Gay Marriage

I happen to be reading parts of a old Newsweek Magazine and after reading Lisa Miller's article on Mutual Joy, { I have posted the web site below } I was shocked at her for writing such a article and even more shocked that the Newsweek would allow it to be published. I have only one question to ask, "What turnip truck did she fall off of?" She is using parts Of the Bible to make a case for Homosexuals and to try to prove her point which is, "same sex marriages are okay." Ms Miller used Scriptures out of the Bible to try to prove her point. The scriptures that she uses do not even deal with the issue she is talking about and trying to justify. The Bible in the Old Testament, in several places, clearly says that Homosexuality and Lesbianism is sin. She must have not read the Story of Sodom. Why did God destroy this city? It was the end result of the people of Sodom's reprobate minds. This is how bad that God hates the sins of Homosexuals and Lesbians. Notice that I said He hates the sin, not the person! Read what the Book Of Romans Chapter one has to say about this topic. My thoughts are this, " Any nation, including the United States, that justifies homosexuality and Lesbianism, as a excepted life style, is a country in its final stages of moral corruption." I'm sorry Ms Miller, but you are trying to justify this sin and at the same time trying to discredit The Bible and Christians who live by, believe in, and honor God's Word. Remember this, any true Christian does not hate the homosexual or lesbian, it is that terrible sin that the Christian hates. The Christian does not have a agenda as Ms Miller is trying to stress in her article, but only God's Holy Word in their hearts that homosexuality is a sin and is wrong. I do not want to discredit Ms Miller's professional talent, but when she is writing an article in a area such as this she needs to do some major research or get into a good Bible believing Church, because she is just not getting it or else she just wants to make some liberal brownie points. Ms Miller, God made the world for Adam and Eve to reproduce after their own kind, for that is what He commanded in His word, not for the sin, wickedness, and pleasure (Mutual Joy) of Adam and Steve. With all due respect, with all your education you cannot see this?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

I never thought about this before.
The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over
The face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.
The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly
Folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.
 
Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the
Tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved.
She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I
Don't know where they have put him!'
 
Peter and the  other disciple ran to the tomb to see..
The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw

the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.
Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside..
He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.
 
Was that important? Absolutely!
Is it really significant?
Yes!
 
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to
Understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded
Napkin had to do with the Master and Servant; every Jewish boy knew this tradition.
 
 
When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it
Was exactly the way the master wanted it..
 
 
The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight,

until the master had finished eating. The  servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.
 
Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his
Fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and
Toss it onto the table.
 
The servant would then know to clear the table.
For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.
 
But if the master got up from the table,
And folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate,
The servant would not dare touch the table,
 
Because..........
 
The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'
 
He is Coming Back!
 

MY PASSION – Writing For The Lord

In Palms 119 the person who wrote this Psalm talks about an affliction. What the affliction was I do not know. We all have or have had afflictions in our life. Mine was not from sinning but straying from what God wanted me to do in my life. This caused many of things in my life, divorce, financial loss, heath problems, as well as other things. All this because I served my own interest and did what I wanted to do. Without actually sinning I strayed from God and His perfect will for me. It is sort of like sowing and reaping.

When a person gets to this point in their life they must realize they have two choices, two ways to go. A person can either continue doing what we want to do, which we can see real fast is not working or you can do as I did take stock in what is wrong and then fix it. I choose to fix my problem.

We might not sin, we can go to church every time the door is open, but we can still be taking the wrong path. For years and I mean years I knew that there was a calling on my life and I would not listen I preferred the other road because I felt that no one would listen to me because of being divorced. I once taught Sunday school, taught Bible study, and I loved it. I was doing the Lord’s work but after divorce some Christians look at you a different way. They see you in a different light. And that light can be devastating.

Paul wrote many letters to the church (The Epistles’’) and they had (and still do) a great effect on man’s life today. He had a thorn in the flesh, an affliction, but he still kept writing, expressing himself and sharing God’s love to a lost world of sinners. He was a great man of God. There are all sorts of afflictions in this world. They can be hardships, suffering, pain, misfortune, burdens, difficulties, and many other things. We can allow those afflictions to either break us or to lift us up. The choice is ours to make. If we let it our afflictions can bring us closer to God. My prayer is; Draw me nearer to thee oh Lord.

