red. Then I arose from the vision and sat up in bed startled.

I knew I had just heard from God in a marvelous way, but I was somewhat perplexed about the vision. Then it hit me what I had prayed for. I wanted to see Jesus and I had really beleived it would happen, but I got stuck with this perplexing vision. It did not seem fair. Then I heard the voice of Jesus by His Spirit speak to my human spirit. He said (paraphrased), "You wanted to see me and I honored your request. I am the Word made flesh and when you study the written word you are seeing me."

I knew then what He was saying to me. In order to get out of my pit of despair I would need to do so by seeing Him through the lens of His word. Of course we know true faith comes by hearing the Word of God! I immediatly burst out laughing! It was almost like God had played a joke on me. He knew exactly what I had asked Him for but still He chose to give me the answer in a humorous way. I can't even begin to tell you how healthy that laughter was for me. It had been months since I had really experienced the joy of laughter, one of God's greatest gifts!

The Most High

Have you ever wanted something really badly, and then you get it and it is exactly what you want. It is everything you dreamed it could be, but then after a certain point it just was not really all that exciting. Now don't get me wrong. There may have not been a let down, but still it seemed something about it was just not as great and magical as you thought it would be.

There are a few places in this world that I really want to visit: Tokyo, Rome, Cairo, Jerusalem, Athens etc... but based on what I have experienced before when I finally get the things I want, I doubt they will be quite as exciting as the anticipation. It seems to me that this is a part of human nature. That shiny new gadget just becomes another accessory eventually.

Its funny how many times I have "fallen in love" and said to myself "she's perfect," only to eventually realize I really should have gotten to know this and that about her before putting my heart on the line.

I am told that even when I meet "the one" for me there will be this magical chemical phase of falling in love, but this will only last anywhere from 6 months to a few years, and then it will take true compatibility to sustain us.

When I look at Hollywood and the music industry its not difficult to see why so many stars blaze hot at first, and then burn out through controversy, divorce, substance abuse and often an early death. There is a certain high that comes with the feeling of anticipation, and these wealthy celebrities get all the highs. They get to have anything they want... money, homes, affluence, influence, fame, the most attractive and sought after lovers in the world etc... Then eventually these things either wear off and they look to move on to another high, which accounts for the many divorces we see in Hollywood. If you are seeking just a high out of a relationship, if all you are looking for is the thrill of the chase, there is no man and no woman who will satisfy your craving. Many celebrities I believe turn to drugs and alcohol as a sort of high when their careers no longer or never did satisfy them.

There is another sort of anticipatory high that we first experience as small children. It's a magical world of imagination we have where anything is possible. We don't really have reasons to doubt there might be great magic in the world. We tend to carry that with us for awhile. However, as we grow older it changes. Unless our spirits have been broken when we become teenagers and young adults, we dream of great careers, of fairytale romances and changing the world. Then for many people, reality hits, age settles in upon them, and they see a part of their life as being an unfulfilled accomplishment, and they come to the conclusion that life is not as magical as they once believed. They stop chasing dreams.

I think the problem with humanity is a lack of realization that there is nothing on Earth, no matter how great that will fulfill us. Likewise, there is no natural estate that is so terrible that we should give up on life. Life is worth living because there is more to life than life in the biological sense. There is a place of wonder that we are longing for because that place is home.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. He makes a promise to us that in doing so, we will get the other things we want.

However, God should be our greatest desire. An encounter with Him should be our greatest anticipation. There are no letdowns when we seek the Kingdom ahead of our materialism, intellectualism and other desires. There is no high like the Most High!

C.S. Lewis on what a Christian society would look like

SOCIAL MORALITY
(by Clives Staple Lewis)

The first thing to get clear about Christian morality between man and man is that in this department Christ did not come to preach any brand new morality. The Golden Rule of the New Testament (Do as you would be done by) is a summing up of what every one, at bottom, had always known to be right. Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that. As Dr Johnson said, 'People need to be reminded more often than they need to he instructed.' The real job of every moral teacher is to keep on bringing us back, time after time, to the old simple principles which we are all so anxious not to see; like bringing a horse back and back to the fence it has refused to jump or bringing a child back and back to the bit in its lesson that it wants to shirk.

