Thursday, April 13, 2006
Hamas - Good or Evil?
I hear that Hamas plans protests across the Arab and Islamic world to extort promised funds to continue their terrorist activities. Would this make them Good or Evil? You decide.
TCH
TCH
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Moved?
Well as you can see I have been away for some time. I moved to Spokane, WA and have been busy with the setup of a new house. I've finally gotten some time to write and will be posting more later today.
I'M BACK!
TCH
I'M BACK!
TCH
Friday, September 09, 2005
Marriage: To Sodom we go...
Special interest groups in San Francisco almost did it. The California Legislature tried to pass a same sex marriage "law" when the voters in that state have already defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. According to Assemblyman Mark Leno, Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger bowed to political pressure by "special interest groups" to veto the change by the legsislature.
5 years ago 61% of voters chose to define marriage as being bewteen a man and a woman. The new bill, AB 849 deletes the phrase "a man and a woman" from California's marriage laws and replaces it with "two persons."
What does scripture tell us about this issue? Starting with Genesis, chapter 2 verse 18:
"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable fro him.' Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. The the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she chall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.'
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
What does this mean? It defines marriage as a physical and spiritual bond between a man and a woman. God has defined this, not man. Mr. Leno would have us ignore a basic fact of creation for a secular definition. Why? Because the "union" of a man and a man or a woman and a woman is sinful in the eyes of God but mans eyes can be closed to this fact by ascribing a "normal" context to the sinful union. If we define marriage as a union between two persons then we begin to go down the path of Sodom and Gomorrah. The next change would be to add the words, "or more" so that a marriage would be between "two or more persons."
Let he who has ears to hear, hear.
5 years ago 61% of voters chose to define marriage as being bewteen a man and a woman. The new bill, AB 849 deletes the phrase "a man and a woman" from California's marriage laws and replaces it with "two persons."
What does scripture tell us about this issue? Starting with Genesis, chapter 2 verse 18:
"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable fro him.' Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. The the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she chall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.'
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
What does this mean? It defines marriage as a physical and spiritual bond between a man and a woman. God has defined this, not man. Mr. Leno would have us ignore a basic fact of creation for a secular definition. Why? Because the "union" of a man and a man or a woman and a woman is sinful in the eyes of God but mans eyes can be closed to this fact by ascribing a "normal" context to the sinful union. If we define marriage as a union between two persons then we begin to go down the path of Sodom and Gomorrah. The next change would be to add the words, "or more" so that a marriage would be between "two or more persons."
Let he who has ears to hear, hear.
Friday, August 19, 2005
BTK: Dennis Rader
Is Dennis our brother in Christ or a wolf in sheep's clothing? How appropriate that Brent Riggs wrote the following on 8/18/2005:
The kingdom of heaven will include "fakes" for the time being
Matthew 13:24-25 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. (NKJV)
Matt 13.24-30 gives us the parable of the "wheat and tares". Tares were a type of weed that grow up in the midst of a wheat field. These tares look like wheat, but do not actually contain the wheat kernel - the outside is right, but the inside is not. They are useless fakes that compete for vital space and nutrients with the real wheat.
Jesus reveals to us that there will always be people among us who look like Christians, but in reality are not. They appear to be saved but are missing the "kernel" (Jesus Christ). We are told in the parable that it is not our place to attempt to pick out the counterfeits and remove them lest we make a mistake and uproot a true Christian.
Only God truly knows the heart of man. Any time we begin to judge the heart, we tread on ground that only God should traverse. We can judge behavior by measuring it against God's Word but it is to be done with love and a motive of restoration, not condemnation. The Lord instructs us at times to deal with certain behavior of others when it brings shame to Christ (ex. 1Cor 5.11), but we are never to become the judge of the authenticity of a professing persons salvation.
