Your Best Life Now?

While we entertain ourselves with stupid little videos to show the Hollywood culture how cool, hip, and relevant we are, this is going on everywhere else.






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HT - Savedbygrace , Defending Contending

All the links of the golden chain of salvation - Thomas Brooks

"It is by grace you have been saved!" Ephesians 2:5

All the links of the golden chain of salvation are made up of free grace! The people of God are . . .

freely loved, Deuteronomy 7:6-8;
freely chosen, John 15:16-19,Ephesians 1:4;
freely accepted, Ephesians 1:6;
freely adopted, Ephesians 1:5, Galatians 4:5-6;
freely reconciled, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20;
freely justified, Romans 3:24;
freely saved, Ephesians 2:5, 8.

Free grace is the foundation of all spiritual and eternal mercies. Free grace is the solid bottom and foundation of all a Christian's comfort in this world. Were we to measure the love of God to us by . . .
our fruitfulness,
our holiness,
our humbleness,
our spiritualness,
our heavenly-mindedness,
or our gracious behavior towards Him—how would our hope and our confidence beevery moment staggered—if not vanquished!

But all is of grace—of free grace! O sirs! it is free grace . . .
which will strengthen you in all your duties,
which will sweeten all your mercies,
which will support you under all your changes,
which will arm you against all temptations!

"For it is by grace you have been saved!" Ephesians 2:8

Judgment - William S. Plummer

"For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14

God has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world. Respecting this day several things are noticeable.

All shall be judged.
Saints and sinners,
great and small,
living and dead,
the servant and his master,
the prisoner at the bar and the judge who sat on his trial,
the assassin and the assassinated,
the seducer and his victim,
the invader and the invaded,
the hireling and his oppressor,
the king and his subjects,
the fool and the wise man,
the persecutor and the persecuted,
the apostate, the hypocrite,
the child of God and the child of the devil, shall all be there!

No one shall be so mighty, and no one shall be so lowly—as to elude the eye or the sentence of Him who shall sit upon the throne of judgment! What a massive multitude will this be—when prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, saints of all ages; when sinners, liars, infidels, blasphemers, moralists, and murderers—shall all be there; when the sea and the dry land shall give up their dead; when death and hell shall deliver up the dead who are in them; when all who lived before the flood, all who have lived since the flood, and all who shall have lived to the end of time shall stand before God! This will be the first and the last assembly—in which are found every person whom God ever made.

To God, it is a certain and fixed day. He has appointed it. Acts 17:31. Nothing can hasten it; nothing can retard it.

The purpose of God concerning it is fixed, unalterable.To all creatures, it is an unknown day.
"Of that day and hour knows no man; no, not the angels of heaven."

The day of judgment will be THE great day. It will be the greatest day in the annals of the universe! It is the day for which all other days were made. This day is so well known to inspired men, that they call it the day, that day—as preeminent over all others.

It will be the LAST day. After it, time will be no more—time will cease to exist. Duration will no more be measured by seconds, minutes, days, months, years, centuries, cycles; but all will be boundless, shoreless, fathomless, unmeasured eternity!

It will be a day of astounding exposures. Villainy will be covered up no more. Every disguise will be taken away. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hidden, that shall not be known.

It will be a day of intense excitement. There will be no listless spectators of those scenes. Every faculty of the intellect and of emotion will be aroused to the highest possible exercise. Men may sleep under sermons concerning the judgment, but they will not be dull when they go to judgment!

It will also be a day of final separation. The precious and the vile; the wheat and the tares; the sheep and the goats; saints and sinners—shall no longer mingle together. The separations of this day will be final. The righteous and the wicked shall part that day to meet no more.

It shall be a day of despair to all the unregenerate. Everywhere sinners will be crying to the rocks and the mountains: "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!" Was ever despair more dreadful than this?

