This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9
I see it everyday….I read posts by stubborn Christians, even some who are my dear, dear friends. They may dis-own me today! So be it! I stand for God and His Ways and Words. My discernment shows me this is so very wrong. Many Christians are becoming more political than Christians. I have been preaching for years that politics is destroying America! LOOK AT AMERICA!!! I smell the smoke from hell now! Many Christians have made politics and politicians a god! You must not have any other god but me. Exodus 20:3.So very sad! I was always taught to not show an unbelieving world what it wants to see from Christians. Well, many Christians are acting badly and showing an unbelieving world just what it want to see, Christians acting crazy. I was always taught to live your life so that when people look at you they see Jesus.
I am just a simple man, doing the best I can here at this little ministry. I have no care to be popular in this world. I do not care what the world thinks of me. I will not argue with fools, the Bible tells us you cannot reason with a fool. Don’t waste your breath on fools, for they will despise the wisest advice. Proverbs 23:9
Whatever happened to vetting politicians by the Word of God? Many Christians need to vet themselves by reading the Word of God and then exhibiting it to the world. Have folks become so foolish they think God invented politics! My goodness!
What does God think of our behavior? I am very sad that many Christians have become so full of themselves…many show no empathy for those dying from COVID. The comments that are said to me or that I read on Facebook shows many harden hearts. Yesterday I got a call from a Pastor friend of mine, we were to do a funeral service together. She has come down with COVID. I called another Pastor, COVID has broken out in their Church. Two weeks ago I officiated at a funeral and many family members flew in from out-of-state, they were not told only 5 would be allowed into the chapel for the funeral and graveside service at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. The pain on the faces of around 70 people who could not be inside was awful to see. COVID has brought America to its knees. We have become too ‘big for our own britches’ as we used to say. All full of ourselves. We thought we were a success as long as the stock market was up! We fell in love with ourselves and pleasures and money and possessions. Jesus was left on the roadside. No empathy for the families that have lost loved ones to COVID, they make mask wearing a political issue and only think of themselves. These folks are standing on a hill that is going to collapse into misery. Self-Will blinds one from the ways of God. Many Christians have put aside their Bibles and God’s Word for their self- will, thinking they know more than God.
Americans are dying at a record level, there is no end in sight from the deaths from COVID. Many are foolish to think all is good, vaccines will be coming. I do not know if that will help, but what would help, is if everyone was vaccinated by the Word and Ways of God.
It is so very foolish to think the road that politics is taking us is not to the pit of hell.
Only fools think this extreme hate, self-will and dirty politics will result in a better America.
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
John 5:28-29
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The Sin of Self-Will
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Psalm 81:11
But my people would not listen to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
I. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH MEN FELL. Self-will is the perverted use of free will. Free will could be self-will if man were an independent creature. Free will must not be self-will, because man is a dependent creature. Free will became self-will, because man allowed himself to be guided by what seemed “pleasant to the eyes and good for food,” rather than by what he knew to be the will of him on whom he depended. Serving himself is the essence of sin for one who has been made dependent – in every way dependent upon God. What we have to counteract is the delusion that man is an independent being, and therefore may “follow the devices and desires of his own heart.” Illustrate from Daniel 5:28. II. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN FROM WHICH MEN ARE DELIVERED. There are penalties into which men have brought themselves by their self will, and from these they need to be delivered. But it would be no effective redemption that dealt only with penalties. Deliverance from self-willedness, in a dependent creature, can only be effected by making him on whom he depends so infinitely attractive that he wins full trust and obedience. And this is accomplished by God’s manifestation of himself to men in the Person, life, and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. III. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH THE REDEEMED ARE IN DANGER OF FALLING BACK. Illustrate from the Israelites, as redeemed unto the service of Jehovah, from Egypt. Bring out (1) the open ways, and (2) the subtle ways, in which nowadays Christians may be tempted to the self-trust which breaks them away from their dependence on God. – R.T. |
Midge Harwood who used to attend First Baptist Church in Reserve, NM where I serve, died of COVID last month in Minot, North Dakota. Midge had moved there to be closer to her children. My heart still breaks for her parents Frank and Sylvia Hall and the entire family. I worked in radio in Williston, North Dakota years ago. Such wonderful people of God. North Dakota is a great state.
1 In Every 800 North Dakota Residents Now Dead From Covid
Let us pray…………
The world is in crisis today and nurses are being strongly challenged. Help them to be the best nurses they can be despite the situation.
Bless them with courage so that they can face the challenges head-on. Bless them with a kind bedside manner so that they can care for their patients with respect and understanding. Guide them in providing expert care while ensuring the comfort of their patients.
Lord, let nurses be the source of strength for their patients and families. Let them be each other’s light in this difficult time. Fill them with energy so that they can power through their shifts. Shower them with love which they can give to every person under their care.
Amen.
Last night I had trouble sleeping. I was kinda upset. I have never seen our Country in such bad shape, we are so very divided and get so mad at each other. People want to pick fights on Facebook with me, I’m sure you have then same thing happen to you if you are speaking out for JESUS! I do not know if we will ever come together again as a Country. I have warned for years America was making politics a god.
The election process for President has turned into chaos, the pandemic is getting worse. More folks are dying and getting sick and the hospitals are filled to capacity and the Doctors and nurses are so very tired, some are quitting. My angel wife Sharon and angel daughter Gretchen are on the front lines. People fight over wearing a mask. Many have become so very selfish and only care about themselves. Families cannot be with their loved one when they pass away. I am doing another funeral on Saturday. It breaks my heart that the family cannot be together, only 5 are allowed in the chapel, but thankfully the funeral home will broadcast it live so they can watch the service, but as you know this is not the same at all. People are hurting so badly….. it breaks my heart…they cannot not grieve like we normally do. This is of great concern of mine, the grieving process is now way different.
Folks in nursing homes cannot see their loved ones and cannot leave their rooms. We have a friend who will be 100 in April, she is lock downed in her room. Her son-in-law tells me It is hard to talk to her on the phone because she cannot hear that good.
The pandemic is taking an enormous toll on people losing their businesses and jobs.
Many people who are living alone in their homes alone have severe bad anxiety.
Education is a mess, I do not know how students do this without one on one contact with their teachers, the same with the teachers…it must be so very stressful.
People panic and raid the grocery stores.
What makes my head spin is that during this whole time pro football and baseball owners sign players to multi-million dollar contracts while people loose their jobs and go hungry. That is messed up.
Will America ever be the America I once knew?
We all need to seek the face of Jesus. Jesus needs to be at the center, He is not at this time in America, politics is, selfishness is, ego’s are running at an all-time high. The Church has lost much of its influence in América. That is a bitter pill to swallow.
“We Must All Hang Together, or Most Assuredly, We Will All Hang Separately” Benjamin Franklin made this statement at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was of course referring to the need for the signers, and the states they represented, to stick together against a common enemy, Great Britain.
The Pledge of Allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
What will we do?
My heart is broken…..
Many do not know JESUS is the only answer.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
–John 13:34-35
