Tired of Babylon? Quotes and Comments from Rev 17/18

Our post-modern carnage has left us:

fractured: from no consensus-
shallow: from endless sound bites and sloganeering (please- no more snappy mission statements)-
disillusioned: from no appeal to truth, and
fatigued: from microwave, fast paced activities, but no form to support the pressure.

“ Worldliness is what any culture does to make sin seem normal and righteousness seem strange.” G.K. Beall

Our modern cities with their wealth, false religions, and sexual exploitation are modern forms of Babylon. The media and their advertisements can bring into our homes and thoughts the seducing message of worshiping money, sex, power, and pleasure. Advertisements tell us that satisfaction and meaningful living can be found if only we buy the latest product. Vern Poythress

What’s so bad about Babylon?

A Faulty System: “The system whereby men and women, beginning absolutely by themselves, try rationally to build out from themselves, having only Man as their integration point, to find all knowledge, meaning and value” Francis Schaeffer

A System that 'Loves things and Uses People'-

A System Run by Selfish People- “Weeping from far away” Why are they weeping?

A System Run by Wicked People- Mother of the Earth’s Abominations

Crying and Cheering- A Clue to Our Allegiance:

18:20- REJOICE OVER HER, O HEAVEN AND YOU SAINTS AND APOSTLES AND PROPHETS FOR GOD HAS GIVEN JUDGMENT FOR YOU AGAINST HER

Will you weep or cheer at the destruction of Babylon?

What do we applaud now? What do we honor now?

Destroy Babylon now….. It is Going Anyway- A Twist on Jim Elliott’s quote:

“He is no fool to destroy what he cannot keep to pursue what he cannot lose”

“I ordinarily begin speaking about sin to a young, urban, non-Christian like this:Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry.” Tim Keller

As we list modern day idols, simple state what are the ‘good things’ that we have made into ‘god things”?

DESTROYING ‘BABYLON’ IN OUR LIVES

Allegiance to the King of Kings

Gospel Message and Spirit Power

Practicing The Disciplines of Grace (Prayer/Scripture/Fasting/Worship/ Sacraments)

Silence and Solitude- Evaluation

Fellowship and Accountability

Patience and Perseverance

Try These Things:

Do an Idol Inventory- Ask God to reveal and then help with the fight

Do a Relationship Inventory- Strengthen the Bonds!

Giving to God’s kingdom in Proportion to Supporting World’s System

Discipline and Restraint in Regards to Appetites

TV/ Movies/ Music/ Entertainment- Ask for Discernment

Christian Liberty- Ask for Discernment “All things lawful- but not all profitable”

Use Gifts to Serve

Loving Confrontation – “Hard on Yourself and Tender Toward Others”

II CORINTHIANS 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

EPHESIANS 6:10-20 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Quarter - filled Cups of Coffee

"I have measured my life in coffee spoons” -Prufrock
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What advantage does a man have in all his work which he does under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1: 2,3

Quarter - filled cups of coffee,
Shadowed stains below the band.
Cooled liquid, thick and soiled,
Etched foam, marked by hand.

Appearance of apparent progress,
Concrete marks of constant time.
Accompanied by piles of paper,
Crumpled calendars, plans sublime.

Of what reward do hours meed?
Riches and honor untold?
What state does watched time translate?
Unused potential to save and hold?

Three - quarter empty cups of coffee,
Symbols unfinished and undone.
Epochs spent on early ambition,
Numerous laps short, the race not won.

Lurking depths of unrequited desire,
Taciturn anger behind the smile,
Endless action churning piles of perception,
Steps no closer to the next mile.

Will the minutes always last?
What price is one to pay?
When activity is ambiguous and prostituted
and success is a shade of gray.

The trap has sprung inescapable.
The suction stronger than my will.
No one there to loose or care,
Fractions of effort to close the sill.

Those dreams seem marathons away.
No tunnel light, no ray, no rule.
Only a vast wasteland of utopian ideas and funny ambition.
I laugh at myself - the fool.

Douglas Wilson on Evidence

A favorite quip of those who promote atheism is to say, "God has not given me enough evidence".

In a debate with Christopher Hitchens, Douglas Wilson addressed this excuse:

"Actually, I believe I can present evidence for what I know. But evidence comes to us like food, and that is why we say grace over it. And we are supposed to eat it, not push it around on the plate—and if we don't give thanks, it never tastes right. But here is some evidence for you, in no particular order. The engineering that went into ankles. The taste of beer. That Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, just like he said. A woman's neck. Bees fooling around in the flower bed. The ability of acorns to manufacture enormous oaks out of stuff they find in the air and dirt. Forgiveness of sin. Storms out of the North, the kind with lightning. Joyous laughter (diaphragm spasms to the atheistic materialist). The ocean at night with a full moon. Delta blues. The peacock that lives in my yard. Sunrise, in color. Baptizing babies. The pleasure of sneezing. Eye contact. Having your feet removed from the miry clay, and established forever on the rock. You may say none of this tastes right to you. But suppose you were to bow your head and say grace over all of it. Try it that way.

You say that you cannot believe that Christ's death on the Cross was salvation for the world because the idea is absurd. I have shown in various ways that absurdity has not been a disqualifier for any number of your current beliefs. You praise reason to the heights, yet will not give reasons for your strident and inflexible moral judgments, or why you have arbitrarily dubbed certain chemical processes "rational argument." That's absurd right now, and yet there you are, holding it. So for you to refuse to accept Christ because it is absurd is like a man at one end of the pool refusing to move to the other end because he might get wet. Given your premises, you will have to come up with a different reason for rejecting Christ as you do.