This will be a day full of surprise. Not only will it come unexpectedly, but its awards will fill both saints and sinners with astonishment. So Christ teaches at length in Matthew 25. The wicked will be amazed that they are lost. They will be especially surprised that God sets no value on their self-righteousness. The sons of God will receive more honor than they ever asked or thought of. The sons of Belial will receive more wrath than they ever feared. Christians will marvel why they are saved. Sinners will wonder why they are not saved. Many will be lost—contrary to the opinions formed of them by their neighbors. Many will be lost—contrary to the opinions they had formed of themselves!

"For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14.

The judgment is coming!

The Judge stands at the door!

The time is short!
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Please, if you read this blog and you have never taken the time to repent of your sins and put your trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you, I beg you to do this today. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation.

150,000 people died worldwide yesterday and I bet most of them thought they would live to see today just like you believe you will see tomorrow.

Repent and trust Him today.

Praying for the end of global poverty

From Christian Post -

LONDON – Christians in the United Kingdom will unite this week with fellow believers around the world in praying for an end to global poverty.

As part of Tearfund’s Global Poverty Prayer Week, Feb. 23-March 1, churches are calling out with one voice for God’s intervention in areas affected by poor sanitation and lack of clean water, climate change, and high rates of HIV among other challenges.

"Whichever way you look at it, God has invited us to be part of restoring this fallen, broken, beautiful world. He has given us the privilege of partnership. And we know that he answers prayer."

Prayer requests have been received from Cambodia, Uganda, Haiti, Myanmar and Darfur, among other countries.

"The impact of the world recession is a thread that links many of them," according to a recent Tearfund statement.

Frost pointed to a recent prayer effort which saw thousands of Tearfund supporters joining with others around the world in prayer for people living in the Democratic Republic of Congo under the regime of rebel leader General Nkunda.

“For me the excitement is in getting hundreds of young people up and down the country in prayer rooms for a week talking to God about justice. They can’t not be changed as a result,” she said.

“I don’t think you can come before God and ask him how he feels about the injustices of this world and not be changed because it is something that burns so passionately in his heart and we see throughout the Bible that God is for the poor the oppressed and the marginalized.”

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Matthew 9:36-38
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

When I read the story from the Christian Post I immediately thought of the above Scripture.

Throughout the whole story I didn't find one mention of someone praying that these people would also have the gospel preached to them.

I saw the words oppressed, marginalized, suffering, justice, fair, chaos, etc.

I read about ending global inequality and building a low carbon future. I read about how excited the youth were to venture into this prayer time to talk to God about justice. Justice?

Where do these youth think all these different people groups are going when they die without a Savior?

Should Christians be helping the poor and correcting conditions that lead to poverty in our land and around the world? Sure, I think Christians are the world leaders in that area.

But is it not more Scriptural to be praying for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest than to be praying for social injustice?

The harvest is truly ripe and the laborers are few.

Paul Washer said that there should be only two kinds of Christians when it comes to missionary work- Those who go down into the well and those who hold the rope for those who go down into the well.

If you can't go down into the well (the harvest field), please support (prayers or financially) someone who can.

My malady, my monster, my foe, my viper

(A Puritan Prayer)

Blessed Lord Jesus,
Before Your cross I kneel and see . . .
the heinousness of my sin,
my iniquity that caused You to be made a curse,
the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.

Show me the enormity of my guilt by . . .
Your crown of thorns,
Your pierced hands and feet,
Your bruised body,
Your dying cries.

Infinite must be the evil and guilt--
which demands such a price! Sin is . . .
my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,
born in my birth,
alive in my life,
strong in my character,
dominating my faculties,
following me as a shadow,
intermingling with my every thought,
the chain which holds my soul captive.

Sinner that I am, why should . . .
the sun give me light,
the air supply breath,
the earth bear my tread,
its fruits nourish me,
its creatures serve my needs?

Yet Your compassion yearns over me,
Your heart hastens to my rescue,
Your love endured my curse,
Your mercy bore my deserved stripes.

Let me walk humbly . . .
in the lowest depths of humiliation,
bathed in Your blood,
tender of conscience,
triumphing gloriously,
as an heir of salvation.

