As we have been reporting for years the Dems push abortion and pot. The push continues to legalize pot in the upcoming New Mexico 2021 Legislative session. These folks just see the $$$ signs. The Governor will also continue to push her abortion agenda. We have such a mess here in New Mexico, this is what happens when God is left out. God cannot fully bless New Mexico as it continues to kill His babies. Shame on New Mexico, known to many as the Abortion Capitol! NOW POT HEADS DRIVING!!!???!!?? So very, very unBiblical. Can the state invest in Godly things? Can New Mexico change for God?
Francis Shaeffer said, “Every abortion clinic should have a sign in front of it saying, “Open by the permission of the church.”
I wanted to share this impactful quote by Francis Shaeffer. If you are not familiar with his works click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer
Where is the salt Church? “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Matthew 5:13
As the great man of God Chuck Colson said years ago, “The American Church has turned into a high school pep rally.”
From Dr. Jim Denison: According to LifeWay Research, only 54 percent of Americans believe hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever. This despite the fact that hell is mentioned twenty-three times in the New Testament, fifteen of these times by Jesus. The Bible describes it as the “punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7), “outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13), and permanent separation from God (Luke 16:26) as the “second death” (Revelation 20:14).
Only 10 percent of Christian churchgoers say they share their faith with a lost person at least once a month. When last did you?
Hello Church?
I Strongly Suggest You Read This Book By The Great Man of God Chuck Colson
Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
Recreational marijuana could generate up to $800 million a year, according to new estimates
Our Dear Friend Chuck Akeley’s post from July of 2019 really hits a homerun for God!
“Legalization” Of Marijuana In New Mexico – Is This Really A Good Idea?
In our country and yes, our state, it has become almost fashionable to support the growth and use of marijuana, whether for medicinal use or recreational use. So much so, that even our state executive and many legislators consider government sanctioned and controlled distribution of marijuana to be a worthy effort as means to acquire tax dollars. Let’s consider some of the well-established issues facing New Mexico. For many years, we’ve been rated at the bottom or almost the bottom for quality of education, children living in poverty, drug use (e.g., opioid use), drug trafficking (I-40, I-10, I-25 and the southern border corridors) and DWI offenders (including the associated deaths). Is there really wisdom in enhancing these issues by creating a culture of “legalized” use of marijuana here in New Mexico?
A wise man once told me that if you have any doubt as to whether to do or say something, then ask yourself, would you look to Jesus and say “Lord, I do this thing as unto You” or “Lord, I give You thanks for this which I am about to do.” If the answer is no, then why are you doing it? Would you ask Jesus to bless your firing up of a joint or bowl or eating of a laced edible so that you would experience a high? The scripture says we should seek His wisdom. According to Proverbs 4:7, “[w]isdom is the principal thing; [t]herefore get wisdom [NKJV].” Ephesians 5:15-21 instructs us to walk in wisdom: “[s]ee then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [NKJV].” Just because we CAN do something doesn’t necessarily mean we SHOULD do something.
My background includes a few years as a Special Agent with the USAF Office of Special Investigations, during which much of the training involved drug enforcement. I spent the first year after completing the initial academy leading the Travis AFB, CA Joint Drug Enforcement Team and subsequently worked for several years at Holloman AFB, NM participating in drug enforcement operations with the other agents. Once you have strapped on the equipment and executed a few warrants, you tend to develop a very different perspective about “low level drug use,” as the small amounts of drugs came from someone who was probably not your next door neighbor, and that person’s drugs came from a trafficker – a very dangerous person. The perspective that I’m not hurting anyone is a big lie. It is not surprising to me that the military and local or state police have had to lower standards in order to acquire acceptable cadets. Today, our children and youth often do things as a result of cultural or peer influences which can devastate future employment opportunities. How much worse it is when our children’s parents are the ones modeling this behavior? I thank God that our Lord is forgiving and merciful, and am reminded that we are called to forgive others and to help guide our friends, family and others unto salvation and into their God-given destiny!
