Billy Graham Quote

Billy Graham once said “If God doesn’t judge America He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” I read this quote today and thought it worthy to share. If nothing else it makes you think!

Rick Warren Prayer

Here is the inaugural prayer in case you didn't see it. There was a controversy brewing if he would say the name of Jesus or not. As you will hear, he not only says His name, he says it in several languages. BAM!

The End is Near II

The chart in my Bible- 'The Last Days of Preparation' has 8 categories of things that need to happen before the rapture occurs:

1. Increase of false prophets and religious compromise within the church.
2. Increase of crime and disregard of God's law.
3. Increase of wars , famines and earthquakes.
4. Decrease in love and family affection.
5. More severe persecution of God's people.
6. Those who stand firm will be saved.
7. Gospel will be preached to the whole world.
8. The Spirit will be poured out on God's people.

How many of these have been occurring or have happened?
2Timothy 3:1-5 'But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them'
I will give a longer list of Scriptures in another post. I just have had this one on my heart for a while now.

The End is Near

We are living in the end times. Jesus is coming back to collect His own to Heaven. Then comes the seven years before the final judgment. I'm not a theologian nor an eschatologist. I go to an Assembly of God church and believe in their 16 Fundamental Truths. I also have a really neat Bible with a chart in it explaining 'the last days of history'.
What peaked my interest enough to write about end times has been recent events and verses that keep speaking about it. Also, I hear fellow Christians and churches speaking more on the subject. It is no wonder everybody isn't talking about it with all of the recent financial troubles worldwide, the elections, natural disasters, and immorality becoming more prevalent.
My chart is boxed into chronological categories: Last Days of Preparation, The Rapture, The Tribulation, The Great Tribulation (the last 3.5 years), The Antichrist, Christ's appearance to judge and to wage war, The Millennium, The Final Judgment, and The New Heavens and New Earth. Before finding this chart, I just wanted to write down a few verses to focus on what to look for in our own lives and in the world. I will focus only on the last days of preparation and might reference to the others. This will be the first of a few posts on this subject.
As I wrote several times this year, it has been a year of change for me. God showed me my issues with pride, self-centeredness, problems in my marriage, and other things. So I had ears to hear what God was saying to me. What I've been hearing is we have better get it together or we might not have any oil left in our lamp when Jesus shows up (Matthew 25:1-13). You think you always have time to get 'serious' with God. Time is running out. I can see the Rapture coming within the next few years. A lot of things are in place and have happened according to scripture that need to before Jesus comes for us. Many are occuring now and at a rapid pace.
Romans 2:7-9 'To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;' (NIV) These verses point to the end times and how each heart will increase in good or evil. Matthew 24:12-13 'Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.' (NIV) The love of MOST will grow cold. Are you in the most crowd? I did not think so either. I thought I loved God and heard His voice. I thought I was selfless, giving, and had a good marriage. I got a very important wake up call. I was in the most crowd. I only loved God part time. I was deceived so bad I thought I was good. I loved me more than my wife, others, and God. I was comparing my life with others in the world. Yes, compared to the world I do look good. However, we are not to compare ourselves to each other but to Jesus.
How do you compare to Him? Do you think of others when needs arise? Do you give to your church, missions, and to those in need? Do you avoid people just so you don't have to talk to them? A lot of people need help of some kind. Maybe Jesus is calling you to help one of them. Do you want to know God more? What are you doing about that? Are you letting your love grow cold towards God by avoiding Him? He's there with you right now. Ask Him to forgive you from a lazy cold heart. He wants you to be ready when He comes back. The end may be near, but it can be just the beginning for you. Romans 10:9-10 says 'If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.' You are one prayer away from making sure you go to heaven. God will tell you what to do if you only ask Him. Don't stay cold. Time is short.

