Land of Liberty?

I begin this post by rhetorically stating the definition of Liberty. Liberty, is freedom from control. Independence.
It remains on this day because of the many who gave their lives defending this great nation, regardless of religious beliefs, color of skin, or political views. They died for the principles of freedom and liberty for which this country was founded so long ago.

We all have heard the great song "America", many times over. Enough to know at least the first stanza...

"My country,' tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside let freedom ring!" - ("America" written by Samuel F. Smith, in the 1800's)

Unfortunately, neither this great song nor this great Veteran's Day, honoring those who have defended and continue to defend this great nation, are the reasons for this blog post.
The reason for this post is result of an email I was forwarded this morning from a fellow evangelist here in Jacksonville named Annie Gadis, who was in total disbelief when she read it as it was sent to her. I have to say, I was totally bamboozled as I read it too. I thought this was not only absolutely worthy of prayer, but also to be brought to our attention as things like this seem to go under the radar more than they should. So, I tweeted it and posted it here on the blog for the many visitors of OneOver99.org, as well as my many friends on Twitter and Facebook, to read and heed the call of prayer for our fellow saint and fellow citizen. Erroneously, it happens to be on Veteran's Day that something this wrong with our country reveals its ugly face. Thanks for reading.

Annie wrote: "Shirley Dobson will be giving a deposition tomorrow from 8:30-4:30 PM. She is being sued by a group 'Freedom From Religion' because she asked the President and other political leaders to pray for our nation as leader of National Day of Prayer. I prayed with her tonight, but told her would have the staff and others praying for her tomorrow this is so important. I am praying they will be stunned by the Spirit of God convicted, convinced they will lose and that if any of them are His lost sheep, that they will get convicted and saved because the Spirit of God will be so strong in that room. She is a valiant warrior thanks"

Thank you for reading this post. Though it may be too late to pray for this woman in her deposition as you read this, please bow in prayer anyway for her and our liberty, as well as other Christians who may be feeling persecution at this time.
God Bless.

Whosoever believes! Does John 3:16 really say that?

Go to the original Greek text.
In this video, Dr. James White exegetes John 3:16 using the original Greek.

Halloween: For Pagens or Christians?

The October 31st holiday that we today know as Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of this world, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the dark things of this world, rather than the light of Jesus Christ, The Truth.
Have you noticed how costumes and masks are getting generally more bloody, gory, and depraved each year? Unfortunately, the gruesome and grotesque and the occult are increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween, but throughout the year in horror movies and in television programs.
My family does not celebrate it or participate in it. We do not believe that our children are “missing out,” and neither do they. Other days are used for costumes and parties. Happily, all of our children have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have found that Halloween provides an excellent time to remind our children that, as Christians, we are different, and not of this world (Heb. 11:13-16; 1 Pet. 2:11).
What about church “Harvest Festivals” held on October 31? Although we understand the rational and good intentions behind them, we don't think they are the best approach. Our family tends to agree with the author of an article we have pasted below called 'Are Harvest parties for Christians?" (written by a self-avowed former witch and now active Christian). Harvest parties on October 31 tend to assume that "our children need something to take the place of Halloween, since they won't be participating in the secular and pagan celebrations. It suggests our kids are missing out on something. And indeed they are, if we allow them to spend Halloween in celebration." There are better things to do on Halloween than partying.
Also, we need to teach our children that "the fight isn't against occultists, non-Christians, Christians who feel differently than we about Halloween, or institutions that promote Halloween, but" "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).

Relevant scripture on the issue of Halloween and Christians:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ("Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.")
• James 1:27 ("keep oneself from being polluted by the world")
• 3 John 1:11 ("do not imitate what is evil")
• Romans 12:9 ("abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.")
• Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (do not learn to imitate detestable ways, including spiritists, sorcerers and witchcraft)
• Ephesians 5:11-12 ("Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness" / "live as children of light")
• 1 Timothy 4:1 (don't "follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons")
• 1 Corinthians 10:212 Corinthians 6:14-17 ("what fellowship can light have with darkness?")
• Philippians 4:8 (think about pure, lovely, noble things)
• 1 Corinthians 11:1 ("follow the example of Christ")
• 1 Corinthians 10:31 ("whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God")
• James 4:7-8 (submit yourselves to God / resist the devil / purify your hearts)
• Ezekiel 44:23 ("…teach my people… to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.")
• Proverbs 22:6 ("train a child in the way he should go")
• Matthew 18:6 ("if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…")
• Hosea 4:6 ("My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.")
• John 3:19-20 (people love darkness instead of light)
• Romans 13:12 ("put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.")
• Ephesians 6:11-18 ("take your stand against the devil's schemes.")
• 1 John 5:19 ("The whole world lies in the power of th evil one")
• 2 Chronicles 7:14 ("My people who are called by My name humblle themselves, and turn from their wicked ways.")
  
