Geert Wilders Speaks At Free Speech Conference

Geert Wilders is the Chair of the Parliamentary Party (Party for Freedom) in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands. He has been outspoken on the issues of immigration, Islamic fundamentalism and freedom of speech. His provocative 2008 film about Islam in the Netherlands, Fitna, has received international attention. Due to death threats, he has been forced into guarded isolation. These are some of Geert Wilders’ recent remarks at the Free Speech Summit in Palm Peach, Florida:

I wish I had come to a place they call they call The Sunshine State with better news, but it would be very unwise to deny that the situation indeed is very gloomy, and it might take a while for you to understand the situation that we are in now. Maybe you as Americans still think that Europe is a place with a great culture and a profound way of looking at things. Maybe you see immigration as something that is inherently good for our country as it contributed so much for the United States, and I understand that. But Ladies and Gentleman the Europe as you know it from visiting Europe or from stories from your parents or friends or whoever, is on the verge of collapsing.

We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe’s destiny and might send the Continent in what Ronald Reagan once called: “A thousand years of darkness.

And the takeover of Europe, that is currently taking place, is part of a global fight, a global fight of Islam for World domination.

Let me tell you first, that Islam is not a religion. Islam is a totalitarian political ideology. Islam hearts lies at the Koran and the Koran is a book that calls for hatred, that calls for violence, for murder, for terrorism, for war and submission.

The Koran calls upon Muslims to kill Kuffars, non-Muslims. The Koran describes Jews as monkeys and pigs, and Churchill, and I agree with him, Churchill compared the Koran, the book in the 50’s, to Adolf Hitlers book Mein Kampf.

Ladies and Gentleman the core of the problem with Islam is twofold, First, the commands of the Koran are not limited by place or time, they apply for all time, to all Muslims of the World.

Second, the Koran is Allah’s personal words that leaves no room for interpretation, therefore, there is not such a thing as a moderate Islam. Of course, there are many moderate Muslims, but a moderate Islam does not exist.

As the Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Erdoğan once rightfully said, he said: “There is no moderate Islam, Islam is Islam”

Continue reading. . . .

Lt Colonel Allen West was also present at the Free Speech Conference and was interviewed by Atlas Shrugs:

Meditating On The Bible

Quoting William Bridge:

Meditation will keep your hearts and souls from sinful thoughts. When the vessel is full you can put in no more…. If the heart be full of sinful thoughts, there is no room for holy and heavenly thoughts: if the heart be full of holy and heavenly thoughts by meditation, there is no room for evil and sinful thoughts.

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 6

All of us know that children have to face a variety of problems as they grow up. Some of these problems are serious. Some are not. This is simply a part of the maturation process. It is as natural as puberty. The way these problems are handled, however, can have positive or negative effects for a lifetime. Such issues as homework and study habits may not seem very complex, but in the perspective of time they may have a tremendous impact on the ability of an individual to develop the skills necessary for self discipline and a successful lifestyle. The active and caring involvement of an adult can make a significant difference in these areas of a child’s life. We must also remember that children want and need our involvement in the easy times and the hard. If you want your child to respect your opinion when he becomes a teenager, you have to invest the time to build your relationship while he is still a child.

What was the unique heritage your parents passed on to you? What are you “saving up” for your children? Memories are like small voices speaking from a special time and place in our past. They give us a distinct perspective of the present and the future. Have you ever found your thoughts taking you to the past and the emotions you felt long ago when you were faced with circumstances similar to a present experience? Our current attitudes and responses are often the result of those experiences.

Memories can be a storehouse of pain. Past hurts seem to lie in waiting for the appropriate moment to spring into our thinking. They can weld the power to torment us as we try to make decisions. They can cause us to view the future with fear and uncertainty. They can prevent us from forming new relationships and setting new goals. Negative memories can depreciate our individual dignity and self-worth. They can give us a sense of hopelessness concerning the future. It sometimes seems as if every negative insinuation that ever came our way can be brought to remembrance. Like a malignant cancer, hurtful memories can destroy life.

