2017

Wow! It's been over a year since I posted here. Not sure anyone follows, so no harm, but I felt compelled to say the following today.

I'm really looking forward to 2017. It will be a great year because I have a great God!

Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.  I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.  I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.  Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. 

GREAT PEACE have they which love thy law:

and nothing shall offend them.   Lord , I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.  My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.  I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
Psalms 119:161‭-‬168 KJV (emphasis added)

The word "offend" used verse 165 is not talking about the common use of the word, as in being offended by someone's words or deeds. It speaks of someone "coming against you." It comes from the Latin word "offendere" - to strike against, equivalent to -fendere to strike.

What verse 165 says is that if we love God's law, nothing can come against us. It's akin to God saying the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His Church.

The passage begins with a negative. Wicked compasses us, and daily comes against us. The Psalmist then goes on to say that those offenses cannot succeed because of his love for God's Law, God's Word.

So, yes, regardless of what has already happened, or will happen, I know 2017 will be a great year because I love His Law! If that's not how you feel, maybe you should work on your relationship with God and his Word.

Selah

Small Beginnings

The following is from a comment I made within one of my posts about my former friend, Jeff Eddie, now a convicted child molester. His crimes were committed while he was the children's minister of a fairly large church.
A very select few who claim to have known him in school, and one woman especially, sought opportunity to pat themselves on the back for "always knowing something was off" about Jeff. That is a farce. Jeff was the most mature high school kid I have ever met. He spent his life in jobs that helped others. He interviewed me for a juvenile detention position in the late 90's. Being a former Law Enforcement Officer, my main focus in the interview was my authoritarian and interpersonal skills I had gained as an LEO. Jeff, knowing I was a Christian, turned the tables and pointed out that his goal was to make a difference in the kids' lives. That is who Jeff was. Was is past tense
Here is the aforementioned comment: 

Unless something arises to the contrary, this is something that changed about Jeff. He gave the devil a foothold in his life, most likely through the Internet porn, and eventually the sin multiplied. 
Instead of using this as an opportunity to point out faults we all saw in Jeff, we should really let it cause us to search our own hearts. Not for disgusting stuff like what Jeff did, but for those little footholds that we've grown accustomed to overlooking as unimportant.
In his lifetime, Jeff Eddie has probably done more for God than I ever will. Yet, he was still able to fall farther than any of us think we could ever fall. That's our fallacy. We only think we couldn't fall like that. Satan never screams rape in our ear, he whispers lie, cheat, hide, scheme. It's those little things that we overlook as unimportant that slowly vex our souls.
In Scripture, Lot begins as a good man in whom God heaped many blessings. When given a simple choice that we all face, leaving the side of his guardian, he "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Though he likely remained the most moral man in town, he "vexed his righteous soul" until he was wicked enough to at one point offer his two virgin daughters to the sodomite crowd, and later got drunk and allowed the same two daughters to seduce him. None of us could see ourselves being so evil, but neither could Lot before setting his sights on Sodom.

Let me backtrack a bit in my statement. There is no reason to think that Internet porn was the starting point. The starting point can be way more vague. For example, I try to remind my wife to scan all catalogs before they get placed where we read catalogs in my house, the bathroom. As a healthy adult male, I do not need panties, bra, and swimsuit ads tempting me to lust. Oh, so you are better than that? Then you are either queer, or a lying fool.
I have no idea where Satan first got a hold on Jeff, but I can guarantee it was in a "small" sin.

Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

The "sin which doth so easily beset us" means that sin which we are most exposed to. I personally believe that actual unbelief is that sin for everyone. We live in a world that doesn't want us to believe in God, and on a more personal note we often cannot see God in our circumstance and both challenge our fidelity.
But don't limit Scripture to one precept, or purpose. We are surrounded with temptation. Even television commercials tempt us with sex while selling everything from a cheeseburger to computer repair. The advertising companies know that sex sells.
But it's not just sex. Sitcoms brazenly portray parents as idiots. A smart child can understand the exaggeration, but even he or she will subconsciously rely on these portrayals the next time they disagree with their parents.
Social media declares that we should be our own selves, while at the same time telling us that what that means is to be like all the other rebels. God says, " And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2

Here's my conclusion, I offer for your consideration a thought and a question:
We look at Lot, getting drunk and impregnating his two virgin daughters. We look at Jeff Eddie, molesting children trusted to his care as a Christian minister.
We say, "I could NEVER do something like that!"
Yet neither began with those sins.
Lying, cheating, hiding, scheming, disrespecting, gossiping, hating, and a plethora of other "simple sins."
Perhaps we should be trying to declare that we could never do THOSE sins!