  Are “Harvest Parties” for Christians?

originally published in the Colorado Christian News, October 1995(author's name not published)

"What are you doing for Halloween?" Ask a Christian parent this question, and be prepared to hear an answer like, "Nothing! We don't celebrate Halloween." Thunder crashes, and you creep away, embarassed for even asking.
"What are you doing ON Halloween?" Ask the same parent this slightly altered question, and their whole manner and response brightens. “Why,” they begin, as birds begin to sing and sunshine breaks through the cumulus clouds. "We're all going to the Harvest Party at church!" A choir sings. A trumpet sounds. You feel privileged just knowing these saints.
Let's take a look at the typical Harvest Party.
It is a celebration.
It is chaperoned (usually).
It may have costumes.
Games are played.
Contests are held.
Food abounds.
Music blares.
Everyone enjoys themselves.
Certainly, nothing to get concerned about, right? The problem, however, lies in the billing. The Harvest Party is usually referred to as the Christian alternative to traditional Halloween hijinx. Alternative, however, implies substitute. It assumes our children need something to take the place of Halloween, since they won't be participating in the secular and pagan celebrations. It suggests our kids are missing out on something. And indeed they are, if we allow them to spend Halloween in celebration.
If we are to train our children to be soldiers in the army of Christ, why would we sign a pass for them to go on leave when the battle is escalating on the front lines?
As a child of four, I contacted the first of many spirit guides (read: demons) while playing with a Kindergarten classmates' ouija board at a chaperoned Halloween party. This spiritual assault ignited an intrigue with the supernatural that culminated in my lifestyle as a practicing witch: divination, necromancy, channeling, astrology, psychic ability, and spell working. It wasn't until I was twenty that I met the real Jesus Christ, and was released from the trap that Satan had set for this young prisoner of war sixteen years earlier.
There are too many casualities on Halloween and far too few troops fighing the enemy. Instead of partying on Halloween, teach your children how to fight. Keep them aware that the fight isn't against occultists, non-Christians, Christians who feel differently than we about Halloween, or institutions that promote Halloween, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers or darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).
How do we teach our children to wrestle spiritually?
Discourage them from participating in traditional Halloween activities (2 Timothy 2:4). Then tell them why.
Encourage them to pray on a regular, daily basis (Ephesians 6:18). Let them know first hand the power that we have in prayer. All Christians should know how to fight on their knees.
Remind them to be alert and self-controlled (1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). Give them the discipline of knowing it is their responsibility to keep watch. They, themselves, might also become casualties in the war.
Make certain they are prepared for battle (Ephesians 6:11). Do they know the truth? Stand on the Word of God? Have faith? Know the gospel? Are they righteous? Are they saved?…
Instead of celebrating, what's a Christian to do on Satan's feast day? PRAY! Intercession and spiritual warfare should be the first item on our agenda. It is NOT a last resort!
Join with other families in the church. Have the pastor announce a night of spiritual battle. Organize a group of Christians parents and students from your children's school or homeschool group. As a family, designate the seven nights before October 31 as Family Prayer Outreach nights.
Pray for protection. Pray over both those who engage in prayer warfare and over those who will be out trick-or-treating or at Halloween parties. October 31 is a prime recruiting time for witches and Satanists…and a time for interested kids to experiment. Pray that the Lord keeps our kids from falling prey to those who worship the enemy.
Pray for discernment. Let the Holy Spirit direct you to specific prayer requests. Pray that the children who are “out there” will somehow “know” to keep away from certain activities. I have relatives who, even though they were not Christians, “knew” that ouija boards and levitation games were dangerous.
Pray that the Lord hinder the occult rituals. For four years, I lived in a building which over looked a cemetery where occult ceremonial markings were often found. ON certain occult feast days, usually between midnight and 3am, I would look down into the darkness and kneel at my window binding the demons that controlled the ceremonies. I'll never know this side of heaven what effect my prayers had. Maybe a potential sacrifice escaped. Maybe the occultists weren't successful in summoning their demon. Maybe a new, young recruit decided that this was not the lifestyle he thought he wanted.
Pray for the salvation of the occultists. Jesus Christ died for those whom Satan holds captive and deceived, for those who mock Him, who deny His deity or His existence. He doesn't want them to perish, but to come to Him calling Him Father, Lord. Pray the veil is lifted from their eyes, the Lord allows them to see clearly their spiritual condition and their only hope lies in Jesus Christ. Pray also, about whether the Lord would have you take a more active role in bringing the gospel to Satan's servants.
Let your children know that this is effective warfare. They must know their prayers are heard and acted on by our Father. Let them know they can make a difference. Come October 31, they'll know they have a job to do.