Memories can also be a powerful source of healing. They can provide comfort and security in the midst of stressful circumstances and overwhelming problems. They can reassure us when our self esteem has been damaged by the thoughtlessness of others and temporary setbacks in our goals. They can motivate us to continue with determination when opposition from the world would bring us to a standstill. They can even help us to forgive.

I believe that even our attitudes toward God, and our feeling of security in the relationship we have with Him, are often determined by our memories of past relationships within our families. I especially believe that our memories of our parents are significant in either enhancing or limiting our ability to trust God with the outcome of our lives.

Were our parents dependable? Did they keep their word to us as we were growing up? Did they create a stable home environment for us? Did we feel nurtured, loved, and accepted? Did we really believe that our parents valued us? All of these questions raise issues that we carry, for better or worse, in our conscious and subconscious memories for a lifetime. The way we answer these questions is a continuing source of strength or pain. (Continued tomorrow)

The Grab For Power

Quoting Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich:

“We are seeing the biggest power grab by politicians in American history. The idea that they would propose that the Treasury could intervene and take over non-bank, non-financial system assets gives them the potential to basically create the equivalent of a dictatorship.”

Soros Commission Pushes For Show Trials

Quoting Matthew Vadum:

The so-called Commission on Accountability which mysteriously appeared on the political scene a few days ago to push for show trials related to War on Terror interrogation policies is a PR hoax created by liberal philanthropist George Soros and political operatives sympathetic to the Obama administration.

The push is part of a vindictive campaign to pay back the architects of the War on Terror for making a good faith effort to defend America. . . .

Continue reading. . . .

Is God Unfair?

From: The Desk of John MacArthur

“Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: may grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.” (1 Peter 1:1)

Now the essence of this salutation as Peter begins his letter is to emphasize that those to whom he writes are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. And thus does Peter take a theological plunge of profoundly deep proportions at the very outset of this letter. The lesson for us tonight is going to deal with the subject of election, or being chosen by God. . . .

The gifted Bible teacher, scholar, A. W. Pink who, by the way, died in 1952, once began a sermon by saying this, “I am going to speak tonight on one of the most hated doctrines of the Bible, namely that of God’s sovereign election,” end quote. He was right. It is a hated doctrine.

He later wrote these words, and I find them very insightful, “God’s sovereign election is the truth most loathed and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers. Let it be plainly announced that salvation originated not in the will of man but in the will of God that were it not so none would or could be saved. For as the result of the Fall man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing and loud will be the cries of indignation against such teaching.” Then he says, “Merit-mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency of the human will. Consequently they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God are the warmest in crying up the free will of fallen man,” end quote.

What he’s saying is it’s hard for some people to accept the biblical doctrine of sovereign election. It’s hard for man to acknowledge the fact that his salvation is an act of God. In his fallenness he wants to assume some responsibility, even if it’s a small responsibility, for having believed. He wants some credit desperately for having made a right choice.

Furthermore, the doctrine of election seems repulsive to us because by our standards it seems unfair that God should out of all the world of human beings choose some at His own discretion to be saved and not the rest. But you understand, don’t you, that the reason man so desperately wants to have a part is because in his fallenness he wants to exercise his pride. And so we can eliminate that as a real issue, it only is an expression of fallenness. What about the part about being unfair? Is God unfair? No, God is never to be measured by any human standard, certainly not by the human standard of fairness which is also a reflection of man’s…what?…fallenness. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely and eternally holy God? What kind of pride is that? Therein lies the real problem.

In Psalm 50:21 God said, “You thought that I was all together like you, how wrong you are.” So many places in the Bible warn us not to assume that what we believe is the standard by which God must function. It says in Psalm 97 verse 2, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” Righteousness and justice are the very foundation of the throne of God. That is to say whatever God does proceeds from a base of righteousness and justice. It may not be human righteousness and human justice but it is divine.

In those familiar words of Isaiah 55:8 and 9, the Scripture says of God, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” We are in no position as fallen creatures to determine whether what God does is just, right or fair.

