Friday, June 26, 2020
Aren't the Lives of Human Babies More Important than Statues?
Slap-Happy Positive People are no Help
This is so true!!! This kind of "positive" attitude never has a solution to anything. We need solutions not slap-happy-smiles.
Facing truth no matter how hard it is to do is the way we can resolve problems. We wouldn't want a doctor to slap us on the back and tell jokes to our face without revealing that we have a disease. We would want the true so we can have the cure.
"I couldn't put my finger on my interactions and observations and now I know what to call it. ---The turning a blind eye to blatant problems. Saying "we don't tolerate any 'negative' comments, just be the light ". This shuts the truth-tellers down. this approach brushes things under the rug. Toxic positivity is the refusal to accept the hard aspects of truth because its uncomfortable. I appreciate this description. Via Kristi Suber"
Facing truth no matter how hard it is to do is the way we can resolve problems. We wouldn't want a doctor to slap us on the back and tell jokes to our face without revealing that we have a disease. We would want the true so we can have the cure.
"I couldn't put my finger on my interactions and observations and now I know what to call it. ---The turning a blind eye to blatant problems. Saying "we don't tolerate any 'negative' comments, just be the light ". This shuts the truth-tellers down. this approach brushes things under the rug. Toxic positivity is the refusal to accept the hard aspects of truth because its uncomfortable. I appreciate this description. Via Kristi Suber"
Judging According to Character
Any decision made based on someone's ethnicity is racism.
Giving special privileges to someone based on their people group is racism.
Withholding something from any people group based on their people group is racism.
Martin Luther King Jr said this:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
King's dream was that every human being will be judged according to their character not their people group. Get that.....CHARACTER!
This is Biblical:
John 7:24
"24 Do not judge according to appearance, but [a]judge with righteous judgment.”
We are not to judge based on clothing, people group or hair style!!!!! We are to watch the character of a man and judge on that alone!
Giving special privileges to someone based on their people group is racism.
Withholding something from any people group based on their people group is racism.
Martin Luther King Jr said this:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
King's dream was that every human being will be judged according to their character not their people group. Get that.....CHARACTER!
This is Biblical:
John 7:24
"24 Do not judge according to appearance, but [a]judge with righteous judgment.”
We are not to judge based on clothing, people group or hair style!!!!! We are to watch the character of a man and judge on that alone!
Foolishness of Racism
The foolishness of the world we live in is growing more intense!!!
A city in Oregon declared that the only people who must wear masks to protect the public would be the white folks. Blacks would not be made to wear a mask to show a lack of prejudice against them. If this is not insanity I don't know what is!!!!
My take away from this is; if COVID19 is so contagious and dangerous then it would make sense to protect everyone. To say that blacks do not have to wear them is the height of racism.
Think about it, blacks would be more vulnerable to the virus not wearing a mask therefore the message that is sent is that the liberal authorities don't care if the black community is protected.
Thankfully this ruling has been withdrawn because of the uproar from the black community who did not want to be singled out from the whites.
Whether or not you think the masks are necessary is not the issue here, it is the demented thinking of short-sided people who constantly fear making rules for blacks as though they are children who need to be coddled. I cannot think of anything more insulting.
I would be insulted if someone said because I am white I have to wear a big star on my chest or that I couldn't drink at certain fountains. Or worse, to be told "there is a terrible disease lurking everywhere and everyone should wear a mask to protect themselves unless you are black, we don't care about whether or not you get sick and die." That is the message sent by ignorant and foolish superficial thinkers.
Nevermind the fact that there is no legal grounds for making anyone wear a mask.
Here is the thing, this is for all those liberal childlike people out there who act as though particular people groups should be treated like children. To treat everyone exactly the same, with dignity as well as expecting all people of every people group to follow the SAME rules is treating all people as equal and valuable with dignity.
It is not dignified to single out a particular people group as being "different" from another by making special rules that isolate them from the rest of the culture.
Dignity is giving equal value and expecting equal treatment for all people groups as members of the human race. The same rules for all and the same punishments and rewards for all will give everyone equality.
To do anything based on a person's people group is racism.