The second thing to get clear is that Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political program for applying 'Do as you would be done by' to a particular society at a particular moment. It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times and the particular program which suited one place or time would not suit another. And, anyhow, that is not how Christianity works. When it tells you to feed the hungry it does not give you lessons in cookery. When it tells you to read the Scriptures it does not give you lessons in Hebrew and Greek, or even in English grammar. It was never intended to replace or supersede the ordinary human arts and sciences: it is rather a director which will set them all to the right jobs, and a source of energy which will give them all new life, if only they will put themselves at its disposal.

People say, 'The Church ought to give us a lead.' That is true if they mean it in the right way, but false if they mean it in the wrong way. By the Church they ought to mean the whole body of practising Christians. And when they say that the Church should give us a lead, they ought to mean that some Christians--those who happen to have the right talents--should be economists and statesmen, and that all economists and statesmen should be Christians and that their whole efforts in politics and economics should be directed to putting 'Do as you would be done by' into action. If that happened, and if we others were really ready to take it, then we should find the Christian solution for our own social problems pretty quickly. But, of course, when they ask for a lead from the Church most people mean they want the clergy to put out a political program. That is silly. The clergy are those particular people within the whole Church who have been specially trained and set aside to look after what concerns us as creatures who are going to live for ever: and we are asking them to do a quite different job for which they have not been trained. The job is really on us, on the laymen. The application of Christian principles, say, to trade unionism or education, must come from Christian trade unionists and Christian schoolmasters: just as Christian literature comes from Christian novelists and dramatists -not from the bench of bishops getting together and trying to write plays and novels in their spare time.

All the same, the New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty clear hint of what a fully Christian society would be like. Perhaps it gives us more than we can take. It tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one's work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no 'swank' or 'side,' no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would he what we now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience-obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands. Thirdly, it is to be a cheerful society: full of singing and rejoicing, and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong. Courtesy is one of the Christian virtues; and the New Testament hates what it calls 'busybodies'.

If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and, in that sense, 'advanced,' but that its family life and its code of manners were rather old fashioned--perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic. Each of us would like some bits of it, but I am afraid very few of us would like the whole thing. That is just what one would expect if Christianity is the total plan for the human machine. We have all departed from that total plan in different ways, and each of us wants to make out that his own modification of the original plan is the plan itself. You will find this again and again about anything that is really Christian: every one is attracted by bits of it and wants to pick out those bits and leave the rest. That is why we do not get much further: and that is why people who are fighting for quite opposite things can both say they are fighting for Christianity.

Now another point. There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest: and lending money at interest--what we call investment--is the basis of our whole system. Now it may not absolutely follow that we are wrong. Some people say that when Moses and Aristotle and the Christians agreed in forbidding interest (or 'usury' as they called it), they could not foresee the joint stock company, and were only thinking of the private moneylender, and that, therefore, we need not bother about what they said. That is a question I cannot decide on. I am not an economist and I simply do not know whether the investment system is responsible for the state we are in or not. This is where we want the Christian economist. But I should not have been honest if I had not told you that three great civilisations had agreed (or so it seems at first sight) in condemning the very thing on which we have based our whole life.

One more point and I am done. In the passage where the New Testament says that every one must work, it gives as a reason 'in order that he may have something to give to those in need'. Charity--giving to the poor--is an essential part of Christian morality: in the frightening parable of the sheep and the goats it seems to be the point on which everything turns. Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality. I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words,' if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them. I am speaking now of 'charities' in the common way. Particular cases of distress among your own relatives, friends, neighbours or employees, which God, as it were, forces upon your notice, may demand much more: even to the crippling and endangering of your own position. For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear--fear of insecurity. This must often be recognised as a temptation. Sometimes our pride also hinders our charity; we are tempted to spend more than we ought on the showy forms of generosity (tipping, hospitality) and less than we ought on those who really need our help.