In Romans 11:33 the Apostle writes, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?” You’ve stepped out of bounds when you say that God does anything that isn’t fair.

House Passes Hate Crimes Act

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that protects bizarre sexual orientations and threatens the free speech and freedom of religion of those who dare speak out publicly against homosexuality. By a 249-to-175 vote, the House passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act today. The bill adds gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law.

Congressional support is ignoring the case of eleven Christians in Philadelphia who were charged with hate crimes for sharing Scripture verses at a homosexual pride rally. These Philadelphia Christians were arrested and jailed based on hate crime law. Despite the promises of those who say it will not happen, a pastor who delivers a sermon denouncing homosexuality or transgenderism could be prosecuted for hate speech under the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act if it passes in the US Senate.

The citizens of Canada were led to believe that these laws would apply only to violent acts. The reality, however, is that religious freedom and free speech in Canada no longer exists as we know them in the US. In Canada, people have been prosecuted for saying that homosexuality is immoral or sinful.

Taxing Corporations Or People?

Quoting Walter Williams:

“Ask the average person which is the correct answer to the following question: Which president gave the biggest tax cuts for the rich — Reagan or Bush? I would bet the rent money that you would not get the correct response, which is: Presidents have no taxing authority. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution says: ‘The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises.’ … Another tax question: If there’s an imposition of a property tax on your land, who pays the tax? I guarantee you that land does not pay taxes; only people pay taxes. That means a tax on your land is a tax on you. You say, ‘Williams, that’s pretty elementary, isn’t it?’ But what do you say to a politician or news media people who propose increasing corporate taxes as means to get rich corporations to pay their rightful share of government? They should be told that they speak nonsense because corporations, like land, do not pay taxes; only people pay taxes. If a tax is levied on a corporation, and if it is to survive, it must raise the price of its product, or lower dividends or lay off workers. In each case, it is people, not some legal fiction called a corporation, who bear the burden of any tax levied on the corporation. An important subject area in economics called tax incidence says that the entity upon whom a tax is levied does not necessarily bear the burden of the tax. Some of the tax burden can be shifted to another party. That’s precisely what corporations do and as such they are merely government tax collectors.”

Read more here. . . .

Obama Will Save Us How Much?

Let A Man Have What He Will

Jonathan Edwards

Quoting Jonathan Edwards:

Let a man have what he will, and do what he will, it signifies nothing without charity; which surely implies that charity is the great thing, and that everything which has not charity in some way contained or implied in it is nothing, and that this charity is the life and soul of all religion, without which all things that wear the name of virtues are empty and vain.

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 5

Paul writes in II Corinthians 12:14 that “… children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children…” Ask yourself these very important questions: “As a parent, what am I saving up for my children? What is the heritage I am providing for them through my life? What do I want my children to remember about me on the day of my funeral?”

I am obviously not talking about finances. I am speaking of things which are immensely more important to our well being. These are memories, relationships, family traditions, character, and spiritual understanding; the factors which eventually write the script of our lives. They inspire to success or discourage us from trying. They instill in us the attitudes with which we approach living as human beings.

I asked the congregation of our church one evening to raise their hands if they had pleasant memories of their childhood family life. Only about half of the people sitting there that evening could raise their hands. The number of young adults who feel this way today does not surprise me. In fact, I believe that the number of adults with unhappy and frustrated attitudes toward their childhood years is going to significantly increase in the years to come. Too many parents are simply too busy with their own pursuit of self satisfaction. They make little time to be actively involved in anything but the most peripheral activities of their child’s life.

Each year I increasingly hear from teachers their concerns over parental response, or lack of it, regarding their own children’s needs. Teachers are more and more often coming away from conferences having been made to feel that they have unnecessarily intruded upon the parent’s valuable time. Often, teachers are given the impression by parents that if their child is having a problem at school, it is the school’s problem and the school needs to make whatever accommodation is necessary to take care of it.

