It seems like Christianity and Jesus are increasingly under attack. What's going on? What we'll be looking at 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.
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?