But for you to make this move would reveal the two fundamental tenets of true atheism. One: You say There is no God. Two: You hate Him.

No Ordinary Joe

note: Joe Craddock is the best player I have ever coached. A former MVP in the 5A state championship game- a great Qb at MTSU- and now a professional in Italy of all places. Joe is on the same team that is portrayed in John Grisham's novel, Playing for Pizza. This is his latest journal which proves not only that life is stranger than fiction but life is better than fiction!

4/15/2009 Unbelievable- Journal by Joe Craddock

Friday night I got home from practice at 11:30 p.m. Everyone was
going out to eat but me and Nolan decided to stay in. I decided to stay
in because I wanted to ice my knee before I went to bed because we were
playing the number one team in Italy the next day. Messing around on the
internet, I saw where Murfreesboro had been hit by a tornado. My heart
dropped and I panicked! I immediately picked up the phone and called my
girlfriend Alex. Nervously dialing her number over and over again, I
could not get through to reach Alex. I had never felt so hopeless in my
life. After about the fifth time of the phone going straight to voice
mail, I decided to call her mom to see if she had heard from Alex and to
see if everyone was ok. She told me that everyone in their family was ok
and that Alex's sister and brother in law (Stephanie and Larry) house
was 200 yards away from where the tornado hit and that Alex had gone
over there to check on them. After I talked to them and found out that
the tornado had hit that side of town, I felt a lot better considering
all my friends and ex teammates lived on or near campus. I called a few
more friends to get the scoop on everything and found out that everyone
was ok just some damage here and there. I realize not everyone is not as
lucky as me and that some people lost family and friends. My thoughts
and prayers are with all of those people.
After the earthquake last week in Italy and the tornado in
Murfreesboro, I felt really blessed to be alive and even more blessed to
have the chance to play football. After a 3 hour beautiful drive up
through the mountains of Bolzano, it was time for us to play the
undefeated Bolzano Giants. I was ready and decided to play this game for
Murfreesboro. I had also changed my number to lucky 7. Seven was my
number all my life until college. I always felt great in 7 and I felt
great Saturday night. The Giants Americans were Italian football legend
Reggie Green at runningback who has played in Bolzano for 10 years, a
competitive quarterback, and a giant a defensive end. The Giants also
feature the best defensive and offensive lines in the league. I knew
going into the game that I would not have much time to throw the ball.
But we had to throw it! That is our strength. And throw it we did. I
think we only ran the ball on 3 plays. One was for a touchdown and the
other two for minimal gains.
The scoring got started early when we took the opening drive 65
yards and a third down touchdown to Craig. The Giants answered quick
with a scoring drive of their own. Reggie broke 2 tackles at the line of
scrimmage and galloped into the end zone for a 25 yard touchdown run.
After 2 more touchdown passes to Craig we were up 21-14 at half time.
Early in the second half Reggie broke away from our defense and was
going to score easy! Thankfully for us Reggie pulled up and with a
hamstring injury and we were able to tackle him before he reached the
end zone. Our defense stood strong and came up with a huge goal line
stand. We didn't score in the third but they scored late in the third to
tie the game at 21. Our offense answered with a huge scoring drive.
Since we had thrown the ball the whole game we decided to run a draw
from the ten yard line and it worked perfectly when our "coach turned
player" Andrew Papoccia ran it in untouched. But Bolzano answered quick
and scored leaving 3:33 on the clock. That was plenty of time for our
offense to go 75 yards and that's what we did. Throwing the ball
consistently down the field, we were moving the ball very well until we
were penalized with a holding penalty on third down and we ended up
having a 4th and 13 at the Bolzano 40 yard line. We ran a play that had
worked all game. Just a simple curl-flat to Craig in which I told him in
the huddle to make sure he got past the sticks. It turns out they were
so scared that they were pretty much triple covering Craig but playing
way off. I saw this but they still left the curl window open so I fired
one into the hole. Craig caught it easily for a first down, but as soon
as Craig caught the ball, I just so happened to look in the flats to
Marco Tunnera who was wide open up the sideline. Marco came back to the
huddle with bug eyes, telling me how open he was. I immediately told
Marco to chill out and not bring any attention to himself. I said,
"Marco! I know. I know. I saw you just chill and maybe they didn't see
you!" I was hoping they didn't. Sure enough they didn't. I knew that
they would triple team Craig again so I told Marco to run a wheel up the
sideline. On the snap, I caught the ball and immediately stared at
Craig. All three defenders took the bait leaving Marco wide open again.
He caught the ball and easily scored with a 1:20 on the clock. After
great coverage by our kickoff team, they also had to go around 75 yards,
down 35-28. They did and fast. They scored within a minute and I
immediately started telling our offense to start preparing for overtime.
But I was also hoping that they would either miss or we would block the
extra point because in Italian football the craziest things happen on
the extra point. At home and 5-0, Bolzano decides to go for two. I was
thinking, "Oh no!" Our defense hadn't stopped them since the 2nd
quarter. They get a delay of game and I was thinking that they would for
sure kick the point then. Nope. The quarterback ran around for what seem
like forever until he finally threw the ball in the end zone. The pass
was broken up nicely by our corner. Not even close to pass interference.
But sure enough here came the flag. Pass interference on the Panthers! I
was so mad to say the least! They ran in the 2 point conversion without
one defender touching the quarterback. All their players ran on the
field to celebrate and they all started giving us the number one sign
with their middle fingers! This really fired me up!
After the penalties were assessed they kicked off from the 15
yard line. Craig returned it nicely to the 50 yard line and we were left
with 15 seconds. On the first play, I dropped back trying to hit Andrew
over the middle and got blind- sided but luckily the ball fell
incomplete with 10 seconds left. Next play we were going to try and
throw a deep, deep out route to Craig but he ended up being on the wide
side of the field and I thought better of it remembering what Coach
Mangus had taught me in college. I threw the ball to Emma Gavessi right
on the side line, who then turned inside and gained another 10-15 yards
and was tackled around the 15 yard line. I sprinted to the referee as
soon as he caught the ball calling time out, but the ref pointed at Emma
still running around on the field. As soon as he was tackled there were
three seconds left. I was somewhat relieved when 3 seconds were still on
the clock. Then I saw Emma still on the ground hurt grabbing his right
leg. The problem with this is that Emma is also our field goal kicker
and down by one, we needed him to kick this 30 yarder to win the game.
Emma got up and tried to walk it off. We called another time out to give
him a little more time to gather his thoughts. When the time out was
over, I (the holder) took a knee on the 22 yard line on the left hash.
Emma did not make one kick from the left hash in pre-game warm ups. I
was hoping he had one in him right now! The snap was great and I placed
the ball down. Emma absolutely drilled it! Panthers win 38-36!
The game was crazy never the less, but to see how happy our guys
were again after beating a top Italian team was a great feeling for me
and the other Americans. The presidents girlfriend hugged and kissed me
after the game, telling me thank you so much (just how she had done
after the Bergamo win). The president told me that I was his boy! It was
just a great feeling to see how happy the whole Panthers organization
was after the game.
Come to find out at Tuesday's practice Emma kicked the game
winning field goal with a torn right meniscus (his kicking knee). Marco
Tunnera caught the last touchdown with a shattered right pointer finger
and had surgery on Monday. Craig's hamstring is bothering him pretty bad
and probably won't be playing this week. All in all, we are going to be
hurting this weekend going into our first European league game (EFAF
cup) on Saturday night. As for me, my knee held up pretty good
considering I ran the ball only once. It is still hurting a little this
week but the pain has definitely decreased!

