One Nation, Under God?

Recently, I have decided to get over myself and try to understand politics. I guess my sudden interest can be blamed on my sociology class. My professor seems to think the entire class is made up of communists who are not aware that they are communist. There is more than one form of communism, but the specific form he is referring to when he calls us all "comrade", is the communism known as neo-Marxism; neo meaning "new".
So, with that said, I would urge you to turn the light bulb on in your brain and become a critical thinker as you read the definition below of what a neo-Marxist is.
AHHEM, here it goes...
Neo-Marxism - a form of communism in which the western industrialized democracies will never fall to a violent communist revolution, but will eventually succumb to the socialist ideology after a prolonged period during which the essential institutions of the west (gov't, law, currency, patriotism, religion, marriage, education, family, values, morals, etc.) are progressively undermined and eroded to the extent that the public loses faith and trust in the system and cries out for change. They are too materialistic and satisfied to risk their lives and property to engage in an uprising against the military. They also have a sense of loyalty to the very forces that constitute their oppression (gov't, capitalism) and they feel a sense of ownership and participation in those same forces. Because of this, the people of the west will engage in a slow and gradual adoption of the principles of Marxism, not realizing that its principles have been intellectually reduced. They will no longer recognize it as communism, but indeed view it as patriotism.
Go ahead...read it again, and again after that. Make sure you understand it. The reason I say this is because there is a Marxist running for president. His name is Barack Obama. Barack Obama claims to be a lot of things, one of which is a christian. I am having a hard time seeing the spiritual fruit in his actions that would lead me to believe that statement is the truth. There is a socialist running for president too. His name is John McCain. He'll do the same thing as Barack Obama, only slower and he'll take a little less of your money.
So, there it is. There is the gospel of politics I said I would never participate in. Feel privileged, I did it because it's important.

Marriage Counseling 101

As Mike and I were driving home from a picnic today, he informed me that in the next week or so, we were going to be doing some marriage counseling. A young couple in our church is getting married in October. The first thought that came to my mind was a question. That question was this: How does one counsel someone who is about to get married?

Do I tell them to run for the hills because marriage is really hard work and at one point or another, one of them may want to get out of it? What tools can we give them as husband and wife that will help them to build a solid foundation not only at the beginning, but one that will transform and last throughout their lives? I've pondered these questions and these are the answers that I came up with.

First of all, know that my marriage has tested me. I have found on many occasions, that Mike and I have opposing needs, desires, perspectives, and we are both self-centered. No matter how hard we try to, we cannot love each other perfectly. I do believe that love really does cover a multitude of sins. I do believe that perfect love can exist. My only problem is that it is so very hard to love that way. Still, while we can't love perfectly, we can choose to give up whatever it is at any given time that is causing us to stumble in our attitudes. It is our responsibility once we are married, to perservere, to keep moving forward and press on towards our heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

I have also discovered that forgiving never comes naturally to me. I have to work really hard at it. I have always felt that people should pay for the wrong that they have done, myself included. I have always thought that I was right in thinking that way too, that it was my good sense of fairness. But now I have come to find that particular way of thinking to be unbiblical. My bible says that Love keeps no record of wrongs. Forgiveness is God's invention, not mine. It's how we come to terms with an unfair world in which people hurt each other deeply. Forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule. Forgiving is love's toughest work and it's biggest risk. Sometimes we twist it into something that it was never meant to be by making ourselves the doormat or the manipulator.

I have to be faithful, forgiving, and I have to extend mercy to my husband not only because I love him, but because my relationship with God began when HE forgave me.

What can we do about all the bumps and bruises? What can we do to make sure that we won't give up? We can start by accepting that hurt feelings are a part of marriage and family life. We can also acknowledge our own imperfections first before we acknowledge our spouses. We can always refuse to nurture feelings of self-pity, resentment, ot dissatisfaction. We can know that these things are not going to be easy.

Mike and I have learned and are still continuing to learn to ease our conflicts through improved communication. Once we find the right way to express our emotions appropriately, we learn and practice the art of apology on a daily basis.

The Lord faithfully loves my husband and is working in him for HIS good. When I am upset, I try to remember that. Instead of seeking control, I look for God's handiwork in every moment and I pray. I see God's awesome hand of power in every stage of our lives so far, whether painful or pleasurable. God's love for my family exceeds my highest expectations, my biggest hopes, and all of my desires. When challenges come our way, so does grace and wisdom.

