HOW TO BE UNPOPULAR TODAY

+Criticize important people.

+Get specific calling out sin.

+Preach the Bible—and practice what you preach.

+”Love the sinner, hate the sin”—tell the sinner what his sin is.

+Read about John the Baptist—and follow.

+Read about Joseph—and follow.

+Quote many things Jesus said—quote them over and over—without disclaimers, additions, or adaptations.

+Follow Daddy—he did the above, faithfully, consistently—paid the price.

So, what do we want to do—get along with everybody, or cause trouble ?
What are we supposed to do ?
Can I decide what I’m going to be like—can I decide if I’m going to be liked.
Can I decide if I’m going to confront trouble (get blamed for causing trouble)—can I decide if I’m going to avoid trouble ?

Answer is yes and no.
We cannot decide every situation we will face, or how it will turn out, or if we can steer clear of stuff we don’t want to deal with.
But we can decide what principles we will build our life on for facing everything—specifically, who we will build our life on.

The decision comes down to this—can I figure out my life myself, and count on me for all that comes—or do I need Jesus in charge of all of it ?
If I accept Jesus in charge of all my life, I can count on two things:
ONE—He will lead me where He wants me to go, and I don’t have to figure it all out.
TWO—He promised to be with me through it all.

Life is not always neat and clean and the way we want it, even for a Christian—not a buffet.

“There is something wrong with a person who gets along with everybody.”
—–Adrian Rogers

“We are not called to be nice; sometimes we are called to be confrontational.”
—–Sandy Rios

“I have not come to bring peace, but a sword, . . . and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”—-Jesus

Lots of people in history, and lots of people in the world today, find that following Jesus is not easy—not simple like going to church in America where life is good.
Yes, it may be easy to accept what Jesus did for us and ask Him to take us to heaven.
But there’s a whole lot more that He has to say about the cost of living for Him then.
Followers of Jesus in other parts of the world are not shielded from the hard parts of the Christian life, and the hard words, the straight talk in the Bible—like we are in America.

In many places today, when a person decides to become a Christian, other believers immediately explain what it may cost—in family rejection, in economic hardship, in alienation from friends, in physical attacks and beatings and injuries and brutal murder.
It’s amazing that we never tell new believers in America about the price they may have to pay for following Jesus.
So, millions of Christians know absolutely nothing about ‘the rest of the story’, that there is more, and it’s tough.

We select Bible verses that fit with living in our comfortable culture, and we totally miss or avoid the unpleasant things Jesus promised and His followers experienced throughout the Bible and through history.
We are left to conclude by default that there is something wrong with verses like the one quoted above.
It’s too much trouble to study deeper and understand why those words are there—especially to avoid how they could come true in my life.

I could add my commentary on Jesus’ words about a sword and division, along with thousands of others who may or may not be smarter than me.
But that’s not where the answers, the real secrets, are found in the Christian life.
And that’s where theologians stay on their merry-go-rounds century after century, for millennia.

I’m going to stick to the foundational principle for Bible Study—for Bible Answers.
Get your own Bible out, and dig (alone or in a group, with a leader or without).
I will continue to campaign and repeat this basic guide:

+Do not start with a statement of doctrine or theology, and then give Bible verses to back it up.
+Do start with a Bible verse, and then “search the Scriptures” to find other Bible verses that may explain or clarify or confront or challenge, to a deeper relationship with the Author.

It’s not about knowing the words of the Word, but knowing more closely the Word of the words.

Jesus is most delighted when we spend time directly with Him in the words of His Word.

—TEMPLE CITY COUNCIL

Comments before the Temple, Texas City Council, posted on this site.
Type each title in the search bar.

LGBT LIBRARY DISPLAY

DIVERSITY

POLITICIAN vs STATESMAN

PRAY and VOTE

MIDDLE GROUND—CONSEQUENCES

TRUTH ON THE SCAFFOLD

NO BETTER

“WE’RE COMING AFTER YOUR CHILDREN”

IF YOU TOOK MY ADVICE . . .

? Down and out ?
–You shouldn’t be there.
–Do this . . .

? Overloaded with problems ?
–They can be fixed.
–I can tell you . . .

? Struggles, challenges ?
–Just deal with them, solve them.
–Not talk about them . . .

? People with continuous troubles ?
–Should be, could be, more like me/us.
–If they would . . .

? Hurting, grieving, burdened ?
–Shouldn’t be there so often, so long.
–I/we get over it . . .

? Uncomfortable with inequity of
“some have it easier, some harder”
“some have more, some less”
“some more ‘success’, some less”
“some greater IQ, some less”
“some more money, some less”
“some more trouble, some less”
“some more worry, some less”
“some more happiness, some less”
“some spiritually stronger, some less”
“some need God more, some less”
“some see ‘life is no fair’, some not” ?