American's Stats:
Craig McIntyre- 17 recs for 168, 3 td's
Andrew Papoccia- 10 solo, 1 ast, 3 TFL, 2 sacks..... 1 rush TD
Joe Craddock- 33-52 for 423, 4 td's .. 1 rush for 18

Time to Talk 'TULIP'

In seminary I learned that the distinctive of Calvinism was shown in the acronym TULIP.

total depravity
unconditional election
limited atonement
irresistible grace
perseverance of the saints

These 5 doctrines have been used to set Calvinism apart from its critics and alternative theologies. In my experience and study, I have encountered some personal push back against all but total depravity. Then I read the Scriptures and agree with the Synod of Dort, that these can be mysterious and counter-intuitive; they are, nevertheless, Biblical.

The most amazing part of TULIP is that John Calvin never used it, did not invent it, or even spend a lot of time arguing it.

Calvin died in 1564- nearly 50 years later, in 1610, 42 followers of Jacobus Arminius drafted articles of dispute against 5 aspects of the reformation taught by Calvin and his followers. This dispute became known as the Remonstrance and was the party responsible for the 5 points. A church synod was held in the Dutch city of Deordect in 1618/1619 which resulted in the Cannons of Dort. The synod upheld all 5 points of Calvinism and rejected the dispute of the Arminians.

Knowing how Calvin treated those who disagreed with him, it would be very suprising if there would have been hardship or recourse (Luther might have been a different story).

If you want to know, here is my take on the 5 points of Calvinism and yes, I m a 5 pointer to the core.

1- Moral Inability- we do not have the moral ability to choose God's free offer of the gospel. As a dead man, I cannot repent even if I wanted to. I do not have the desire or strength to merit anything toward my righteousness. Even my good deeds are filthy rags to God. This bad news makes the good news good. In a world where men believe they are 'good' there really is no need of a Savior. We have no clue how rotten we are.

2- God's choice based on nothing from me. From the very foundation of the world, God, in His plan... chose me to be one of His adopted sons. If I ever start to feel any pride in my 'christian faith' I feel the Spirit say, "Excuse me? What did you do to deserve this?" Why me? I have no idea- but I temble in gratitude to Him!

3- Personal Salvation- Jesus died for me. This is personal. My name is written in the book. I'm not swept up in some general net of goodness- I was singled out, hand picked, and bought with an unimaginable price. He thinks of me! When the devil knocks me down and tells me what a loser I am, and how unworthy I am... "My father says, I love you son- I chose you specifically. Let's take a walk." How can you not burst with love in response to that?

4- Irresistable calling and grace. God chased me down, broke me down and I was subdued by Him. I fought Him, but He melted me. I still fight him- but He will not let me go. John 17- Jesus will not lose even 1 that God has put in His hand.

5- Perseverence. I was adopted to be set aside for Him. My sanctification is assumed in Romans 8. I will be glorified. All of this flows out of my adoption. Legally, I am justified and adopted... as a son, I will be 'Fathered' to my destination. It may be a hard road at times when I am punished, but it is always for my good.

The remonstrance still exists- I have good friends who hold to 'man is good, just kind of sick'- 'we choose God', or "God sees our good""we can reject God' and 'we can lose our salvation".. I just can't see those posisitons in light of the Bible.

An believe me, I can get 'Hyper' and passive- and then my Father gets me.

So get out the Bible. Read Ephesians 1, Romans 7 and 8, and John 17 for starters.

