The 9 unelected judges of our land take up the case for what has been abominably called "gay marriage".
There is no such thing.
God has ordained that marriage is between a man and a woman, and in rare circumstances and for His purposes, between a man and several women in order to bring to pass the family of righteousness.
Now these 9 judges, who most assuredly are not acting upon scripture or even on long standing tradition, are altering the fundamental meaning of marriage to suit political convenience as given by the devil himself.
Satan of course is the author of this diabolical and wicked injunction to bow, yield, kneel in the dust to worship the "right" to violate God's laws.
What a misunderstanding of moral agency!
We have been granted a gift that stands in a powerful slot of those gifts granted severally and singularly by Almighty God. We have been given life, we have been provided a Savior from before the foundations of the world, and we have been given the ability to choose our path - whether we will, as a third of our brethren did and walk away from all that God has so lovingly offered to us and follow the pied piper to destruction OR whether we will, at any and all hazards, choose to follow God and Christ.
The issue here isn't that we have choices. The issue is that while people are chanting about "their rights", not one of them is talking about accountability OR consequences for the moral choices or immoral choices that they have made.
That is apparently (to borrow a political phrase) "an inconvenient truth".
Who wants to know that there will be a follow up while we are busy eating, drinking and being merry? That ruins the party to consider the inevitable aftermath that isn't as pleasant or exciting as the host Satan has made it seem to be.
Satan is a miserable and mean and lowly dictator of his realm. Right now, he and those who previously followed him are able to tempt us and offer what appears to be a reasonable and fun path.
We decide - WE decide - not him.
And when we give up the guidelines, rules, laws and commandments of God for what appears to be a lush green pasture Satan cultivates, we do so at our own peril, for he will never tell us the truth about that place. It's not a pasture and he is no good shepherd.
He offers us wilderness and sorrow in place of what could have been ours - safety in the arms of the True Shepherd.
He doesn't know our name. He authors our sins.
Christ knows who we are and offers with blood and scars to redeem us even from the willful choices that have taken us from a pasture of safety and locked us into a thicket of danger, fear and potential death.
Christ brings life eternal and the safety of knowing that He alone has the power to vanquish the wolves of the world. He can vanquish even death.
Yet some would look into the glaring sunlight and declare it to be dark simply because they refuse to repent and come unto Christ.
It's not over yet and there is still yet time to rescue those who are mired in the quicksand of sin. Christ reaches out with secure and strong arms to save.
We just have to be willing to BE saved.
He won't rescue those who refuse Him.
So around us we see crumbling decay in literal circumstances as our world - the very creation of God and Christ - groans and shudders under the burdens of sin. We see the decay in the church that should be Christ's but that alters purpose to serve a different master that isn't so "demanding" and "judgmental". We see the decay crumbling the personal foundation of testimony and truth and replacing them with political correctness and outright lies that feel good for the moment but which bring with the flaxen cords the heavy chains of bondage and damnation.
We still have time to be rescued and gathered. But are we fleeing TOWARD the safety or skipping headlong into danger declaring it to be good and fun and acceptable?
We had stake conference May 2nd and 3rd. One of the speakers reference the incident of a child who had been in the room where she had been ironing clothing. In a split second, the child had pulled the hot iron down and it had fallen in the bend of the child's elbow. But rather than dropping the hot iron that was burning him, the child instead pulled it and held it to him causing extensive damage. Now grown, the man bears the scars of the incident though the healing has taken place.
In a parallel to our own circumstances, the speaker asked if we are repeating that in our own lives meaning are we hanging onto the "hot irons" of sin, destruction and decay? Are we straddling the line skipping from one side to the other rather than choosing that which is Godly so we can move forward into the very presence and Kingdom of God? Or like Lot's wife, are we looking fondly upon the firebrands of sin that we foolishly hold closely and scarring our very soul?
There is only obedience and disobedience despite what the world says. Satan wants us to believe that there isn't right or wrong, just do what feels good.
There is only ONE hope for mankind in a fallen world and that hope comes in and through Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY way. He is THE WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE and none comes to the Father except through Him.
