Purpose of Life

A few weeks ago when I was on my way back from a vacation in Ohio, I was reading in the airport waiting for my flight, when I heard a lady talking on the phone behind me. I tried not to eavesdrop but the book was getting kind of boring. She was talking about a friend of hers who had been feeling a bad headache the week before. And then the next day she died of a stroke. I began to feel bad for the lady. She continued talking and said yeah well that's just proof of that fact that we should live like there's no tommorow. And I was agreeing inside we should live that way but her next comment saddened me. And then she kind of laughed and said let's party enjoy life while you can. This is from a 50-60 year old lady.

This is really saddening for me for several reasons. First of all that is the opposite of what our perspective should be, and Second I know that alot of people live misguided this way.

Our perspective on life should not be "Enjoy life while you can because life is short," I agree that life is short but because of that we should accomplish something with our lives. By saying enjoy life while you can she's not only being selfish and only thinking about herself, but making her life into just another failure story. We as christians know that their is a higher purpose. Here on earth is not our life, this is the prelude that determines the ending. We have knowledge of information that can save the world. We need to share and spread it otherwise we indeed waste our lives and might as well be partying. Our goal in life does not need to be to party but it should be to make a difference to make a change. To spread the good news. I encourage you find out what your living for, and to make sure it is centered on God. Don't waste your life.

The truth shall find you out

Today I'm going to discuss an interesting verse I found in Matthew, 7:21-23.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Now there are several important things that we can draw from this verse. First of all which is something that threatens the very existence of christianity today. Is the amount of fake christians. People to claim to be christians yet who aren't. People who cry "Lord Lord," but the Lord doesn't know them. These people have infiltrated The World of Christendom and now nobody can be sure of anyone else until the Judgement day. That's why for once we all must worry about ourselves before we can help others. You know on the planes when they tell you about the oxyegan masks, they tell you to put on yours before helping others. We must be sure of our place with God before we can try to lead other people. Otherwise it shall be the blind leading the blind.

The second conclusion and the one that has most captivated my attention, is what is says in verse 22-23. That not only will people claim to be christians yet aren't, that is not that uncommon but that they were able to prophesy in his name, drive out demons, and even perform miracles. What fascinates me is that these people, who were fake christians who said they followed Jesus but rejected him in their's hearts, these people who God says he despises were able to preform miracles? cast out demons, prophesy? How is this possible, how can people that deny God have his power? yet others who search whole heartily for him are denyed?

Now the only plausible answer I can come up with is that it's Satan's power, because I mean who else is there? And it would seem to make sense, the bible says that Satan is very crafty and this would seem to agree with that. That he could trick people who everyone looks up to as heros in the cause of Christ into actually being against God. Makes sense right? Yet another verse in Matthew causes me to wonder. Matthew 12:25-28

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Well… then who is it? I know this is rather unfair of me to end this with a question, but I don't know. So what is this third power that gives to humans the might to do the supernatural?

Mutilation of Words

I bear sad tidings of a revelation I have received, we have forgotten the name of God.
Now I don't mean literally but we have forgotten it's meaning which leaves us in grave danger. The common names for God are obviously, God, Christ, Lord, and Saviour. I don't think people even realize what these words mean anymore. What all these words have in common is that they emphasize a Master and a servant. And I'm sorry but we are not the master. We are servants, we are people who have failed and should be humbled by are weakness. Yet these words God, and Lord slide off our tongues so easily. We don't even realize what we are saying anymore. If you think about it words like God and Lord have even more personal effect then if their was a king of the entire world. If you have a lord or master you would be a slave to his every whim, Now God is not calling us to that but yet we call him Lord yet deny what he asks of us with saying things like not now lord I'm busy, Or I want to finish this first. If he is truly our Lord and and he is truly our master and truely our God How Dare We refuse him.

God is even higher then that. Your God is infinitely higher then any man made position or king. If God is truly your God then you worship him, you sacrifice everything you can for him, you'd do anything in the world to please him because he is your God your ultimate devotion. With modern Hollywood today people idolize certain people they dress like them talk like them and act like them, they even study them, these people are their idols. Yet we can't even do the same thing for Our GOD?

And the small difference my friends between an idol and a God, is that an idol is fake and temporary, and God is real. How dare we not have the same curtsy for our God, The person who saved us, who loves us, who cares for us, who never leaves us, who will never forsake us, who died for us, who created us people.

Where do I get this you ask? first of all from the divinely inspired word of God, the Bible. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Or Romans 2:24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
So you want more then biblical proof? Well then listen to how many times people say "O my God."

