For God and for Country!

For God and for Country! A phrase that I would hope most knew but perhaps the younger generation would be loosing it in their vocabulary. This is a good phrase, though I would add one thing...

For God, Family, and Country!  Our biblical priorities should be God first, family second (Immediate family first and then extended family) and then others. (Our country) 

If I asked most Christians, I am sure most of them would agree with me that this phrase is in the proper order. It's a prioritized statement so that if there is ever a decision to be made for God and against country or for country and against God... the choice is clear. For God then country.

Tell me then...in the picture above (and every where I see the Christian flag next to the American flag) why is it "For Country then God?"  I have seen many flags in this order in the past few days alone. Never have I seen the christian flag above the US flag...and if someone were to do that there would be outcry more than likely.

A flag, by definition, is a standard of something or someone. So the US flag is a standard of the USA. the Christian flag is a standard of Christ. (Messiah)  To raise the US flag above Christ's flag is to raise the standard of a country above that of the one and only God.

Just something to think about. Biblical priorities call us to go against the popular culture and popular culture tells us to go against God. 

Joshua 24:15

21st Century King James Version (KJ21)

¹⁵ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Food for thought with a healthy side of prayer and communion with our Creator. 

Promotion for Fellow Blogger

I would like to suggest to anyone who has enjoyed reading my blog posts to check out this blog.

http://leadingthepac.com/

I have met this man personally and know he has a sincere heart for God.  I have not viewed all the material on his blog and am sure (as any two humans will) there will be some things he believes I might differ from a little but I do know we think alike on most of what I consider to be the major issues of our time. He has spent much time gathering information for his blog on some of these issues so instead of trying to always come up with my own words I thought, Why not direct you to the resources that are already out there that will accomplish the same thing I would hope to accomplish with my posts.

As always view any material with a prayerful and Biblical perspective. :)  Enjoy!

The "Old" covenant...

What is the "Old" covenant?

In today's society we call the first section of our bible the "Old testament."  Inside the Old Testament is the "Old covenant."  Now I am not going to get in depth with all the different views out there on this, what I do want to do is this...

Challenge you to look into the scriptural validity of your own beliefs on the subject.  Only by questioning our own ideas can we grow. If we never question what we believe, never have to prove what we think is true... we will never change our views.  To grow, something has to change.

So lets look at some verses.

First, straight from the mouth of Messiah Himself.

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So Jesus himself  said that Moses and the Prophets spoke of His coming.

There is also John1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
     Later on in verse 14a John clarifies that the WORD is Jesus "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"

Luke 18:31 "then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,    
                      and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be  
                      accomplished."

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and 
                   bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of 
                                 thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 


Now there are many other verses. Hopefully these will spur you on to investigate for yourself. A ten minute google search can find most of these. 

Jesus was preached through the old testament. The only scripture that Jesus and his disciples had was the old testament. This is what they all used to preach the gospel and salvation.

James is just one place where we are told that God is unchanging.  (James   1:17) 

The Torah, (instructions) of God were given from creation.  God rested on the seventh day of creation. (The sabbath, 4th commandment) 
     Cane and able sacrificed to God, a concept from the Torah. 
     Noah was told to take two of every animal and 7 of every clean animal. Clean and unclean was in the Torah, so obviously Noah knew what this meant. 
      If the people in Noah's time were exceedingly evil...what law were they being judged by? Obviously there was a law to hold up as the standard.
     Genesis 26:5 "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, 
                            my statutes, and my laws."  (Obviously God's laws were already in place)

Think of it this way.  God set the foundation in Creation, He built the house with His instructions...the house was full of windows but the windows were glossed over. There were many writings on the walls, but we didn't understand the language. As time went on there were shingles and boards that fell off the house... then Jesus came.

Jesus came, washed and polished  those windows and now we can see clearly!  He fixed the roof and patched the walls and left us parables to interpret the writing on the walls!  The ten commandments say don't commit adultery, Jesus said if you even look at a woman in lust you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. The Torah had a ten percent tithe, Jesus said give ALL that you have, give it to the poor, come and follow Him.