And now, before I end, I am going to venture on a guess as to how this section has affected any who have read it. My guess is that there are some Leftist people among them who are very angry that it has not gone further in that direction, and some people of an opposite sort who are angry because they think it has gone much too far. If so, that brings us right up against the real snag in all this drawing up of blueprints for a Christian society. Most of us are not really approaching. the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or--a Judge. I am just the same. There are bits in this section that I wanted to leave out. And that is why nothing whatever is going to come of such talks unless we go a much longer way round. A Christian society is not going to arrive until most of us really want it: and we are not going to want it until we become fully Christian. I may repeat 'Do as you would he done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbour as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbour as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him. And. so, as I warned you, we are driven on to something more inward--driven on from social matters to religious matters. For the longest way round is the shortest way home.

Why I beleive Saturday is still the Sabbath

KEEPING THE SABBATH IS A COMMANDMENT (NOT A RITUAL)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” – Exodus 20:8

Christians from all backgrounds respect and believe in keeping the Ten Commandments.  Keeping the Sabbath day is listed right with stealing, adultery and lying. This puts the sabbath in  separate category  from rituals such as washing and sin offerings.

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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SIN WITHOUT THE COMMANDMENTS

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” – Romans 7:7

The reason why covetousness/lust is a sin is because God said it was. Paul was saying we have no other moral ground to say that covetousness/lust is a sin besides God’s word. If it is still a sin to covet because the Ten Commandments says so, then it is still a sin to break the fourth commandment of keeping the Sabbath. If the Sabbath commandment is done away with, then so is the Covet commandment (the murder, stealing, adultery, lying etc).

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GOD WILL JUDGE BY THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF JUDGMENT DAY, AND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT CONTAINING THE STONE TABLETS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WILL BE ON DISPLAY

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged… And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament…”
– Revelation 11:18-19

On judgment day the ark of the covenant containing the Ten Commandments will be visibly defending us for having obeyed them, or declaring us guilty of not obeying them.

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GOD SAID THE SABBATH IS PERMANENT WITH ISRAEL

“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” – Exodus 20:8

The Hebrew word used here for perpetual is ..owlam. It literally means forever. God said that the Sabbath day o receive is a permanent covenant with Israel . That means that it still applies to Jews who receive Jesus as Messiah, and all Messianic Jews believe in keeping the Sabbath until this day.

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GENTILES WHO JOIN THEMSELVES TO THE LORD ARE TOLD TO KEEP THE SABBATH

“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” – Isaiah 56:6-7

Isaiah states that non Jews (strangers)  who join themselves to the Lord will receive a blessing for keeping the Sabbath.

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JESUS’ FOLLOWERS RESTED ON THE SABBATH OF HIS CRUCIFIXION

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” – Luke 23:56

If Jesus had intended for the Sabbath day to be done away with, he would have told his followers not to keep it anymore.

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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHANGING THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF THE SABBATH (300 years after the crucifixion)

Papal Rome makes the following boast:"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday, because the Catholic Church, in the council of Laodecea (A.D.336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.---Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, sec.ed. ,1910, p.50

The Catholic Virginian, of October 3rd, 1917 made this declaration:

“Nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday . . . Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church (Roman) outside the Bible.”

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JESUS DECLARED HIMSELF THE LORD OF THE SABBATH DAY

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.” – Matthew 12:8

In Matthew 12:8 we read "for the Son of man (Y'shua-Jesus) is Lord even of the Sabbath day!” Nowhere in the Holy Bible do we read that God is Lord over any other specific day of the week, except the seventh day. This statement came after an occasion where Jesus and His disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath by plucking corn. In the passage Jesus had a great opportunity to say that the Sabbath no longer needed to be kept or would soon be done away with, just like when he changed laws concerning divorce, but He did nothing of the sort.

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THE APOSTLE JOHN KEPT THE SABBATH

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.”  – Matthew 12:8

We read in Revelation 1:10, that the Apostle John "was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day". There is no New Testament scripture that says the Sabbath was moved from Saturday to Sunday, not from Paul, and certainly not from Jesus. Once again, this comes from the Catholic church.

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THE APOSTLE PAUL DID NOT ABOLISH THE SABBATH

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” – Colossians 2:16-17 KJV

The first thing to note here is if Paul was abolishing the Sabbath in this verse, he would be doing something Jesus (who claimed to be Lord even of the Sabbath) never did. As we shall see, Jesus was clear that He was not abolishing any of the Commandments.