7th grader abortion video update -

Thanks to Jonathan over at The Journalings of a Christian Hedonist for the story!

Unborn Child Saved by 12-Year-Old's Popular Pro-Life Presentation

TORONTO, February 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Though 12-year-old Lia's popular pro-life presentation did not win a regional speech competition last night, she and her family are celebrating what they call the "best trophy ever" - the saving of an unborn life, after Lia's words convinced a stranger not to abort her child.

"Lia has a much bigger trophy - somebody commented to us on our YouTube account that her aunt watched Lia's video and decided to NOT have an abortion because of it. Yay God! Others have commented that they either never thought of the issue before or were pro-choice - but now they have changed their opinions. So, having a life saved is the best trophy ever!" wrote Lia's mother.

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Makes you wonder if Lia did the video in the first place not only because of her pro-life stance but maybe she could have known about her aunt's decision to have an abortion. Nevertheless, a child was saved through the efforts of another child.

Thank you Lia!

Filed under "Ooops"

Bird Suspected to Be Extinct Photographed for First Time ... Then Eaten

A bird suspected to be extinct was reportedly photographed for the first time in the Philippines, and then sold to a poultry market as food.

Worcester's buttonquail was known only through illustrations based on decades-old museum specimens until a television crew documented the live bird in the market before it was sold in January, NationalGeographic.com reported.

Scientists had suspected the bird, found only on the island of Luzon, to be extinct, according to NationalGeographic.com.

Wild Bird Club of the Philippines President Michael Lu, told the Agence France-Press news agency that it’s unfortunate that the locals aren't more conscious of the threatened wildlife around them.

"What if this was the last of its species?" he said.

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Wonder if it tasted like chicken?

North Dakota takes a big step

ND Measure Says Fertilized Egg Has Human Rights

BISMARCK, N.D. – A measure approved by the North Dakota House gives a fertilized human egg the legal rights of a human being, a step that would essentially ban abortion in the state.

The bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended abortion rights nationwide, supporters of the legislation said.

Representatives voted 51-41 to approve the measure Tuesday. It now moves to the North Dakota Senate for its review.

The bill declares that "any organism with the genome of homo sapiens" is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.

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It's about time - Let's pray that this is just a major first step in over-turning Roe v. Wade. What we need to see now is more States passing this kind of legislation across the country and flooding the Supremes with States rights battles.

Is the end near?

From The Christian Post : Ministry Leaders: World's Bad News and Good Reveal End is Near

According to the story, Ann Graham Lotz said; “We’re looking at the end of human history,” said Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of renowned evangelist Billy Graham and president of AnGeL Ministries, at the recent convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. “That our generation is the generation that precedes the return of Christ, what a privilege, what a responsibility to share the gospel with the world in this generation.”

Over the past several hundred years people and sects have been proclaiming that the end is near. Is the return of Christ closer than it was yesterday? Yes, of course it is. But should Christian leaders be heralding the proclamation of the end of the world? At any moment?

Lotz goes onto say; “The world is crumbling, isn’t it? And it’s unraveling. And I don’t think it’s going to get better,” Graham Lotz told thousands of Christian media professionals during a general session at the recently concluded NRB Convention. “I think superficially, maybe, but it’s not really going to get better, not if what we’re experiencing is the judgment of God, which I believe it is.”

Just asking the question...is this wise? Will she be seen as just another lunatic religious freak trying to scare everyone into salvation?

What do you all think?

If a seventh grader can...can you?

From World Net Daily -

12-year-old steals day with pro-life speech Teachers threaten disqualification, but girl chooses to speak against abortion-----

Despite facing threats of disqualification, a 12-year-old girl took first place in a speech contest when she eloquently argued for the rights of unborn children – after an offended judge quit.

"What if I told you that right now, someone was choosing if you were going to live or die?" the seventh-grader begins in a video recording of her speech on YouTube. "What if I told you that this choice wasn't based on what you could or couldn't do, what you'd done in the past or what you would do in the future? And what if I told you, you could do nothing about it?"