In a society of self-pleasers, it is much easier to deal with any problem by believing that it belongs to someone else. Problems take time to resolve. They require our involvement and undivided attention. Most adults, today, are so preoccupied with their own personal lives that they react with symptoms of emotional burnout if they have to become intensely involved in helping their children resolve important issues. In these circumstances, relatively small problems can bring forth outbursts of highly charged emotions. (Continued tomorrow)

The Most Valuable Book In The World

Elias Boudinot

Quoting Elias Boudinot:

For nearly half a century have I anxiously and critically studied that invaluable treasure [the Bible]; and I still scarcely ever take it up that I do not find something new – that I do not receive some valuable addition to my stock of knowledge or perceive some instructive fact never observed before. In short, were you to ask me to recommend the most valuable book in the world, I should fix on the Bible as the most instructive both to the wise and ignorant. Were you to ask me for one affording the most rational and pleasing entertainment to the inquiring mind, I should repeat, it is the Bible; and should you renew the inquiry for the best philosophy or the most interesting history, I should still urge you to look into your Bible. I would make it, in short, the Alpha and Omega of knowledge. (President of Congress, Framer of The Bill of Rights)

Taxpayer Dollars To Terrorist Organizations

The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Obama Administration has asked Congress to water down a law that prevents taxpayer dollars from going to designated terrorist groups. Millions of your hard-earned dollars will be sent to the terrorists in Hamas. The money is intended to help the Palestinian Authority with reconstruction efforts in Gaza after Israel’s 22-day battle to root out the terrorists who were launching thousands of rockets from Gaza at Israeli cities. But Gaza is controlled by Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority.

This is just one more way this administration is wasting your money. Washington pressured Israel to give up “land for peace.” So, Israel gave up Gaza and, in return, Hamas terrorists used it as a launching pad for thousands of rocket attacks against Israel. Now the President wants you to pay for the mess that Hamas created and which Washington foolishly insisted upon.

Struggling With Sin?

From: The Desk of Dr. Brian Abshire

[What] many Christians have not considered is the fundamental sin that gives rise to every other sin; the sin of Adam in the Garden. When Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he was not just breaking some legalistic rule God had set up; instead, he wanted to be as God, knowing good and evil for himself. Thus, the first sin was idolatry; an attempt to usurp the privilege of God and to be God, determining good and evil based on his own criteria.

Original sin was not just stealing a piece of fruit from a tree; nor breaking an arbitrary rule but committing a revolutionary act whereby Adam wanted to become a god in his own right. Adam committed a huge sin, blaspheming the nature of God by trying to take to himself the attributes of God. And every human sin, in some way or another, can be traced back to this sinful orientation inherited from Adam. Every time a man sins, he does so because he wants what he wants, rather than what God wants. Sinful men want to call evil “good” and good “evil;” just look at our modern culture embracing fornication, adultery and sodomy and persecuting those who refuse to accept these “alternative” lifestyles. All the great kings and emperors of history attempted unlawful dominion over others to glorify their own names; remember when God had to put Nebuchadnezzar in his place for self-exaltation?

Each and every one of the Ten Commandments are prohibitions of sinful desires to be as God; to worship as one pleases rather than as God wills, to rebel against lawful authority that God has established, to take the life, wife, property or reputation of others because we want what we want, when we want it. Never mind for a moment the pragmatic arguments for the superiority of the Moral Law as a social and legal code (and of course it certainly is a superior way to live); God in the Ten Commandments shows how our sinful orientation opposes His will because we want to be God.

Now, when Christ through His Spirit enters a sinful heart and breathes new life into it, giving a man the ability to understand and receive the gospel, that basic, sinful orientation is changed. Rather than being enemies of God seeking to dethrone Him and replace His authority with our own, now we become “sons of God” and want to live in humble submission to Him. However, the process of working out that salvation in fear and trembling takes a lifetime; in fact, though we do not have time to discuss this here I would argue that it takes multiple generations for sanctification to work itself out in every aspect of a culture. Here though we need only note that though our basic orientation is changed, every one of us needs to learn how to bring every area of life into submission to King Jesus.