Secondly, note that Paul was not talking about the singular “Sabbath Day,” but instead “Sabbath Days.” Keeping the Sabbath Day of rest is the fourth commandment. However, there were other Sabbath days that were a part of various Jewish feasts and ceremonies.

This scripture is not evidence that only nine of the Ten Commandments are binding to Christians. If Paul used a singular term - “the Sabbath,” it would have meant that God had abolished the fourth commandment. But the use of the plural term – “Sabbaths” shows that he had his eye on the great number of ceremonial days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals.

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” – Colossians 2:16-17 KJV

To begin with, it must be admitted that the word “Sabbath” is not found in the entire chapter. People simply assume Paul is talking about the Sabbath. Verse one of Romans 14 says, “Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations.” Romans 14:1. The NKJV says, “disputes over doubtful things.” Therefore, Paul is talking about “doubtful things” in this chapter, and not the Commandments which are not to be doubted.

It becomes clear from Romans 14 and 15 chapters, that many misunderstandings existed between Jewish and Gentile Christians in relation to certain Jewish customs that the Gentiles had no regard for. The main subject of dispute was concerning meats and days. The converted Jew retaining respect for the Law of Moses abstained from certain meats and observed ceremonial days while the converted Gentile understood that Christianity put him under no such obligation or regard to ceremonial points. Paul was not saying “let everyone be persuaded in his own mind about the Sabbath.” If he was saying that, then you might as well say the same thing about the other nine commandments. He was saying that Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians should not fight over ceremonial days and what foods were kosher to eat. 

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JESUS DID NOT ABOLISH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil..” – Matthew 5:17 KJV

“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. – Matthew 5:18 KJV

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:19 KJV

 In verses :17 and :18 Jesus was clear that not one part of the commandments/law shall be done away with until the current heaven and earth are gone. Since we are still on the same earth Jesus was, all the commandments still apply.

In verse nineteen, Jesus said if anyone (including the Apostle Paul) taught people to break the least (less important) commandment, would be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven . Therefore, the Apostle Paul could not have been teaching against keeping the commandments. He was in fact teaching that one need not keep ceremonial laws.

MEMORIES OF MY AUNT

" Looking for God--or Heaven--by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters."   - C.S. Lewis



For an extrovert, I am highly private about many of my own personal experiences, feelings and struggles. It is a rare occurrence that I talk about them, save for with a few close people. I am much more likely to talk about ideas than share something that is deeply personal. Perhaps blogging will help me with this. Though I am not convinced that it is a problem. This blog is a way for me to force myself to share more of myself with others, which I have come to see is healthy.

I recently found out that on Sunday night my Aunt Valerie left this world for the better one. Death at times is a hard thing to come to grips with. When a person is gone that has been around ever since you can remember or at the very least for a long time, it can be quite difficult to believe it is real.

My aunt was a good woman and I do not say this lightly. She was a successful business woman, and she gave of her resources to help members of her family a lot over the years.

I cannot say that I talked to her often in my life, as she lived on the other side of the country ever since I can remember. However all of my memories of her are fond, and the past several years I did have the opportunity to see her a few times.

I will always remember her saying not long ago that she was proud of the young man that I have become. I'll keep that with me forever.

It was only recently that we all became aware that she had fallen ill with an extremely rare illness. Such things are often unpredictable and difficult to explain. They do happen in this world. Life is not always fair, but I do know that she had made her peace with God, and now she has begun the greatest of all adventures. One day I will see her again.

IRONIC

"A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself" - Jessamyn West



Isn't it ironic for me to wake up today to the sound of an annoying alarmclock and finding that both my hands are asleep from sleeping on them.



LOL



It happened, no joke. So here I am flopping my two sleeping hands on the alarm clock like two fish out of water, in the dark mind you... only to change the channel to an annoying song that I'd hate to hear any time of the day, only full blast. I just felt a need to say that.



Yesterday I spoke with my old friend Alana who I had not seen or talked to in two years. She is from South Africa and was here for awhile as an exchange student. That was really cool.



I have always said that I am a moderate conservative... but not like the governor of California. When it comes to ethics I am a conservative... but I think those bleeding heart liberals have some good points in certain areas... only I question if those ideals are thier own or those of the special interest groups that fund their camaign.