If you still feel there are issues- study the Synod of Dort. But be careful, you may become one of those weird 5 point Calvinists.

Calvin would just laugh. 'Why don't you just start glorifying God and die to self'.

The Humility of Calvin's Calvinism

The first chapter of the book, John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology is one written by the editor Burk Parsons on the humility of Calvin's Calvinism.

I wanted to make some comments about it because it sets the tone of the entire book. Rev. Parsons is the minister of congregational life at Saint Andrews Chapel in Sanford, FL and is editor of Tabletalk Devotionals.

" It has not been my habit to refer to myself as a Calvinist; if memory serves, I have never done so, primarily because I don't think John Calvin would want me to."

That made me think of the quote in the foreward by Ian H. Murray, "We may be sure that the man who wanted no stone to mark his grave would want no festivities to mark the anniversary of his birth."

Getting back to Rev. Parsons he writes that he normally just says, "I am a Christian". But if he were pressed about Calvinism I would respond by saying , "Yes, I am a Calvinist because I am a Christian, and I am a Christian because I believe in the gospel."

Rev Parson's chapter has more great quotes:

19th century Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon- "I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else."

I like this one from Christopher Catherwood: "We must be 'Bible Calvinists' not 'system Calvinists'. ... though Calvin did not make that mistake himself, it is arguable that many of his followers have done so over the ensuing centuries- and I include myself, as a Calvinist, in that caution."

"Calvin said we are to be 'daily taught in the school of Jesus Christ'."

Calvin's biographer Jean Cladier said, "Calvin was a man whom 'God mastered'."

In spite of a thorough understanding of man's depravity, Burk notes: "We find no trace of despair or cynicism in Calvin; rather, we find a hope that does not disappoint because it is founded and focused on the majesty of God and His word."

Stephen J Lawson is quoted, " As a preacher, Calvin's primary aim was to communicate to the common person in the pew. He was not seeking to impress his congregation with his own brilliance, but to impact them with the awe-inspiring majesty of God."

Burk closes with an incredible tribute:
" Among all the faithful voices of the past, there seems to be one who arises above them all. It is a voice of a man who desperately wanted us to hear not his own voice but the voice of God in His word... Calvin was a man who died to himself and sought to take up his cross daily...He strove to live for God's kingdom... He was a man who did not try to develop a system of theology that complemented the Word of God; rahter, he strove to derive his theology from the Word of God....Calvin's Calvinism is Christ-centered, Spirit empowered, God glorifying, gospel driven."

He quotes B.B. Warfield : "Here we have the secret to Calvin's greatness and the source of his strength unveiled to us. No man ever had a profounder sense of God than he; no man ever more unreservedly surrendered himself to the Divine direction."

So how did I become pulled into Calvinism originally? I have always felt a deep 'yes' to doctrines that humble man and exalt God. When I first read of Calvin, I had a big YES.

This year was the first time as a Bible teacher that I was asked that question. One of my students is a bright well-trained Baptist (which was my background by the way). He raised his hand one day about 1/3 through class and asked, "Coach, are you a Calvinist?".
I said, "I don't like answering that question because a slogan may not define what I mean by that label or what you mean by that label. But I will tell you that what I mean by Calvinism is the agreement I have about his understanding of the Bible."
He responded,"I don't agree with it at all. But I have been reading about it."
I said, "Good for you , keep reading, and look at it Biblically."
He wasn't fighting me. We were in a good place.
"By the way, _______, don't just chalk it up to a Presbyterian thing. You know the fastest growing element of Calvinists are Reformed Baptists including the head of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Dr. Al Mohler."
He looked at me in shock and it was back to the lesson.

Calvin’s Greatest Challenge

Want to be challenged by Calvin?

Our first thought is to jump to the mysteries of predestination, the criticism of limited atonement, or tweaking the perseverance of the saints. (All of these will be looked at later)

But Calvin’s greatest admonishment has nothing to do with the TULIP acronym.

Calvin’s greatest challenge to me is grasping the concept of ‘dying to myself’.
Look at what he says in his Golden Booklet of the Christian Life:

We are not our own:
neither our reason nor our will should guide our thoughts and actions.

We are not our own:
therefore we should not seek what is expedient for the flesh.

We are not our own:
therefore, let us forget ourselves and our own interests as far as possible.

BUT WE ARE GOD’S OWN:
to Him, therefore, let us live or die.

BUT WE ARE GOD’S OWN:
therefore, let His wisdom and will dominate our actions

BUT WE ARE GOD’S OWN:
therefore let every part of our existence be directed toward Him as our only legitimate goal.

Here are some more shots:

“The object of regeneration is to manifest in the life of the believer a harmony between God’s righteousness and their obedience and thus confirm the adoption they have received as sons.” (Here, I give a shout out to Mike Graham- our obedience flows out of adoption- no pole vaulting from justification to sanctification… right?)

How about this one?
“ No one has rightly denied himself unless he has wholly resigned himself to the Lord and is willing to leave every detail to His good pleasure. IF WE PUT OURSELVES IN SUCH A MIND, THEN WHATEVER MAY HAPPEN TO US, WE SHALL NEVER FEEL MISERABLE OR ACCUSE GOD FALSELY BECAUSE OF OUR LOT”

A few more punches (hurts so good):
“We should not insist on absolute perfection of the gospel in our fellow Christians, however MUCH WE MAY STRIVE FOR IT IN OURSELVES”

This point is made so well by Jerry Bridges in the book on Calvin:
He points out that not only should we think of others before ourselves…. We should seek their advantage - Tough on ourselves and tender to others.