God sees sin as sin, we should, too. 

Righteousness vs Desire

Dallas debate between a sodomite claiming to be a pastor and Robert Jeffress

[Watch the video at the above link first]

The point that is often overlooked is that what scripture condemns, in relation to homosexuality (sodomites), is two things: effeminate men, and same gender sexual relations, both in I Cor 6 and elsewhere. If you choose to wrongly believe that people are born gay, that changes nothing.

God gave me, as a man, a healthy attraction to women. Not just a sexual transaction, but a desire for all things female (human). My wife is not foolish enough to think that I don't enjoy an attractive lady, hence my recent amusing Facebook post about Andie MacDowell getting special privileges on my airline. I've always thought she was one of the most stunning women in Hollywood. But ask Tammy who my Hollywood crush is and she'll probably say Helen Hunt, without hesitation. Nothing in Scripture forbids me from being a male with God-given attractions.

What scripture regulates is how I act on those attractions. I am forbidden from lusting after any women but my wife. Jesus, himself says that is the same as adultery. I am also forbidden from committing the actual act of adultery with any woman, regardless of how strong my attraction is towards her. There are also other prohibitions that we must add ourselves in order to protect our testimony and obey I Thessalonians 5:22.

The Bible very clearly condemns sex with the same gender, male with male and woman with woman, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Regardless of what you think your sexual preference is, or when you became that way, God's command is still the same. Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Lev 18:22 and expounded in the New Testament in Romans chapter one.

Christ can change the desires of your heart, but regardless of what they are, desires do not trump God's commands and prohibitions.

God's "Permissive" Will

John 7:16-17  Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

What is God's Permissive Will?

Let me start with what it ain't: God's Will.

I believe too many people get caught up listening to some Doctor of Divinity expound on seven different types of God's will. What are we doing grading on a curve? Do we have a merit/demerit system like a college frat house? "Well, you get two merits for perfect will, one for permissive and a demerit for resisting." <<
The most conservative of expositors will claim two forms of God's Will:

1) The Decretive Will of God

and

2) The Preceptive Will of God

Then more will add or substitute the Permissive Will of God for one of the above.

Decretive simply means God decrees it and it happens.
Genesis 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
God performs Hid own will here.

Preceptive is a command to man.
Exodus 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exodus 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
These are performed by man in either doing what he said to do or not doing what he said not to do.

Permissive is said to be what God allows. Kind of like saying if he didn't strike you down with lightning, then you were in His permissive will.

I won't go into the plethora of other alleged levels of God's Will.

Decretive is not really dealing with us at all, so it needs no discussion. There is no question of following it because God both wills it and completes it.

Preceptive, to me is God's Perfect Will. This is the path he has chosen for each of us.

Psalms 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

Each of us was born into a plan that God laid out for us. With each disobedient act that plan must change because sin causes us to lose ground that cannot be regained.

Now, onto this matter of Permissive Will.

I believe this to be an attempt at the misuse of Grace.

Let's face it. Most of us are probably outside of God's Perfect Will for most of our days. Permissive has the sense of a positive endorsement. That is not true. God's allowance does not imply permission.
We see bad things happen and here comes folks talking about permissive will again. "Well, God allowed it, so it must be part of his plan." No, no, no, no!
Yes, God prevents some things from happening, that is part of his sovereignty. Just as he said, "Let there be light", he can say, "Don't let that bus hit Ralph." Both are actions HE performs.
But when man does something wrong, whether he lets us live, or not, does not determine whether it was His will or not.

If God said "DO" and you didn't, then you are in sin and outside of God's Will. Whether he kills you for it, or lets you live. Same thing when he says "DON'T" and we do.

James 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

This verse is not reversible. It cannot be made to imply that if someone doesn't know to do good, they will be exempt. They will not.

