CORRECT – – – OR – – – CARING

SHOWY — OR — SHOWING

SAY IT — OR — SHOW IT

HYPOCRITE — OR — HELPER

BETTER THAN — OR — BESIDE

CREED — OR — DEED

DECLARE — OR — DO

HIGH — OR — HUMBLE

HELL-BENT — OR — HEAVEN-SENT

TWO LONGHORN OXYMORONS

As a Texan I am fascinated by longhorns, and I especially appreciate the beautiful longhorns just across the fence from where I live.

As a father and father-in-law of several Aggies, I have the obvious thoughts that need not be spoken about the other . . .

So, those two statements explain the following two longhorn oxymorons:

Fat Longhorn
conservative longhorn

“A TIME TO BE . . .” THOUGHTLESS

For you good health.

A TIME TO BE THOUGHTLESS.

A time to bless your tummy.

After you eat, take several minutes (3 or 4) to stop everything and give your digestive system priority (including blood flow), to start doing its job.

Three words to help you remember:
MOTIONLESS—Sit comfortably, so you can sit still for several minutes.
TALKLESS—Silence saves energy for your tummy to use.
THOUGHTLESS—Give your brain’s blood to your tummy.

Within a minute or two you may feel, or even hear, your tummy say “Thank You.”

POST NEW TESTAMENT ‘DOCTRINE’ ?

This won’t be short and sweet.
It will be thick and heavy.
It will be totally serious.
– – –
Most Christian theologians accept the Bible as we have it.
I am thankful that the Bible is indisputably the Word of God, especially as it clearly demonstrates the supernatural hand of God giving us His Word as He wanted us to have it.
Man did not decide what is in the Bible.
They did have a vote to affirm and accept what God had already established as His Word.
Then, other writings of ‘would be’, ‘wanna be’ scriptures were easily rejected and fall by the wayside of irrelevance compared to the Bible.
Examples—several books called “the gospel of ____”.
– – –
– – –
Now consider the inconsistency of the church rejecting on the one hand certain writings in the early years of Christianity, while upholding on the other hand words of ‘the early church fathers’ as nearly infallible and revered and recited almost on a par with Scripture.
I say this because many people sitting in Christian and Catholic churches can’t identify what they hear or recite—can’t distinguish if it is God’s Words or man’s words ?
To reinforce the point—no one is even asking the question.
There is uniform acceptance of what the church says, without any counsel for the people to consult their own Bibles “to see if these things were so”.
I can say that from personal experience—thankfully decades ago now.
– – –
The vast majority of ‘Christians’ believe what the church says is right, and believe what the early church fathers said is right.
People have heard it over and over for so long, and old theologians have passed it on to new theologians for so long, that it seems true—AND, it becomes impossible to question what has become, for all practical purposes, sacred.
– – –
Now, specifically—the sacred cows of the ‘Christian’ church—

CREEDS
— The creeds were written after the Bible was complete—hmmm.
— Accept the Bible as written.
— Accept the Bible as read.
— No “additions, corrections, or deletions” ?—the Bible says so itself.
The creeds were written after the Bible was complete—hmmm.
— The creeds basically say the Bible is not clear enough, to say what we believe, or should believe.
— After decades of saying the creeds in church, I even noticed a glaring error right at the beginning.
— The creeds say, “God the Father created the heavens and the earth.”
— The Bible says, “. . . all things were made by Him, The Word, made flesh, Jesus.”
— The creeds got demoted severely in my mind from then on.
— You know, the creeds never were inspiring—just something you were supposed to revere and recite—contrast with inspiring Bible verses.
— If your church, any church, the church, must have a ‘creed’, just put a few Bible verses together and print that, recite that.
What can possibly go wrong with that ?—nothing
— Put a few, or many, man-made words together for your ‘creed’, your ‘mission statement’ (unique to your church ?), and print that and repeat that and repeat that.
What can possibly go wrong with that ?—anything