The girl, a student at a Toronto school identified only as "Lia," continued:

"Fellow students and teachers, thousands of children are right now in that very situation. Someone is choosing without even knowing them whether they are going to live or die.
"That someone is their mother. And that choice is abortion."

"Why do we think that just because a fetus can't talk or do what we do, it isn't a human being yet?" She asks in the video. "Some babies are born after only five months. Is this baby not human?

"We would never say that. Yet abortions are performed on 5-month-old fetuses all the time. Or do we only call them humans if they're wanted?"

She continues, "No, fetuses are definitely humans – knit together in their mother's womb by their wonderful Creator who knows them all by name."

The Devil in sheeps clothing?

"If the devil comes to my door with his horns visible,I will never let him in; but if he comes with his hat on as a respectable gentleman, he is at once admitted.The metaphor may be very strange, but it is quite true--many a man has taken in an evil thing, because it has been varnished and glossed over, and not apparently an evil; and he has thought in his heart, there is not much harm in it; so he has let in the little thing, and it has been like the breaking forth of water- the first drop has brought after it a torrent.

The beginning has been but the beginning of a fearful end." --C.H. Spurgeon

Be back shortly

Ok - This may be my last post for a few days.

Tomorrow morning around 10:00am (Yes, Friday the 13th) I will be undergoing lithotripsy to bust up a couple very large kidney stones.

I had the procedure done back in 2004 and it was no fun. The stones back then were about 7mm. The stones I have today are one 14mm and three 7mm.

My body produces these stones because of a kidney disease and it's just something I have to live with.

If all goes well the blasting will produce stone fragments that will be easy (hahahaha) to pass. If it does not go well then I will have big chunks of kidney stones that will require another method to remove. We don't want that.

I hope to be posting again sometime Sunday or Monday. Talk amongst yourselves!!

Dawg

The fruit and effects He produces

(J. C. Ryle, "The Holy Spirit")

"When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment." (John 16:8)

Where the Holy Spirit is, there will always be deep conviction of sin--and true repentance for it.

It is His special office to convince of sin.

He shows the exceeding holiness of God.

He teaches the exceeding corruption and infirmity of our nature.

He strips us of our blind self-righteousness.

He opens our eyes to our awful guilt, folly and danger.

He fills the heart with sorrow, contrition, and abhorrence for sin--as the abominable thing which God hates.

He who knows nothing of all this, and saunters carelessly through life, thoughtless about sin, and indifferent and unconcerned about his soul, is a dead man before God! He has not the Holy Spirit.
The presence of the Holy Spirit in a man's heart can only be known by the fruits and effects He produces. Mysterious and invisible to mortal eye as His operations are, they always lead to certain visible and tangible results.

Just as you know there is life in a tree by its sap, buds, leaves and fruits--just so you may know the Spirit to be in a man's heart by the influence He exercises over his thoughts, affections, opinions, habits, and life. I lay this down broadly and unhesitatingly.

I see it clearly marked out in our Lord Jesus Christ's words, "Every tree is known by his own fruit." (Luke 6:44)

Shut up!

(Thomas Reade, "Christian Experience")

They tell the prophets, "Shut up! We don't want any more of your reports." They say, "Don't tell us the truth. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. We have heard more than enough about your 'Holy One of Israel.' We are tired of listening to what He has to say." Isaiah 30:10-11

O what a deluge of evil has sin brought upon the earth!

The heart of man naturally revolts against the faithful exposure of its enormities.
Our pride fondly shelters itself under the 'dignity of human nature'.

We cannot bear to be told how wicked we are, how very far gone, even as far as possible, from original righteousness.

But the Bible is no flatterer!

It is a faithful mirror, in which we may clearly see, (if we have eyes to see) our real state, divested of all paint and covering.

This offends our pride.

We cannot endure the sight!

Therefore we turn away with disgust from this Holy Book, and consider it our enemy, because it tells us the truth.