The liberals are the worst when it comes to demonstrating racism while in an attempt to prove they are not, its positively laughable if it were not so insulting.
2 Corinthians 5:15
"15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."
Christ values all people groups, after all, He made them!
A city in Oregon declared that the only people who must wear masks to protect the public would be the white folks. Blacks would not be made to wear a mask to show a lack of prejudice against them. If this is not insanity I don't know what is!!!!
My take away from this is; if COVID19 is so contagious and dangerous then it would make sense to protect everyone. To say that blacks do not have to wear them is the height of racism.
Think about it, blacks would be more vulnerable to the virus not wearing a mask therefore the message that is sent is that the liberal authorities don't care if the black community is protected.
Thankfully this ruling has been withdrawn because of the uproar from the black community who did not want to be singled out from the whites.
Whether or not you think the masks are necessary is not the issue here, it is the demented thinking of short-sided people who constantly fear making rules for blacks as though they are children who need to be coddled. I cannot think of anything more insulting.
I would be insulted if someone said because I am white I have to wear a big star on my chest or that I couldn't drink at certain fountains. Or worse, to be told "there is a terrible disease lurking everywhere and everyone should wear a mask to protect themselves unless you are black, we don't care about whether or not you get sick and die." That is the message sent by ignorant and foolish superficial thinkers.
Nevermind the fact that there is no legal grounds for making anyone wear a mask.
Here is the thing, this is for all those liberal childlike people out there who act as though particular people groups should be treated like children. To treat everyone exactly the same, with dignity as well as expecting all people of every people group to follow the SAME rules is treating all people as equal and valuable with dignity.
It is not dignified to single out a particular people group as being "different" from another by making special rules that isolate them from the rest of the culture.
Dignity is giving equal value and expecting equal treatment for all people groups as members of the human race. The same rules for all and the same punishments and rewards for all will give everyone equality.
To do anything based on a person's people group is racism.
The liberals are the worst when it comes to demonstrating racism while in an attempt to prove they are not, its positively laughable if it were not so insulting.
2 Corinthians 5:15
"15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."
Christ values all people groups, after all, He made them!
Shame and Judgment are on America!
This country and the world is going down to defeat with the devil at the helm. He will defeat every government and nearly every individual who has not trusted in Christ.
If our focus as born again believers is this world then we will miss opportunities to bring the important message of the cross to those who are perishing.
So many "Christians" are busy trying to save a dying world hoping to preserve counties so they can continue to live as they always have, in freedom and prosperity.
This is not what the goal of the born again believer should be. We are grateful for what God has given us and how He has protected us over the years. But now is the time to repent from using God's things without regard to Him.
Its sort of like a bratty adult child who wants the inheritance of the parents but they have no love or concern about the parents. They want their things but they don't want them.
The mantra "God bless America" disgusts me greatly every time I hear it. It reminds me of a bratty child who has been given nearly everything he wants but is ungrateful accusing the parents of not doing enough.
God has given us everything to demand more is to be ungrateful to Him. These are entitled people who think God has an obligation to bless us while we used His blessing to further our own pleasures.
Shame and judgment are on America and yet it refuses to repent from its shame and sin,.
If our focus as born again believers is this world then we will miss opportunities to bring the important message of the cross to those who are perishing.
So many "Christians" are busy trying to save a dying world hoping to preserve counties so they can continue to live as they always have, in freedom and prosperity.
This is not what the goal of the born again believer should be. We are grateful for what God has given us and how He has protected us over the years. But now is the time to repent from using God's things without regard to Him.
Its sort of like a bratty adult child who wants the inheritance of the parents but they have no love or concern about the parents. They want their things but they don't want them.
The mantra "God bless America" disgusts me greatly every time I hear it. It reminds me of a bratty child who has been given nearly everything he wants but is ungrateful accusing the parents of not doing enough.
God has given us everything to demand more is to be ungrateful to Him. These are entitled people who think God has an obligation to bless us while we used His blessing to further our own pleasures.
Shame and judgment are on America and yet it refuses to repent from its shame and sin,.