----------
Dennis Rader is now in prison for the remainder of his life. I hope and pray that he has truly been lead to Christ Jesus' salvation and that while in prison he focuses on doing the will of God. As Christians we cannot wish vengeance on Dennis as this would put our souls in jeopardy. Pray for him and all those who do not follow God's will.
I can empathize with Jeffery Davis but as a Christian I cannot condone his statement to the court. Jesus forgave those who killed him and he went as a lamb to the slaughter. He did not condemn those around him or call them names.
I will add both Dennis and Jeffery to the list of people I pray for because they were both made in the image of God and deserve the chance at salvation
- TCH
The kingdom of heaven will include "fakes" for the time being
Matthew 13:24-25 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. (NKJV)
Matt 13.24-30 gives us the parable of the "wheat and tares". Tares were a type of weed that grow up in the midst of a wheat field. These tares look like wheat, but do not actually contain the wheat kernel - the outside is right, but the inside is not. They are useless fakes that compete for vital space and nutrients with the real wheat.
Jesus reveals to us that there will always be people among us who look like Christians, but in reality are not. They appear to be saved but are missing the "kernel" (Jesus Christ). We are told in the parable that it is not our place to attempt to pick out the counterfeits and remove them lest we make a mistake and uproot a true Christian.
Only God truly knows the heart of man. Any time we begin to judge the heart, we tread on ground that only God should traverse. We can judge behavior by measuring it against God's Word but it is to be done with love and a motive of restoration, not condemnation. The Lord instructs us at times to deal with certain behavior of others when it brings shame to Christ (ex. 1Cor 5.11), but we are never to become the judge of the authenticity of a professing persons salvation.
----------
Dennis Rader is now in prison for the remainder of his life. I hope and pray that he has truly been lead to Christ Jesus' salvation and that while in prison he focuses on doing the will of God. As Christians we cannot wish vengeance on Dennis as this would put our souls in jeopardy. Pray for him and all those who do not follow God's will.
I can empathize with Jeffery Davis but as a Christian I cannot condone his statement to the court. Jesus forgave those who killed him and he went as a lamb to the slaughter. He did not condemn those around him or call them names.
I will add both Dennis and Jeffery to the list of people I pray for because they were both made in the image of God and deserve the chance at salvation
- TCH
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
DiscipleDave@aol.com
I've been reading DiscipleDave's "book" at http://members.aol.com/discipledave/book/Index.html?f=fs and find he has a narrow view of Christianity, along with some errors. I attempted to send the following to him 3 times but all three attempts were delayed and then failed. Here is the message I sent:
I read some of your postings on "Serious Faith" and then went to your website. You have some interesting ideas. Like most people you pick and choose Bible verses to support your statements, even if they are taken out of context. I guess there is nothing wrong in that as long as you don't lead people astray. Satan, the King of Lies, knows full well that the best lie has elements of truth interlaced within and uses the Bible often to corrupt God's Word.
From your chapter on, "The Righteous" I believe you misquoted Romans. You stated:
"ROMANS 3:17: But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. (BIBLE) 18: Being then made free from sin, (GRACE) ye became the servants of righteousness. (NOT SIN)"
Your passage above actually comes from Romans 6:17-18 but is taken out of context. At a minimum it should be quoted from Romans 6:15 through verse 23 on the subject of "Slaves to Righteousness" or better yet you should quote all of chapter 6. Romans 3:17-18 says: (starting at verse 10...)
"As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Looking at this it appears that the Holy Spirit used the correct verse, through your typing, I.e. Romans 3:17. So there are no righteous people and all continue to sin. Even Paul, in the same letter to the Romans, admitted he continued to sin. Did he truly not accept Jesus as Christ? Romans 7:7-25 speaks about Paul's struggles with sin. Read the entire section but here are verses 14-20:
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
There is a subtle piece of information that you missed in your dissertation: sin continues to live in me even though my spiritual self has been cleansed. I only recognize it as sin through the law to which I am no longer bound. So are their no righteous people? Of course there are, all of us that belong to the body of Christ through faith in Jesus. Read Romans 3:21-31 on "Righteousness Through Faith."
