Voice Not The Songs

I've got some good news for you, friends-you who do not have God are lost, blind and hopeless.
When I say God I mean the God Who revealed Himself in Scripture.
When I say lost, I mean lost for eternity, separated from all love and goodness.
When I say blind, I mean willfully blind to the truth about God. You who would go a thousand miles out
of your way to avoid a Christian attempting to share the Gospel with you. I mean you.
And hopeless speaks for itself. You will not survive without Jesus Christ, and if you would rather die than seek out the Salvation he offers, you are without hope. Doomed.
I did say good news. If you have read this far, you are still alive, have breath in your lungs and opportunity
to AVOID being lost, blind and hopeless.
There is no hope available in man-made religions which obscure the truth about God.
I mean you, Catholics. Muslims. Buddhists.
There is also no hope available in Man, who is somehow supposed to be able to solve the problems that Man creates? Really? Easier to put out a fire with gasoline.
We are entering the season when the hypocrisy of Man causes him to pretend that he loves God.
Man will sing the Christmas Carol which he never wants to see happen:
"Joy to the world, the Lord is come...Let Earth receive her King!"
Let every heart prepare Him room? MY heart?!?
Yes-your heart, as in every heart. If that thought terrifies you, please do not be a hypocrite and celebrate
Christmas.
Or
Seek Him, honestly pray for Him to extend to you the faith to believe. He is STILL in the saving sinners business. He saved me, and I most especially do not deserve Salvation, but I love that God has granted it
to me. I am the exact opposite of lost, blind and hopeless and so can you, America.

General Observations

Shop your little hearts out, Consumers! None for me, thanks-I'll cyber if I need anything (which I don't).
I am thinking of seeing "Skyfall", but maybe next wknd.
Thanksgiving was nice this year-a crowd of hungry conversationalists enjoying great food; we got to see old video from a scant 24+ years ago-I have changed quite a bit. But then again, not so much-I was a Christian then, as I am now, and will be forever. Politically I was ambivalent-I cheered Clinton when he took office, having been raised in a Democrat family. Hey! I guess I HAVE changed!
I've been thinking some about the re-election of President Obama, and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. This is a world which is rejecting God; even with no Christian on the ballot, the guy who embodies Christian principles-honesty, hard work, accepting responsibility for your actions-is going to lose.
President Obama is a corrupt and evil man. The world loves him because they know that he is not a Christian.
{shrugs}
Even when things get much worse, Christians will be just fine. Those of my brothers and sisters around the world who face persecution and death for bearing the name of Christ-they are fine, safe in His arms.
Kill us and we get to Heaven that much quicker.
Please remember that God is a God of Vengeance. All who kill, whether they be a suicide bomber in Iraq or an abortionist in America...God will deal with them.
Bye the way, things ARE going to get much worse quicker than you may realize. Especially for those of you who are rejecting God.
 Right now, as I said, Christians are safe.
God is also a God of Mercy. When things get worse, when economies fail and you get to the end of your resources...ask God for help. He is in the forgiving and saving business. And He is greater than your problems.
May God seek you and find you and give you Peace.

Thank ___

Here we are, the first major holiday since Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown. That hadn't happened since I was a wee lad, and I am thankful that I got to see Cabrera in a Detroit game this year.
I'm also thankful that I still have a good job, and a home blessed with cats; those on the East Coast affected by Sandy are still on my prayer list. This is going to be an extra hard holiday season for many-I'm thankful to (and supporting the) Red Cross, as that organization helps as many people as it can. That is righteous.
Later today we will gather and eat and laugh and all of that-may your Thanksgiving be Peaceful and pleasant.

I'm The BEST Humbled Person In The World!

Just kidding about the 'bestest humbled title'-I wouldn't even make the state regionals.
I found the charming picture above by googling "Be it ever so humble..."
So why humble? Bear with me for a few lines, friends.
The picture above is romanticized, a mythical  portrait of an ideal family. Not one kid is texting-how real is that?
The recent re-election of President Barack Obama took many, including me, by surprise; I was kinda sure the other guy was going to get in.
So I've been thinking about stuff, praying some, talking little, meditating on our situation as a nation, a world.
I think that I and many others thought that God was going to show Mercy, make things better, allow the rebuilding of our national and global economies. Not quite.
I can't help but see that things are going to get worse as God readies this world for Judgement. He seems to be lining up all the nations against Israel, as detailed throughout the Bible.
America is just about the only friend Israel has left; if our country turns its back on Israel...wow.
There has been plenty of talk about "The End Times", as in: 'the end of the world as we know it'.
I am patiently waiting for the return of Christ, of His ruling the world from His city, Jerusalem. It will be the end of corrupt political governments, the end of human rule. We will all be humbled, from sea to shining to other sea.
But before the humbling, before Christ returns, we must endure prideful fools holding power around the planet. President Obama isn't the only 'world leader' who rejects Christ.
All will be humbled, and finally there will be true Peace on Earth. Amen.

