California

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God Is Still On the Throne

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This past week, the Supreme Court made a decision that has caused many to become worried over the future and the state of America. There is a reason that I don’t watch much news: because I know how easy it can be to become depressed and lose sight of the fact that God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. The fact is that we have been losing our freedom for a while. This is just another spoke taken out of our wheel. No matter what the world does, however, God hasn’t changed, and there is a reason we are here at this moment. Our job is to find out what our purpose is in this ever-changing, dark world. My Facebook page has been riddled with posts as people express their views on the ruling but the best one I read was from a pastor in California who summed up perfectly how I feel. With his permission, I would like to share it with you:

Wow, what a day can hold. There has been so much conversation and online chatter about the Supreme Court Decision today and it is to be expected. I have had several conversations about it already. Its my privilege as a pastor, and its a blessing. But personally, I find myself so blessed to be doing what I do every Friday: preparing Bible studies so that Gods people might be refreshed, refocused, and that they might continue to disciple one another while engaging our ever-changing culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will never change. Today a monumental decision has been made that will change our culture drastically in the near future. But Christian, what has changed really? The world will always be the world, and the church will always have work to do. In John 9:4-5 Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Lets pray to understand what it means to be the light of the world and passionately pursue that privilege until the Day comes when we will rest and be rewarded. Do not let your hearts be troubled, my friends, lets continue to be about the Fathers business.

Amen!

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Home Bible study illegal in San Diego?

I-5 California WorldNet Daily in this post is reporting about government persecution of a home Bible study in San Diego, California. Here’s one quote from the article:

“The Western Center for Law and Policy is troubled by this draconian move to suppress home Bible studies,” said the law center in a statement. “If the current trends in our nation continue, churches may be forced underground. If that happens, believers will once again be forced to meet in homes. If homes are already closed by the government to assembly and worship, where then will Christians meet?”

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9 out of 10 dogs prefer to be house-trained with Newsweek

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After all, that seems to be about all that worthless rag seems to be good for lately. Consider their latest cover story–“Our Mutual Joy“, the attempt of one writer (Lisa Miller) to use Scripture to support homosexual marriage. She begins with an argument we have heard so many times from our LDS visitors:

Let’s try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists.

Ho-hum. This argument, when examined in light of Scripture, falls so flat on its face that even Joan Rivers’ plastic surgeon couldn’t fix it. Without going into detail, if you read the FULL accounts of these stories, you find that they paid a steep price for their adultery/polygamy (Abram + Hagar = Ishmael; David’s adultery with Bathsheba led to Absalom’s revolt; Solomon’s polygamy led to the troubles he outlines in Ecclesiastes. I adressed the issue of polygamy here.)

She then goes on to equate the “plight” of homosexuals being “denied the right to marry” with the battle over slavery in the US. I will not even dignify that crass accusation with comment.

Then she comes out with this gem:

To which there are two obvious responses: First, while the Bible and Jesus say many important things about love and family, neither explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

Uh…yeah…right. She might want to actually read the Bible before she comments on it. Matthew 19:4-6—And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who madethem at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Who has she been having Bible study with? Jack Black? “A MAN shall be joned to his WIFE.” These are both in the SINGULAR. Man. Wife. No plurals. 1st Timothy 3:2, 12—A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior…Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Social conservatives point to Adam and Eve as evidence for their one man, one woman argument—in particular, this verse from Genesis: “Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” But as Segal says, if you believe that the Bible was written by men and not handed down in its leather bindings by God, then that verse was written by people for whom polygamy was the way of the world.

Continue reading →

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Hope in San Mateo and encouragement for pastors.

Loretta Heiden posted this encouraging piece on her blog. Her brief story shows that there are still some youth pastors out there (albeit very few) who know that their job is to feed the sheep and not entertain the goats.

I also wanted to take this time to thank and encourage all pastors who are faithful to the Word and to the flock and haven’t sold-out. I know that at times it may seem that you’re alone as you face the daunting task of preaching the whole counsel of God (unaltered and undiluted) to a mass of people who would rather just be entertained, but don’t give up. There are some of us out here that are grateful for your commitment and hard work and we salute your faithfulness in the Lord. Never give up, never give in, never compromise and never forget, your reward will be great!