–Some do things right, some don’t.
–Glad I must be doing it right, got the better deal.

? Unsuccessful ?
–I can’t actually help.
–Just look at my example of success.

? So different ?
–I’m uncomfortable.
–If you don’t follow my example
and get it together, I can’t help you.

? On bottom side of life ?
–I really can’t relate,
so I can’t really get involved,
so I can’t really help.
–You’ll have to hit the bottom hard,
then you’ll change and get help.

– – –

And, after all the above, my response:

Most of it is stupid, nonsense, and reasons why so many people keep hurting that don’t need to, and why so many marriages fail and families wipe out, and why churches, Christians, talk themselves out of helping hurting people—instead, we should just “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Hard questions—harder to give easy answers.

“RADICALIZED”

Makes me think of “africanized.”

Radicalized muslims.
Africanized honeybees.

Both become killers, terrorists.
Unstoppable suicide attackers.

Why are muslims especially likely to get radicalized ?
Because something inside is missing for muslims—a universal, deep, human need that islam cannot meet, because it is not found in their teaching.
This is the heart and center of the difference between islam and Christianity—forgiveness.

Without forgiveness, we become less than human, crazy, vulnerable to extreme ideas and behavior.

And this difference further explains why Christianity is their number one enemy—hatred, to annihilation of all followers of the true God, in the name of their false god, Allah, agent of satan.

Those who have never experienced forgiveness can’t tolerate those who have been forgiven.

JOHNSON GRASS, FIRE ANTS, KILLER BEES, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

+JOHNSON GRASS
Actually, of the four invasions, Johnson Grass is the least problematic (that is, now, with chemicals), but it was a curse for farm kids like me who had to deal with it in long rows of maize with just a hoe.
My guess is there are very few today who know how far and deep those thick, white roots of Johnson Grass can go—and rise to live again if you don’t ‘get em all.’

+FIRE ANTS
Would someone (environmentalist or other) please tell me how anything in the world could possibly suffer if fire ants vanished, disappeared, ceased to exist, got nuked.
It can be done !
We did it before—one government project that worked—without chemicals, without harmful, unintended consequences—eradication of the devastating screwworm fly by releasing radiated male flies that bred ineffectively, and arrested the life cycle.
We had a fascinating personal experience on our farm with the final, successful stages of that massive operation, after perennial dealings with the suffering and loss in livestock.

+KILLER BEES
I guess killer bees are a bit trickier to eliminate, since they are so similar to regular honeybees, except for their attitude and actions that warrant their name.
It would be hard to kill killer bees without harming the good ones.
I know they are tracked and trapped, but the horror stories leave fear in anyone working outside.
I pray and depend on angels for protection from fire ants.

+ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The matter of illegal immigration has been built up to be something complicated, a monstrosity that nobody seems capable of stopping—now that it has grown so big, so out of hand, and everybody acts helpless.
Truth is, we have the laws and personnel to solve this invasion as well as any other, any time we decide to do so.
Obviously, we have not made that decision, and that is why we have such a problem on our hands, that will get much worse, quickly.
The invasion is intentional and carefully coordinated by the enemies of our country, just as surely as the pandemic, to weaken us for a takeover of America.
And this is all with complete cooperation from our own leadership, taking us down the road to surrender.

–TEMPLE CITY COUNCIL

Comments before the Temple, Texas City Council, posted on this site. Type each title in the search bar.

LGBT LIBRARY DISPLAY

DIVERSITY

POLITICIAN vs STATESMAN

PRAY and VOTE

MIDDLE GROUND—CONSEQUENCES

TRUTH ON THE SCAFFOLD

NO BETTER

“WE’RE COMING AFTER YOUR CHILDREN”

KARMA – – – THEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

We have become accustomed to progress throughout history—except for those times when we ‘progressed’ in reverse and blew ourselves to bits or thought we were too smart to learn from history.

Like . . . today.

Like . . . the last century.

Progress . . .
in industry
in medicine
in conveniences
in exploration
in travel
in technology
in weapons ?
in ideologies ?
in killing ?
in ‘choice’ ?
in ‘sex’ ?

We have progressed in what we can do.
But we have not progressed in what we are.
We have not progressed in what we can do to each other.

Karma seems to have two meanings or applications.
We’re stuck with a status that we have no control over.
But we persistently think we can do better—progress now, or progress cumulatively for the next round.
And we definitely think we know more than previous generations.

So, we follow thinkers and philosophers, and we indiscriminately buy into ideologies that can’t possibly work, just because we are consumed with ‘progress.’