We Don't Stop Loving Our Children, We Discipline Them
I was surprised and dismayed to hear a man from Calvary Chapel this morning teaching that he used to believe one could not lose their salvation but has changed his mind and now believes one can lose it.
Let me be clear, no one can save themselves and no one can keep themselves saved after God made them into a new creation. It is Christ Who saves and keeps us until He comes for us.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
It is our spirit that has been changed into the Spirit of God. Our spirit from before salvation is gone entirely, no one who is born again can get that spirit back again.
Our bodies are sinful, we are trapped in them until we die or God takes us by the rapture.
Galatians 5:16-18 "16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.…"
When we sin because our flesh has been weak we hate it because we love Christ.
1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
God does not throw away His children, rather He disciplines them to help them return to obedience.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
When we become born again Jesus Christ covers the sinfulness in our bodies with the blood of Jesus Christ.
All our lives after we have been born again God is working on us to grow us in holiness.
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Those who are born again hate it when they sin, they are miserable and eventually confess to be cleansed. Those who are pretenders, they confess Christ but were never born again love their sin and even defend it.
Anyone who thinks they are keeping themselves saved walk in the sin of pride and has salvation by works.
When we have made the choice to believe Christ that He paid for our sin on the cross, He then comes to change us into a new creation. He saves us and keeps us until He comes for us.
Romans 6:1-23
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ...
2 Peter 1:4
"By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
When we have been changed by Christ it is His work alone and is permanent. God never breaks a promise.
And, finally, When Christ saved us we are considered "seated with Christ in the heavenilies positionally. Our status is in heaven even though our bodies are not there yet.
Ephesians 2:4-10 " 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
Nowhere in the Word of God do we see any verses telling us which sins to avoid because these would be the ones that would cause us to lose salvation. That's because before we were born again the tiniest little sin would keep us out of heaven, not because of the sin itself but because it was our sinful nature that caused that sin. God had to deal with the sinful nature that caused the sin.
God gave us scripture telling us that we had an advocate with the Father if we sin and that we should confess to be further cleansed.
All sin even the smallest ones, such as a little white lie to make ourselves feel better is enough to show we have sinfulness in our flesh. It is the sinfulness of our flesh that God deals with after we are born again.
When we die and go before the Lord our flesh does not go with us because it is sinful. Our flesh does less sin as we grow in holiness if we are born again,, but we continue to battle that flesh while we live on this earth.
Galatians 5:16-18 "16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.…"
For a teacher to say that we can lose our salvation He must believe we are keeping ourselves saved in our own effort. He is saying that Christ does not have the power to keep us saved and that our power is above His power. He is saying that God didn't mean what He said in His word in all the passages I quoted above.
No man has the power within themselves to make themselves good or keep themselves good. How can a "desperately wicked human being ever have the ability to do any good with pure motives without Christ. It is not possible.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 " 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure— who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.…"
The only way we can evaluate our own walk is through knowing the scriptures. No man can be honest about himself as to the degree of good that he thinks he is. Nearly all criminals in jail believe they are basically good people.
Criminals think that only one bad act does not make them evil. The truth is that it is only one bad act that proves the sinful nature. If we were basically good we would not sin at all.
Mankind is not just "basically evil, we are evil through and through with the ability to deceptively fool others into thinking we are good. Even mankinds good deeds are done to elevate self.
When we are born again we came with the knowledge of our sinfulness because Christ opened our eyes. After we are born again our sinful acts looked even more black than we first realized. Being changed by Christ made our perspective about sin so much more clear. We no longer saw things the way we saw them before we were saved. Even the slightest sin in us now troubles us greatly, driving us to confess to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9 written to believers:
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Titus 3:5
"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,"
Our spirit has been changed into the Spirit of Christ and our body remains in its sinful state. We don't have to give into the pull of the flesh, but sometimes we do and when we do we must confess to be cleansed to continue toward greater holiness.
1 Peter 2:9-11 "9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of ]visitation."
Some will not be as obedient as they should because they give into the flesh causing a bad witness to the world. These people will be dealt with in eternity.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…
Our relationships with our children is a picture of our relationship with God as His children. We do not stop loving our children when they will not obey, we discipline them.
