Monday, September 14, 2015

"...now I urge"---Acts 27:22

Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.—-Act 27:22Paul, the prisoner, gave a pep-talk to the sailors, soldiers and fellow-prisoners before they were to be ship-wrecked. He began telling them to be encouraged because there would be no loss of life. He identified his source of this foreknowledge as the God with whom he had a personal relationship. It had been two weeks lost at sea due to a storm. Things looked grim. The men were desperate. No one had eaten in days, and the sailors were plotting to abandon ship. Paul, full of the Spirit of the Lord, took charge by encouraging the men that all would be fine, even though the ship was going to crash. At least it would crash on land. He got the men to eat in order to gain strength for the swim to shore, and he foiled the plot by the sailors to escape. He kept the 276 men together, and they made it safely ashore, although the ship was not so lucky. —- Sometimes things happen to us, because we are hanging around some bad people. However, it would be great if we turned that around, and great things happened to people for hanging around us. You see, God meant for Paul to make it where he was going. Not even a violent storm could stop that! These other folks were spared because God was looking out for Paul. Knowing Paul, God knew this would be an opportunity to bring glory to God as Paul would share the Gospel though all this. —- Not only were the 276 men likely saved spiritually as result of this experience, but God brought the Gospel to this island that was likely forgotten. Listen, God knows how to get the Gospel to faraway places! God cares more than you know.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Why does America protect a destructive religion like Islam?

Someone posed this question, and it made me think. I have often thought about putting these words carefully into context knowing they could sound controversial, yet truthful. First of all, Christianity does not need protection by any government, because truth will stand. Truth will pass the test of time. Those attempting to take truth down, will find themselves on the wrong side of truth on judgment day. Christianity is called a religion in your school books, but it is about a relationship with Jesus, who died for our sin on the cross and was resurrected on the third day. —- If religions like Islam are to have a fighting chance they need to be propped up by governments and other entities. Nevertheless, we have witnessed the attempts by government to destroy Christianity but grant “hall-passes” for religions like Islam who have shown evidence of what they’ll do if they wield the power. On the other hand, there was a once-great nation that was, at a time, heavily influenced by Christianity.They grew strong and looked after the world. We acknowledge that Christians do not always get it right, because we are susceptible to flashbacks to the flesh at times. However, the tenets of the faith direct us to “love one another,” and this attitude has had positive impacts on the world at large (ie. check your hospitals, relief agencies, orphanages, first responders, etc.).—- Here’s my proposal to America and other governments of the world: Don’t protect Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc., but rather leave them all alone to stand. However, don’t attack either, because right now it seems like only one of these is under attack. —- On a balanced field, Christianity will stand. Otherwise, you are shooting yourselves in the foot, because Christianity is the only one of these that is prompted to look outwardly in helping others.—-Finally, we continue to pray for the families who lost much during 9/11. And we pray for our “would-be” attackers to come to faith in Christ, because that’s what we do. Jesus is our hope. He has already defeated man's worst enemy, death! Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.—-1John 5:12