Since I have stopped teaching Sunday school and Bible study I decided to start a blog and write for the Lord. Writing for me is a way to express and show my love for God and to share with others the road that I walk with the Lord. It can be a lonesome road at times when there are no comments to my post just like they are ignored. I just have to realize that I’m doing what I can for the Lord and it is His will that counts.

One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus

As I was lying in my hospital bed, after having a heart attack, I started to take stock in myself, what was happening to me, and what direction I was headed to in this life. Sometimes we as Christians must take stock in our lives and see where we are at in our daily walk. We must put God in control and not ourselves.

The most important thing I had face up to in my spiritual life is thanking God for this day and rejoicing in the fact that God has given me another day to live for Him and Do His blessed will. We all have human frailties. I do, you do, and so does everyone else. I have come to realize after my last hospital and being coded (dying three times) I or no one else on this earth has a guarantee that tomorrow will ever come. Emotionally, however, because I’m human I have fears and anxieties that arise within me and I am tempted to look for tomorrow to be a better day. Relief will come tomorrow. But does it? Our only help comes from the Lord who made the heavens and earth. We are sustained by the Lord.

I have come to the conclusion when I think that help comes tomorrow I am yielding to an unhealthy way spiritually speaking. When a person fails to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and they forfeit the peace they have in Christ and the joy that always comes from abiding in Christ one day at a time. As Christians we cannot rightly think that tomorrow or the next day will take care of our needs. Only Jesus Christ can satisfy our needs for He is the one whole holds our hand and knows the future for we know who holds our hand.

When I turn everything over to God at the beginning of everyday, immersing myself in God’s love I have the strength to enjoy the day because the Lord’s love is hidden in my heart. He gives me strength. Only a Christian can understand that. Every day is a new opportunity to experience fullness of life, to draw ourselves closer to our maker and the one who cares for us. We must fix our eyes not on what we can see, but what we cannot see what we cannot see. For what we see is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18) When we look past our visible circumstances, we See God's Eternal Kingdom for we know who holds tomorrow.

He Touched Me!

After the events of the past week there is no doubt in my mind who holds my future in the palms of His hand. I say that because truly this week God has had me in the palm of his hand. I went to the hospital for a breathing treatment (I have Asthma) and was not there but a few minutes when I had a heart attack and coded three times (Died three times in a row) and was brought back. When I awoke from my sleep the doctor was standing over me and said welcome back. The doctor said it was a miracle that you are here with us because you have coded three times. The doctor said it right, it was a miracle. A miracle that I was in the right place at the right time and with the right people, but behind all this was the fact that the Lord I serve was in the room with me and he also guided me to the hospital. He guided the doctors and nurses as they tried to keep me alive.

While I was at the hospital one of my many visitors was a man who was filled with the Holy Ghost and I could feel his presents as he entered the room and as he prayed for me I felt a healing touch go through my body and I instantly felt better and they let me go home the next day. I’m not saying that the nurses and doctors did not help because if I said that I would be lying. What I am saying is this. The Lord sent this man and when he prayed for me the Lord touched me and did a work in my body. Praise be to His wonderful name! I feel wonderful in my body.

For some time now (many years) I have felt like the devil and his demons has done everything in their power to come against me. My children, grand children, my dad, and other members of my family he has attacked because he knows they are close to my heart. I have faced financial loss, been through more than one divorce, and just about everything else the devil could through up against me. As I was in the hospital they took my dad to the hospital with heart failure, but my dear friends I want you know the anchor holds! I once new a black pastor who was in a nursing home and I would see him walking down the hall and when I asked him how he was doing his answer was always the same. “Brother Patchett I’m going to keep on keeping on” and by God’s grace, my friends, that is exactly what I’m going to do; KEEP ON KEEPIMG ON!