So, I guess that brings to mind that same question. What do you tell someone who is about to get married? The answer: Put God first. Place your hopes in HIM alone. The relationships that HE blesses us with are worth nurturing, protecting, improving, honoring, praying for, celebrating, encouraging, appreciating, paying attention to, and most of all, enjoying.

How To Pray

You ask me what this voice of the heart is. It is love which is the voice of the heart. Love God and you will always be speaking to Him. The seed of love is growth in prayer. If you do not understand that, then you have neither loved or prayed. Ask God to open your heart and kindle in it a spark of His love and then you will begin to understand what praying means.

If it is the heart that prays, it is evident that sometimes, and even continuously, it can pray by itself without any help from words, spoken or conceived. Here is something in which few people understand and which some even entirely deny. They insist that there must be definite and formal acts. They are mistaken, and God has not yet taught them how the heart prays. It is true that the thoughts are formed in the mind before they are clothed in words. The proof of this, is that we often search for the right word and reject one after another until we find the right one which expresses our thoughts accurately. We need words to make ourselves intelligible to other people, but not to the Spirit. It is the same with the feelings of the heart. The heart conceives feelings and adopts them without any need of resorting to words, unless it wishes to communicate to others or to make them clear to itself.

For God reads the secrets of the heart. God reads it's most intimate feelings, even those which we are not aware of. It is not necessary to make use of formal acts to make ourselves heard by God. If we do not make use of them in prayer, it is not so much for God's sake as our own, in that they keep our attention fixed on Him in His presence.

Imagine a soul so closely united to God that it has no need for outward acts to remain attentive to the inward prayer. In these moments of silence and peace, when it pays no heed to what is happening within itself, it prays and prays excellently with a simple and direct prayer that God will understand perfectly by the action of grace. The heart will be full of aspirations towards God without any other clear expression. Though they may elude our own consciousness, it will not escape the consciousness of God.

This prayer, so empty of all images and perceptions...apparently so passive and yet so active, is as far as the limitations of this life allow-pure adoration in spirit and in truth. It is adoration fully and worthy of God in which the soul is united to Him as it's ground, the created intelligence to the uncreated, without anything but very simple attention to the mind and as equally simple application of the will. This is what is called the prayer of silence, or of quiet, or bare faith.



Written by: Jean Nicholas Grou - "How To Pray"

Song of Solomon

The Song of Solomon is a love song written by Solomon and abounding in metaphors and oriental imagery. Historically, it depicts the wooing and wedding of a shepherdess by King Solomon, and the joys and heartaches of wedded love. It pictures Israel as God's betrothed bride and the church as the bride of Christ. As human life finds it's highest fulfillment in the love of man and woman, so spiritual life finds it's highest fulfillment in the love of God for His people and Christ for His church. The book is arranged like scenes in a drama with three main speakers: the bride (Shulamite), the king (the Beloved), and the chorus (daughters of Jerusalem). Mike is starting a sermon series on the love of God. This morning as the Lord spoke through him to deliver that message of His love, I found my mind wandering. Maybe it was because the Song of Solomon is so descriptive, or maybe it was just my Savior beckoning me to discover a part of Him that I have not yet experienced. My heart just felt satisfied as much as it is humanly possible, to know that God is waiting patiently for me to pursue Him. I closed my eyes and I pictured myself as Mike read the scriptures, running through the forest like a little child chasing after Him. It was a game of "hide and seek" and that kind of belly laughter that takes away your breath in a good way. As Mike went on describing how Solomon invites the bride into his chambers where the most intimate moments are shared, I realized more than ever that our relationship with our Beloved is to be treasured. I have a vivid imagination, but it was very real at that moment and I felt special and wanted by the Lord. "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for his love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised."

