Tears...

I ate dinner with a woman who works for Salvation army tonight. She has never met her father, and her mother died 7 years ago from HIV. Her mother was a prostitute, addicted to cocaine and forced by her own doing into a life that fed her addiction and sorrow. This woman never saw all of her children and she never raised them. She was not educated at a private school and was abused her whole life until she was 30 years old when Aids took her life... But that was not the story that haunts me.

This womans daughter, told me not of her broken life brought on by her mothers addiction, she told me of another woman. A 16 year old girl. The girl was 16 years old, and was originally from Arizona. She was deaf, and had been molested by her father her whole life. Finally she ran away at a gas station and pleaded for the help of a couple after serious abuse. The couple took her in, it was a pastor of a church in Dallas, his wife and their child. They took her back to Dallas in safety of what seemed like safety. This soon ended, and the man who had appeared as a savior, took this deaf and abused girl and locked her away in his basement. He opened a Sex business with her as the attraction. He set up video cameras and a website where for a fee one could go and type in what you wanted to see done to the girl and he would do it (including at one point set her on FIRE! For some sick bastard whose condemnation is just). He would do whatever act his paying viewers would type into the computer and say they want to see her to. For 2 years she was beaten and raped repeatedly. ALL BY A PASTOR IN DALLAS, TEXAS. This continued until Fall of 2009. She thought she would be saved only to be Tortured

The girl was eventually rescued by the police, but she came out with all of her body mutilated and her genital region completely destroyed... Oh God have mercy on Her, she needs you. I know you say that 'shall not the God of all the earth do what is just? (Gen 18:25) But Lord have mercy on her, Yahweh God of all creation save her soul...God help us... This is what Porn Addicts are watching!!! God let it stop, come quickly Lord Jesus I know you are enthroned on high, Adonai

"I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And Behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them...And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the son." Eccl. 4:3

You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their Sins...

Lord I pray right now for this deaf and abused girl, her pour heart and soul, save them both. I pray for the Pastor of this Church and the deacon who are only miles from me right now, their pour souls, GOD SAVE YOUR PEOPLE

How to Save a Life...

Can you fathom the Weight of a Soul in light of Eternity?-Spurgeon

Can you? Can you even begin to understand, imagine, know the incredible weight of a soul, a living soul? With eternity in the balance, think about that. The most infinitely important thing about or in us is our SOUL. The immortal soul is nothing new to us. Plato and Aristotle wrote often and openly about the apparent soul that gave all of us consciousness. A consciousness distinctly different than any other animal there is. We are awake (in a sense, but many are very much asleep in another).

With the eternal state of the men and women you interact with daily, get hair cuts from, kiss, laugh with, cry for, and labor creeping into the very fabric of their existence. How can you not open your mouth? Think about this...If they were able to see you at the end of the Age as they awaited their Judge (the same one who will judge you), and they saw that you knew, you knew the truth and you had never told them. What would they say? "How could you not open your mouth?" "You knew?, You knew this whole time and you never said anything? Because you were worried about how you would look? How could you not say anything you knew? How could you keep silent? I don't understand...HOW??? Your reputation, your job, your image??? These were worth more to you than My Eternal Destination???"

Oh Lord make us bold, remind us "How to save a life".

"Chosen that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness into his marvelous light."- 1 Peter 2:9

Citizens of Heaven or Hell

What we are becoming TODAY is what we will be tomorrow. Citizens of Heaven, are those who as Christ would say ‘bear good fruits’ (Matthew 7)they do this by the presence of the Holy Spirit which Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 is how we know we are a believer, and the ‘guarentee of our souls’ salvation. The presence of the Spirit creates these fruits, it does this by what Peter says is called ‘sanctification for the obedience to Jesus Christ’ (1Peter 1:2). Point being those who accept God’s grace and receive eternal life are in that moment ‘created new’ (2cor. 5:17) and so for the rest of their life they go are continually are transformed day by day from one degree of glory to the next into a citizen of Heaven. This is most clearly seen not in what they do ‘externally’ but on the inward transition that takes place in their heart.

Conversely this is also true for those who are citizens of this world. Who, like the citizens of heaven also await an inheritance. However, this inheritance is not one that resembles in any way the that which awaits those whose ‘Souls desire’ is found in God. You see the distinguishing mark or ‘seed’ within the heart of Christ Followers is a ‘love for God’. This seed may be weak or strong but it is always implanted upon receiving grace and repentance. Thus Heaven will be the fulfillment of their hearts affection and the magnification of it as well. So in those who do not love God, Heaven would not be a place they would be satisfied anyways, but one where they are not able to Worship the idols of this world or the god they have made of themselves, they would be miserable.