Your Human Mask Is Slipping

"⁶    If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?     If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?"
^"12    For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,     You who distress the righteous and accept bribes     And turn aside the poor in the gate.
¹³    Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.
¹⁴    Seek good and not evil, that you may live;     And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,     Just as you have said!
¹⁵    Hate evil, love good,     And establish justice in the gate!     Perhaps the LORD God of hosts     May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
Amos 3:6...5:12-15

Here in these verses God through Amos was declaring the people of Israel unrighteous, as they had turned away from Him.
This is an unrighteous world. Not all of the promises and curses that pertain to Israel mean anything for the rest of us, but the pattern is the same: God is Righteous, and man is not.
Here's the plain and simple: If you do not know and love God, through His shedding Grace and Mercy on you, you are doomed.
It doesn't matter how good a life you live, how many acts of kindness you do-you are doomed to hell.

^"14    Seek good and not evil, that you may live;     And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,     Just as you have said!"
Israel said that they were with God, that they were righteous-but they were not. Reading further down in Amos:
"²¹    “I hate, I reject your festivals,     Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
²²    “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,     I will not accept them;     And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
²³    “Take away from Me the noise of your songs;     I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
²⁴    “But let justice roll down like waters     And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
²⁵“Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 
²⁶“You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 
²⁷“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts."
Amos 5:21-27
Israel claimed to be with God, but were also guilty of idolatry and going after false gods.
You are no better than idolatrous Israel. You don't even have a promise that God will save you, unless you come to Him on His terms.
Give up any hope of being righteous on your own-you are doomed.
I gave up that hope over 30 years ago, and I can tell you know that if not for God's Grace and Mercy, I would be on the road to hell, too.Next time you crack a joke about self-righteous Christians (which you will do only because you are trusting in your own righteousness), know that they don't exist. There are no self righteous Christians. Easier to find unicorns in the garden.

Give A Thought

Today I watched a news report of the devastation left from hurricane Sandy-entire neighborhoods decimated. The news reporter held in her hands photographs picked from the wreckage-pictures that used to adorn homes.
It seems strange to be heading into the "Holiday" season-what is supposed to be a happy time will be tempered this year by the realization that thousands of people who never thought anything bad could happen to them will be homeless, many with nothing but the clothes on their backs plus whatever someone gives them.
Will the "Black Friday" crowds give thought to their fellow man? I expect the Salvation Army buckets will be in full force for the next few weeks. Red Cross donating is only a link away. There are opportunities to do good all around you; give a thought to passing on some good if you have good.

You Might Not Know It, But

Yesterday was Veterans Day. My church had a nice program, and those of us who have served were applauded; those who have a family member who has served stood up also.
Speaking of family members, the young gent pictured above, looking all serious as a member of the Army Air Corps in 1921 was my grandfather. If not for him, you would be reading someone else's blog right now.
Nobody loves Peace more than warriors. I see stupid bumper stickers declaring that a car, if not its driver, is "Already against the next war" or "war = socialism for the rich" or "GOD HATES PREDATOR DRONES".
Precocious sanctimony may be your shield against reality, Sunshine, but if an enemy who wants to kill you and yours is coming at you with a weapon drawn, flashing a peace sign at him won't cut it. Telling him that you would rather die than fight will make him happy.
Our military defends us. They get paid to get in between us and the bad guys and make the bad guys stop.
Go ahead and think well of yourself if you are anti-War. I am too. But I haven't yet seen Peace achieved without War.
The best example of this is in our future, when Christ returns and makes Peace happen...by wiping out the nations. See Psalm 2 for details, and most of the book of Revelation. Peace out.

Super Duper Hero Saturday

The picture shown above has been my desktop for the past month or so-quiet peace and beauty. I decided to take the day off from my life and finally watch a few movies that I've had for awhile-"Ironman 2"
and Marvel's "Avengers", which I watched on my bigger screen with the surround sound set up. I saw "Avengers" in the Imax 3d when it came out, and it gets the blood pumping pretty good.
One thing I noticed in the end credits of both movies-hundreds of workers earn a living making the spectacle
POP on the screen. Our entertainment is putting food on the table for many families. That's cool.