– – –

What happens when this universal nature plays itself out in theology ?

Discontent with what we’ve been given—sinful human nature, restrictive and narrow solution offered in the Bible—drives theologians to ‘improve’ on our cumulative spiritual understanding and options.
Result—hundreds, thousands of religions trying to satisfy the need of the human soul.
Result—teachings, rituals, practices that draw huge followings.
Result—motions that mask the missing meaning—counterfeit ecclesiastical currency to barter with a god they cannot know.

Christianity is different—the Bible is very clear—the wretched human condition, and God’s loving sacrifice to save anyone who believes.
But are Christian theologians different ?
Do Christian theologians demonstrate the same pattern of discontent with the Bible is enough, and the human drive to show progress (additions and revisions through centuries and millennia) ?

Again, human nature shows the uncanny urge to follow someone who knows more about God.
It all boils down to this—it’s easier to pay someone else to tell you about God (always people willing to do that), than to study your own Bible and find out for yourself.
For both the teachers and the listeners, theologians and students, preachers and pewsitters, popes and masses, masters and sheeple—forever onward, explaining and adding to maintain interest—those on top enjoy power and control, and those under pay their dues to be right with God.

IN THE WILL OF GOD – – – CAN’T TOUCH THAT


A man of God in the will of God is immortal until his work on earth is done.”
—–David Jeremiah

FALL ASLEEP – – – WAKE TO WOKE

The title summarizes what happened to the American church.
Short, concise, to the point.

– – –

First, the church fell asleep and let evolution take over our schools and our children.
Along the way there was a scramble to maintain compatibility with the changing culture.
Scrambled indeed, with no recovery for generations acting like animals, from being taught they are evolutionary animals.

Next, since God and the Bible and the Ten Commandments are totally opposite to evolution, they had to be gone from our schools, and across the society.
The church was still asleep at the wheel, to let this happen.
What can we expect but a breakdown of law and order and morality, without God to maintain civil government and self-control.

And, devaluing life through evolution and without God, led directly to literal killing with mass murder.
We decry the murder records of bloody dictators in history and the present, while we plunge headlong to surpass their numbers.
With one difference—our mass murder is legal (fifty years) – – – abortion ! ! !
UNBELIEVABLE ! ! !

Still, something sedated the saints—the ingredient that once “turned the world upside down” was missing.

– – –

Now, we face a national crisis multiplied times greater than the Civil War.
Lincoln said the country could not survive “half slave and half free.”
Consider what it cost to correct that unsustainable condition.
Today, this country cannot survive “half death and half life.” *
Consider what it will cost to correct this.

Since the Christians—the Christian Church—did not use the authority, the power of the Word of God, to stop the teaching of evolution, to stop the taking God and His Word out of school, to stop the legal mass murder of babies, to stop the onslaught of lgbt—we now wake up to woke, powerless to do anything but compromise—and compromise abounds in churches and leaders and businesses that were once Christian.
We are now just like Samson after Delilah cut his hair—he didn’t know his power was gone, because God was gone. **
The church does not even realize why we can’t do anything.

Lot may have been “vexed with the filth of Sodom,” but he chose to live there and participate in the affairs without standing against it, because that would cost too much (and his wife couldn’t part with all the nice stuff.)
Does that not describe the American Church—we are powerless, impotent, to make a difference now, because we are so thoroughly embedded in all “the nice stuff” of America—and have been for way too long.
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
And it’s not just the things money can buy—it’s all the American system says we must have, that God wants to take care of—insurance, retirement—and depending on government welfare to do the church’s job.

We can’t expect the church to make a difference in this American mess, without God’s people turning from wickedness.
Preaching repentance is okay until you talk specific sins.
American Christians do not have to really trust God—haven’t needed to for some time—will soon learn a return to real, historical Christianity.

A man of God from Africa was sharing testimonies of miracles happening back home.
When asked why there seem to be many more miracles in Africa than America, his simple answer,
“In Africa, we don’t have a backup plan.”

* In the search bar, type HALF DEATH, HALF LIFE .
** God may give the church one last answer to prayer for power, like He did for Samson, but I wouldn’t count on it.

CREATED ?

God is not created.
The Father is not created.
The Son is not created.
The Holy Spirit is not created.
“the trinity” is created.

Trinity cannot be explained just using Bible verses, without adding and adding.

Skip the word ‘trinity.’
Skip the whole scene of backup to prop it up.
Start all over from scratch, with just the Bible.

Cooking from scratch means you start with all-natural ingredients—nothing already blended or processed.
Do the same, cooking up something about God—using His ingredients (plenty to create wonderful, tasty, satisfying lessons).