Blessing and

⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” 
¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:9-10

³⁷    Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,     Unless the Lord has commanded it?
³⁸    Is it not from the mouth of the Most High     That both good and ill go forth?
³⁹    Why should any living mortal, or any man,     Offer complaint in view of his sins?
⁴⁰    Let us examine and probe our ways,     And let us return to the LORD. Lamentations 3:37-40

This all brings us back to the fact that God is the Author of all our circumstances.

Like Job, if we have accepted the blessings of God, thanked Him for every good day, we should thank Him for the bad days also. 

Because we trust that He has a plan for each of our lives, those

Of us who belong to Him.

God will use adversities to conform us to the image of His Son.

Christians KNOW that our lives belong to God, to be used as He sees fit.

What Job went through has given us an example to follow concerning suffering.

Read the last chapter of the book to see how it all turned out for Job.

The Stench In His Nostrils

Stench-an old word for "that smells nasty!".
^"3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.
⁴ At night they go out among the graves, worshiping the dead. They eat the flesh of pigs and make stews with other forbidden foods.
⁵ Yet they say to each other, ‘Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you! These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away." Isaiah 65:3-5 NLT
What is that stench?
False worship performed by false worshipers, invented by Man instead of God.
The Psalms and all the rest of the Bible are filled with examples of good righteous worship of God.
Hope y'all are wearing steel-toed  shoes today~here we go.
The true Church of God, made up of true believers should NEVER take cues from the World on how to worship God.
And yet it happens.
For years I've been fighting the good fight against Christmas, which is paganized worship of a Holy day (holiday)..
Same for Easter. Ishtar worship reconfigured into celebrating Christ's Resurrection? NEVER!
This week there is a travesty called "Maundy Thursday".
No true church of Christ should partake in this paganized attempt at humility.
It is from the world, it is from the false church-it is wrong.
Same for 'Good Friday'. Wrong cubed and squared.
Why? Why do I consider these false worship?
Simple~if the World considers it "True Worship" ...IT IS WRONG.
And we should never approach God in worship as the world does.
It is stench in His nostrils. And it will not last into Eternity.
"²³“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 
²⁴“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

Race Run Backwards

Racism Trumps Nothing!!!!

Today Big “R” racism reared it's ugly again, and I've just gotten up from a nap, so here's my two rubles/cents/salt.

ANYONE who makes assumptions/determinations about themselves OR anyone else based on skin color, THAT person is Racist.

Most especially if they assume or determine that they are more righteous than some one else based on the color of their skin.

Also Most especially if they assume or determine that some one else is NOT righteous based on the color of THEIR skin.

Keeping it simple:

Depredations concerning race abound in the hearts of all humans.

Racism is sin. Which is why humans are the only species capable of racism.

I'm a Christian. 

I belong to the family of God. 

I have sisters and brothers of all races, because the Gospel has reached all races.

You think you can judge me by the color of my skin?

God is my judge...and yours.

Are You Ready?

The picture above shows the future of the Democrat Party.
The Old Guard of the Democrats, those high up in the political hierarchy
must be high if they think that the Party still belongs to them.
Waylon and Willy sing, "Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill."
But that's a song, and this is Reality.
This is the way of the world-those who have power hold onto it until someone younger and more vital wrests it from their hands. And then they get roads named after them.
Don't expect things to stay the same as you remember. That world is gone.
40 years from now one of these two ladies may be holding the gavel which (for the moment) is now being held by Speaker of the House Pelosi.
40 years from now, Pelosi will be remembered just as a name of someone who once held power. For the moment.

First John Notes

1 John series #7 “Love In Action” DQ notes

1 John 3:11

“For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;”

It really is as simple as that.

No one of the world is going to love Christians, really love them, so greatly that they would give up their life for a Christian simply because he or she belongs to Christ.

But we are called to love one another, bear each other's burdens, cry with those who mourn simply because we are bonded in Christ.

“Love is basically the sum of our Christian life, along with faith.”

John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If we exhibit anything other than love for our brethren, the world is watching. And judging.

Satan couldn't care less about any poor soul trapped in sin.

