Like the new Apple theme? Been reading lately about the impact Steve Jobs had on the world. Truly a great man. Because we were all made in the image of our Creator we have the ability to do great works. However if you’re not led by the Spirit and trusting in God to work thru you, any good works you do are wickedness in His eyes because it’s not of faith (Romans 14:23). Jesus teaches us that apart from Him we can do nothing of eternal significance. You can make a huge impact on the world in your own strength if you have a strong self-will but from eternity’s perspective, if you are not in a covenant relationship with your Heavenly Father thru the blood of a sinless offering that He provided and receive it by faith, you are living in rebellion. You can be a “good” sinner but you still do bad things that go against the Law of God because of our flawed human nature, and those bad things require a blood sacrifice that is provided thru Christ, the Son of the livng God, the promised Messiah of Isreal. If you are a “good” sinner, you will likely have a front row seat in hell where you can get a good view of what your missing in heaven. A “bad” sinner, such as Hitler, will likely be in the nosebleed section. Hell may or may not be a literal lake of fire that many christians make it out to be but it is a place of darkness because the light of God isn’t there. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because those that reject this loving relationship by trust will be taunted by demons for eternity of their choice to reject a loving God. Even if it’s not a literal lake of fire, just being separated from God and being reminded of your sinful choices for eternity is bad enough, don’t you think? Charity & good deeds are required of true followers of the living God, but it’s not your works that makes you right. It’s the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that transforms your heart and enables you to fall in love with God by accepting the atoning sacrifice for your sins. All you have to do is seek Him, He empowers you do trust Him. You have to respond to His grace and exercise the faith He’s already given you to make it grow. When you accept Jesus, you already have all the faith you need to make it in life and live in victory, all you need to do is resist Satan and stand firm in your faith against any oppression he throws at you.
Blessings & Peace,
Big E

http://brandonacox.com/rick-warren-crislam.

steps.

Heard a rumor on an popular social network about how a well-known Pastor was endorcing a nonchristian religious group. Then ran across this article on Twitter. Backed by this verse. Inexperienced one, or simple, some translations just flat out say fools, lack knowledge so they jump to conclusions. This usually leads to malicious gossip or slander which is a grievous sin, not that we don’t have enough to answer for in this life-I’m not any better. But as the Proverb says, be sensible and investigate a story before he go “gossiping” to other believers about what you heard. Then they’ll jump to conclusions and start casting judgement. I even ran across a CatholicForum where a Catholic Priest and a Baptist preacher spent the last few days arguing fine points of theology, and if you “read the fine print”, you could tell they were agreeing with each other and didn’t know it. Like my christian counselor says, Calvinists and Arminians have been arguing for years and they don’t realize they’re really friends. Proverbs says a wise man winneth souls (or something like that. If we’d only quit arguing over who is right and who is not and focus on doing the Great Commission-doing what the Lord calls us to do, we’d have more of an impact on the World and prolong the second coming and rise of the Antichrist by doing whatever it takes to promote righteousness and support our country by being more actively involved in Politics. Like seeing if there was anything we could do to help lower the national debt, such as buying bonds (not sure how that works yet), or starting businesses, entrepreneurship boosts the economy, and I’m sure there are other ways. We do our part to promote the kingdom of God and He can work through us to draw more people to Himself just by us doing what Jesus told us in the Beatitudes-be the salt and light of the earth, once salt loses it’s flavor how can it become salty again? By repenting and focusing on what’s more important, seeking first the Kingdom of God and all things will be added unto you. Now I’m going off on a tanget, but I’m a writer (hoping to be anyway)and my job is to inform and to encourage people, and try to uplift them, but I struggled with depression for years because I allowed the negativity of others to get me down and I became negative. I can’t blame others for my sins though but I’m working to overcome them just like you guys, if you truly know Him anyway. In closing, this well-known Pastor commented on Twitter about the church not following church history and falling prey to doctinal errors and conflicts within the church. Also let us remember Jesus’s warning in Matt. 7:1, “Judge not unless ye be judged.” Then He said something about casting taking the speck out of your brother’s eye and leaving the plank in your own. The scariest verse in the bible was on down: “Not everybody who says to me Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.” (v. 21)
God Bless,
E