It seems like Christianity and Jesus are increasingly under
attack. What's going on? What we look at in this blog is what happens
when Christians use human wisdom to interpret the Bible, twisting
scripture away from its intended message. This blog is dedicated to
using Scripture itself to interpret and help us understand Scripture.
You are welcome to add your comments and thoughts. Other viewpoints
are welcome. Disagreements are welcome.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
East Longmeadow 4th Of July Parade
Anyone in Massachusettes or Connecticut planning to be handing
out tracts or doing evangelism at this year's East Longmeadow
4th Of July Parade (East Longmeadow, MA)?
If you live in that area, don't pass this one by. It is a
HUGE parade with a massive number of spectators who start
lining the streets hours before the parade starts. It's an
excellent opportunity to meet and talk with people who are
just sitting by the side of the road, killing time.
I'll be there and I'll be bringing 1,000 million dollar bills
to give away (plus lot's of other stuff). I hope to see you
there.
posted by BrickBalloon
Saturday, June 19, 2010
When Is A Church Not A Church?
In 2007 I wrote about a visit to a United
Methodist Church in Massachusettes. It was so far from
being Christian that at times I have trouble believing that
what I remembered hearing was actually what took place.
My son was recently traveling in Massachusettes and he attended
the Sunday service at the same church -- and verified everything
I remembered. Even the simplest Bible story is twisted to have
a non-Biblical message.
What we think of children's stories from the Bible, stories
that we may have first learned in Sunday school decades ago,
are very important. They tell us about the nature and character
of God. To distort the meaning of any story from the Bible
is to distort our knowledge of God. It is to create a god
in our image... create the god we want... instead of our being
created in the image of God.
Please be praying for the pagans who are called pastors and
priests, that they may have their blindness lifted by our
Lord and they then beginning leading their congregations to
salvation through Jesus Christ.
By the way, I don't want to be picking on the UMC. They are not
the only denomination with pagan churches. I'd guess that just
over half of UMC churches are solid, Bible believing, gospel preaching
churches. But, because my background is one of having grown up
in a UMC church it is the denomination I am the most familiar
with, and still have ties with. There is no perfect denomination
-- but that does not excuse the UMC for allowing pagan churches
in their midst.
We use Google's Blogger service for this blog. Unfortunately Blogger
has changed their service so that we no longer can have this blog
on our web site. If we want to continue it, it must be moved so
it is hosted by Google. We don't want to do that. So, until we have
time to make the necessary changes, we will not be able to make
many new posts. Any posts we make will probably not have the ability
to allow comments.
Unfortunately, with working a full-time job, and having other ministry
responsibilities, it may be a while before the necessary changes
can be made to make this blog active again.
I will try to make a post now and then, but I'm not sure how well
that will work out.
Thank you for your patience. We'll get it fixed as soon as possible.
posted by BrickBalloon
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Death Of God
Christians lament the gradual decline of American culture and desire to try to fix it. That's the American way. We fix things that are broken. But American culture can not be fixed, because God does not live in the hearts of most American's... including the vast majority who call themselves Christians. To them the true God is dead and they have created a god of their own in their own image. And that gives us the answer.
We cannot expect those who are enemies of God to act in a way that honors God. Trying to force them to honor and glorify God through laws or public pressure will not work. You can legislate morality. One of the chief purposes of government is to restrain evil and sin, and one of the tools of government are laws which help accomplish this. But trying to force God's enemies to honor and glorify Him through civil law, even if the civil law could be put into place, will not work. This is not a battle of the physical bodies or even of minds. This is a spiritual battle... a spiritual war that has been raging for 6,000 years. The only way this war can be won is through the Word of God, and the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior, Lord and God.
Are you sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with others?
In the U.K. Lillian Ladele lost her appeal
against a ruling by an Employment Appeal Tribunal. She is a government
worker who had refused to conduct a gay civil union ceremony. Her
job is to register births, deaths and marriages for the London borough
of Islington.
"The decision of the Court of Appeal is another setback for Bible-believing
Christians," said Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of U.K.-based
Christian Concern for our Nation. "If this kind of legal precedent
is followed it will prove increasingly difficult for Christians
to participate fully in public life without contravening their conscience."
In it's initial ruling the Employment Appeal Tribunal stated that
the Islington council "placed a greater value on the rights of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community than it placed
on the rights of Ms. Ladele as one holding an orthodox Christian
belief."
In December 2008 that initial ruling was overturned, and the new
ruling stated that the council had the right to require all its
registrars to conduct all the services. Last week the court of appeals
affirmed the appeal tribunal's decision.
Here's someone who predicted what would happen two months before it did, and has interesting insights on what is to come. If you've read your Bible you know what uniting everyone under a world government means.
With everything that has been going on did
you notice that just over a month ago President Obama signed into
a law a hate crimes law. It adds to the list of federal hate crimes
attacks on people based on their sexual orientation. The way this
type of law has been interpreted in other countries is that, if your
pastor preaches against homosexuality, and someone in the congregation
attends a homosexual rights rally and happens to jostle a homosexual
(that has been considered violence), your pastor is guilty of inciting
a hate crime.
You can be found guilty of a hate crime for teaching your children
what the Bible says about homosexuality. Schools will increase their
promotion of homosexuality as being good and right, because that's
how to teach children be be loving.
Ten Year Old Girl Forced To Attend Public School Because of Her Christian Beliefs
A court in New Hampshire ordered a ten year
old home school girl to attend public school instead of being home schooled.
Why?
Was it because she was falling behind academically? No, she was doing
better than the children in public school.
Was it because she was not socially developing? No, she was outgoing,
happy and "well-adjusted."
What was the reason? Because her mother was raising her daughter to be
a evangelical Christian. According to the court order the girl "appeared
to reflect her mother's rigidity on questions of faith¯ and that the girl's
interests would be best served by exposure to a public school setting¯
and different points of view at a time when she must begin to critically
evaluate multiple systems of belief...in order to select, as a young adult,
which of those systems will best suit her own needs."¯
In other words, parents cannot teach their Christian beliefs to their
children.
Did you know that under communism in the Soviet Union there was religious
freedom. That was the law of the land. How it worked was that you could
practice your religion inside the walls of your church. But, you could
not talk about your religion outside of the church. And you could not
discuss your religion, or teach your religion to your children in your
home.
No, I didn't get the date wrong. Everyone is saying that the world will end in 2012. But I have hard, physical evidence the world will end in 2015.
I was cleaning my old file drawers today and in one of my engineering files I found a perpetual calendar. I know it is accurate because I found it with my engineering papers. And here is the proof...
The word "perpetual" means forever, and this calendar ends with 2015. That means the world will end in 2015!! Take a look for yourself. Here's the calendar:
What do you think? 2012 or 2015?
Does it make any difference? What are we supposed to do about this? Share the good news with non-believers. It doesn't matter if the world is going to end this evening, in 2012, or 1,000 years from now. We are commanded to share the good news about Jesus Christ. When is the last time you told someone about Jesus?