Finding Good in the Vote

I live in Michigan. I work in Ohio. Both states nominated Obama and all the Senate and House winners were not who I voted for. I saw the bars at the top of the page of MSNBC.com and they declared both houses of government and the president are now controlled by the Democrats. I looked up the two proposals in Michigan and they both passed. One is for Medical Marijuana use and the other is my tax dollars to be use for Embryo and Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
I started to freak out a little because it looked like the world was coming to an end. Then I remembered the gay marriage ban proposal in California was being voted on also. I looked at it and saw it winning and my hopes came back. The country isn't going to hell in a hand basket over night! It may be in a few months but not over night!
Also, I remembered a list put out by The Family Research Council. It gives every proposal/amendment that was up for vote that affects the family. As I checked these one by one I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of the things were passing. Colorado, Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida all passed their proposals on marriage = one man and one woman. Colorado's declared a person starts at conception.
I did find two other disappointments in South Dakota and Washington. Washington voted for assisted suicide and South Dakota voted not to ban abortions.
Overall looking at the big picture, I don't like what I see. With the Democrats in control, I can see our morals as a country deteriorating quickly. Without a lot of prayer and groups that stand for family values fighting and keeping us informed, Sodom and Gomorrah will seem better off than we will be.
I know once Obama is in the Presidency January 20th our government will try to silence any voice that tries to inform Americans of legislation that is sneaked into a bill just to get it passed. I can't tell you how many times James Dobson came on Focus on the Family to tell us of a bill that needed our involvement so it wouldn't get passed. Thousands would call and email their congressman and it wouldn't pass.
They tried on bill #1 on the 2008 agenda to pass a bill to silence all religious organizations on speaking out the truth about bills being voted on in the House and Senate. Jesus is being banned left and right in every shape and form. My pastor had an article he blogged about that tells of a child that had to leave school because his costume was a distraction to the education process. He was dressed as Jesus Christ.
Well I just wanted to shed a little light on a dark picture. Hopefully, this will get Christians to seek His face all the more. We can't depend on too much in this planet anymore. God needs to be our guide and make a way where there is no way.

I Dare You To Read And Comment On This Election Post

I really don't like politics at all. Everything about it makes me sick to my stomach. Some laws I still don't know what God's opinion is on them. Others I know are wrong. Voting is pretty easy for me. If the politician is for the laws that are wrong I vote for the other guy. Stuff like the environment, alternate fuels, jobs and the economy are really secondary to what is right and wrong.
Pulling out of the war in Iraq early is wrong. 4000 plus soldiers would have died for nothing. The Taliban would quickly move in and undo everything our young men and women helped establish over there. Abortion is wrong. Gay marriage is wrong. Judges deciding what the laws of this country should be based solely on there agenda is wrong.
Family values are right. 'Adult' stem cell research is right. Abstinence education is right. Preaching the Gospel on the radio and television is right.
Some of you are probably saying "Yeah, I want world peace and food for the starving children too, but we are in debt ready to lose our jobs, house, cars, and retirement." Let me tell you something you don't want to hear. Our hope is not in the economy. Our trust is not in our job. Our future is not in our home, car, pension, or 401k. Yes we need these things on this earth to survive comfortably, but if we put our trust in these things we will lose them.
Isaiah 31:1 says: 'Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.' Let me tell you when God says "woe" it ain't good!
Our trust needs to be in God alone. "In God We Trust".
If we do not vote with the 'right' motives we can kiss that slogan good bye. 9-11 will be a walk in the park compared to what is coming. God will take His hand off of us. Whatever we allow in as compromise with terrorists will come back to haunt us.
We are living in the end times. The end is near and the anti-christ will have reign because we are deceived. Are you ready to take the mark of the beast? If this kind of talk scares you, it should! Because it's time to get right with God. He is setting things in motion to have us repent or grow cold to the things of God.
Ephesians 4:17-19 'So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.'
2Timothy 3:1-5 'But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them'
I know this went in a different direction than the election. However, it is exactly how we should vote, both with our lives and our politicians.
Do you want to get right with God? click here
If you know God but are finding out it is not as it use to be. Your decisions are a little more compromised. Your time with Him is less and less. Reading your Bible happens on Sunday only. Maybe you are doing everything right but something is missing.
Revelation 2: 2-5 'I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.'
Don't let Him remove your lampstand. This is a symbol of you being rejected by God.
Revelation 3: 15-16 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.' Become hot for God once again. He never left you and He loves you. Get right with Him while it is still today.
Hebrews 3:12 'See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.'
Hebrews 3:7-8 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart".