Romans 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

The last phrase is my reason for using the verse. Paul confirms that if we do something without faith that we are right in doing it, then we are in sin.
This, too, cannot be reversed. We might have 100% faith that doing something is right, but if it's already been declared wrong by God, then it's wrong.

What exactly is God's Preceptive or Command Will to man?
Matthew 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Change perfect to any other synonym and you still get the same meaning. Many describe it as complete. Well it's a comparison to God, who is perfect, so if we are to be complete as he is complete, then we are to be perfect. Stop taking the long road, just accept what the Holy Spirit wrote.

So let's stop trying to sound like Dr Righteous Britches and worry about what stage of Grace we are in. Right now, at this very moment, you are either in God's Will or you are not. It really is that simple.

The great thing is that when we find ourselves outside of His will, we have a way back in:

1 John 1:8-10  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Blessed

I just had a Wow! moment.
While at Bob Evans, a disabled man walked by me on his way back to his seat. I saw him stop my waitress, who clearly knew him well, and speak to her. He's about 4'6", walks with a special cane, and cannot lift his head off his chest. I really don't know if it is acceptable to pity someone in his and similar conditions, but that's what I feel in my gut when I see them.
Then this happens!
The waitress comes to me and says, "Larry wants to buy your meal."
How do you respond to that!?
I barely stuttered out, "That's not necessary, but tell him thanks." (he had already sat down facing away from me)
She gave me my ticket and left.
I sat there wondering if I should personally thank him for the offer, or if that would offend him since I rejected it.
I then overhead him ask the same of his own waitress and heard him say, "The one with the beard."
She looked back at me as I tried to act ignorant of what was going on. She never approached, so when I finished I walked on by him and went to pay.
I'm sure you know what comes next. The cashier and her manager said it had already been paid. A giant lump grew instantly in my throat.
I walked over, took a knee beside his table, thanked him, and said, "God Bless you, Larry."
While Tammy would love for me to say my epic beard won me a free meal, that wasn't it. You see when he had passed my table I had just raised my head from praying and saw that he had stopped, barely in my peripheral, while I thanked God for my breakfast. He wanted to bless me because I asked blessings over my meal. That didn't hit me until I was walking back to the hotel. I hope no one saw my eyes swelling up.
Hebrews 13:1-2 Let brotherly love continue.  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Larry might feel I was his angel today, but in reality he was mine. One who was way more deserving of being blessed chose to bless me. That is not unlike Christ.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
I don't deserve anything but hell, but Larry chose to bless me with a meal, and even better Christ chose to bless me with eternal life. Not just me, but for all who believe.
Do me a favor, say a prayer for Larry in Bowling Green, Ohio today.

Sick of the P.C. garbage

Patterson Hood is a politically correct moron. He never liked southern rock until he discovered he could make money off it. He does not speak for the sector of Alabama we both once called home.
He is not a scholar. He is ignorant of history.
As several others are doing, he's choosing to be a pathetic sympathizer to the ignorant masses rather than educate them to the truth.
It's really a shame that a Detroit born southern rocker, Kid Rock, understands more about the flag than an actual southern born man with a legendary father.
I was never taught that slaves were not mistreated. Having all of my schooling in an Alabama classroom, I was actually taught the exact opposite. I was taught how Wallace opposed integration, then flip-flopped when the political winds changed. All of this while a rebel flag flew on the state Capitol, not just on a war monument.
I was also taught that our state battle cry was "Dare We Defend Our Rights!" That same phrase echoes in nearly every thing I do. I exercise my rights, at times, simply because a right not exercised is a right lost.
You cannot forcibly dictate that any of my actions, speech, or expressions are for any motive other than what I insist. I have never hated any person because of their race. I am equally kind, and at times equally angered at people of all races.
I'm sick and tired of people who are too lazy to educate people about their own heritage. It may be easier to just furl the flag you don't like and move on, but you do so at the expense of history.
Did people that hate blacks fight under the battle flag? Yes, but they also fought under the Stars and Stripes on the opposite side of the field. It was American flags that flew from horses, wagons, and barges as American Indians were herded across the wilderness leaving so many dead in their wake. Yet we would not accept an Indian walking on our flag.
Well, I don't accept you walking on the flag of my southern ancestors.
I hope Mr Hood will remember, a REAL southern man don't need him around, anyhow!