We have fallen away from the true meaning of God and Lord, and we are in grave danger. It is time that we restored God to his rightful place as a holy and righteous God who is coming out of his way for us, Not us making time for him. Think about this next time you say the words Lord or God. And think about if you really mean it.

above the influence poems

I've had some requests for more poetry so here are two poems that I have written. The first I've already posted on a former blog, and the second is a variation of the first so I would like you to vote on which is better the first or the second because I am torn but like them both.

I looked in her eyes,
And I saw fears,

I looked in her heart,
And I saw tears,

I heard her words,
And felt the pain,

I heard her cries,
And saw the stain,

There she stood alone,
No one on her side,

No one was her friend,
And so alone she died,

No one held her up,
No one found her name,

And when she yelled for help,
Nobody ever came,

Alone in the world she stood,
No one offered a hand,

She died a lonely death,
A woman searching for land,



that was the first

here is the second



Her fears were pictured,
In her eyes,

Her heart is full,
Of tears she cries,

Her words are burdened,
With the pain,

Her crying leaving,
Eternal stain,

Hopelessness,
Is all she'll find,

Veiled by pain,
She is blind,

Pierced by life's dagger,
Won't someone save her,

There she stands alone,
All, on her own,


1 or 2?

An interesting verse

I would like to share an intriging verse that I have stumbled apon in my readings of the bible. Isaish 38:2-5. It says, "Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.

Now this is a pretty simple verse but if you read into it then there are three important things in it.

Number one, and probably a pretty obvious one but important, God has the ability to change the future, Because he granted Hezekiah an extra fifteen years to his life.

Number two, and this is important and hard for me to deal with but there is an ultimate plan, determined before hand. I get that from verse five where it says, I will add fifteen years to your life. Now to add something, take math for example, there must be something to add it to. You can't just have "3 +" you must have two things. In this case the original plan, and then the changed one. There can't be a changed one and not be an original. Both must be their or neither.

And this brings me to my third point that I'm also struggling with.
Number three, this plan was not perfect. For God to have to change "the plan" then it must not have been originally perfect. This does not seem to all add up because everything God does is right, he doesn't need to go back and redo his work. Because it is all perfect originally.

So unless there is something drastically wrong in my reasoning which is entirely possible, there is a Major contradiction in this verse. Could anybody help me out?

Salvation

Now today I would like to talk about a very important issue, Salvation. Now Salvation is simply put the Christian view on how to be forgiven from your sins, so that you can spend eternity in heaven instead of hell. I am writing an essay on this so any thought you can give me would be appreciated. But the typical view is that to become a christian and be saved you must genuinely ask Jesus into your heart and admit that he died for you to save you from death, making you righteous then you will be saved, forever. Now i'm sure many of you christians are nodding your heads, well i believe there is more to this then that. Though that is the first step, accepting Jesus I believe that the sign of salvation is Good works. Now you catholics are nodding but the good works do not, Do Not grant your salvation they are merely a sign of genuine acceptance. They are not the only one and you can never judge purely on this and you should never be judging at all. But when someone has genuinely accepted Jesus then Good Works will be impossible for him to not do. His life Will Be Changed, permanently. It says in Matthew 7:16-17, By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

If you see someone accept Jesus even if it is geniune, then going back and doing the same things they were before and not having or seeing a problem with it, then they were merely caught up in the emotion of it and I believe they won't be saved. A good example of this I heard by a pastor. The pastor said, "Say I were late today, and I finally got here to preach and you said Brother Paul your late what happened," Brother paul said, "Well I was driving on my way here and I swerved to avoid a deer on the highway. I swerved into the next lane and got hit by a 18 wheeler going that way going 90 miles an hour and it flattened my car. You would look at me and say brother paul that's impossible. You can't be hit by something as big as a 18 wheeler and not be changed. And so he replied, well what is bigger a 18 wheeler or God.

You Cannot truely become a christian and not be permantly changed. You won't listen to music like 50 cent and Eminem with out a guilty "conscience," key word being conscience. Now is the music so bad that it cancels your salvation? No! but if you accepted Jesus into your heart and made him Lord of your Life, your will, you sacrificed all your wants and desires before him till he is King of your heart mind and soul. You won't listen to that music and still be a christian.