He came to raise the bar, not lower it.  

Psalm 19:7 tells us... "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

How can you make something that is perfect better?  If Jesus changed the perfect law of God He would have made it un-perfect! 

 So... as always, do some research, look into it, and find out the truth! 

Thanksgiving and Praise

I would like to dedicate tonight to give praise and thanksgiving to my God.  When I was a child I read of miracles and with a child like faith I implemented it.
     We had goldfish in a stock tank... I would always try to catch them with my hands as they swam around but to no avail. My efforts were always met with a splash of cool water and an empty hand. One day I thought of the miracles in the bible and told God... "If you can do Miracles please let me catch one of these fish and I will follow you for the rest of my life!"

Now this seems like a foolish thing to say... a silly request...a childish thing to do. A child I was... probably 5 or so if memory serves. 
     After saying this I aimed for a small goldfish, thrust my hand int he water, and came up with a slippery wriggling fish! To an adult this may seem like happenstance but to me it seemed like proof. Now I have gone astray more than my fair share of times since then, but I have always come back to God.

As time went on I grew into a man...and my views changed. A house that I didn't have to pay for because it was already in the family, with nearly everything in it already furnished from the people who left it there before...a free washer and dryer and $75 dollar refrigerator... these things were wonderful blessings to me...but never did I consider them miracles.  

Now I think...why not?  Who am I to belittle these blessings? Isn't anything God does that is not able to be explained a miracle? 

Miracle: 

noun

1.

an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

2.

such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.

3.

a wonder; marvel.

4.

a wonderful or surpassing example of some quality:

 

I would say I could use some of those definitions if not all to say these things were miracles.  For a family of 6 who lived on as little as $4000 a year in our past to have an empty house just sitting around being used for storage that hasn't had anyone living in it for 10+ years, that just happens to have almost everything you need to furnish it aside from appliances (and even a few of them) and for that house that had no upkeep to still be in a liveable condition after all those years... how is that explainable? 

James tells us that every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. All that stuff was a good gift...

How about being told divinely who you are to marry?

Making money stretch further than it should have?

Providing a job the day after I decided to look for a new one because the one I was working did not allow me to follow all God's laws for a believer?

I could go on...but I think you get my point.

Lets remember that just because it's not a miracle that shakes the world doesn't mean it's not a miracle. If it's good it's from God. Lets all remember to give HIM thanksgiving and praise for the miracles He does in our lives and not belittle the mighty hand of our LORD.

Luke 16:10  He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

 

Mathew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

 

 

Surely these scriptures can be applied to our faithfulness in giving God credit and praise for what He does in our lives as well.

 

Hope this encourages you to view your everyday life in a God centered mindset that you may examine yourself and see how much more glory you can give to God if you try!

Meditation...a tool or Taboo?

In our culture today the word Meditation has been dressed with colors from almost every religion known to man. The new age movement and many occult circles use high amounts of meditation and thus it has become a taboo in some Christian circles.
     The Bible, however, has at least 40+ verses about meditation. So the question becomes what IS meditation.

Much of the occult meditation tells you to "empty your mind."  They want your mind unguarded, open, and they want you to allow anything in that wants to enter.
     Is this what the Bible talks about when it speaks of meditation? 

When verses tell you to meditate on the word of God night and day... that is hardly emptying your mind.  Biblical meditation is filling your mind and focusing your mind with a biblical principle, with God and His laws.

When Christians fail to properly fill a role (such as meditating on the word of God) Satan will offer a counterfeit.
     Meditate simply means to ponder, consider, or think about. The enemy has us all running around ragged like chickens with our heads cut off... always busy, always with something to do... we have little time to contemplate the ways of God.  In addition to this, after such a busy involved stretch of time the idea of "emptying our mind" sounds rather inviting. The danger is, if we empty our minds and lower our defenses... allow anything in that wants to come in... that gives Satan and his demons an open door.
     If we fill our mind with scripture Satan and his demons can NOT enter. When Messiah is inside us, evil can not take root. (unless we give a foothold)

So, while meditation is very dangerous if taken out of context, biblical meditation (contemplation on scriptures and the ways of God) can actually make our lives much easier and grow us closer to the Lord.
    So my challenge to all reading this would be...