The big stars make millions, and but many working actors make do with a lot less. Two cases in point are shown above, both from the Avengers movie. I had to look in the credits to see who the younger woman is; Ashley Johnson-I remembered her a a little girl on sitcoms in the '90s.
Jenny Agutter  was the opposite-I saw her in the credits and had to find her part in the movie-she's changed a bit since "Walkabout" and "An American Werewolf In London".
Agutter probably has had the fuller career, but here are two actors who have spent decades working, who will never make a million dollars a picture, will probably not announce winners at the Oscars, let alone be nominated.
My workplace doesn't employ even as many people as worked craft services for the movies listed above, but it has been the steady paycheck for many people for over a decade, and I thank God for my work. I see it as the conduit for God's Blessings. 15 years ago my company didn't even exist, and the services we provide were unthought of. My generation didn't grow up hoping to sit at a computer for 8 hours a day, but the world has changed, and we are changing, too.
Whatever work you have to do, may you prosper in the coming year. Unless you're a telemarketer preying on the elderly-I have permission to hate you.

Sweet No Sour

A few points about the election:
The next day my friend Lauri asked me, "Are you in mourning?"
I pointed to the wall clock and said, "Nah-it's the afternoon."
S'allright. I will continue, living for God in the midst of a corrupt, evil world. I would have
done the same under the auspices of a Romney administration.
I am Thankful to God for all that I have been blessed with. My real treasure is in Heaven, high above and beyond the grasp of any IRS agent.
I assume that things are going to get worse for our world until our Lord returns and sets this world right.
Also S'allright. Can't do anything about stuff, so why should I worry about stuff I can't do anything about?
Hard times have one benefit-people turn to God when they realize that there is no help for them on earth.
God used harsh circumstance to get my attention and to get me to stop trusting in my own selfish self...and I was saved by God. He did that for me, and He may do that for you. 
As I've been 100% wrong about the last two Presidential elections, allow me to make a prognostication about the next two years:
EVERYTHING and the kitchen sink is going to be thrown against the House Republicans to attempt to wrest the House away from their grasp. Sauron will want his Orcs to wipe out all opposition to his rule.

Just God Is

Yesterday it was proven to me again that God is in control, and that His Grace and Mercy are in full effect
in this world, even if most of the world is blind to both.
God is Just.
God is Merciful.
God extends Grace to undeserving souls such as myself not because He is obligated, or is forced in some way to DO it-Love for His Creation caused Him to set a plan in place to redeem it once it had been sullied by sin. Love for His creations: us. Us. Saved by Grace. I can't figure it out.

Foregone But Maybe

There's a perfect prophetic 'tense' in Scripture which goes like this:
Something is going to happen in 'the future' that is so certain to take place that it is spoken of
as if it has already come to pass-the return of Christ to judge the nations and rule the world from Jerusalem
is the best example I can think of-all through the Bible it is stated as having happened.
Of course, 'future and past' are relative only to OUR point on the timeline-God standing outside of time sees the entire thing from one end to the other; eventually (another word trapped in entropy) God will bring all that He desires into Eternity.
Back to now-all elements of the (political) storm seem to be pointing to a Romney victory next week...but not so fast, Sam.
Sometimes God acts to confound the wisdom of man-and He may not be done yet with Barack Obama.
(God might do it to see how many Christians get mad at Him instead of accepting whatever He sends our way.)
I listened to a great sermon by John MacArthur last night about prideful 'world leaders'. He used as text Daniel chapter four, when Nebuchadnezzar, King of the entire known world, has Daniel interpret his dream of a great tree which is chopped down. The long/short of it is that Nebuchadnezzar was the tree, and he would lose his kingdom for a time because of his pride.
A year later the king was humbled with a madness that made him like a beast of the field, a condition which lasted seven years until his reason returned. With his reinstatement Nebuchadnezzar made a proclamation throughout his kingdom which Daniel records in chapter four.
Just in case it's not on your reading program today, here's the pull quote from the humbled king:
³⁷“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Daniel 4:37
 

Only Days Left!!! Or Four Years More

I hope that it is only days left for the Obama regime.
He and his administration have done much harm to the country and the world.
Harming our country by doing all he could to destroy the economy, stirring up class warfare in the name of 'social justice', but really it's all envy and greed (Tax the Rich! Your life is better when others are punished!).
(We the Government will give you everything you need! Vote for me!).
As his wife has taken a part in the re-election efforts, and is political herself, I don't believe she is protected by the "Leave the wife and kids alone" unwritten law:
I won't miss Michelle haranguing America about what to eat. If she happened to weigh ten more pounds, I doubt that we would have ever heard a peep about proper diet.
All presidential wives have 'their' issue which they promote, which comes with the territory. Ready for some new cause to be promoted by a new First Lady.
{Steven Wright: In school my teacher told us that the President is married to the First Lady. All I think of was: I wonder if she saw any dinosaurs?}