It isn't always about doing what "feels good". Life is about learning to do what is RIGHT. Even if and especially when that contradicts what the carnal man whispers to do.
The carnal man is locked in the developmental stage of a toddler. God did not intend that we stay in that state. He created a plan and a purpose for each one of us to grow and through our choices to learn about those burning hot irons and He fervently desires that we would learn to choose not to be burned.
Sadly, we all have made willful choices that put us in dangerous circumstances.
But God knew that this would happen so He provided our Savior to bear upon himself through love all the pains, anguish, fear, loneliness, sorrow and sin of mortality so that we could have complete healing and complete fulness of joy through Christ.
In the end, it comes down to whether we are accepting a crumbling decaying ruin of what could have been or whether we are accepting the fulness of renewal and rebuilding into a palace that God has always had in mind.
The choice is yours and so are the consequences. You cannot have one without the other and even Satan knows that. He lies about it, but he knows it.
May 5, 2015
December 16, 2014
And no one saw this because...?
Withholding information like this is just cruel.
So I finished my exercise, got into the shower and got dressed for the day. I sat at my desk and pulled out my little mirror to make sure I looked reasonable.
To my horror, I discovered what could only be termed an ANTLER growing just underneath my chin.
Seriously.
A DANG INCH AND A HALF LONG WAVING ANTLER of hair.
I am absolutely certain that it’s not like NO one saw it….
It’s also not like it was invisible… to anyone but ME apparently.
And I’m reasonably sure that it took more than just overnight to grow and if, in fact, it DID grow overnight into some Rapunzel length magnificence, can we clone that property so the REST of my actual hair can grow that fast?
DANG. Just DANG.
So I finished my exercise, got into the shower and got dressed for the day. I sat at my desk and pulled out my little mirror to make sure I looked reasonable.
To my horror, I discovered what could only be termed an ANTLER growing just underneath my chin.
Seriously.
A DANG INCH AND A HALF LONG WAVING ANTLER of hair.
I am absolutely certain that it’s not like NO one saw it….
It’s also not like it was invisible… to anyone but ME apparently.
And I’m reasonably sure that it took more than just overnight to grow and if, in fact, it DID grow overnight into some Rapunzel length magnificence, can we clone that property so the REST of my actual hair can grow that fast?
DANG. Just DANG.
I yanked that devil hair out by the roots and I’m sure there
was gray matter clinging to it but I don’t even care. Whatever portion of the
brain that was ripped out with that monstrosity will not be missed. Unless it
was the part that made me remember important things for other people since I
basically don’t ever go anywhere in which case then you are on your own. You and the dang hair that no one
loved me enough to inform me about before it took on a life of its own.
I think I need to check my bank balance and credit card statement for hair care and or beard and antler care products.
I think I need to check my bank balance and credit card statement for hair care and or beard and antler care products.
Dang.
November 26, 2014
The Destruction of Society
The Devil must surely be laughing maniacally as he watches us pitifully become puppets to his wickedness and destroy ourselves in the process.
Watching the news over the last few days as rioters destroy property not their own, burn police cars into cinders and take the dreams of small business owners and turn them into nightmares of the most intense variety has been truly heartrending.
That those perpetrating these vile acts do so in the name of "honoring" someone who was involved in a felonious assault only moments before being killed by a police officer in the commission of his duty is sickening.
A grand jury refused to indict and returned a lawful verdict of "no true bill" meaning that the police officer was not guilty of any unlawful conduct.
There are so many opinions and so much hatred swirling around and the people aren't even really sure what happened, so instead of allowing cooler heads to prevail, they have taken it upon themselves to destroy their town.
Why?
When we replace God with idols of clay, allow the decency and respect for one another to be replaced with bitterness, fear and hatred, allow civility to be shunted aside for thuggery, then our nation is losing the moral center of right from wrong and accepting the shallow replacement of situational ethics to become our one true god.
Too many people are willing to equivocate on every single decision. Far too many are allowing the words of reporters, race baiters on every hand and hustlers seeking power to decide for them how they should act.
We have not much distance between us and mere animals when we do so.
There is an old hymn called "Know This That Every Soul Is Free" that talks about the sacred moral agency God has granted to each one of His children.