SLOW DOWN!  Take some time for God. Take time to talk, take time to listen (very important) take time to contemplate scriptures. You need your quiet time with God, and He enjoys that time and will bless you through it.

IN the world but not OF the world.

I would like to address an issue that was brought up in a recent discussion I was involved in on Google+. What I would like to address is the role of the church in our society today. As the body of Messiah, we are called to be holly and set apart. James tells us to be in the world but not of the world.      Because of this people should look at us and know that there is something different...something positive. Now I am not much of a sports fan, but let me use an analogy with baseball. (pardon me if I get a few details wrong about the game)      In major league baseball they have a skilled roster with proven players. They keep track of what these players have done in their career and their progressions. If a kid off the streets wants to play on a major league team he has a long and rigorous task ahead of him.      First he has to have skill, then he must practice and compete in low level games, move up the ranks, and finally be chosen out of a competitive group of peers. If he is chosen he then joins the elite. Now our church, though infinitely more important than any sports team, should work on a similar plan. If we let the kid off the street in (a non-believer) he will not only be ill equipped to carry on the work of the kingdom but will give all believers a bad name because everyone will look at the church and see the world. Remember we are to be in the world but not of the world...how can we accomplish this if the world is in us? So first, as in our baseball analogy, we must have skill, (a calling of the Holly Spirit) then we must compete, (Change our life, confess Messiah, and live for Him)  then we must move up the ranks, (learn, mature, and grow close to God) and then we are ready to join God's elite. (Take our ministry to the road and win others to Him) It is my personal belief that a church is not a witnessing tool. It is a group of believers who come together to minister to each other, strengthen and teach one another, and edify each other in Messiah.      Then we leave equipped to be effective witnesses for Messiah in our lives, to win others to Him and bring them into the church so they too can grow, move through the ranks and join in to the body of Christ.      Now I am not saying you are not a part of the body until you are in the "elite" but simply until you are to a certain level of maturity (faith wise not age wise) you can not be an effective witness. Paul told the Corinthians ( 1 Corinthians 5) to kick the man out of the church who was found in sin. 1 Timothy 1 also eludes to this.  In Corinthians after the man repented they were told to accept him in again.      Because of these principles I believe that no one who is not a follower of the Messiah should be allowed to be a member of a church.      In times past it used to be you had to have a letter declaring your faith, an interview by the pastor, and a spiritual evaluation to even be allowed to come to some churches. Today you simply walk in the door and they "accept you the way you are."      We should accept people for themselves but that does not mean we agree with the way they live. We certainly should not accept them into the body of Christ if they are living contrary to Christ! Messiah said himself, "A house divided against itself can not stand."  Yet we wonder why so many churches today are falling apart... The number one thing I have heard from individuals I know who have been turned off from the faith is "There is simply to much hypocrisy in the church," The sad thing is it's true! Unbelievers who see it want nothing to do with it because to them we simply act like we are better than them and live just like them.      Unfortunately what they don't realize is that the hypocrisy they see is not from believers as much as it is from non-believers who have been accepted into the body, thus damaging the witness of all. So may our churches be made of believers, our believers be involved in outreach, and our LORD use those outreaches to bring in more believers in a self perpetuating cycle that can not be broken!      Why should the world look at us and see a reflection of itself?

To Remember or Forget?

I would think it is safe to say (at least I would hope) that most churches around the world would agree that it is good to...

Put God first in your life and not have any other priorities above Him.
Not have idols or graven images.
Not take the name of God in vain
Honor your father and mother
Not murder
Not commit adultery
Not steal
Not bear false witness
Not covet

Most of us would agree on this.