TRINITY
— The trinity was invented, not discovered in the Bible.
— The trinity was ‘created’ hundreds of years after the Bible was written.
— Many things can be said about the trinity—how it is ridiculous, ineffective, and damaging (search ‘trinity’ on this site).
— One example here—a few years ago, the first time I entered “explain the trinity” on the internet, it showed over 30 million responses, attempts.
— I have not tried to document this, but there may be more written to ‘explain’ the trinity (explain God) than the whole Bible itself.
— Can anyone show how any of the attempts to explain the trinity make it more clear—every one I’ve read makes it more complicated, calling for more attempts.
— Some of the explanations of trinity that I have listed are best described as laughable.
— Trinity is the colossal theological mistake of the church because theologians and preachers and teachers keep using it, and everybody keeps hearing it, and nobody ever questions it.
— It cannot be shown that trinity does any good.
— It can be shown that trinity does harm.
— Trinity does not help bring anyone to Jesus.
— USING BIBLE VERSES INSTEAD OF TRINITY WOULD PUT THE CHURCH’S MISSION AND MESSAGE MILES AHEAD.
— Trinity is the classic Post New Testament Doctrine.

BAPTISM
— Baptism is not like the universal mistakes of creeds and trinity.
— Baptism is perfectly clear in the Bible.
— Many churches and Christians practice baptism simply, just as the Bible says.
— But again, early on in Christianity the urge to add to the Bible took hold—with baptism.
— The church, that is the Catholic Church, with its newly acquired universal authority in Christianity, used infant baptism to strengthen its control over the people, starting at birth—implementing such doctrines through fear and coercion, claiming to hold everybody’s eternal welfare contingent on obeying the church.
— We know how this abuse of church authority, and others, persisted over a millennium and grew to absurdity through the Middle Ages (thus the Dark Ages) until the Reformation.
— Sadly, so sadly, Martin Luther and the Reformers did not complete the cleansing of God’s ‘house’, the church.
— The Catholic Church regrouped and entrenched deeper into their practices of control and adding to the Bible whenever their leaders see fit.
— And many of the new Protestant churches, particularly the one with Luther’s namesake, ended up all too similar to Catholicism, as in baptism (and robes and rituals).
— Believing for and speaking for the faith of another person at baptism, was invented by the church, and that is an unbiblical disaster (on the order of indulgences to buy forgiveness for others).
— The churches that practice this, publicly declare such baptism universally guarantees heaven, and they restate this at funerals — everyone hearing this may also receive false assurance of their own salvation.
— On the contrary, this misleading promise sends more people to hell than to heaven.

AUTHORITY
— There is a measure of caution addressing authority in the church.
— There is Biblical authority given to the church.
— Repentance for sin is grounds for declaring forgiveness for an individual.
— Unrepentance for sin calls for steps to deal with the individual.
— Universal public confessions, and universal public forgiveness are not Biblical—dangerous, irresistible abuse of authority.
— This leads to people depending on the church, and going to church, to get forgiveness and get right with God, continually.
— The church leaders inevitably develop a superiority, and the people inferiority (none will admit this, like other abuses of authority).
— Human nature uses authority to gain control, and the church exercises authority for control, with ‘divine’ sanction.
— In churches that do not include public confession and universal absolution for sin in their services, their overpowering style, music, momentum, may give the message that this is the way to worship, that this is the way to God, that you are right with God by participating.
— There is great danger in many churches today that the power of popularity leads to control, a sense of authority, that speaks for God, that must be from God, that takes care of things between us (for us).

THEIR TIMES ARE SHORT

Democrats
Leftists
Marxists
Framers of the New World Order
Satan
Demons
Puppets
God-mockers
Like in the days of Noah, they ate and drank and married, until the day Noah entered the ark – – – and God closed the door – – – and – it – rained !
Like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, when God rained down fire and brimstone, and destroyed them all.

WHY CHRISTIANS AVOID VIOLENCE

Fear of violence.

Violence is wrong.

Must stand or protest only with non-violence.

Only Christians in the military can use violence.

“All who take the sword will perish with the sword.”

Many Christian martyrs gave powerful testimony while suffering, and dying peacefully.

– – –

The current conditions in America give Christians reason for serious thought about violence—soul-searching, Bible-searching, history-searching, world-searching.

++ soul-searching—Questions to ask ourselves:
If I would be face-to-face with a serious crime being committed, and I had the means to take out the criminal, would I do it ?
Does my response depend on the crime, and depend on making my decision ahead of time ?
If I am not face-to-face with crimes being committed, should I take steps to be there, and then ask the same question ?
Do we actually believe reality is different today than in the American Revolution, when individual Americans reconciled their conscience and used their guns, to gain our freedom ?
Do you know that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pacifist Christian theologian in Germany—wrestled for years inside—then hanged by Hitler for plotting to kill him ?