And that is where the problem comes in; for though our heart has been changed, often our thinking, priorities and values have not yet been sanctified. And therefore, even though forgiven and restored to a proper relationship with God, many of us will struggle with this old sinful desire to be as God, determining good and evil based on our own subjective standards.

From Inflation To Socialism

Quoting Ben Shapiro:

“All of Obama’s economic policies thus far are designed to drive America into full embrace of socialism. His chief means for this transformation: inflation. He is attempting to inflate the currency through two primary means: intense deficit spending, and pushing up production costs through union subsidization. In order to make these measures politically palatable, he cites FDR as an example of good deficit spending; he cites the credit crunch as an excuse for inflationary monetary policy; and he recommends unionization in order to boost wages. It’s a beautiful strategy for purposefully trashing capitalism, all the while blaming capitalism for its own downfall. John Maynard Keynes, the liberal economist who championed government intervention during recessions, recognized Obama’s inflationary strategy for what it is: ‘Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency,’ said Keynes. ‘Lenin was certainly right. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.’ Obama pursues inflation — government devaluation of the currency — with the zeal of the newly converted. His deficit spending will be financed either through higher taxes or through inflation. Obama says he will push higher taxes — after all, he wants to appease the Chinese, who don’t want their U.S. securities paid off with inflated dollars. But covertly, Obama fully intends on inflating the currency to pay of the massive deficit he has shoved through Congress. … It’s the same tried and true policy that created the Great Depression.”

Read more. . . .

Pearls

Quoting Charles Spurgeon:

I wish, brothers and sisters, that we could all imitate “the pearl oyster”-A hurtful particle intrudes itself into its shell, and this vexes and grieves it. It cannot reject the evil, but what does it do but “cover” it with a precious substance extracted out of its own life, by which it turns the intruder into a pearl! Oh, that we could do so with the provocations we receive from our fellow Christians, so that pearls of patience, gentleness, and forgiveness might be bred within us by that which otherwise would have harmed us.

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 4

When both of our children were old enough to go to school, my wife did begin to take on part-time work to supplement our income. The work she did was always organized around our girl’s school schedule. She took them to school and picked them up. She was available to drive on school field trips and volunteer in our daughters’ elementary school on a consistent basis. If one of our children was sick it was no problem, usually, for her to rearrange her schedule so the children were not pressured to attend school when they were really sick. There were also times when I took sick days from work to stay home with a sick daughter, but their mother deserves the credit for providing most of this care.

All the teachers knew us, and I believe this gave our children a wonderful sense of security and a feeling that school was a positive place to be. After our daughters entered secondary school, their mom took a full time job as a teacher’s assistant in our local school system. Later, she became full time Director of Children’s Ministry at our church. I can’t express my appreciation enough for her and all the sacrifices she made to help build a Christian home for our children. She has always had a full time job and profession as a Christian wife and mother at which she’s been tremendously successful. God truly gave me a Proverbs 31 lady for my wife and best friend.

When our first daughter became old enough to enter kindergarten, we faced the next big decision of our lives. Where would she go to school? I was a principal in the public schools and I knew there were many good schools with excellent programs she could attend. In spite of the excellent academic curriculum in these schools, however, we believed that an education, which emphasized Christian values and the belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God, should be our highest priority in selecting a school for our children. Therefore, we chose a private Christian school for our girls to attend.

This was not an easy decision to make. It put more financial strain on an already tight family budget. There were also my personal concerns about being a principal in the public school system, yet choosing to send my own children to a private school. I wondered how that would look to the people I worked for and to the parents in the school community I served. In spite of these and other concerns, we wanted our daughters to receive a Christian education.

