Abortion

Warning:  there are STRONG opinions and comments in this post.  If I alienate readers, well, so what!  There is truth here.  Deal with it!

There’s debate about what caused the demise of Republican wins this election season.  What always seems to pop up is abortion.  There are those inside the party that say the “abortion debate” has caused the Repulican Party harm — that it has made the party a single-issue party that has alienated enough people to cause defeat in elections.

Some say that one of the main losses was from women leaving the party because of the abortion issue.  Guess what?  I don’t care!  If that was really true (statistics seem to not support this by any great measure), then good riddance!  Besides, I know many good women who have morals and do not abandon God’s truth on this matter.  They are REAL women!  The others ignore the “inconvenience” of the truth for the expedience of the LIE!

Let’s get real.  What is evil?  A living being’s (it has beating heart, it can move it’s legs–kicking; it can move its arms and hands and fingers; it…can…breathe…) life has the attempt of murder forced upon it by a “doctor.”  Miraculously, the living being survives.  What to do?  By every SANE moral standard since human existence, one would try to SAVE the living being from destruction outside the womb.  Instead, we have DEBATE on to whether there should be laws to keep the living being ALIVE!  It makes me weep to think of the helpless BABY (a living being) sitting in trash can in an enclosed closet of a cold hospital shivering until the cold and hunger and thirst and every other deprivation takes the baby’s life. THIS…IS…EVIL!!!  You know what?  I may offend here…those who believe that the child should die…they DESERVE hell!  Unless they repent, may they suffer eternally!  I am tired of the SOFT, milquetoast crap here.  The innocent are being murdered!  The advocates of such evil will have a good time conversing with Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin and (to reference a recent event) the Beslan terrorists.

Unfortunately, our president-elect fought against a law (again, like we should have needed one!) to save babies from botched abortions.  Maybe the Holy Spirit will convict him and turn him from such evil ways.  I do not know.  My concern is more about the fact the many within the so-called Evangelical community equivocate on the previous paragraph.  It seems like we need to be more specific, now, to describe true Christian believers:  how about Evangelical Christ Followers with a Biblical Worldview?  If there is a rapture, and it occurs in our lifetime, how many will be caught up?  Will we be surprised at the small number.  The remnant of those who survived the Babylonian destruction (and God’s judgment) of Israel was small compared to the population.

How much can we compromise on God’s Word and His Truth before He abandons us to our own evil desires?  If you find yourself making excuses for killing the unborn, I plead with you to repent!  Change!  It is not too late!  Murder is murder!  You cannot compromise with the Word of God!  It is Truth!  God will judge you!  I do not say this to condemn but to speak the truth!  I cannot judge you, but God has given us all what He has set before us as truth and His will in our lives.  He hates compromise.  He wants unwavering servants!  Yes, we will mess up and be weak in some things.  But, if we recognize it (by being in His Word), then we have a chance to repent!  We can change!  We can have true fellowship with God!  Yes, He will show us grace and mercy even we are sinning (I know this to be true in my own life), but God will require us to respond!  If we do not respond and we harden our hearts, He will abandon us to our hardened hearts–like Pharoah.  And in the end, we will die!

I am not a super-christian.  But, I am continually comparing the truth of the Word of God to my life.  There are struggles.  There are times when it is easy to examine my life with respect to the Word and change.  Sometimes, it is harder.  It takes a change of mind — taking captive thoughts to make them obedient to Christ.  Jesus is King and Ruler of all!  I have been guilty of neglecting Jesus in the past.  I no longer take Him for granted — or at least I try not to — the sinful nature is a constant hassle.  The name and person of Jesus is becoming a more ever-present presence in my life.  Like others have said, I will not “arrive” until Glorification at the end of this present life.  But, He will sanctify me until then!  God Be Praised!  Have Hope!  If you struggle with the above, PRAY!  God will listen!  He will change you by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name Jesus Christ our LORD who is in Heaven with His Father!

The Power of Music

This is from Cassiodorus, a Christian from around the 5th – 6th century commenting on Psalms 81:4.  I think it is neat:

‘Blow up the trumpet at the beginning of the month, on the day of your noted solemnity.’…It should be observed that we are enjoined to hymn the Lord and celebrate the solemn day with instruments for musical performance; just as those instruments sweetly combine to produce pleasant melody and a single harmony, so all our actions can be directed to the Lord and offered to his ears with the most pleasant intonation.  The discipline of music incorporates great power and knowledge that brings delight; teachers of secular literature, through the generosity of God who grants all that is useful have made it possible through theoretical texts to ascertain what was earlier regared as hidden from view in the nature of the world.  The first division of this discipline, then, is into harmonics, rhythmics and metrics.  The second division, that of musical instruments, is between percussion, strings and wind.  The thrid division is into six harmonies, the fourth into fifteen tones.  In this way the virtue of his most beautiful discipline is unfolded by distinctions made a long time ago.  We read in secular works that many miracles were brought forth by these measures.  But we need say nothing of this fabulous material; we read that by means of David’s tuneful harp the demon was expelled from Saul.  The divine reading attests that the walls of Jericho at once collapsed at the din of trumpets.  So there is no doubt that the sounds of music, at the Lord’s command or with his permission, have unleashed great forces. [Emphasis mine]

Imprecatory Prayers

Did you ever wonder what to do with Ps. 137:8-9?  If we want to “pray the Psalms”, how do we take those verses?  How can we pray them?  There is an excellent article on www.breakpoint.org on this.  Check it out!

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If the Gospel is not preached (one different from what Paul, Jesus, and the Apostles preached), people are condemned to hell.