It’s interesting to hear discussions about “legalizing” recreational use of marijuana at the state level. If a state allows something that is forbidden at the federal level, it is not really legal, but what is happening is that the federal government has elected, as a matter of enforcement discretion, to refrain from seeking prosecution under certain circumstances and the state has elected to ignore existing federal code or statutes. The federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), 21 USC 812, establishes five schedules of controlled substances, identified as Schedules I, II, III, IV and V. Schedule I lists substances that have been determined to have: 1) a high potential for abuse; 2) no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States; and 3) a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or substance under medical supervision. The psychoactive substance in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”), remains to this day a listed Schedule I substance. Because of this, many states have struggled with the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana and declare legality, when in point of fact, what is occurring is simply enforcement discretion at the federal level and a glaring lack of willingness of the federal government to take a solid position one way or the other.
There is MUCH remaining to be said about this issue, including the increasing levels of THC in modern-grown marijuana plants provided by dispensaries and technologically-advanced illicit grows, the lack of clear means for law enforcement to easily determine the degree of driving impairment compared to determining alcohol impairment, the effect that such has or may have on us developmentally, mentally and physically, the wisdom and procedure for assuring sound regulatory controls at the federal and state level – and assuming this issue isn’t going away quickly, the spiritual implications of encouraging, yet another mind altering substance for use by our residents, demonstrating yet again, the wisdom of man in the face of the wisdom of God.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that You would speak to the hearts of those in a position to encourage, allow, regulate and/or spend tax dollars on marijuana matters in our beautiful State of New Mexico (and across this nation). Give us ears to hear and eyes to see what is the will of God. May wisdom guide our discussions and determinations, with a mighty hedge of protection over all who are doing Your will and serving Your people, in light of this challenge. But regardless, help us to always love. Always. Amen.
Chuck Akeley
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Open Mind; I Think Not
In the years just prior to my salvation experience and new life in Christ Jesus, Satanism was my “religion” of choice. I was pursuing him, the evil one, to teach me things that I was so hastily seeking to know. I desired him to fill my mind with knowledge to do supernatural things in one particular grave yard. He was more than willing to oblige.
Satan’s greatest goal and achievement in man is mind control. If he can control your mind he has your body for action. It is all about lies, deceptions, and destruction. I am telling you this first of all as a warning, and the reason I am so set against any substance, be it alcohol or any mind altering drug, even some approved drugs.
When a substance has altered, or clouded my thinking, I have just opened the door to my mind and the demonic strolls in and takes charge. (Some forms of music have this ability to control mind and emotion as well. Ask natives of superstitious cults in remote areas who have come out, what they would do to call out demons. It was music/drums/chanting and natural mind altering drugs).
I have enough trouble keeping satanic influence out of my natural mind and emotions. I will not help him by numbing my mind from truth.
Secondly, to the believer, you need to understand that Satan does not need to possess your total body to control your life. All he needs is to plant his thoughts, suggestions, temptations, lies and deceptions into your mind. He then watches to see if you naively act on those things. If he sees you are prone to believe or accept these influences as being truth for you in the moment, he will feed you with more. Very soon, he is controlling your mind and you act accordingly, by your choosing. You believe you are right in what you are thinking, speaking and acting. Why do you think so many churches are struggling within their own membership?
When Jesus was incarnate, by choice because of His never ending love for you, He deliberately laid aside all the prerogatives of being God, and chose to be as we are. All of His wisdom, strength, and determination came through the Spirit by prayer with the Father.
When the Spirit led Him into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting and prayer, the enemy approached Him in His physical weakness from hunger thinking He would be an easy target for his deceptive traps. Satan thought that if the body was weak, so too the mind. (Luke 4:1-13)
What the devil did not realize was that Jesus’ spirit and mind had been fully nourished and strengthened by every Word from God. He answered each tempting challenge with the Father’s Word brought to mind by the Spirit to overcome the lies and false promises.
“Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” (Luke 4:13-14)
Notice that after Jesus’ baptism and being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness, but after a season of fasting and prayer, Jesus came back in the power of the Holy Spirit, which had defeated the evil one’s advances toward His mind.
American churches are so divided today because of fear, panic, anger, political fervor, and depression, all of which have weakened our spiritual concentration to recognize the onslaughts and deceptions of the evil one in our midst. What is needful right now is for believers to fast and pray for extended periods; even fasting from media influences about the things that cloud our best judgments.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5)
Church, take your mind into the silence of a wilderness journey led by the Spirit for a season of fasting and prayer, leaving behind all anxiousness and personal agendas. Solitude; simply and powerfully, only you and the Spirit of God, seeking together His face and you will find His agenda; follow that faithfully!
Church, Wake Up; Come Alive! Pray On!