Now, let me take this opportunity to give you some personal advice. If you believe that you are going to send your child to a Christian school, or any other private school for that matter, to escape and protect your child from the problems of the world, you are sadly mistaken. The Christian school my children attended had to deal with the same concerns and issues that are present in the public schools. I believe that most Christian schools do. Every parent with children in our daughters’ school was not a Christian. Some were about as far away as you can get from even approaching a Christian lifestyle. Many of the students did not attend church regularly. The difference that was important to us, however, was the basis on which these concerns, issues, and problems could be confronted. The school approached problems from a Christian worldview. There were no doubts, for instance, that when it came to issues of conduct and morality there were absolute standards, based on the Scriptures, which governed how problems should be solved. The teachers were committed Christians who were free to speak about their faith in Jesus Christ and serve as role models for our children. Christianity was taught purposefully and integrated throughout the curriculum. I believed, and still do, that this method of educating children instills within a child a permanent intellectual and spiritual framework of reference for moral values that are much more powerful and lasting than can be done through generic character education. This is why we chose a Christian education for our daughters.

If, however, you choose to send your children to a Christian school and you do not provide the same kind of consistent Christian environment at home, you should not be surprised if the effects on your child’s character are not as positive as you hoped they would be. A child cannot live between two worlds with radically different values. A child sees hypocrisy very clearly. It is, in my estimate, more important for a child that the home lay a consistent foundation of the way the Christian life should be lived than to place all your hopes in that being taken care of in a Christian school facility. Many outstanding Christian young people are graduating from our public schools, but their character is a product of the strength and consistency of the Christian values in their homes in the majority of cases. (Continued tomorrow)

May The Earth Be Filled With His Glory

Samuel Adams called on the State of Massachusetts to pray that . . .

The peaceful and glorious reign of our Divine Redeemer may be known and enjoyed throughout the whole family of mankind.

We may with one heart and voice humbly implore His gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ, supplicating His Divine aid . . . [and] above all to cause the religion of Jesus Christ, in its true spirit, to spread far and wide till the whole earth shall be filled with His glory.

With true contrition of heart to confess their sins to God and implore forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior.

House Judiciary Committee Approves Hate Crimes Act

In a vote of 15 to 12, the House Judiciary Committee Thursday advanced hate crimes legislation.

It adds gay, lesbian, and transgender people to the list of federally protected classes. But critics warn it could also criminalize preachers, who preach against homosexuality. . . .

Read more. . . .

Church Growth Anyone?

From: The Desk of R. C. Sproul

The church growth movement has done an outstanding job in capturing the right words. Everybody opposed to churches growing raise your hands. Anybody out there not want to attract unbelievers to the church of Christ. . . .

Is the church growing because of the church growth movement? Yes and no. Individual churches are growing, but the church is standing still. Though church growth pundits desire to win the lost usually what happens is they lose the found. Church growth techniques create a giant game of evangelical musical chairs. . . .

The only seekers we tend to draw with seeker sensitive services are believers seeking a different church. By presenting a God who wants us to look at ourselves, who doesn’t judge and command, who has a wonderful set of insights on how to have a happy, healthy marriage we put God’s imprimatur on narcissism. There’s nothing evangelicals like more than to be told that God loves them just the way they are.

But why aren’t the seekers coming? They like pop music, so we give them pop music. They like stories so we give them dramas. They like anonymity, so we let them have it. They like convenience, so we’ll change their oil while they’re here (this by the way is being done). The problem is that we can do none of these things as well as the world can. . . .

The problem with this practical approach, apart from being unbiblical, is that it’s just not practical. In fact these two problems, that it’s unbiblical and impractical are really one problem. The church growth pundits counsel us to look to the experts for wisdom. They then provide mountains of demographic, sociological, marketing factoids. The experts are Madison Avenue pagans who may know a great deal about how to sell toothpaste, but know nothing about proclaiming the Good News. Are we left then to grope in the dark? If you can’t trust sociologists and pollsters, who can you trust? God.

We have in the Bible an example of church growth which has never been paralleled. We have the first evangelistic sermon ever preached. And it is recorded for us by the Holy Spirit, without error. Consider how Peter practiced church growth. First the Spirit descended at Pentecost. Do you suppose the unbelievers there were comfortable, at ease, in this strange situation? Did Peter try to mold and control this work of the Spirit?