And as well without this ‘seed’ of love, they are not able to grow over there life into anything resembling a Citizen of Heaven. So they grow in their love for self, or whatever else they desire. Suppose for example that a man became so addicted to cocaine that what began as a fix from time to time, soon began to rule his life so strongly that he was no longer able to live a normal life at all, if the addiction continued it would take over himself so greatly that we might say ‘his life is hell’. Well that is a close resemblance to the Christian doctrine of hell. A man will grow either in his affection for himself (pride), sex (lust), mankind (humanism- let me say I do not think affection for man kind is a bad thing. I actually feel quite the opposite, man is to love his neighbor as himself. But the minute that Civility and Social Justice efforts become the God we worship we find that we have also slain the foundation of our god and any purpose we had in helping our brother man, any more than we would have in helping our ‘brother ox’) or any other idol from birth until death until it makes him so focused upon it that ‘his life is hell’. This idol becomes quickly a ruthless dictator who demands an ever conforming heart and soul. It demands we lay down all we have. A close parallel to the brutish gods of the greeks.

We are always serving something, and further always conforming to one world or the next…Which is left to our own choosing, but to not choose is simply not an option. You are born a servant to self and sin, thus you may change the ‘Lord’ you choose to serve, but you will never stop serving. Who will you serve?

Image Bearers

‘Image Bearers’

I believe we are far more powerful than we know. One day we shall shine like the son, and be restored to the rightful place in the created order of things, but for now we are a depraved people, who deprive ourselves by our own unrighteousness of any and all possible life. We do this by worshipping ourselves or other things and in our disobedient rebellious action we seek only the exaltation of ourselves. At the end of time we shall be no longer enslaved. But shall be set free from sin, and restored to power. Power that will be rooted in its outsourcing from God alone. Power that finds itself in its source not its face… This is something that Satan hates, scorns, and despises. He hates us, the ‘image bearers’ because he has nothing to do but hate. If ‘God is Love’, then it is not a stretch to assume that ‘Satan is Evil’. And that Satan and all of the demons hate Man, because we, simply known as the ‘Image Bearers’, though rebels, ignorant, blinded, foolish, and stupid are loved by him. Loved by the One whose image we bear, so much that he would lay down his life for us. Someday we shall be restored, we shall be made new, we shall Shine like the sun, and be in an existence that is ‘much better’. We shall be whiter than Snow, healed, and whole. But we shall also be powerful, powerful beyond measure.

Exercising enormous control over other domains of our creation. As a Prince who helps rule and Judge for his father, so it will be for those who love him. We shall be no longer Weak. No longer we under the slavery of sin… We shall more than ever before ‘bear His image’, and through his strength, and for his name bear it well…

Love...

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident." -Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The above is a quote from a Novel that takes place during World War II. It is hardly as good a book as this is a quote. It is spoken by a character in the book known as Dr. Iannis. He a meager philosopher and ever worse theologian, but his quote here speaks wonders to the truth of exactly what Love is.

Today love is used to express a fascination for everything from pickles, to a husband, to Sexual intercourse (ie making love). It would be unfair to limit this truth to simply our country, language, or even era. Greek Poetry from the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries BC failed to categorize the usage of the words (they had 4 words...debatebly more) for love with any firm boundaries that made clear when and where each term for love was to be used. They are not the only ones either, in truth the human expression regardless of time period is prone to speak in a superfluous manner (we are humans and we exaggerate). Even the bible fails to truly separate quite as concretely as we would like, and sometimes the Apostles use one word for God and love and sometime another. (Point being the idea that 'agape' is a word that is reserved for God's love for us, or our love for him, and that alone is well... not biblical.)

But i think nonetheless it is necessary that we explain and define love; and allow the boundaries that we can establish distinguish it from the 'false loves' that so many things that are better to be known as 'patior' or the greek word for 'passion'. (I think it is better to address what 'love' is, rather than spend an infinite amount of time addressing the limitless things it is not).

Love is a transcendent expression and faculty, it is in some ways unexplainable, but in every way undeniable. It is the sole force within the universe that history affirms has been present in every civilized state on record. It is the driving force behind a million actions that do not always service the individual good and ease of him who is performing the verbal action in their 'loving' of another. It is the most pure form of goodness, and beauty in all the universe. It contains within it both the power to create and destroy. It is unlike anything else in all the world. It turns night to day, winter to spring, dark to light, tedious labor to effortless service, burden to blessing, slavery to liberty, pain to pleasure, it is the driving force of ALL there is.

It is not sex, it is not passion, it is, what Dr. Iannis said rightly, 'would be left if all else could burn away', it is not mercy though this is certainly Love child. Love is patient, it is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it does not delight in evil but rejoices when right it done to all. It always protects even at the price of its own life, always believe even when things look hopeless, always hopes for Peace and goodness, always perseveres even the fiercest storm.