But a Christian doing right, loving as he or she should…is like a fiery dart to Satan's chest. Which is why he continues his mad program of hate, doing all that he can to sabotage the church and the cause of Christ.

He cannot touch Christ, so his vehemence is directed at us, the Bride of Christ.

He plants tares of discontent and hatred among us wheat, tearing apart churches which have forgotten that our primary love is to be for Christ AND for our brethren.

1 John 3:18-20

^“Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 
We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 
in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

“in whatever our hearts condemn us”-this phrase speaks to us because we know that we do not love as we should, that we do not always exemplify Christ. God is greater than our hearts; He has Grace enough to forgive us our failings.

And that is key-God knows us intimately and loves us anyway.

“When we pray we are seeking God's Will, not that He would do our will.”

God's Will for us is that we should love one another.

If I trust that God is working in my life to conform me to the image of Christ, when I see a brother or sister in Christ who is failing/falling/stuck…my duty is to pray for them, lift them up and

(this is key)

Trust that they are also being conformed to the image of Christ.

Philippians 1:6

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We will all be with Christ throughout Eternity.

We shouldn't allow pettiness nor hatred or any lesser emotion keep us from obeying Christ's command that we love one another.

Especially those who are hard to love.

Do Not Be UNLV

It's really quite simple-this world, this cosmos is in rebellion against God.
So of course there is dis-quiet, dissatisfaction, rebellion baked in to our Being.
BUT
Those who have been 'born again', saved, brought into God's family are no longer
rebels, do not dissent against God.
Instead we have the Peace of God which passes all understanding.
Rather than complain and tell God "NO!"
We Praise and tell God "YES!"
We accept all that comes from His hand, and that Peace fills and feeds our souls
so that there is no room for dissent.
Dissent is not fashionable, it is sin.

Rebel Scum

"Dissent.  Always in fashion."
False! Absolutely wrong!
And I'm not just saying that in dissent.
Pictured above are "Flaming Swords" and "Lightsabers"  representing
two kinds of light: the Light of God and the light of Man.
Flaming sword held by a cherubim guarding Eden after Adam & Eve were kicked out.
Lightsabers (you know-the Star Wars doohickeys) representing Man and his technological savvy, "Man's" own created 'light'.
So, what am I driving towards?
 "¹⁰    Who is among you that fears the LORD,     That obeys the voice of His servant,     That walks in darkness and has no light?     Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." Isaiah 50:10.
We trust in God wholly and holy as we walk in this dark world with no light of our own.  As it says in Psalm 119:105 "  Your word is a lamp to my feet     And a light to my path." 
Without His Word we would be as blind as three mice.
What about the Lightsaber crowd?
Those who reject God, His Word and His Light in favor of creating and carrying their own light/torches...are in a big mess of trouble.
See, God and His Light are Eternal. Will never fail us. Cannot fail.
Man's torches, created by his own hand...stay lit for a moment and then go out.
Back to Isaiah:
"¹¹    Behold, all you who kindle a fire,     Who encircle yourselves with firebrands,     Walk in the light of your fire     And among the brands you have set ablaze."
That would be Man rejecting God.
"This you will have from My hand:     
  You will lie down in torment." Isaiah 50:11
 

Redhead Empyre

Yup-her and him. Lucy and Desi. Couple of sitcom stars from before you were old enough to vote.
Watched one of the Tom Cruise/Mission Impossible films tonight, and thoughts came at me~look at the graphic below:

Without their production company, Desilu Productions, we wouldn't have any
"Mission Impossible", "Star Trek", "The Untouchables" or "December Bride".
Of course, the fact that we've never heard of the last one doesn't negate the fact that Desilu created some of the ginormous properties we've known and sometimes loved all of our lives.
It is STILL producing hits to this day~the past Desilu is the present CBS Television Studios, a large part of the Paramount/CBS conglammorous.
Back in the early 1960's heyday of Desilu it's been said that a lamp or ashtray from "Mission Impossible" would show up on "Star Trek" and verse vici.
I can't imagine how many billions of dollars of profit Desilu has made since it's formation in 1950.
Not bad for a couple of sitcom stars.