Credit for this content to:ChristianAnswers.com

Comfortable Evolution

I just love it when Ray Comfort makes the Theory of Evolution so, Comfortable!

Imagination Wanted - Dead or Alive

God is Not Boring by John Piper

Recently I spoke at Northwestern College as part of their year-long 100^th anniversary celebration. The title of the message was "The Supremacy of God in the Life of the Mind." One capability of the mind that I focused on was the imagination. It applies to everybody who has a mind. Here's what I said:

One of the great duties of the Christian mind is imagination. It is not the only thing the mind does. The mind observes. The mind analyzes and organizes. The mind memorizes. But imagination is different. It does not observe or analyze what's there; it imagines what is not seen but might be there and might explain what is there (as in the case of most scientific discoveries). Or it imagines a new way of saying what is there that no one has said before (as in the case of creative writing and music and art).

I say that imagination is a Christian duty for two reasons. One is that you can't apply Jesus' golden rule without it. He said, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" (Matthew 7:12). We must imagine ourselves in their place and imagine what we would like done to us. Compassionate, sympathetic, helpful love hangs much on the imagination of the lover.

The other reason I say that imagination is a Christian duty is that when a person speaks or writes or sings or paints about breathtaking truth in a boring way, it is probably a sin. The supremacy of God in the life of the mind is not honored when God and his amazing world are observed truly, analyzed duly, and communicated boringly. Imagination is the key to killing boredom. We must imagine ways to say truth for what it really is. And it is not boring. God's world - all of it - rings with wonders. The imagination calls up new words, new images, new analogies, new metaphors, new illustrations, new connections to say old, glorious truth. Imagination is the faculty of the mind that God has given us to make the communication of his beauty beautiful.

Imagination may be the hardest work of the human mind. And perhaps the most God-like. It is the closest we get to creation out of nothing. When we speak of beautiful truth, we must think of a pattern of words, perhaps a poem. We must conceive something that has never existed before and does not now exist in any human mind. We must think of an analogy or metaphor or illustration which has no existence. The imagination must exert itself to see it in our mind, when it is not there. We must create word combinations and music that have never existed before. All of this we do, because we are like God and because he is infinitely worthy of ever-new words and songs.

A college - or a church - committed to the supremacy of God in the life of the mind will cultivate many fertile, and a few great, imaginations. And O how the world needs God-besotted minds that can say the great things of God and sing the great things of God and play the great things of God in ways that have never been said or sung or played before.

Imagination is like a muscle. It grows stronger when you flex it. And you must flex it. It does not usually put itself into action. It awaits the will. Imagination is also contagious. When you are around someone (alive or dead) who uses it a lot, you tend to catch it. So I suggest that you hang out with some people (mainly dead poets) who are full of imagination, and that you exert yourself to think up a new way to say an old truth. God is worthy. "Oh sing to the LORD a new song" - or picture, or poem, or figure of speech.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

Who do you worship?

Is it me, or is this Bible case the epitome of going a little
too far?

Thanks Brother Ralph... Nice catch!

Obama's Candy Tax

More "Change" for 2009... Obama's Candy Tax should make it pretty tough on the poor little pagans for this Halloween!