Those of you who are familiar with Exodus 20 will recognize this list as 9 of the ten commandments. What about the missing commandment? The fourth commandment states in Exodus 20:8-11
     “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

To steal a phrase used by another, why is it that we seem to think that the only commandment out of the ten that starts with the word "Remember" just happens to be the one that modern Christianity says to forget?

Arguments such as, "I keep a Sabbath." "The Lord changed the Sabbath to Sunday."  or even worse, "The church changed the Sabbath."  just don't fly when stood next to scripture.

The word Christian means a follower of Christ. In Hebrew traditions a disciple of a rabbi or a "follower" would live with their teacher and try to mirror him as fully as possible.
     Likewise as a follower of Christ we are to try and mirror Him as fully as humanly possible. So what He did we do, what He wants we want, what he preached we preach.
     So if our Messiah is our blueprint for life and He kept the Sabbath, how then can we ignore it?

Many say our Messiah changed it by His resurrection on the first day of the week. Scripture tells us that the women went to the tomb early on the first day and he had already risen. The exact time of his resurrection is unknown.
     But lets assume for arguments sake that he rose on the first day and that changed the Sabbath. We are then saying that all the followers up until approximately 300 years after the death of Messiah were worshiping on the wrong day.
     Versus such as Acts 16:13 and 17:2 show us Paul's custom was to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath. A custom being something done on a regular basis we can confidently say that Messiah's death and resurrection didn't seem to change the day Paul observed.

Some will bring up versus like 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. This is the saints dealing with money, something they did not do on the Sabbath...and Paul told them why they were to gather on the first day. "That there be no gathering when I come."

Acts 20:7 will be used also. However if we understand that Jewish days start at Sundown, not at midnight we can see it is logical that all the apostles and believers would be gathered on Sabbath for their meeting and then as sundown approached (Saturday night for us) this would be the first day. A Sabbath meeting lasting past sundown, an evening meal, and continued fellowship into the first day was common.

Finally we have Romans 14:5-6 and Colossians 2:16-17
     Colossians 2 tells us that we are not to let anyone judge us when we keep the when you eat and drink and keep the holy days and Sabbaths. Though many would say he is speaking against them it is clear from reading context before and after that his message is "When you keep the Sabbath do not let them judge you." (in a paraphrase)

Romans 14, as I see it, in it's simplest form is the principle "Worry about your own walk with God before you try and change someone else's"
     But he says  "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." THE day in Jewish culture would logically be the Sabbath.  So if he who regards the day regarded it to the Lord, then how does this too not support observing the Sabbath?

Scripturally I think the case is made that the biblical Sabbath was the seventh day. Historical records show no change of the seven day cycle  so our seventh day (to the best of our knowledge) is still the seventh day. This aside Exodus 20 tells us why it is to be the seventh day. It is a memorial of God as Creator.

" For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

So if God hallowed and blessed the seventh day, how can we as humans or a church change that blessing and hallowed day? We can not. No man can change the work of God. It is not A Sabbath God tells us to observe it is THE Sabbath, because only the seventh day is blessed and hallowed in that way, if we were to keep Sabbath on any other day God will not meet us there in the same way as He will on His holy day.

We can go to church on Sunday, we can worship God any day we want... but it is not keeping the Sabbath. And very few who go to church even observe Sunday as a Sabbath day. (Biblical laws regarding Sabbath observance are quite detailed)

James tells us in Chapter 2 verse 10  "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

The law that James is speaking of is the Torah, the first five books of Moses. The new testament was not part of the "Bible" back then. So if James was talking about the first five books, which include the Ten Commandments it stands to reason that if we keep the whole law and fail to keep the one regarding Sabbath we are guilty of breaking all.

Isaiah 66:23 references us keeping the Sabbath in the end of times.

So if Messiah and His followers kept it before, during and after His death and we will be keeping it in the future...why would God want us to forget it today?