- TCH
I read some of your postings on "Serious Faith" and then went to your website. You have some interesting ideas. Like most people you pick and choose Bible verses to support your statements, even if they are taken out of context. I guess there is nothing wrong in that as long as you don't lead people astray. Satan, the King of Lies, knows full well that the best lie has elements of truth interlaced within and uses the Bible often to corrupt God's Word.
From your chapter on, "The Righteous" I believe you misquoted Romans. You stated:
"ROMANS 3:17: But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. (BIBLE) 18: Being then made free from sin, (GRACE) ye became the servants of righteousness. (NOT SIN)"
Your passage above actually comes from Romans 6:17-18 but is taken out of context. At a minimum it should be quoted from Romans 6:15 through verse 23 on the subject of "Slaves to Righteousness" or better yet you should quote all of chapter 6. Romans 3:17-18 says: (starting at verse 10...)
"As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Looking at this it appears that the Holy Spirit used the correct verse, through your typing, I.e. Romans 3:17. So there are no righteous people and all continue to sin. Even Paul, in the same letter to the Romans, admitted he continued to sin. Did he truly not accept Jesus as Christ? Romans 7:7-25 speaks about Paul's struggles with sin. Read the entire section but here are verses 14-20:
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
There is a subtle piece of information that you missed in your dissertation: sin continues to live in me even though my spiritual self has been cleansed. I only recognize it as sin through the law to which I am no longer bound. So are their no righteous people? Of course there are, all of us that belong to the body of Christ through faith in Jesus. Read Romans 3:21-31 on "Righteousness Through Faith."
- TCH
Friday, August 12, 2005
Towards the Goal
Ever forward time marches on, towards the final Goal
But when all my days are counted, have I given it my all?
When I was young I would dream and pray,
I was happy and ignorant and full of play.
Wisdom comes with time and ever forward it moves,
And now that I am older I have nothing left to prove.
As I grow older and near that final Goal,
I focus more on Jesus and the condition of my soul.
Though I am a sinner and my soul is far from white,
I know that Jesus loves me and is conscience of my plight.
When I cross that line and reach out with my soul
I know that Christ will be there as I reach my final Goal
TCH
But when all my days are counted, have I given it my all?
When I was young I would dream and pray,
I was happy and ignorant and full of play.
Wisdom comes with time and ever forward it moves,
And now that I am older I have nothing left to prove.
As I grow older and near that final Goal,
I focus more on Jesus and the condition of my soul.
Though I am a sinner and my soul is far from white,
I know that Jesus loves me and is conscience of my plight.
When I cross that line and reach out with my soul
I know that Christ will be there as I reach my final Goal
TCH
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Can a 13 year old give consent?
Pamela Turner pleaded "no contest" to the charges and faces 9 months in jail according to the Abram's Report. The 13 year old boy (we'll call him Bob) was not charged with any crime. If this had been a male teacher and a female student the man would never be getting out of jail or serving 20 or more years. What's the difference? Why are women treated differently?
Ok, 13 year old boys are walking hormones and most dream about having sex with a hot blonde. Well if you haven't seen Pamela Turner, let me tell you she is a hot blonde. I bet the Bob thought he died and went to heaven. Well he didn't, he went to sin city.
She took advantage of Bob because at his age he could not control his lust. Did he give consent? Absolutely he did. He probably fell all over himself giving consent. That doesn't make it right nor does it forgive Ms. Turner.
Ok, 13 year old boys are walking hormones and most dream about having sex with a hot blonde. Well if you haven't seen Pamela Turner, let me tell you she is a hot blonde. I bet the Bob thought he died and went to heaven. Well he didn't, he went to sin city.
She took advantage of Bob because at his age he could not control his lust. Did he give consent? Absolutely he did. He probably fell all over himself giving consent. That doesn't make it right nor does it forgive Ms. Turner.