We want quick answers, especially to questions that could cost us severely.
But what about the cost to other people, when we do not make decisions and take action that could put us in danger, but save lives ?

++ bible-searching—Questions to ask:
Is God really “the same yesterday, today, and forever” ?
Is God in the Old Testament the same God in the New Testament and the same God right now ?
Did God really say to wipe out all evil in the land, or it would come back to bite them ?
HE DID—THEY DIDN’T—AND IT DID ! ! !

We really want the Bible to give us—give me—clear answers whether we should ever kill people.
We desperately want the Bible to tell us to never kill anyone (sixth commandment).
Perhaps our eagerness to quickly settle the question, for our conscience, leads us to default devolvement, and many, many more lives are lost (babies, sex trafficked slaves, transgendered traffic victims, just like gassed Jews, and communism mass murders).

++ history-searching—more . . . Questions to ask:
Is history not filled with ‘Christians’ who were so filled with convictions to not kill evil people, that millions more innocent people died ?
Did Christians follow the church so blindly that it robbed them and slaughtered any who disagreed?
Did Christians really turn their music up louder in churches to not hear the screaming from the trains hauling Jews to the gas ovens ?

Did some Christians get it right in history ?
King George feared most the Black-Robed Regiment, the preachers, that inspired the American Revolution from the Bible from their pulpits and from the muzzle of their guns.
They practiced what they preached by killing British soldiers.

Was Bonhoeffer wrong plotting with friends to kill Hitler ?
Are we so relieved the Holocaust is over that we can’t see it happening again, and stop it, NOW ?

++ world-searching—Questions to ask . . . now ! ! !
Why is evil so big and growing so fast these days, everywhere in the world ?
Where are the good guys to stop it ?
Where are the good countries to stop it ?
Can anything be done to stop it ?
Can I do anything to stop it ?
When will it seriously affect my life ?
When will it reach my community, my doorstep ?
Can I do anything to stop it then ?
Will I do anything to stop it then ?
What can I do then ?
Can any simple statement now, ease my conscience ?
Can any simple statement now, prepare me for then ?
And ‘then’ is coming, in America.

– – –

We better think about it now—yes, Christians—yes, American Christians, with a Constitution with a second amendment.

“Freedom will look easy when we don’t have to die to get it.”—–George Washington

We don’t get in that danger zone of what freedom really costs, if the only thing we think we can do is vote and peacefully protest—and now we’re even losing both of those right before our eyes.

For the first time in American history the second amendment is being put to the test, to stop a wayward government with our arms—and WE are failing the test.

TAKE THE CHALLENGE – – – ANYONE ?

Is there anyone—educated theologian or layman with his Bible—who can take the challenge, and go against the familiar and commonly accepted teaching practice of millennia ?
– – –
+ What is the common, accepted practice in teaching theology ?
— First state your doctrine or position, and then give Bible verses and reasoning to back it up.
— Give the impression, the assumption, that your position is correct, without explaining the steps how you got there.
— And, ‘reinforce’ your position by focusing on it with more time and emphasis—even giving it a disproportionate importance over the gospel.

+ What is the challenge, to go against the grain in teaching theology ?
— Let go of control in the teaching—control that people should accept your position as the right one because you have already proven it yourself, and you’re sharing that proof.
— Take the time to help people find Bible verses on the topic without prior conclusions or interpretations, not telling them what each verse means just because you know what it means.
— Include Bible verses that may indicate positions different from yours, not avoiding them or minimizing them.
— It builds more confidence in Bible study if we look at everything the Bible has to say, and people get secure in what is clear, without forced acceptance of someone else’s understanding of what may not be clear right away.
— Something often missing in theological training—we don’t have to have answers to every question that comes up in reading the Bible.
— Instead of worrying about passages they might not understand, encourage people to apply in daily life what the Bible clearly tells us to do, and focus on bringing others to know Jesus.