This is Holy Spirit empowered cross bearing.. impossible. It flows out of a confidence we have in a justification from Christ alone. We act not to merit our salvation, we act out of the fact of our salvation.

And of course, I love the Scriptural balance that Calvin always shows. He keeps us from going to unnecessary extremes.
In his writing about the ‘right use of the present life’ Calvin is quick to encourage us to live and enjoy the pleasures of life… in moderation. This is no ‘code of conduct’ it is a ‘conformity to Christ’.

In the end, he encourages me – “let us not despair because of the smallness of our accomplishment.”

Calvin's Conversion- Got Christ?

There have been a number of writers express opinions about what Calvin meant by his 'sudden conversion'.

"( Paraphrase- Since I was too stubbornly devoted to the superstitions of my religion to be easily removed from the profound abyss of mire) God, by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of life."

"Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, and although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor."

I love Sinclair Ferguson's quote about this:
"His language here is strikingly different from that of contemporary evangelicalism. It is hard to imagine him speaking about 'letting Jesus into my heart' or 'praying to receive Jesus': indeed, for Calvin, the movement of conversion is not 'getting Christ in' but 'getting into Christ"."

Ferguson pointed out two distinctives about this conversion:

Before conversion- he was hardened and unteachable- had a distaste for things of God

Post conversion- inflamed with desire- his mind now softened to a teachable frame- his rebellion was overcome by grace- and he had a desire to progress in 'true godliness'.

Obviously, there can be a lot of landmines here and we would do well to walk through the Scriptures on Soteriology- but this view of conversion is very important in an environment like the one I teach.

The positives of a Christian school do outweigh the negatives. But I have always believed a unintended consequence of a Christian school is a spiritual hardening that comes from those who continually reject the terms of the covenant. They are covenant breakers.

If I ever have a permanent classroom, I think I will post a sign: Jesus says in Matthew 13:12- To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. (NLT)

So I have my hard heads- they sit in mockery and judgment. I love them. I cry out to God to break their callousness and call them home. I want to improve as a teacher so that only the gospel will be the offense.

But I am not discouraged.

Who knows? My most uninterested, rebellious student could be the next John Calvin.

He just needs to get into Jesus.

Calvin’s College and Our Criticism

Perhaps John Calvin’s earliest memory was the tragic death of his mother when he only 4 years old.

We know that at age 11 he was sent to Paris to study at the College de la Marche which prepared him for the University of Paris. He was trained under the greatest Latin teacher of the day, Mathurin Cordier.

At that point he transferred to monastery school, “A strict establishment designed to prepare young men for the priesthood”.

Derek W.H. Thomas writes about the experience there:

“The school was situated on a street known for thieves and cutthroats, with open stinking sewers; the food was sparse and course; and the discipline severe.”

Prayers began at 4 o’clock in the morning, followed by lectures until 6. Following breakfast, the students attended the grand class from 8-10 followed by discussion.

Lunch, Bible study, then prayer.

After mid-day the students were tested on the morning work.
Break from 1-2.

They returned to classes from 3-5.

After dinner, there were more readings until bedtime at 8.

They were given 2 days a week for recreation.

John Calvin then moved to the University of Bourges to study law for 18 months. There he studied Greek and taught rhetoric.

Soon after this, Calvin’s father passed away. He was now 21 years old.

I will comment on his ministry in later posts- but John Calvin’s education prepared him to write a collection of hymns, sermons, books, and letters that fill 59 volumes of the 101 of the Reformation period. He published about 500,000 words!

Every now and then, after I say something about Calvin, one of my students will begin to ‘critique’ him. Every now and then, a bright, bold 17 year old will blast some point of Calvinism as ‘stupid’.

I just look at them, elated in their joy of dogma and debate, and think – “Bless his poor pitiful heart. God, please help him.”

Oh the joy of education- and I laugh.... I was just that way or worse.

Lord, please bless my poor pitiful heart!

Election, Excellence, Predestination, Motivation, and Mission

More thoughts from the book- uploaded from my blog www.jayopsis.blogspot.com

I have been reading a book about Calvin and got hit between the eyes this morning.

"If election has as its goal holiness of life, it ought to arouse and goad us eagerly to set our mind upon it than to serve as a pretext of doing nothing. What a great difference there is between these two things: to cease well-doing because election is sufficient for salvation, and to devote ourselves to the pursuit of good as the appointed goal of election." John Calvin

I think we fail if we teach election only unto salvation (stopping at new birth and conversion/justification).

Ephesians 1 is very clear: "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, _that_ we should be holy and blameless before him."

God chose me for an end... my glorification. My passionate desire to honor Him with my life and take on his mission is fuel to the flame. The 'frozen chosen'? What a sin! It is like a stillborn baby, what a tragedy.

Let's spur one another on to take on the devil again today. And at the end of the day as I lay shot up with holes from one helluva fight. Help me repent, drink in grace, and swing for the fence again tomorrow.

I want to be more holy for His namesake.

Best Book I Have Read in a LONG Time

these uploads are from my blog: www.jayopsis.blogspot.com
all of April will be devoted to Calvin

Book Review: John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology. Edited by Burk Parsons. 2008 Reformation Trust Publishing. www.reformationtrust.com

John Calvin turns 500 this summer! All over the world there are publications, parties, and pilgrimages to commemorate the milestone.

I first encountered Calvin’s theology and “Institutes” when I was a young seminary student. My first experience with Calvin is somewhat like a first taste of beer. Everyone says its good, but you will have to fake it until you develop a taste for it.