I saw an interview with Bill Clinton from earlier this year and he made a good point. Liberals and conservatives both tend to demonize the opposing leaders and deify the ones they support. To do either is wrong, because as President Clinton pointed out, all presidents are humans, neither devil or God.



So I took a liberal-conservative p[personality test and here is what I received...



The how conservative are you Test

written by lemonslippers



The Moderate

Okay! You scored 73!

You are a moderate. Not EVERYTHING conservatives do annoys you, but some things get under your skin. You're not entirely comfortable with liberals, but there are some issues you'll support them on. You like to think of yourself as an independent thinker and you refuse to just vote down the party line! You hesitate before leaping into things, but when you get into them, you're quite passionate!



Well got a lot to get done today, so I'll cut this short.



Blessings -

Tony

MARANATHA

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation." - First US President George Washington (1732 - 1799)



Today is the day of my friends’ weddings. As stated before, I can only attend one. It is really a tough thing.



Speaking of tough things, on Thursday I found a neighbors cat dead in the in the street. A car had hit it. Then I had to tell the person across the street that her cat was dead. It was terrible and she was in tears. The eerie part was when I told her, she was listening to the Evanescence song, "My Immortal" with the lyrics, "When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears." I hope it ministered to her.



My personal feelings on it: That is why we don't let our cats out. I mean there is no reason to. Cats that stay in live longer anyways. Any vet will tell you that.



Since I first saw that cat, I had admired it from afar as it would play in their yard. On certain occasions I would see it chasing it's tail around and around in circles or playing tag with their much larger dogs. It was a real shame.



I am also seriously grieving over what happened to those kids in Russia. I am so sick of this world. I do want to fall in love- get married etc. but if Jesus comes first, you'll get no complaints from me. This is random but you know you don't have to live alone in Heaven. There is no sex so there is no need for marriage like we have on Earth. The only marriage we be in is to Jesus. However there are families in Heaven. If you fall in love on Earth or just want to stay with someone in Heaven, if they do not object, you can. However it is based purely on love of one another. Sex, jealousy and the like will be done away with.



Some people freak out when i tell them no sex. Listen. if God can create that ecstasy, imagine what greater things he will do. Trust me, you'll get over it.



"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

- I Corinthians 2:9 KJV



"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." - 1 Corinthians 2:10



In the mean time, I just want to do a better job of helping get people ready to come with me.



"Even so, come, Lord Jesus." - Revelation 22:20 KJV



Blessings-

Tony

Random Stuff

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson



Today is Wednesday... I think. Well it has certainly been a full week and there is still so much more to do. I want to go to the zoo before it gets too cold, but it may be a bit much trying to squeeze it in this week.



I usually try to pilgrimage to the zoo at least once a year. I love wildlife, especially big cats... like most of you don't know that... so I'll move on.



I think I am more or less just being random today. Nothing particular to post. However, I will say that I am feeling better this week. Not totally normal yet, but normal enough to function. God is faithful.



My fantasy football league is about to start and next month the big one for me, "Fantasy Basketball." I get butterflies in my stomach this time of year. There is something warm and fuzzy about fall. The only bad part is that it is the transition from summer to winter.



I won my league last year with the team name "2004 NBA Champion Pistons." I did it as an act of faith, sort of. Then my Pistons won the NBA title! I was so thrilled.



No one really gave them a chance to win against LA. and they whipped them like I knew they would.



Well that's enough rambling.



Blessings-

Anthony

ONE BOOK AND ONE WEDDING

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The creative mind plays with the object it loves." - Carl Gustav Jung



I've got this problem. It is an overload of creative ideas. The opposite of writers block. There are five or so book ideas in my head and I can't focus on them all. One is fiction and the rest are non-fiction. Any advice?



This Saturday my close friend Bert is marrying his fiance. Another dear friend Missy is marrying her fiance. Both weddings are taking place at the exact same time. So I will be missing Missy's wedding. Bummer.



Coincidently both weddings were scheduled similarly. I was there when Bert and his fiance were planning the date. They asked me to check the calendar and see what date the second Saturday of September fell on. I did not think about it as I read off the date, but when they heard it was the September 11th, they quickly chose another date. Turns out Missy's wedding was selected the same way. Funny, when I said the 11th, I wasn't even thinking about 911.