It says that few will enter the kingdom of God. Now simply using logic all of people who claim to be chrisitans can't be true follower of Christ, because christianity is the largest religion in the world by millions, and simply by knowing that, we know they must be false. Because few isn't half the world or 40% or 30%. We are missing some great detail that makes us christians because it doesn't work logically. If you asked these people what made them christians they would all say that accepting Jesus into their heart and making them Lord of their life. Though some might say more then that, that is the basic answer. That can't be all, we are missing something.

I believe and obviously all of this has been my interpretation and thoughts it's obviously not foolproof. But I believe that the first step is geniune accepting Jesus that is proved through works and other things. And then I believe there is a third step, but I don't know what it is so for now I shall not go into that. Thoughts are appreciated.

Tithing

Today I would like to talk about a topic that I believe is very important, Tithing. However it is not for the typical reasons that people think. Let me just make this clear, God does not need your money. This is a common misconsumption. God does not need our money to accomplish good, it is after all his money that he has given to us. These verses in Malachi support my point, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. That was Malachi 3:8-9. So if God does not need the money, then what does he want it for? Well I shall tell you. In the bible it mentions many times that wealth, and money is evil. Is money actually wrong? Of course not but the love of money is the root of all evil the bible says. 1st Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. And Matthew 19:23-24, Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. These are just several of the examples that shed light upon this topic, why is it so important? Well because as these verses says Money is the root of evil, simply put money seperates us from God. The bible lists it as the number one physical thing that keeps people away from God. Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. So my point is Tithing is something by God used to keep the love of money in check. By giving money away every week at church a large percentage of our income it is hard to fall in love with it. As long as we are willing to give it up we are safe. But at any point if it gets to difficult to give it away we know that we struggle with the love of money. So to wrap up, the purpose of tithing in my opinion is to prevent the love of money from separating us from God.

my favorite poem 2

I would like to finish that thought in another post. Personally i hate when people say that, becoming a christian is easy. Like all you have to do is accept Jesus. Now i used to think the same thing, but people i've grown up being a chrisitian is not the easy path. I was talking with a person i knew and they said prove there's a God. And i replied well scientifically as i'm guessing you want it proven it can't be. However some proof that points to it is me, and the millions of other christians throughout the world. First of all for something to become that popular people must see something in it. Christianity is by far the most popular religion by millions. Now you may say i'm a fool and i'm just making it up but first of all i didn't make it up and i'm not the only fool, your calling like a fourth of the world a fool and ignorant. And even if we were to ignore all that, why do you think I live the way i do. Without drinking, sex, drugs, immoral behaivor, coarse joking all the thigns that you enjoy the most, and all the things the world enjoys. Would I live this way if I were making it all up, would I stay true when everyone was mocking me and my beliefs and saying I made it all up? What could i possibly gain by this? there isn't any thing I can gain if it's all false and a lie, i'm wasting my Life to tell others about this thing that is going to destory the world for eternity. But if it's true… then what happens to you. Do you have any idea how much love and sacrific it takes to tell your friends your family the World that their going to spend eternatiy in hell? Do you think people like hearing this? it doesn't make us popular, were despised and considered ignorant and throwing away our brains. Yet we do it, why? Now there are only two options for them to say after this, either they'll look at you pathetically and say your an idiot, or they'll look you in the eye and say, maybe there's some truth. Now i'm not saying you should say all that but the point is. The life of a christian is by no means easy and we don't gain anything by living a lie. Being a christian is hard, it's hurts. Yet that's what were called to do to sacrfice our will for God's. Being a christian is not easy, but it is right.

my favorite poem

I would now like to share with you probably my all time favorite poem called What Christ Said by George Macdonald. I had to write it again for school today and it's amazing.

I said, "Let me walk in the fields.
He said, "No; walk in the town."
I said, "There are no flowers there.
He said, "No flowers but a crown."

I said, "But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din."
And He wept as He sent me back;
"There is more," He said. "There is sin."

I said, "But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun."
He answered, "Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone."

I said, "I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say."
He answered, "Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they."

I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, "Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide."

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town.
He said, "My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for a crown?"

Then into His hand went mine;
And into my heart came He;
And I walked in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.


I like this poem because it has perfect rhyme keeping the idea and has good meter not perfect but similar enough not to throw you off. The poem talks about Jesus calling us to him and our decision. Now every person when he decides to become not only a christian but a christfollower has to make this choice. Are you going to abandon God and leave his path and plan or are you going to abandon your path and plan for his. This is an incredibly hard descision to make and for most it is not a one time thing you did it now it's done but a continual day by day descision. To follow God into the town verses staying in the field. Now an important thing that the peom alludes to is Jesus's cruxification. When it says,

I said, "Let me walk in the fields.
He said, "No; walk in the town."
I said, "There are no flowers there.
He said, "No flowers but a crown."