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/magazine/the-souths-heritage-is-so-much-more-than-a-flag.html?referrer&_r=0

Judge not?

What did Jesus say that he came for? "To seek and to save that which was lost" Luke 19:10
2 Peter 3:9 declares, "... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible, so in light of the above verses, what is Jesus's main focus in the first five verses of Matthew chapter 7?
It's definitely not that if I'm guilty of a certain sin, I'm forbidden from telling others it's wrong. The standard is always God's standard, not mine or that of anyone else proclaiming God's Truth.
The focus of those five verses is for me to make sure I examine myself, to be certain that I'm not as guilty as the other guy. If I am, the two verses, and countless others, declare that God would rather have me get right, than avoid the subject.
That principle is illustrated in verse 5 where God says to remove the beam from my eye so that I can see better to help my brother remove his mote.
God's Word is never about condemnation. We are already condemned. His desire for us is reconciliation with Him. He's always talking about us getting right.

http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/judge-not-rick-bubba-set-the-record-straight-on-what-the-bible-actually-said/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Fear

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
Proverbs 14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.
Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.
Proverbs 23:17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

Fearing, or attempting to devalue, the fear of the Lord is not only foolish, but absolute sin. Fear does not preclude love, nor does love preclude fear.
We look at fear, anger and jealousy as negative attributes because in our imperfect flesh we don't manage them as well as we could. But just as God coming into our lives makes all thing new, His presence also affects these attributes.
To may people these days seek to change God's Word by removing these attributes and always presenting them in a negative light through some perversion of the Gospel and Grace. God addresses "changers" in Proverbs, also:
Proverbs 24:21-22 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
They say we shouldn't be motivated by fear, yet God says without fear, we can possess no true knowledge, wisdom, or confidence. God says fear prolongs our days. God says the fear of the Lord tendeth to life, itself.
They say God is not angry. God says:
Romans 1:16-18 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Follow these connected verses. The Gospel is first given a stated purpose, salvation. Next verse begins with "For," tying it to the orevious verse. Salvation is wrought by God's righteousness, not ours. Then the next verse also ties in with with "For." There we see the WRATH (anger) of God being against man's sin. Almost seems out of place until you see the connection. God wants us to know that we are accepted into His fold on His merit, but He also wants us to know that he abhors sin and his anger is kindled unto them that not only sin, but those who do so while holding the truth. The word translated "hold" in verse 18 is elsewhere translated as possessing. That's a definite nod to the saved.
Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.
Don't fear fear.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalms 139:14 KJV

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

A friend is pregnant and said she feels a bug coming on. She is a good mommy and has chosen to stay Rx free.
That made me think of this verse. I don't think it's a coincidence that God made maternity just long enough for the baby, in his mother's protection, to experience nearly every seasonal change.
We know our immune system is programmable, otherwise we'd be wasting time with a lot of early childhood shots. So there in protection of the womb, mommy's immune system starts training Jr how to deal with the climate long before mommy gets to bundle him up for the 5 second walk to the car.
I'm not going into a rant against medicine and immunizations, they've both, along with better food preparation and preservation, contributed to longer life. But have you ever wondered why young children were ever able to survive being born and raised in harsh climates prior to all the medical discoveries?
Perhaps it's because we are fearfully and wonderfully made by a marvelous God.

Happy Veterans Day

"I, Ralph Harold Fiscus, Jr, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

It matters not the reason why one takes this oath. The noble call of patriotism, a ticket away from home, college money, a "job", travel, or just a childhood dream, all mean the same. Your enlistment presents your life as a blank check, payable on any battlefield your country needs you on.
No soldier loves war, but all soldiers are willing to fight one with the hope that it's the last one.
Say a prayer today for the men and women still fighting and standing for our freedoms.
I offer a heartfelt Thank You to all my brothers and sisters in arms, past and present. It was truly an honor to serve with you.
Thank You to the greatest country on earth for affording me the opportunity to serve. I am who I am today because of hard-nosed NCOs who wouldn't allow me to give up, and if I failed, taught me to adapt and overcome.
And Thank You to every person who takes the time to thank us for our service, a period of our lives where we believe we gained more than we gave.
Happy Armistice Day!
Happy Veterans Day!