Verse one states:
Know this, that ev'ry soul is free
Although we are FREE TO CHOOSE, that freedom of choice is limited by the consequences of what we have chosen.
We are free to rob, loot and destroy. But we are not free to feel peace in our heart and home within that environment.
We are free to lie, distort and twist the truth for selfish ends. But we are not free to be trusted by others when our duplicity is discovered.
We are free to morally abdicate responsible and Godly choices. But we are not free to be accepted by those who obey the commandments of God as if our disobedience didn't matter.
God will not strip us of the moral agency to choose. He will never force us. But he cannot bless those who refuse his mercy and his grace.
Verse 2 explains:
He'll call, persuade, direct aright,
In the song, there is one particular phrase that has always touched me deeply even from the time I was just a little child. It is found in the third verse and is a truth that we cannot run from nor deny. The words of the third verse gives clarity to the truth of what our moral agency entails. We have the freedom to choose, but we must marry that freedom with reason in order to be useful creatures capable of rising above the station of an animal.
Freedom and reason make us men;
The last verse of this hymn is also telling as it reminds us that we ALWAYS can choose to change our course. We are endowed by our Creator with power from on high, but we can only employ that power in His service to His praise and our blessing OR to our condemnation and destruction of our ability to perceive and receive His blessings. He cannot go back upon His word. No unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
May we no more our pow'rs abuse,
If we wish to feel that perfect love in our lives, we must live in such a way as to be in receipt of that love. While God loves us always, He cannot and He will not tolerate our sins forever. If we do not seek to improve our life, if we refuse to repent and change and if we become the kind of morally bankrupted individuals we are seeing, we truly have given up a noble divine birthright to accept the mess of pottage offered by lesser souls willing to devolve into mob rule that benefits no one.
Within every culture and society that has failed, there is a sad moral truth. When that society so invested personal gain above all else has reached the tipping point, society cannot hold up under the strain of self seeking power. The wolves no longer howl at the door, they are in the parlor and range about the room ravening and ravaging the helpless, the innocent and yes, even other power seekers who get in the way of the bigger wolf.
There is no loyalty in the power struggle to own it all, destroy it all, take it all and rule it all.
As destructive as the one ring in the immortal Ring Trilogy of J R R Tolkien, the power that is promised to "the one" by Satan is more deadly. He is willing to destroy anyone and anything to grasp at the glory he trampled in his twisted attempt to thwart the Divinely appointed Plan of Salvation.
Those who listen to the subtle whispering of Satan soon learn that subtle becomes quite insistent and he is a taskmaster of unbelievable destructive and manipulative power.
Getting out of his grasp is hard work that requires a level of self-sacrifice that is most unpleasant and uncomfortable for the "ME" generation.
In order to change, it must be change in every facet of life. Not merely saying but doing a complete life alteration.
Dropping destructive habits, changing thought patterns, losing the influence of "friends" who intend harm, leaving behind the wicked life habits that corrupt.
But it can be done!!
Many have walked the path of repentance, receiving forgiveness and feeling the approval of a loving God who can indeed help in every step of the process.
None of those who have so destroyed their communities and defiled themselves are beyond the reach of a loving Heavenly Father and the Atonement of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.
We need a return to God. We need a return to Christ.
Only then can the world be healed.
Watching the news over the last few days as rioters destroy property not their own, burn police cars into cinders and take the dreams of small business owners and turn them into nightmares of the most intense variety has been truly heartrending.
That those perpetrating these vile acts do so in the name of "honoring" someone who was involved in a felonious assault only moments before being killed by a police officer in the commission of his duty is sickening.
A grand jury refused to indict and returned a lawful verdict of "no true bill" meaning that the police officer was not guilty of any unlawful conduct.
There are so many opinions and so much hatred swirling around and the people aren't even really sure what happened, so instead of allowing cooler heads to prevail, they have taken it upon themselves to destroy their town.
Why?
When we replace God with idols of clay, allow the decency and respect for one another to be replaced with bitterness, fear and hatred, allow civility to be shunted aside for thuggery, then our nation is losing the moral center of right from wrong and accepting the shallow replacement of situational ethics to become our one true god.