Now there are more resources out there and more verses out there on the subject. I would, as always encourage all to research the issue for yourself, pray, and seek God's will with a willing heart.  "Not MY will Lord by YOURS be done."

I leave you with the information, a choice in your own hands, and a prayer that Messiah will lead you as He sees fit.

Thanks for reading,
Jason

Doomsday Prepping

With today's political scene, the national wars, threats to Israel, our plummeting economy, etc... it seems like the "signs of the times" are crashing upon our shores one fierce wave after another.
Now I am not here to speculate on when the end will be, or whether I will live to see it.  I won't be terribly surprised if I do...but I won't be surprised if I don't either.
What I would like to address is how should we prepare for such an impending doom?

Whether THE end is coming or not no one can argue that we are in for troubling times ahead. The bible makes it clear that the world will continue to grow more and more corrupt as we get closer and closer to the end. So what should we do?

First off, there is no safer place for you to be than in the will of God. End time scenario or cozy country cottage... either way it's the same. So first we must have a right relationship with Him and follow His will to the best of our ability because whether THE end comes in your life time or not... YOUR end will be in your life time, that much you can count on.

As far as survival goes, many are out there stocking up on guns, preserved foods, self sufficient operations, alternative energy sources, and a myriad of other things. All this is well and good to get you through some rough times... until those rough times turn hard.

If the government turns on us, if society is depraved and desperate, if we are invaded... your stockpiles will be the first target. Your guns will be confiscated, your food stockpiles will be looted, your energy will be cut off, your equipment will wear out and break down.

So what then, would I suggest?  Here is my suggestion. I believe we should all get ourselves a few survival guides and read them multiple times. Learn how to get clean water in the wild, what you can and can not eat, how to build and find shelter, how to start a fire, how to tend the eatable plants in your area.

Learning to preserve foods would be another valuable piece of knowledge. Dried and preserved foods might be the only thing that gets someone through the winter. Hunting also would be a staple for winter survival.

Any items you poses someone can take, your knowledge they can not. Once you know that survival book like the back of your hand... (honestly... how much time do any of us spend staring at the back of our hands? ) go out in the wild and experience! It not only can be a learning experience but it can be a lot of fun. Camp out, try and live off the land for a few days, get your own water from nature's sources.

I realize that to some this would be very difficult but I would urge you to do what you can. I truly believe that this would be the most effective way to survive and perhaps even save the lives of other who do not have the knowledge you posses.

As always, this is my personal opinion. Feel free to give alternative opinions, add to the topic, discuss methods of survival etc...

Thanks for the read and hope it makes you think. ;)

Halloween Trick or Treat (video update)

YouTube Video

This is a youtube video that I recorded on the same subject as my first blog post.

This is an attempt to reach a larger audience with the information. I feel this information is very important and hope that this will urge people on to look into the subject more for themselves.

For more details look at my first blog post

Halloween Blog Post

Pro life VS. Pro Choice

I would like to address another very important issue in our society.  I believe that the abortion issue is one of the greatest of our society with an estimated 50,000,000 children being murdered every year.
And that is only the documented abortions... there are numerous others off the record.

I realize, however, that most say the embryo is not a living being until after a certain date... however they used to say not even until it is born... and some even said shortly after it is born, thus partial birth abortion.  
     What does make a human human? It's our DNA.  There is nothing else that can possibly make us human. If someone wanted to find out what kind of blood they found they would do a DNA test. This would tell them if it was human, dog, bird...etc...   
     If you were to take DNA from an embryo immediately after conception, send it to a lab who had no idea where it came from.... what do you think their results would be?  They would tell you that it's human DNA.

I am not the most knowledgeable on the subject so I will keep this blog short.  Simply put, we all know that murder is wrong. Exodus 20 tells us that in the ten commandments. 

For more information or if you are unsure and undecided on the issue of abortion please take about 30 minutes to watch this video posted in the link below. This is the best video on abortion that I personally have seen.  

33 minutes that will rock your world