Let me be clear, no one can save themselves and no one can keep themselves saved after God made them into a new creation. It is Christ Who saves and keeps us until He comes for us.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
It is our spirit that has been changed into the Spirit of God. Our spirit from before salvation is gone entirely, no one who is born again can get that spirit back again.
Our bodies are sinful, we are trapped in them until we die or God takes us by the rapture.
Galatians 5:16-18 "16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.…"
When we sin because our flesh has been weak we hate it because we love Christ.
1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
God does not throw away His children, rather He disciplines them to help them return to obedience.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
When we become born again Jesus Christ covers the sinfulness in our bodies with the blood of Jesus Christ.
All our lives after we have been born again God is working on us to grow us in holiness.
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Those who are born again hate it when they sin, they are miserable and eventually confess to be cleansed. Those who are pretenders, they confess Christ but were never born again love their sin and even defend it.
Anyone who thinks they are keeping themselves saved walk in the sin of pride and has salvation by works.
When we have made the choice to believe Christ that He paid for our sin on the cross, He then comes to change us into a new creation. He saves us and keeps us until He comes for us.
Romans 6:1-23
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ...
2 Peter 1:4
"By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
When we have been changed by Christ it is His work alone and is permanent. God never breaks a promise.
And, finally, When Christ saved us we are considered "seated with Christ in the heavenilies positionally. Our status is in heaven even though our bodies are not there yet.
Ephesians 2:4-10 " 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
Nowhere in the Word of God do we see any verses telling us which sins to avoid because these would be the ones that would cause us to lose salvation. That's because before we were born again the tiniest little sin would keep us out of heaven, not because of the sin itself but because it was our sinful nature that caused that sin. God had to deal with the sinful nature that caused the sin.
God gave us scripture telling us that we had an advocate with the Father if we sin and that we should confess to be further cleansed.
All sin even the smallest ones, such as a little white lie to make ourselves feel better is enough to show we have sinfulness in our flesh. It is the sinfulness of our flesh that God deals with after we are born again.
When we die and go before the Lord our flesh does not go with us because it is sinful. Our flesh does less sin as we grow in holiness if we are born again,, but we continue to battle that flesh while we live on this earth.
Galatians 5:16-18 "16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.…"
For a teacher to say that we can lose our salvation He must believe we are keeping ourselves saved in our own effort. He is saying that Christ does not have the power to keep us saved and that our power is above His power. He is saying that God didn't mean what He said in His word in all the passages I quoted above.
No man has the power within themselves to make themselves good or keep themselves good. How can a "desperately wicked human being ever have the ability to do any good with pure motives without Christ. It is not possible.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 " 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure— who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.…"
The only way we can evaluate our own walk is through knowing the scriptures. No man can be honest about himself as to the degree of good that he thinks he is. Nearly all criminals in jail believe they are basically good people.
Criminals think that only one bad act does not make them evil. The truth is that it is only one bad act that proves the sinful nature. If we were basically good we would not sin at all.
Mankind is not just "basically evil, we are evil through and through with the ability to deceptively fool others into thinking we are good. Even mankinds good deeds are done to elevate self.
When we are born again we came with the knowledge of our sinfulness because Christ opened our eyes. After we are born again our sinful acts looked even more black than we first realized. Being changed by Christ made our perspective about sin so much more clear. We no longer saw things the way we saw them before we were saved. Even the slightest sin in us now troubles us greatly, driving us to confess to be cleansed.
1 John 1:9 written to believers:
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Titus 3:5
"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,"
Our spirit has been changed into the Spirit of Christ and our body remains in its sinful state. We don't have to give into the pull of the flesh, but sometimes we do and when we do we must confess to be cleansed to continue toward greater holiness.
1 Peter 2:9-11 "9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of ]visitation."
Some will not be as obedient as they should because they give into the flesh causing a bad witness to the world. These people will be dealt with in eternity.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…
Our relationships with our children is a picture of our relationship with God as His children. We do not stop loving our children when they will not obey, we discipline them.
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