Too many people are willing to equivocate on every single decision. Far too many are allowing the words of reporters, race baiters on every hand and hustlers seeking power to decide for them how they should act.
We have not much distance between us and mere animals when we do so.
There is an old hymn called "Know This That Every Soul Is Free" that talks about the sacred moral agency God has granted to each one of His children.
Verse one states:
Know this, that ev'ry soul is free
To choose his life and what he'll be;
For this eternal truth is giv'n:
That God will force no man to heav'n.
Although we are FREE TO CHOOSE, that freedom of choice is limited by the consequences of what we have chosen.
We are free to rob, loot and destroy. But we are not free to feel peace in our heart and home within that environment.
We are free to lie, distort and twist the truth for selfish ends. But we are not free to be trusted by others when our duplicity is discovered.
We are free to morally abdicate responsible and Godly choices. But we are not free to be accepted by those who obey the commandments of God as if our disobedience didn't matter.
God will not strip us of the moral agency to choose. He will never force us. But he cannot bless those who refuse his mercy and his grace.
Verse 2 explains:
He'll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love, and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.
In the song, there is one particular phrase that has always touched me deeply even from the time I was just a little child. It is found in the third verse and is a truth that we cannot run from nor deny. The words of the third verse gives clarity to the truth of what our moral agency entails. We have the freedom to choose, but we must marry that freedom with reason in order to be useful creatures capable of rising above the station of an animal.
Freedom and reason make us men;
Take these away, what are we then?
Mere animals, and just as well
The beasts may think of heav'n or hell.
The last verse of this hymn is also telling as it reminds us that we ALWAYS can choose to change our course. We are endowed by our Creator with power from on high, but we can only employ that power in His service to His praise and our blessing OR to our condemnation and destruction of our ability to perceive and receive His blessings. He cannot go back upon His word. No unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
May we no more our pow'rs abuse,
But ways of truth and goodness choose;
Our God is pleased when we improve
His grace and seek his perfect love.
If we wish to feel that perfect love in our lives, we must live in such a way as to be in receipt of that love. While God loves us always, He cannot and He will not tolerate our sins forever. If we do not seek to improve our life, if we refuse to repent and change and if we become the kind of morally bankrupted individuals we are seeing, we truly have given up a noble divine birthright to accept the mess of pottage offered by lesser souls willing to devolve into mob rule that benefits no one.
Within every culture and society that has failed, there is a sad moral truth. When that society so invested personal gain above all else has reached the tipping point, society cannot hold up under the strain of self seeking power. The wolves no longer howl at the door, they are in the parlor and range about the room ravening and ravaging the helpless, the innocent and yes, even other power seekers who get in the way of the bigger wolf.
There is no loyalty in the power struggle to own it all, destroy it all, take it all and rule it all.
As destructive as the one ring in the immortal Ring Trilogy of J R R Tolkien, the power that is promised to "the one" by Satan is more deadly. He is willing to destroy anyone and anything to grasp at the glory he trampled in his twisted attempt to thwart the Divinely appointed Plan of Salvation.
Those who listen to the subtle whispering of Satan soon learn that subtle becomes quite insistent and he is a taskmaster of unbelievable destructive and manipulative power.
Getting out of his grasp is hard work that requires a level of self-sacrifice that is most unpleasant and uncomfortable for the "ME" generation.
In order to change, it must be change in every facet of life. Not merely saying but doing a complete life alteration.
Dropping destructive habits, changing thought patterns, losing the influence of "friends" who intend harm, leaving behind the wicked life habits that corrupt.
But it can be done!!
Many have walked the path of repentance, receiving forgiveness and feeling the approval of a loving God who can indeed help in every step of the process.
None of those who have so destroyed their communities and defiled themselves are beyond the reach of a loving Heavenly Father and the Atonement of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.
We need a return to God. We need a return to Christ.
Only then can the world be healed.
November 14, 2014
You Dropped A Bomb On Me
To borrow the title of an old Gap Band song, we all know about the public shaming that comes with dropping a bomb in a public restroom.
No one wants to talk about it, but we know it happens.