Oh well... stranger coincidences have happened to me.



Blessings

- Tony

WISDOM AND MATURITY

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity." - Tom Stoppard (1937-)



Maturity and wisdom, the two go hand in hand and recently I have been reflecting on how much I have grown as a person and how much I need to grow.



For example, when I was 20 years old, I usually started out looking for a reason to do something, to spend money, to date someone or to go someplace. Now at 27, I find myself first looking for reasons why I shouldn't. Will it benefit me? Can I afford this? Is she any good for me? Is that a safe place to go?



I have also learned to better manage my finances. Right now, I have my second credit card. The first one I ran up to the high heavens (well not that high-not compared to others). I spent most of the money on things I thought I needed (i.e. food and other essentials).



It took that first credit card to teach me the lesson that it is often better to do without than to create debt that you cannot pay back.



Back to relationships and this includes friendships. The older I get, the less of me I expose early on and the less I let my other guards down. Now don't get me wrong, I am outgoing and I love people. I am just not quick to trust people.



Maybe it is because I have been burnt before or maybe it is because I really value deep quality relationships over shallow quantities of them.



No doubt both.



I once read in a Bazooka Bubblegum fortune,

"One true friend is better than 1,000 false admirers."



So true... so true.



- Tony

MY REVIEW OF EXORCIST THE BEGINNING

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmond Burke (1729-1797)



I saw the new Exorcist movie, "Exorcist The beginning" on Thursday night. I must admit that at first I did not like it. In fact I nearly walked out of the theatre. Reason being, there are some scenes that are quite disturbing. I mean more disturbing then I have seen in any horror films. Those scenes include a few children meeting horrible, violent and grotesque deaths.



For me, I felt that they did not need to show all that they did, and coming out of the film I hated it. That was until it was pointed out to me what a great movie it was.



You see as upsetting and disturbing as this movie was, it did show that violence against children, prejudice, perversion, and war all are inspired by darker origins. Too often people get mad a God for these things. The movie also depicts that the main scene is the spot where Lucifer fell to the Earth and that he is the one directly responsible for all of these atrocities.



Best yet, unlike the first Exorcist, God is glorified in the actual Exorcism. In the first film, the Priest was unable to cast out the demon, and instead made a deal with it, inviting it into himself.



This time around, a priest does rededicate his life to God, is accused by the Devil for his past sins and then by the power of God, casts it out. I hated it, hated it more, then realized it I liked it... well, with the help of someone else.



Additionally, the beginning was not only depicted as this prequel story, but the beginning was when Lucifer fell.



For entertainment value, I was not a fan. One star. *

For exposing the Devil's works, I give it five stars. *****



- Tony

MY FIRST BLOG

FAMOUS QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"If we only have the will to walk, then God is pleased with our stumbles." - C.S. Lewis



Well this is it. My first blog on my new blog. Here I will be updating often, talking about myself. How conceited does that sound? Well, anyways I will also be talking about my thoughts, feelings and the people and things I care about etc...



I will also begin each post with a quote I really like or fits my circumstances from somewhere, the Bible, a novel, a movie, a scientist, a garbage-man... somewhere.



Tonight I am going to go see Exorcist the beginning. I was planning to see it last Friday, but I was in too much pain due to a Epididymitis bacterial infection. It hurt so bad, you just have no idea.



I ended up in the emergency room Saturday, but thankfully it was something that could be cleared up with antibiotics. My recovery process is suppose to take 4-6 weeks, but I am healing faster than the doctors said because God has sped up the process. I was not able to even walk normally. Every step hurt. Today is the first day I can walk like a human.



You know, being sick or encountering adversity can sometimes cause us to grow spiritually because we realize that we have nothing to trust in except for God's word.



During my disabled time I watched Prince Caspian and the Silver Chair. I had only previously seen The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I liked that one, but I think I like The Silver Chair best (so far). I have only seen three of the six Chronicles of Narnia so that could change.

Before the year is out, I plan to buy the novels. I liked it a lot as a kid, but I drifted away from it.



Well anyways, I will try to be back on here often if not most everyday. Take care everyone.



- Tony