COLD WAR – – – SHOOTING WAR – – – SPIRITUAL WAR

Cold War is a mind game, guessing if your preparedness is sufficient to deter your enemy from shooting.
The average person hopes your leaders guess correctly, while you live as normal as possible.
– – –
Shooting War is life and death, proving if your preparedness is sufficient to make your enemy stop shooting because they have to.
The average soldier hopes your leaders have the right plan and give the right orders for you to obey.
Life is not normal in war.
– – –
Spiritual War is both Cold War and Shooting War.
The greatest danger in the Spiritual Cold War is comfortable—false security of compatibility with the culture.
The greatest danger in the Spiritual Shooting War is forgetting that we are in it.
– – –
First, it is critical to recognize that we have a mortal enemy intent on our destruction at all times and by all means—the devil.
Second, we must understand that our weapons are not like human weapons of the world, but they have power to defeat the enemy.
As soldiers we don’t have to figure out strategy (advice, answers, solutions) for those fighting beside us.
We have to pass the ammunition—encouragement, Bible verses, testimonies of God’s faithfulness (past, present, future).
We can’t be ignorant of the devil’s tricks—lies, doubt, depression, accusation, isolation.
– – –
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimonies.”

“Those who loved the Lord spoke often to one another, and the Lord paid attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who fear the Lord.”

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE ? ? ?

The Keystone XL ? ? ?
The Keystone XL has been in the crosshairs of the left from the beginning.

Must—Have To—X the Keystone.
The Keystone XL was killed.

The left’s war on oil ? ? ?
The left’s ‘war on oil’ is not so ! ! !

If leaders on the left were against oil, they would stop using oil.
“War on Oil” is WAR ON AMERICA ! ! !
Not war on oil.

“They’re not coming after me—they’re coming after you [Americans].”
Donald Trump was right.
Trump stood in their way.
Americans stand in their way.

The big hooplah to get rid of Trump in office was/is a 3-ring, 4-ring circus, plus, to consistently distract Americans by a 4-year media blitz, plus, while they work with our enemies to weaken us beyond recovery.

Compare Samson and Trump.
Three times Delilah thought she got the secret of his strength out of Samson.
“The Philistines are coming.”
Three times she failed, in humiliation.
Three times the left tried to take out Trump.
Russia, Russia, Russia, etc.
Three times they failed.

Finally, Delilah got Samson.
“The Philistines are coming.”
Finally, the left is still trying with . . .
But—now—who can tell ?

– – –

WHY, all of this ?

View it all, including the XL Pipeline, with this lens of truth:

Evil people are lining up again, relentlessly bent on repeating history, driven by the devil, who seeks to destroy anything of God, especially His people, particularly Christians.

FEAR OF MAN – – – TRUST IN GOD

“Fear of man is a snare.
Whoever trusts in God is safe.”

I’ve been thinking on this verse a lot lately, and getting a lot of benefit applying it all over in my daily life.
– – –
Fear of man includes many things besides concern for our safety.

Fear of how someone could harm me physically.
Fear of how someone could hurt me emotionally.
Fear of my status among internet contacts.
Thinking about what someone said to me.
Thinking about what someone said about me.
Thinking of what others might think about me.
Thinking of what someone might say about me.
Thinking of what I could say when I see someone.
Thinking of what others think of my performance.
Thinking of others (positively) can produce caring for others.
Thinking about others (negatively) can produce anxiety—fear of what might be.
Just as fear drives insurance, fear can drive thoughts in relationships.
– – –
A snare

A snare is a trap that can hurt and kill.
A snare can consume time and energy.
A snare can steal from things that make life worth living.
A snare can keep us focused on less-important and worthless matters.
A snare can produce imaginary traps as harmful as real ones.
A snare can be set by people, intentionally to hurt us—with more waste if we dwell on that.
A snare can be set unintentionally, just because this world is evil and full of land mines.
A snare—scary—fear of man—who can you trust ?
– – –
Whoever trusts in God is safe.

Notice when worthless thoughts come to mind anytime.
Pick a Bible verse to replace the thought every time.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
“Fear of man is a snare. Whoever trusts in God is safe.”
Get rid of the source of fear and snare.
“The thief (satan) comes to kill, steal, and destroy . . .”
Get close to the source of trust and safety.
“. . . I (Jesus) come to give you life, more abundantly.”
– – –
We have defensive weapons of faith and truth and salvation to protect us from the devil’s attacks, and we have offensive weapons of The Word of God and prayer to cancel the devil’s devices.
USE THEM !

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

“Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.”