Mother Nature can be capricious and fun-loving sufficiently enough to ensure that we who possess the ability to evacuate our bowels can enjoy one of life's little embarrassing moments in a public location without any hope of escape from our "wrongdoing".
Sadly, we know it's coming when the first grinding spasm hits our abdomen and we know that no amount of begging and pleading will halt the action of an intestinal tract done wrong.
It's a tragedy that even Shakespeare couldn't have foreseen.
I know there is at least one company actively marketing their "solution" to your odoriferous exclamations. They claim their product can eliminate (if you will pardon the expression) any of your vapors and unfortunate residue that would leave more proof of your passing... again, sorry for the wording.
The reality is that when we are at home to take care of business, we REALLY take care of business. But on those ill-timed circumstances that compel us to an unfamiliar toilet in public territory when we know for sure all hell is about to break loose ... my deepest apologies but you KNOW that is what happens!
It becomes a matter of "how can I do this and keep even a shred of my dignity intact?"
Sadly, as you exit the stall having violated every single EPA designated Federal Air Quality guideline, the only hope for you is if the entire bathroom is empty. Alas, that pious hope is never realized as each stall is filled and there is line stretching out the door to enjoy, endure and empathize with your gloriously shameful performance art piece gone wrong.
Take heart though. I was once in a store where this snooty woman loudly proclaimed "someone sure made a stinkbomb in this bathroom" and then she was the proverbial elephant in the room with trumpeting noise and effluent eruptions to beat the band. I'm sure a couple of tiles fell off the wall by the time she was done.
The next time it happens to you (and dear hearts and gentle people, there WILL be a next time!), gird your loins, make sure there is no TP stuck to your shoe or trailing out of your panty hose and hold your head high as you exit your stall to wash up and depart.
It IS, in point of fact, the designated restroom mean to refresh yourself and take care of the ever popular call of nature that we all must answer. Drop that bomb. Waste that stall. Gas that room. Then walk out like the lady or gent that you are. After all is said and done, look 'em in the eye and say boldly "it's a fact of life, get over yourself!"
No one wants to talk about it, but we know it happens.
Mother Nature can be capricious and fun-loving sufficiently enough to ensure that we who possess the ability to evacuate our bowels can enjoy one of life's little embarrassing moments in a public location without any hope of escape from our "wrongdoing".
Sadly, we know it's coming when the first grinding spasm hits our abdomen and we know that no amount of begging and pleading will halt the action of an intestinal tract done wrong.
It's a tragedy that even Shakespeare couldn't have foreseen.
I know there is at least one company actively marketing their "solution" to your odoriferous exclamations. They claim their product can eliminate (if you will pardon the expression) any of your vapors and unfortunate residue that would leave more proof of your passing... again, sorry for the wording.
The reality is that when we are at home to take care of business, we REALLY take care of business. But on those ill-timed circumstances that compel us to an unfamiliar toilet in public territory when we know for sure all hell is about to break loose ... my deepest apologies but you KNOW that is what happens!
It becomes a matter of "how can I do this and keep even a shred of my dignity intact?"
Sadly, as you exit the stall having violated every single EPA designated Federal Air Quality guideline, the only hope for you is if the entire bathroom is empty. Alas, that pious hope is never realized as each stall is filled and there is line stretching out the door to enjoy, endure and empathize with your gloriously shameful performance art piece gone wrong.
Take heart though. I was once in a store where this snooty woman loudly proclaimed "someone sure made a stinkbomb in this bathroom" and then she was the proverbial elephant in the room with trumpeting noise and effluent eruptions to beat the band. I'm sure a couple of tiles fell off the wall by the time she was done.
The next time it happens to you (and dear hearts and gentle people, there WILL be a next time!), gird your loins, make sure there is no TP stuck to your shoe or trailing out of your panty hose and hold your head high as you exit your stall to wash up and depart.
It IS, in point of fact, the designated restroom mean to refresh yourself and take care of the ever popular call of nature that we all must answer. Drop that bomb. Waste that stall. Gas that room. Then walk out like the lady or gent that you are. After all is said and done, look 'em in the eye and say boldly "it's a fact of life, get over yourself!"
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