The Gospel Is Key

Job’s Anguish

Job 3

Job “curses the day of his birth.”  Job cries out in despair.  When one is in the deepest valley it is easy to fall into despair and wonder why we are even on this earth.  I think that at this point, Job has lost a lot of his faith in his God.  Our faith in God can sustain us in the darkest hour. 

We do not have to question why God allowed us to be here on this earth.  Although we may not know our immediate purpose, we can know for sure that God’s plan for us is good.  Some scripture to follow…

The Accuser

Job 1 – 2

Job has been immensely blessed by God.  He is also righteous before God.  We see here that Satan is summoned daily before God to give account of what he is doing.  It is also here where we see one of his roles as accuser.  God asks Satan to consider Job and his righteousness.  Satan accuses Job of doing it because he is blessed of God.  He says that if God was to take away Job’s blessing, Job would curse God.  God then allows Satan to take away Job’s material possessions and children.  Of course, Job mourns his loss, but he also praises God. 

We see how relentless Satan is in his accusations.  Satan says that Job still blesses and praises God because he has his health.  God then allows Satan to inflict disease upon Job.  Job still does not curse God, even when his own wife says he should.

Do we have Job’s faith?  If we are blown into the valleys of life, will we continue to praise God?  If we do not love God, even in the midst of the storms of life, how strong is our faith towards Him?  Is it easy?  Not all the time.  But there is so much in God’s Word that attest to His faithfulness and His love for us.  Also, we can, as followers of Christ, look upon the times in our own lives to His faithfulness and love for us.  This can give us hope and comfort while we are in the valley and storms are all around us.

Next, we will see that although Job’s faith towards God is not shaken, his attitude towards Him is not right.

Downfall of Haman and Deliverance of the Jews

Esther 7 -10

Esther makes her final petition to the king and asks him for the lives of the Jews, her brethren. Haman is implicated as the instigator of edict for the destruction of the Jews. The king hangs Haman on the gallows that Haman built to hang Mordecai.

The king then makes Esther head over Haman’s household and elevates Mordecai to a high position, giving him his signet ring. With the ring, Mordecai proceeds to write an edict in the king’s name to allow the Jews the defend themselves from their enemies. In that time, the kings of Persia could not rescind previously written edicts.

On the day that the enemies of the Jews were to come and destroy them, the Jews rose up and killed those who would kill them. They did not take any plunder, even though they were allowed to do so. Haman’s sons were killed. This was extended to a second day. On the third day the Jews celebrated their victory. Afterwards, Mordecai instituted a feast to be celebrated every year in remembrance of the Jews deliverance from their enemies. These feast days are called Purim after Pur, a lot cast against the Jews to destroy them.

The Beginning of Haman’s Downfall

Esther 5 – 6

Esther comes before the king and he extends his scepter to her. She petitions to king to come with her to a banquet. She also asks him to bring Haman. At the banquet, she petitions the king to come with Haman to a second banquet. Haman, at this point, is filled with pride in himself. He boasts about himself to his friends and wife. His wife then counsels him to set up a gallows to kill Mordecai.

It seems that God interferes with the king’s sleep such that he had to get the chronicles to be read to him. As it was read, it was found written there the account of Mordecai saving the king from a murder conspiracy. It was also found that nothing was done to honor Mordecai for his acts. The king asks Haman what he should do for one he honors. Haman believes the king is talking about himself. Haman describes what he would like the king to do for himself. The king then publicly honors Mordecai in front of Haman. Haman goes home and tells his wife what happened. She basically prophesies his downfall.

The Edict to Annihilate the Jews

Esther 3 – 4

Haman, called an Agagite, was made head over all the princes of the provinces in Persia. It is thought that Haman was actually an Amalekite since they had a king named Agag who was spared by Saul in disobedience to God’s command. One wonders if Saul had obeyed God, these things in the book of Esther would have even occurred. Given Haman’s authority, people were to bow down and pay homage to him. This was against God’s Law, so Mordecai would not bow down to him. Haman becomes enraged at this, and learning that Mordecai is a Jew, asks the king to proclaim an edict to annihilate the Jews. The king does what Haman asks.

When the Jews learn of this (including Mordecai), they mourn. Mordecai puts on sackcloth and ashes. Esther learns of Mordecai’s distress and inquires as to the reason. Mordecai informs her his reason, and asks her to go to the king and plead for the Jews’ lives. Now, the queen could not just go up to the king without him summoning her. If she does so, and he does not extend his scepter to her, she would be put to death.

At this point we see how events can happen that may be ordained by God: “…And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” Sometimes, things can happen in our own lives, events occurring leading up to time where God will use us to accomplish something for Him. At the time, these things may not even bring God’s work to our minds. But the time will come, if we have a relationship with Him, that we will be able to discern the work of God in our lives to direct us to paths we are going.

Esther chooses, in faith I believe, to risk her life for her people.

Ahasueras and the Dethroning of Vashti

Esther 1 – 2

King Ahasueras gives a banquet for all his attendants and princes. During this banquet he commands Queen Vashti to come to him. She refuses his command. His counselors recommend that she be removed from her station as queen.

The king then begins the process of finding a new queen for himself. Virgins from all the provinces under the King’s rule were brought to be prepared for him. During this time, Hadasseh (Esther), was taken. She was the Mordecai’s cousin. Mordecai was taking care of her because her parents had died. Esther found favor with the head of the harem to which she was taken. Then that head (Hegai) instructed her on how to act toward the king. Eventually, the king was pleased with her more than any of the other virgins, so she was made queen.