GODisLOVE : He is the Truest and most sincere expression of Love we have. On our souls we have imprinted an ability to love. But True love is not found in the Ancient Aphrodite. If you remember Greek mythology, she was the greek goddess of love and Romance. At her height the goddess (or perhaps the demon) 'aphrodite' demands full obedience from her worshippers. But this demand is a hollow one, and though in this so called 'love' she demands her worshipper to sacrifice their all for their 'lover' (husband, wife, girlfriend, or boyfriend). This is a futile demand and is really but an imprint within in crying out that we were meant to love something with all we are. In a way that Science could never explain by observation, and words could hardly capture in writing. Romance is by no means wrong, it is beautiful and created by and for God. But Erotica is not Love, Eros is not Agape, and Aphrodite is not Immanuel.

We have only but a taste of how vast his love is, God is LOVE. Aphrodite is a whore, and her demands from a broken world to be infatuated with one another and to look at Sex and rather than their Savior,will soon be repaid with eternal and indescribable punishment. All we need is LOVE

Free Will

I recently sat down with a friend who believe neither in Jesus as the Son of God, nor in the God of any sort of non-eastern deity. He posed the following dilemma:

"If God is good, and knows all things, why would he create Satan with the free will that would allow him to Turn against Him. If God knew Satan would do evil, then he must be in some way evil."

I responded with the following:

"What you are suggesting is that God should have made Satan not free, but a slave or servant to God. He should have essentially made some sort of robotic creation that would serve him and be obedient without fail, right?"

He then said "yeh, exactly".

And this was my response, "What you are suggesting is that it is much better to be a slave who has no capacity to act on its own, no ability to love, no ability to do any thing outside of its being directly in line with serving its creator." (sidenote: this is the way I believe Heaven will be, but we will no longer have any desire to rebel, only to serve.)

I then asked him "Have you ever been to a homeless shelter?";

"yes" he replied.

"Well in that homeless shelter have you ever seen an African American man?";

"of course" he then replied.

I then said "What you are suggesting is that the American government is in fact evil for giving freedom to 'African Americans', because it landed some of them in worse circumstances. Previously they had a warm bed, a Job, 3 meals, a day, and a home. Now there freedom has landed them without any of these. The American government should have kept them as slaves for their own good and not only that those who fought for slavery are evil people. We should make all the poor slaves."

He expressed a peculiar sense of Satisfaction at the answer, and quickly we segwayed into the "Pat Robertson dilemma"... Freedom

God forgive us today, we distort you, your world, and your name. Forgive us...

Time...

It is 6 o’clock on the evening of the 3^rd day of the New Calendar year, 2010 years from the estimated birth of Jesus Christ, God with us. Time is my subject here and the reason for my elaborate expression of the date and Time.

It is often said that God preexisted time, I feel as though the teaching around this is true. But I also feel that such a quality must be explained further than it often is. Science measures time and “elapse time since” also known has “age” based on the amount of decay that has taken place in atomic particles, this generally occurs at a precise and exponentially increasing rate. This process is known as “Carbon Dating”. By measuring the stage of the Carbon and comparing it science is able to determine age. Thus time is inextricably linked to decay.

However, the original intent of the universe was not one bent towards decay. But it is no surprise that the world we live in is one where decay and death are undeniable realities. And so according to the scientific explanation and recording of “Time”, Adam, Eve, and the entire Garden existed before there was “Time”. As they all existed in a state that had no decay. Science is insufficient to explain or define a proper understanding of time, as we know it.

Time, age, and any term within the realm of dating are simply made up terms that we designate to help us distinguish from one moment to the next. They are like the address on your house, or more accurately the page numbers we attribute to a book we have not written. They may not have any influence from the author of the book, but they allow the “reader” to identify more precisely where he is in the story. It would then help us to take a more philosophical and transcendent definition to the label of “time”. As not so much a measurement of age, but rather a chronological succession of moments. In our current existence decay is related directly to time, however in the paradise lost and in the one to come this will not be the case. Time will no longer be needed, decay no longer existent (save for within the bounds of hell, however this “decay” will as well no longer be related to time, as for all of eternity there will be eternal decay but not disappearance) and we will simply be left with a wondrous chronology of successive moments that pass by in a fleeting ecstasy, but they will flee to nowhere. So as the proverbial saying goes “time flies when you are having fun” heaven will likely a simultaneous passing of rapidly blissful moments as well as deliciously savored experiences treasured for all that they are.

So, it is an accurate statement to suggest that God preexisted time or our present definition of decay, but so did Adam. But he certainly did exist in time prior to our decay in another sense. My point being that if God has always existed he has enjoyed a chronological succession of events prior to the creation of our universe. By definition to exist would indicate you are at one moment “existing” and have “existed” prior, thus there were moments in between that took place to bring about the current state. So God has always existed but by this definition so has time, but he also exists beyond time, as he is not limited in his knowledge of anything past, present, or future, but that would deal more with his omniscience, nor is he limited in his ability to alter, change, or affect time, which would deal with his omnipotence. He is by his nature inside and outside of this chronology in everyway and thus he is beyond time and yet within it is everyway… He truly is the great “I AM that I AM”…