Peter instead pointed the crowd to the Old Testament, to the prophecy of Joel. He gave evidence that God was with them. And then he gave a sermon. Did he preach on how Jesus could help you with your finances? Did he announce a new series on how to raise you children’s self-esteem? Peter’s sermon went something like this: “You all remember Jesus, the one with the miracle that you saw, the one God had sent, the one you crucified.” Wow. That was not very sensitive to the seekers.

Peter went on with more Old Testament evidence for Jesus. And then, perhaps for the sake of those seeker who arrived late to this service he concluded with the bombshell, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified”(Acts 2:36). . . .

That, of course is not the message of choice among the experts. . . .

Luke then tells us that 3000 were saved.

The foolishness of the gospel routes the wisdom of the wise. Practically speaking the experts are failures. What they consider failure, on the other hand succeeds.

So what does this tell us about how to grow the church?

Read the entire article here. . . .

Redefining Marriage

One prominent dictionary company has decided to resolve the debate of whether the word “marriage” should apply to same-sex unions or be reserved for the institution that has held families together for millennia by rewriting the definition.

The new definition references “marriage” as the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife. But the definition also includes “the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage.”

Man’s Dependence On God

Quoting Jonathan Edwards

A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God’s power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God’s wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 3

Like so many other couples in our generation, when we received the news that our first child was actually on the way, my wife and I were not prepared. We were definitely not Christians. Therefore, we were totally unfamiliar with God’s plan for our lives concerning marriage or the parenting of children. We were excited, extremely positive, with supportive families standing behind us, and very naive. We began to plan for our first born with the unspoken assumption that nothing was going to change. We would still continue to pursue the same bad habits and old pleasures we always had.

For instance, it never occurred to us that we might lower our standard of living in order that my wife might quit work and stay home with our new daughter. Our first thoughts went immediately in the direction of obtaining suitable childcare. I thank God, now, that at the time we lived in the same city as my parents. My mother volunteered to provide day care for our daughter during her first important year of life.

The next year I was offered a position as principal of an elementary school in another city. Even though we were economically in much better condition, we were still unwilling to give up that second income. We were again blessed, however, to find a nursery operated by a Christian lady who truly loved children.

By the time my wife and I had our second child, our values and lifestyle had undergone a radical change. We had been introduced to Jesus Christ. We had come to believe, through the Scriptures and the teachings of our pastor, that we were not only responsible for the physical and emotional well being of our daughters but that it was very important for us to accept the responsibility of stewardship over our children’s spiritual lives as well. We believed, and still do, that this meant we must make every effort to rear our children in our own home during those early years when they would form so many of their attitudes and beliefs. We determined that my wife was going to stay home with our children. We committed to lowering our standard of living for the sake of a higher calling. We had come to believe that God intended for parents to be the primary caregivers of their children.

We may have appeared very bold, concerning that decision, to some of our friends. We were really scared to death that we were going to starve. That was many years ago. Obviously, we did not starve. In fact, we never missed a meal. We had to put aside our “want list” a lot, but most of the things we thought we wanted along the way really do not seem as important now. “Want lists” change with each season of life. One thing did not. We still believe that our decision for their mother to stay home with our girls was one of the very best decisions we ever made.

I realize that if you are a single parent you may not have the option to make the choice we did. It is a parent’s responsibility to work for an income and provide for his/her children. If you have to put your child in daycare while you work, don’t choose one simply as a matter of convenience because it is closer to home or cheaper. Choose a daycare that maintains high standards of care, cleanliness, and professionalism from a well-trained staff. You want to be assured that your child is going to receive the personal attention he/she needs and deserves. The daycare should have a vision and philosophy for caring for your child which is very similar to what you would want to provide in your home. You might also have a friend who has opted to stay home with his/her own child and would like to earn extra income by looking after another child of similar age. Whatever your decision, it should be made with careful consideration and a good deal of prayer. It is your responsibility and the consequences of your decision will have a significant impact on the life of your child. (Continued tomorrow)

The Link To Freedom

John Quincy Adams

Quoting John Quincy Adams:

The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made “bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” [Isaiah 52:10].

In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.

Al Gore Loses His Cool Over Climate Warming