I was like a lot of young people- skeptical and suspicious of anything stuffy and dogmatic. It never crossed my mind that my youthful pride and foolishness condemned something before I even tried to understand it.

I shouldn’t feel so bad about it. I was just fulfilling prophecy. I Timothy 4:3-4 in particular,
“3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

I wasn’t long before I noticed something strange about Calvin- his teachings weren’t so bad, but the Scriptures were just horrible!

At some point, I agreed to the merits of Calvinism. I incorrectly stuffed everything inside the ‘TULIP’ and moved on, never ever wanting to mention such. If someone accused me of being a Calvinist, I shrank back like I had been accused of admiring ballet or classical music.

I rediscovered Calvin in my late 30’s. My children were older, I was tired of TV, and so I began to shuffle through quotes in books and internet articles. I began to read sermons and papers.

My heart was set aflame by this man’s zeal for Christ- no matter the cost. His zeal was from one solitary source- a Holy Spirit taught, unadulterated word of God!

Just recently, I picked up a brand new book on Calvin- John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology. Each chapter stands on its own and is written by many of my contemporary heroes: Stephen Lawson, Phillip Johnson, Philip Graham Ryken, Harry Reeder and many others.

This one book captures the essence of Calvin better than my almost 2 years of independent reading and dredging through all of the wonderful stuff.

Over the next few blogs, I will be writing about some of my ‘new’ discoveries. I will tell you this, after every chapter I felt myself doing two things. First was repentance, “Lord forgive me for my cold heart toward you and my cowardice of Your truth.” The second was, “Make me just a little more like John Calvin.”

And how do you do that? Devour the Holy Book of God and determine to do it.

More to follow……

The Expedition of Futility and Faith

I think one of the most amazing passages of Scripture is found in Numbers 13 and 14 where God has Moses send the 12 scouts into Canaan to explore the land He was going to give them.

You could write an entire book about organization, leadership, faith, courage, and painful consequences of failure.

The tribes all picked representatives. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, ended up with the ‘muster’ and ‘moxie’ to make it to the end.

The sin of the others is well known. Not only did they have a negative report based on their view of the circumstances but they ‘spread discouraging reports’ to the Israelites. Their trumped up stories caused the people to weep and cry all night.

Caleb’s immediate report was so different: Numbers 13:30 ‘But Caleb tried to encourage the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"

Later, Joshua and Caleb in tears and torn clothing cry out to the people- ‘ "The land we explored is a wonderful land! And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey, and he will give it to us! Do not rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"

The saddest verse is the next one:

But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb.

Another hero in the story is Moses. He prays to God to not destroy the people in their rebellion, even though God was willing to start over. And Moses’ reason was the glory of the name of God Himself.

However, there were tragic consequences. This lack of faith caused forty years of failure. One year of punishment for each futile day of exploration. The faithless scouts were all struck dead.

What is bigger to you? God and His promises or your circumstances?
Do you spread words of hope or words of discouragement?
Do you lead in courage or stall in fear?

Lord, help me be a Joshua or a Caleb. It will make us unpopular.

Ecclesiastes 9 has two closing words:
There is hope only for the living. For as they say, "It is better to be a live dog than a dead lion!" verse 4

I have observed something else in this world of ours. The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise are often poor, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being at the right place at the right time. Verse 11

New day… Let’s take on the giants.

Thank you to my Bible Classes Today!

On the last day before Spring Break, my seniors in Biblical Principles class really inspired me. On the rainy and cold day in Nashville, we did something so simple.

I gave them selected verses from the Old Testament, mostly a short passage from each book, a few with more. It ended up being 7 pages of “the best of the Old Testament” and I had them read for 7 minutes with a little music in the background. After some reading, I had them write a short journal response.

I am sitting in a Starbucks at Green Hills and just finished reading the papers. The following are examples of almost every paper:

“ (that passage) is one of my favorites in the Bible. It is a huge comfort for me. In the midst of all this stupid stuff that we get stressed out about during the day, it’s easy to forget that God has provided everything we need…. I am fortunate that I know a Father who is big enough to handle my worries.”

“I really enjoyed reading these verses. I definitely think that it is important to keep the Lords’ word ‘hidden in my heart’….Thank you for these verses, I really needed something like this in my life right now.”

“I can’t honestly remember the last time I read this verse. To me it is cool to think about the awesomeness of God’s glory…. Our worship will one day fill all that is his”

“I love this verse b/c it has stuck with me my whole life.”

“I think about this verse a lot when I think about my future and my husband. I have made a promise and will hold my heart to him”

“This is a humbling verse, Job had everything taken from him. … This reaction is mind blowing to me. We need to learn from Job and to continue thanking and praising God for what we do have, rather than focusing on what we don’t have”

“This passage hit home with me”

“The part that said ______ hit home with me.”

“I liked this verse because it is like Romans 8:28”

“Everything of this earth will disappear: the cars, buildings, shopping stores- everything materialistic will fade…. But it is God’s Word that’s forever true, forever real, and forever living”

“I chose this verse because I remember memorizing it in elementary school.”

“After reading for 7 minutes I chose this verse…. I think this verse is really cool. It’s comforting to know that God is in control.”

“The passage that stuck out the most to me was…. This says that God is faithful and never leaves even in the darkest hour….That is an extraordinary thing when you realize that your path is already known by the One who protects you always”

I could go on and on- there were 54 passages and only Proverbs 3:5,6 and Isaiah 40:8 was chosen by multiple folks.

The Scriptures are true when they say in Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Thank you to all my seniors, you encouraged me so much today!