I said, "But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din."
And He wept as He sent me back;
"There is more," He said. "There is sin."

It points out that though the field may be funner and nicer it is not the right course. And that the easier course is to stay in the field and on the broad road that leads to destruction but narrorw is the path and way that leads to salavation. It's going to harder your going to mocked and persescuated. But it is for the right cause and when it's all over we can go before God at the gates of Heaven and with out falsehood proclaim that we lived to accomplish his will not ours. We must all be prepared to make this descision every day when the trials come.

Requirements before dating (for men)

(I wrote it in question answer format so i can use it)
I have not asked your father
So i have no right or permission to take away their daughter in a sacred unionfor the rest of their lives,

I am not financally able (i'm not positive about this one but we'll keep it in for now)
So it has a much more limited chance of success,

I have other loves and enjoyments
So i cannont give myself wholely to you and I won't rob you of the ultimate sacrifice required to make this a correct relationship,

I am not at the point in my walk with God that I need to be
So i can't father and lead you spiritually as i am called to do,

And I am not at the point where I would gladly lay down my life for you to save you from the slightest pain,
So there is no absolute commitment and sacrifical love that is needed.

I lack the physical, the spiritual, the psycological, the financial, and the leadership required to take on this role, so i cannot with out rightful and holy judgement form God commit myself to you and being in your life until I am able.




Alright so whether you agree with those or not, I believe they would solve a very big problem today which is the plague of recreational dating. Kids in middle school are dating they are pairing kids off in first grade. Now first you must realize this is a modern phenomen this is new in the last 50-100 years. There's nothing in the bible about it because it didn't even exist. The problem is every dates in modern times for fun. And because everybody is doing it, it's considered okay. Now these relationships have been incredibly if they last year, typically around a month. And in most cases the one ending up hurt,
(and i'm not trying to be sexist here) is the girl. Men are more brash and foolhardy and are just looking for a good time. (obviously i'm generalizing again but I think it's fair enough) Now if we followed these rules then the only people who date would be people looking for marriage, the way it should be. I did not make these up the rules are all based on the bible and I can find you verses if you like. But if we followed these so many more marriages would be saved, so much less pain would be in this world. The way dating and marriage is going now, we would be better off with the father picking a husband for his wife. (I'll talk about that more in another post) I encourage you to not fall into the fade of trivial dating which it's only accomplishment is pain on both sides.

Over the Fields

i shall now for the third time try to successfully keep a blog. Do not be angry if i fail to be consistent, it is not a strong suit. Today i shall share a simple ditty i wrote on the way to vacation which i think has an interesting twist to it. (ditty to me means poem or song)

It echoed over the land to stay,
Over the field where the bodies lay,

Every day as the moon fell,
It rose from the crest of the grassy knell,

A skirmish with the day's dark,
A cry of hope a bright spark,

A piercing ray of hope to all,
The weeping mother's whose son's would fall,

The passing of the night would bring,
A day of blood of which they sing,

A hundred thousand heros die,
Another day when women cry,

But as the wailing meets it's height,
The sound erupts piercing the night,

A moment of passing fevor and cheer,
Conquering the day's collection of fear,

Rising from the hill to hang in the air,
It gives hope to all listening there,

The day would continue with the battle of foes,
And the evening would echo with the sound of woes,

But the coming night brought the comforting sounds,
Of a traveling bagpiper making his round,

The music brings a heartfilling song,
To those whose hearts for hope they long,

Cutting the pain from the bloody day,
And sending the souls to their eternal stay,

The day brings new thoughts of fight,
But it passes with teh dawn of light,



Now the interesting theme in this poem is that it protrays night as the time of safety and protection verses the typical view of light. Now don't get upset you morning people, and yes i am a night person. But the important thing is that it talks about a view that is almost nonexistant. Dark is because of man made prejudice considered evil. For example if i were to say "Sally Bright was walking down the path in the woods, but she forgot about the time, and light soon faded into night, a dark night" the immediate reaction would be oooh whose gonna jump out of the woods. I hate "Hate" very much man made predjudices and i encourage you to not fall into these many pits. For another example the word "Gay." I say that word and i feel evil lol but in fact it just means happy and joyful. I pray you, do not fall to the pursuasion of the secular world's mutilation of words and hidden meanings. Stay Above the Influence