Freedom of Speech

Here's a topic I have been wanting to blog about. America land of the free and home of the brave. Unless you're politically incorrect! Freedom of speech, what does this mean? In the ENGLISH language it should mean we are free to say whatever we want. Of course there are exceptions like don't yell fire in a movie theater or no to your mom. However, the not so lite hearted subject I am talking about is Christians expressing their beliefs in a public forum. This has become the number one taboo in our school systems, government, and on the job. Why is it that the ku klux klan can demonstrate in the middle of down town under freedom of speech laws and have police protection?
Christians are just about crucified if they run for office. They get third degreed until they give up like that supreme court justice nominee by our President. Christians get fired from their jobs or have rules changed if they wear a hat with the name 'Jesus' on it. Since when? This country was founded for religious freedom and freedom of speech. You ever read any of the original documents written back then? God was consistently mentioned for the position He holds over this country. The Bible was a textbook in school!! Obviously, Jesus in a threat to the sinner's ego and conscience. Just as God calls us to hate sin, the sinner hates righteousness.
I am writing about a local lady that is a victim for expressing her God given right to free speech in an open forum on a local newspaper as a private citizen. Her name is Crystal Dixon. She was fired from her job for expressing her private opinion outside of work. She worked for the University of Toledo Graduate School. What a shame that she could not have her own opinion away from her position at work! She has started her own campaign to fight this. This story has made it on the Rush Limbaugh show, Washington Watch Radio (Family Research Council), and many Newspaper, radio, and tv medias. Her cause is one to watch. To go to her website click here. You can read all about her, read the article that caused all this, and you can even get her to speak at an event (she's an inspirational/motivational speaker). You can even help financially to fight this injustice. Give Crystal some prayers she needs help from above to take on this ungodly system. Crystal, you go girl! You got God on your side and plenty of Christians wanting to see you win!

California Marriage Law: 4,618,673 to Four

I totally stole this from the Family Research Council-Action group. They are the legislative Action arm of Family Research Council which is a group that came out of Focus on the Family. I get emails everyday that show me things in government (usually) that affect or could effect families. I saw this ruling on tv yesterday and my stomach turned. The downgrade of America's morals is removing God from our country. When God takes His hand off of us what will happen? We already had Katrina, 9-11, and financial problems. How much more waking up do we need? Turn your eyes to Jesus, United States. Fight for what's right.
Anyways I know there will be ways to block this and I will post and email you on ways to stop it. They say 'As California goes, so goes the country'. This is why I see this as important to fight with everything we got. Here's the email I got and the eliquent details I would never be able to repeat on my own:
'After a brief period of judicial restraint, California voters watched in horror this afternoon as judicial activism returned with a vengeance in one of the most egregious rulings in American jurisprudence. It took just four activist judges to overturn the historical definition of marriage, not to mention the vote of more than four and a half million Californians, as the state supreme court issued a much-anticipated ruling on the question of same-sex "marriage." By a 4-3 margin, the justices struck down a law, adopted by 61 percent of voters in 2000, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. By imposing same-sex "marriage" on voters, the California Supreme Court knowingly usurped the right of the people to effect change in public policy. This outcome is even more troubling than Massachusetts', in that California voters had already won the right to put a marriage protection amendment on the ballot in November. If the court cared at all about the democratic process, it would have stayed its decision until the people's voice was heard on the November amendment. Instead, these justices trampled on the legislature and created same-sex marriage by judicial fiat. This is nothing more than a judicial shotgun wedding that forces a redefinition of marriage on the people of California and potentially the rest of the nation. We trust that the voters of California will act in November to correct this exercise in judicial activism and to permanently enshrine the traditional definition of marriage in the state constitution. Clearly, this decision highlights the need for a federal amendment defining marriage in the U.S. Constitution. Only then will this campaign to shatter the family's foundation be ended once and for all.'- Written by Tony Perkins-FRC Action President
Here's the NY Times link. Arnold doesn't support the law change. Go terminator!!

The Message Bible:
Romans 1: 24-32 So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either—women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!