Creation vs. Evolution

Romans 1:25 declares, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen."
A key factor that we all must recognize is that the vast majority of scientists who believe in evolution are also atheists or agnostics. Some believe that God exists, but is not involved in the world...everything proceeds along a natural course. There are some who genuinely and honestly look at the data and arrive at the conclusion that evolution betters fits with the data. Again, though, these represent an insignificant portion of scientists who advocate evolution. The vast majority of evolutionary scientists hold that life evolved entirely without ANY intervention of a higher Being. Evolution is by definition a naturalistic science. For atheism to be true, there must be an alternate explanation for how the universe and life came into existence. At least, one would think so. I believe Charles Darwin was the first to develop the model for how evolution could have occurred, which is called natural selection. Darwin once identified himself as a Christian, but later renounced the Christian faith and the existence of God as a result of some tragedies that took place in his life. Evolution was "invented" by an atheist. Darwin's goal was not to disprove God's existence, but that is one of the end results of the theory of evolution. Evolution is an enabler of atheism. Evolutionary scientists today likely would not admit that their goal is to give an alternate explanation of the origins of life, and thereby to give a foundation for atheism. However, according to the Bible, that is exactly why the theory of evolution exists.The Bible tells us, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). The Bible also proclaims that people are without excuse for not believing in God, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). According to the Bible, anyone who denies the existence of God is a fool. Why, then, are so many people, including some Christians, willing to accept that evolutionary scientists are unbiased interpreters of scientific data? According to the Bible, they are all fools! Foolishness does not imply a lack of intelligence. Most evolutionary scientists are brilliant intellectually. Foolishness indicates an inability to properly apply knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 tells us, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."Evolutionary scientists mock Creation and/or Intelligent Design as unscientific and not worthy of scientific examination. In order for something to be considered a "science," they argue, it must be able to be observed and tested, it must be "naturalistic."
Creation is by definition "supernatural." God, and the supernatural, cannot be observed or tested (so the argument goes), therefore Creation and/or Intelligent Design cannot be considered a science. As a result, all data is filtered through the preconceived, presupposed, and preaccepted theory of evolution, without alternate explanations being considered. However, the origin of the universe and the origin of life cannot be tested or observed. Both Creation and evolution are faith-based systems when they speak of origins. Neither can be tested because we cannot go back billions (or thousands) of years to observe the origin of the universe and life in the universe. Evolutionary scientists reject Creation on grounds that would logically force them to also reject evolution as a "scientific" explanation of origins. Evolution, at least in regards to origins, does not fit the definition of “science” any more than Creation does. Evolution is supposedly the only explanation of origins that can be tested; therefore, it is the only theory of origins that can be considered "scientific." If Creation is true, then there is a Creator to Whom we are accountable. Evolution gives atheists a basis for explaining how life exists apart from a Creator God. According to the Bible, the choice is clear. We can believe the Word of our omnipotent and omniscient God, or we can believe the illogically biased, "scientific" explanations of fools. I prefer the aforementioned myself.

What is the Immutability of God?

The immutability of God (that He does not change) is clearly taught throughout Scripture in countless passages. For example, in Malachi 3:6 God affirms, "I, the Lord, do not change." (See also Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Isaiah 46:9-11; Ezekiel 24:14.)
James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” The shadow of turning refers to the sun which eclipses, and turns, and casts its shadow. It rises and sets, appears and disappears every day; and it comes out of one tropic, and enters into another at certain seasons of the year. But with God, who is light, there is no darkness at all, there is no change, nor anything like it. He is unchangeable in His nature, perfections, purposes, promises, and gifts. He being Holy, cannot turn to that which is evil; nor can He, who is the fountain of light, be the cause of darkness, and since every good and perfect gift comes from Him, evil cannot proceed from Him, nor does He tempt anyone to evil. The Bible is very clear that God does not change, neither His mind, His will, nor His nature.
Seen from a logical viewpoint, there are several reasons why it is impossible for God to change. First, if anything changes it must do so in some chronological order. There must be a point in time before the change and a point in time after the change. Therefore, for change to take place it must happen within the constraints of time; however, God is eternal and exists outside of the constraints of time (Psalm 33:11; Psalm 41:13; Psalm 90:2-4; John 17:5; 2 Timothy 1:9).
Second, if anything changes it must change for the better or the worse, because a change that makes no difference is not a change. For change to take place, either something that is needed is added, which is a change for the better, or something that is needed is lost, which is a change for the worse. But since God is perfect, He does not need anything. Therefore, He cannot change for the better. If God were to lose something, He would not be perfect; therefore, He cannot change for the worse.
Third, when someone changes his/her mind, it is often because new information has come to light that was not previously known, or the circumstances have changed that require a different kind of attitude or action. Because God is omniscient, He cannot learn something new that He did not already know. So, when the Bible speaks of God changing His mind, it must be understood that the circumstance or situation has changed, not God. So when Exodus 32:14 and 1 Samuel 15:11-29 talk about God changing His mind, it is simply describing a change of dispensation, and outward dealings, toward man.
Numbers 23:19 is very clear, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” No, God does not change His mind. These verses affirm the doctrine of God’s immutability: He is unchanging and unchangeable.