If you would like this copy of the “Best of the OT” or “Best of the Gospels” or “Best of the New Testament”- I would be happy to send it in a word document for free. It is the pure milk of the word!

Just e-mail me….

jay.mathews@cpalions.org

A RUN THROUGH ROMANS- JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS

ROMANS 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:18-22 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

ROMANS 3:21-24 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

ROMANS 4:3-5 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

ROMANS 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

ROMANS 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

ROMANS 6:21-23 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ROMANS 7:15-25 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

ROMANS 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

ROMANS 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

ROMANS 8:12-18 So then, brothers,we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

ROMANS 8:26-30 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

ROMANS 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ROMANS 10:9-11 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

ROMANS 10:14-15 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

ROMANS 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (In Latin: Soli Deo Gloria)

ROMANS 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

ROMANS 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

ROMANS 15:5-7 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father

Time to Check My Idols

I have had a lot of help in all the notes and quotes below

John Calvin : “our hearts are a perpetual factory of idols”.

Psalm 115
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.

‘Sensory Organ Malfunction Imagery’ is the Biblical language for idolatry. We become callous and hardened toward God because we are worshiping other things. As a result, we grow less sensitive to our God and His ways. He is foreign to us and He begins to fade. We do not hear Him, we do not see Him, and we do not speak of Him. When we do think of Him, it is often as an expedient. We feel the need to tag Him as a superstitious ritual in solving a mess. But there is no sense of His Lordship and no heart desire to seek Him.
Sadly, culture has taught us how to live without God. In our media-model culture, God is seldom referred to as a part of everyday life.
In stark contrast to men and women of the Scriptures, we sense only weakly the presence of the Creator. The saints of old had a daily awareness, but we are so immersed into the media view of world that we compartmentalize Him and allow Him to speak only on Sundays or in a Bible Study. We live with little or no sensitivity to God working in our life.
I like watching the TV show “24”, but there has never been one reference of a spiritual nature in the many seasons of that show. Entire ‘days’ of death and drama take place with no perception of the afterlife, no foundation for morals, no prayer, no Bible, no real hope. Where is spirituality? It is becoming more unnatural to see an active God in the moment-by-moment details of life. We definitely don’t talk that way. It has been said that worldliness is what any culture does to make sin seem normal and righteousness seem strange. We go into life as blind as the idol makers of Isaiah’s day. The gods we serve are empty of power and we curse the heavens because God won’t show Himself. Who moved?

WHAT WE REVERE WE RESEMBLE EITHER TO RUIN OR RESTORATION
G.K. Beale

“At the core, idolatry is trying to control life and manage life by trying to make God controllable: if you can get God to do what you want by getting his attention or through some sacrificial service, then perhaps life will turn out the way you want it to. This is one of the root beliefs of pagan religion. It is telling to ask how much pagan religion is still in the confines of the church.” Bill Delvaux


GOD MADE US TO ENJOY HIM, ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND WORSHIP HIM.
HE GETS GLORY AND WE GET JOY.

"We are more spiritual than we even know.”

“I ordinarily begin speaking about sin to a young, urban, non-Christian like this:
Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry.” Tim Keller

As we list modern day idols, simple state what are the ‘good things’
that we have made into ‘god things”?


Questions to Help Us Identify Idols:
Most afraid of? What are you afraid of losing?
Long for most passionately?
Where do you go for comfort?
What media-advertisements pull your heart strings?
What do you complain about the most?
What angers you the most?
What makes you happiest?
How do you explain yourself to other people?
What has made you be angry at God?
What do you brag about?
What do you want to have? What one thing?
What do you sacrifice the most for?
Whose approval matters?
What comfort do you treasure?


My idol is ….. too many to mention. Lord, I need you to bust up some idols in my life. I feel very distant from You. Thank you for forgiving me. Let's get to work!

I Testify- An Eyewitness to The Event- A True Fish Tale

I want to confirm that I was an eyewitness to the story below- IT IS TRUE!

February Fish Tales Winner
By Austin Luke
Friday, February 27, 2009

"My story begins back when I was in high school. I went to a small school called Briarwood Christian High and one of the neat things about the school is that is has a creek located behind it that separates the school parking lot from the athletic fields.

I started fishing this creek back when I was in the 10th grade and did well. One day I caught a 5- and a 6-pound bass on two consecutive casts. For the next two years I still continued to catch fish, but it was my senior year that remains my most memorable.

I was out fishing during school - I believe it was during fifth period accounting - when I got the urge to cast a line into "Briarwood Creek."

I was not there for too long when I saw the biggest fish I had laid eyes on come over into a shallow area and sit there. I sight fished her for about 20 minutes when she finally took. The rod bent double and the drag started screaming and 15 minutes later I was proudly holding a 10.2-pound bass caught out of a creek used to drain all the athletic fields.

I took off running with the fish and jumped on top of my truck and signaled (it was more like a lot of hollering and screaming)for my long time fishing partner and football coach to come and see this fish.

Coach Matthews saw me and saw the fish and came running across the football field with the entire seventh grade P.E. class and they all came to see this huge bass.

After about 5 minutes, Coach said, "Austin we got to go show this fish to Coach Yancey."

So after we got a cooler and some ice, we marched up to the school and into the lunch room to show Coach this fish. All the students were at lunch so when I walked in, totally out of dress code, and had a huge cooler on my shoulder, along with the entire seventh grade P.E. class, we obviously attracted a lot of attention.