They tell the prophets, "Shut up! We don't want any more of your reports." They say, "Don't tell us the truth. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. We have heard more than enough about your 'Holy One of Israel.' We are tired of listening to what He has to say." Isaiah 30:10-11

Are you saved?

From Defending/Contending

I had to post this from Defending Contending this morning. As a staunch pro-life supporter I must continue to make things like this known as long as I am able to. Please click on the link to read the news story.


Proof that there’s a Hell and a loving God will send the wicked there.

This shocking story out of Florida of the murder of a child under the pretense of “choice” is proof enough for me that there’s a Hell. For if there was no punishment for this wickedness God would fail to be just.

And on a side note, had the murderous blood-shedding “doctor” arrived on time and the baby girl was executed the “normal” way, this would have never made the news. So what’s the difference?

I would fly away, and be at rest!

(Arthur Pink, "The Rest of Christ")

"Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden--and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

There is also a FUTURE rest beyond any that can be experienced here, though our best conceptions are most inadequate of the glory awaiting the people of God.

In Heaven, there shall be a perfect resting from all of our sins--for nothing shall ever enter there, which could either defile or disturb our peace. The Christian yearns to be done with sin forever--that there may never again be anything in his heart or life dishonoring unto the One who has redeemed him at such infinite cost. He pants for perfect conformity to the image of Christ, and for unbroken fellowship with Him.

What it will mean to be delivered from indwelling corruptions--no mortal tongue can tell. The plague of their hearts is a constant occasion of grief to the saints--as long as they are left in this wilderness of sin. It is a burden under which they groan, and from which they long to be delivered. The closer a believer's walk with the Lord, and the more intimate his communion with Him--the more bitterly he bewails that sin within him, which is ever fighting against his endeavors after holiness. Therefore it was, that the Apostle cried out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death!" (Romans 7:24) But blessed be God, we shall not carry this burden beyond the grave--the hour of death will free us from all indwelling evil.

In Heaven, there will be perpetual rest from all our afflictions. Though afflictions are needful for us in this present scene, and when sanctified to us are also profitable; nevertheless they are grievous to bear. But a day is coming when such tribulations will no longer be necessary, for all the dross shall have been purged from the gold. The storms of life will all be behind, and an unbroken calm shall be the believer's portion forever and ever!

Where there shall be no more sin--there shall be no more sorrow! "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes! And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever!" Revelation 21:4

"Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away, and be at rest!" Psalm 55:6



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I can't seem to get enough of Pink lately!

Why is it?

(Arthur Pink, "Fearing God in His Sovereign Majesty")

"An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes!" Psalm 36:1

Why is it that, today, the masses are so utterly unconcerned about spiritual and eternal things, and that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it that defiance of God is becoming more open, more blatant, more daring? The answer is, because "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18).

Again, why is it that the authority of the Scriptures has been lowered so sadly of late? Why is it that even among those who profess to be the Lord's people, that there is so little real subjection to His Word, and that its precepts are so lightly esteemed and so readily set aside?

Ah! what needs to be stressed today--is that God is a God to be feared! Happy is the person who has been awed by a view of God's majesty, who has had a vision of . . .

God's unutterable greatness,
His ineffable holiness,
His perfect righteousness,
His irresistible power,
His sovereign grace!

Time was, when it was the general custom to speak of a believer as "a God-fearing man". That such an appellation has become extinct--only serves to show where we have drifted. Nevertheless, it still stands written, "Like as a father pities His children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him!" Psalm 103:13

When we speak of godly fear, of course, we do not mean a servile fear, such as prevails among the heathen in connection with their gods. No! We mean that spirit which Jehovah is pledged to bless, that spirit to which the prophet referred when he said, "To this man will I will look--even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word." Isaiah 66:2

Nothing will foster this godly fear, like a recognition of the sovereign majesty of God!

"I tell you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you--this is the One to fear!" Luke 12:4-5

Victor or Victoria?

How do feel this witnessing encounter went?

Would you do anything different?

Was the Law presented correctly?

Would you have given the Gospel to this person?