What Can Take Away Our Sins?

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus; This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now by this, I’ll overcome—Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this, I’ll reach my home—Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Glory! Glory! This I sing—nothing but the blood of Jesus, All my praise for this I bring—
nothing but the blood of Jesus.

To be a follower of Jesus the Christ makes me so proud and secure. I will be the first to tell anybody that I was saved by that precious blood of Jesus. I was lost and undone without God or His Son and God saved my soul. It was by The Blood that was shed on the old rugged cross that made the difference in my life. I said all that to say this, I recently read an article in a local newspaper in which a man wrote this; “Any person that teaches they have the exclusive path to God and all non-believers will suffer eternal damnation is wrong.” Any person that would make such a statement is a person who does not read and rightly divide the word of God if he reads it at all. Like so many other people he is lost and knows not God. Before I was saved I always tried to be good. I did what was right, I kept the Ten Commandments to the best of my ability, I went to church, and I did all the ordinance of the church, I was baptized in water, took communion, but all this did not save me even though we should do these things. My name was on the church books but it was not in the Book that my Lord kept. I was like thousands of other people who thought they were right but like them, I was not. I was lost without God or His Son! There are other people who believe their denomination will save them. Some believe their good works will save them, some believe that keeping the ordinances of the church will save them. But the sad fact is you can be baptized in water all you want, but that will not save you. It is a good testimony but it will not save you. Taking communion will not save you. Church ordinances will not save you. Praying to a dead person such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a dead saint will not save you because they were in need of a savior too. The fact is they are dead. There is only one mediator between God and man and that mediator is Christ Jesus. When I get to heaven I want to see Jesus and then I want to see these other people who were obedient to our God. But praying to these people is wrong and they cannot save you. Jesus said that no man comes to the father but by Him. How much more plainer can it get? Allah cannot save you. Buddha cannot save you. Mother Nature cannot save you, Mary, the mother of Jesus, cannot save you or any other dead saint. It is what Jesus did on the cross. What can take your sins away? It is nothing but the blood of Jesus. When a person searches the scriptures and rightly divides the word of God they will see: What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus! Oh precious is that flow that makes me white as snow!

And He Pitched His Tent

We can read in our Bible of two men, both were righteous. One was Abraham and the other was Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. They were also very rich men because God had blessed therm. They became so wealthy that they had to separate because of disputes and quarreling. In other words there was contention between the two households.  Abraham gave Lot the first choice of which way to go. Lot had much in his favor. He had riches and he was a righteous man, but the most important, he was blessed with Godly relatives. When a person is blessed with Godly relatives he is truly blessed.  Just like Lot we have to make choices.

Lot separated himself from Abraham and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Lot’s decision was made purely for carnal reasons rather than for spiritual reasons. Lot was making a choice that day. That choice was for personal gain. Like some people today, including some Christians, the greed for more wealth over took him and he set his eyes toward Sodom. Some Christians, in today’s world, have set their sight toward Sodom.

There is nothing wrong with Christian people being blessed by wealth but we should never take our eyes off of our spiritual values. With Lot Sodom was a good place to raise cattle and that was all he saw. As we all know Sodom lacked in spiritual values. It was sure not a good place to raise his family. Like Lot a lot of Christians today are more interested in the wealth and the money than they are the spiritual things, which is a bad mistake. Whenever a Christian puts his spiritual life on the back burner they are headed for trouble. Lot was thinking of paradise but found Hell!

The spiritual values of Lot were gone. He pitched his tent toward Sodom and then in another chapter we read that he was living in Sodom. He was having fellowship with those ungodly people and not only that his family was also lost for spiritual values. He had daughters that married ungodly men of Sodom. Lot’s Wife loved the things of Sodom and looked back. We all know what happen to her. Then Lot’s other daughters had sex with him and became pregnant. All this because Lot pitched his tent in the wrong direction. What a terrible high cost Lot paid for his decision to pitch his tent toward Sodom and it is a tragic example for all Christians to heed!

What a terrible high cost Lot paid for his decision and tragic example for all Christians to heed.