I proceeded to go to the teacher’s table and slammed this cooler down on the table where all of these teachers were dressed to the hilt in their suits and ties. A crowd of about 100 students started to gather around the table as I reached into the cooler. When I lifted this fish out, you would have thought I had won the Bassmaster Classic.

People were screaming and hollering and clapping. Coach Yancey ran and got the headmaster of the school out of a meeting and brought him to see this fish. For the rest of the day I paraded that fish around the school in and out of classrooms showing what I had caught.

When I saw my headmaster years later I asked him, "Why did you not give me detention for being out of dress code and fishing while in class?"

He said, “If it had been smaller then I would have, but a person only catches a fish that big only once in his life."

A Pastoral Prayer

This was the pastoral prayer by Buzz Graham at Christ Presbyterian Church on Feb. 22.
I thought it was worth posting:

Heavenly Father, Eternal Son, Holy Spirit – Helper of the helpless, abide with us.
We call on you with nothing of our own to commend us.
We call on you for the sake of your covenant with us your people, decreed in eternity, bought with the precious blood of Jesus, applied to us by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

Great Lover of our souls, we have none in heaven but you,
and though we have chased after other desires, only in you do our hearts find satisfaction.
Forgive our wayward longings, pardon our worldly leanings, heal our sin sickness.
Abide with us that we may despair of hope and pleasure in any other.

Lord, we are your people by your choosing under your covenant. We are eternally grateful to be yours.

We join our hearts today in Jesus’ name to pray for each other.
Some are sick – please heal them.
Some are grieving loss - please comfort them.
Loved ones have died, friends and family have gone astray, jobs are lost, money has evaporated.
Yet we remain secure in the hand of Jesus. And if he does not condemn us, no power can separate us from your love. Protect us, provide for us, and bless us with your own sweet presence.

Lord, we pray for those in the military and in law enforcement.
Please protect those who protect us.

And Sovereign Lord, govern those who govern us. We pray for those in authority at all levels and across all branches of government. Grant them good judgment beyond the limits of human knowledge and insight. Give them heavenly wisdom.

Abide with us.

Lord, bless the church as it gathers this Lord’s Day in church buildings and meeting halls and storefronts and homes around the world. Hear our praise spoken in all the languages of man. Hear our hymns of praise. Receive our prayers of petition and intercession. And quicken us afresh as we feed on the Word.

Abide with us we pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen

The Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS-Truth!

ACCORDING TO TRUTH OR FICTION.COM **The main difference between http:// and https:// is It's all about keeping you secure** HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a protocol (a language, in a manner of speaking) for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients. The important thing is the letter S which makes the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. The S stands for "Secure". If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://. This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular 'unsecure' language. In other words, it is possible for someone to "eavesdrop" on your computer's conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site. This is why you never ever enter your credit card number in an http website! But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your compu ter is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on. You understand why this is so important, right? If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should automatically look to see if the web address begins with https://. If it doesn't, no way should you enter sensitive information like a credit card number

Summary of the eRumor: A forwarded email that urges you to pay attention to whether a web address you are using to give confidential information starts with "HTTP" or "HTTPS." It says that "HTTPS" is the more secure of the two.

The Truth: The eRumor is true. Most web addresses begin with "HTTP," which is an acronym for "Hyper Text Transfer Protocol." It's the protocol used to allow you to communicate with web sites. "HTTPS" stands for "Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure." It means that information exchanged between you and a web site is encrypted and cannot be hijacked by someone who might want to electronically eavesdrop when you type a credit card number, a password, a social security number, or any other person information. The purpose of the email is to encourage you to check for the "HTTPS" before you give financial information. Most web sites are not HTTPS, but when you click a link to make a purchase, many of them will direct you to an HTTPS site. According to Verisign.com, a provider of Internet infrastructure services, Secure Socket Layer Encryption is a technology that protects Web sites and makes it easy to develop trust by means of an "SSL Certificate that enables encryption of sensitive information during online transactions. Each SSL Certificate contains unique, authenticated information about the certificate owner and a Certificate Authority verifies the identity of the certificate owner when it is issued. " Just because a website uses such SSL encryption does not safeguard internet users from phishing and other schemes. When visiting websites that accept financial information online it is always a wise practice to make sure the online company is legitimate, has a good reputation in customer service and uses SSL encryption in their transactions.

545 vs 300,000,000 by Charlie Reese

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.


545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper

MSNBC vs FOX

I went to workout tonight and happened to be right in front of a TV tuned to Olberman and the lady that follows him.

I need to disclose quickly that I am a Fox News guy and frequently watch O'Reily. I am fully aware of the slugfest that goes on between the two. The NY Times is also frequently a target of attack.

Do I agree 100% will Bill O? No, not at all.

But tonight, I was surprised to find the MSNBC mantra much worse than imagined.

I need to be honest- I don't think the news commentators are good for the unity of our country and I am beginning to believe the damage is irreparable. The viciousness and venom unleashed by the Bush haters went too far for too long. Their lust for prosecution and vengeance is way over the line. The lady after Olberman mocked the GOP in cold sarcasm and disrespect- I was somewhat shocked by the brashness of it.

There is nothing wrong in being a Bush critic and it is completely OK to be a democrat and Obama backer. And yes, there are problems and extremists on both sides. I firmly believe I am more Christian than conservative.

But the degree of the cynicism shown tonight on MSNBC was the worst I have ever seen- Bill O is not exaggerating.... the poison IS that bad.

I am getting closer to consider calling it quits with my TV..... the single eyed idol is blinding us daily to the weakened state of a once proud union under God.

It is only by His mercy that we will survive.