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My family spent some time when the girls were little singing in churches. We still try to make a joyful noise. Here is Melinda and I. Track05
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Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
May the Gift from on high be opened in your heart, and may you have the peace with God that he came to give.
Thanks for being part of the Willohroots family.
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This cheery little poster was placed right next to a nativity scene at a County Courthouse.
In America everybody gets freedom of expression.
With rights, come responsibilities. I would not place a Christian symbol right next to a faith group that might find it offensive.
If this thing were any closer to the manger it would have been leaning on the crib.
Don’t you think the Atheists should put out something that really shows what they believe in? I think they should. They should put out… nothing.
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THE PRESIDENT: The birth of baby Jesus, and what he symbolizes for people all around the world is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect. And so I just hope that spirit of giving that’s so important at Christmas, I hope all of you guys remember that as well. You know, it’s not just about getting gifts but it’s also doing something for other people. So being nice to your mom and dad and grandma and aunties and showing respect to people — that’s really important too, that’s part of the Christmas spirit, don’t you think? Do you agree with me?
No, Mr. president I do not.
Filed under: culture | Tags: ATHEISM, churches, Jesus, legalism, protest luzrne
There has been a battle of late for the display of the Nativity scene and the Menorah at our courthouse. A student at Kings College, the college with a big statue of Christ on the top, called the ACLU to report the display as a violation of the separation of church and state. The county decided that to avoid a lawsuit they would take the display down.
I can understand the county not wanting to be sued. So far 23 public officials in Luzerne county have been indicted by an FBI investigation. Just last week commissioner Skrep [ our version of Shrek in size ] resigned, after being caught taking a $5000 bribe. i do wonder where the ACLU was when the corrupt judges here in the county were denying the rights of children in court, to get money to buy yachts and condos in Florida.
The outcry was immense!
Here is the story , at the same source for the pictures, http://www.citizensvoice.com/news/courthouse-pulls-nativity-menorah-displays-to-avoid-lawsuit-1.495916
Well , the display is going up, a law firm will defend pro-bono, and secular seasonal stuff will be added. This seems odd to me, as there would be no snowmen, candycanes, Christmas tress, etc. without the birth of Christ to celebrate. Let us not even put into the mix that without the freedom that comes from living in a society based on Judeo- Christian values these people could not protest. You will not find the ACLU, the Arab Civil Liberties Union, dissenters are not allowed in non-Judeo Christian cultures.
The plot thickened when getting on the radio to defend the ACLU’s position was one of Dayspring’s own, the Hippie. Hippie has a problem with statues in general. As a veteran of the Arab -Israeli conflict, a born again Christian, and a member of the ACLU, he expressed his view clearly and articulately. he loves jesus, i know this is true, but feels separation of church and state is important not just to civil rights, but to the survival of Christianity. he spent time in Europe and in the Arab countries. He has seen that where Christianity was enforced by the state, it died.
Where did I go wrong! How can a conservative Baptist preacher have such a radical in the flock! I got emails and phone calls, some with suggestions that can not be repeated. Can someone like this worship with us? Has he not been affected by the Word? Did I fail him? Or is it actually possible for us to have opposing views on things that are not essential to the faith?
What say you?
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There are lessons we can learn in life from many sources. Here are a few things I learned about sharing the Gospel with the lost from Water Rescue class. first let us look at what we are taught from the Red Cross and the Boy Scouts about rescuing someone who is drowning.
| Reach: Hold on to the dock or your boat and reach your hand, a boat oar, a fishing pole, or whatever you have nearby to the person in the water |
| Throw: If you can’t reach far enough, toss things that will float for the person to grab. |
| Row: If you’re in a boat, use to oars to move the boat closer to the person in the water or call out to a nearby boat for help. Don’t use the boat’s motor close to a person in the water, they could be injured by the propeller. |
| Don’t Go: Don’t go into the water unless you are trained the way life guards are trained to rescue frightened or injured people. Yell for help. |
| If you call 911, stay calm and give your exact location. |
| Learn first aid: CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) for drowning and how to help someone who has been in cold water and may need treatment for hypothermia. |
Now let us change it slightly for the Christian in the world.
4 rules of Soul Saving
Reach: Hold on to Christ and your church and reach out your hand, your heart, your wallet, or whatever you have been given by God to the person in danger
Throw: If you can’t reach out enough, toss things that may help for the person to grab on to. Godly music, Books, stories.
Grow: If you’re in a church, use it to pray for the person in peril. Call out to nearby brothers and sisters for help. Don’t judge the lost, they could be injured
Go:. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
When you call on God, stay calm and give your cares to Him.
Learn to evangelize: CPR (Christ’s People Reach-Out), for our Gift is to be shared.
May you be used to save a soul this season! May many Blessings from The Most High rain on you and yours!!!!
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I am off to Scranton to interview with the Salvation Army for a Drug and Alcohol counselor position. I would be a chance to get paid for what i am doing already, and an opportunity to work where I do not need to hide my Bible.
Please pray that this works out on His plan, it would be a blessing if this is His will. It is entry level, and that is fine with me, as I am entering a field I left 30 years ago. This is a job that would fit into my Dayspring schedule very well. May His will be done.
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. So we have read it, so we have sung it, so it must be, right? Then how do we explain to those not of the family of Christ, and they always want and need explained to, why there are wars, and why so few truly have peace with God? You can not be at peace with an unknown entity, not be at true peace with One you feel hostility toward. Since the Word is true, why did the Advent of the Christ not bring a new era of peace to the earth, and make the last two thousand years a paradise? Where is this peace of which the angels sang? Something is wrong here.
My journey through faith and reading of the Word has taught me that if there is a fault with the Word, it is on man’s side not God’s. Let us take a look at other translations.
New King James “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Footnote:
* NU-Text reads toward men of goodwill.
NLT “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.*”
Footnote:
- Or and peace on earth for all those pleasing God. Some manuscripts read and peace on earth, goodwill among people.
NIV “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
NASB and RSV “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”*
ESV “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”*
Footnote:
* Some manuscripts peace, good will among men
I see here a huge difference. God did not come at Advent to make nice with the world. God came to give an avenue by which we may please Him, the avenue of Faith in the Messiah. How did the King James translators deal with this verse later in the same book?
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
Does that not propose a conflict? The fault is never God’s, it is ours. Would Christmas attitudes be different if the carols sung said, “Peace on earth to all who please Him by Faith?” The unbelievers might feel a bit more left out, and seek to get on board.
Do you have the peace He brought? Are you pleasing to the Lord, not by your inherent goodness or your works, but by your faith that brings the inevitability of good works? May we all praise God for the Gift this season!
Filed under: What would you do? | Tags: bible, denominationalism, depression, factions, fellowship
Have you ever felt like a square peg in the village of round holes? You would think I would feel at home in a group of Baptisty preachers and pastors, but I really do not. There was a dinner at the mission, and i ended up sitting with the recovery people, I just felt more at home.
Then there is the music. i really don’t enjoy listening to much country music. I like Bebo Norman a lot, but the live stuff quite often tosses me into rebellion. There was a very talented man playing trumpet, guitar and singing to a recorded track, but he had that spikey short hair and one of those mustaches that slipped off the upper lip and landed just below his lower lip. If i didn’t look, I could admit he was very talented. I am that jaded. The whole CCM scene has left me being judgmental to all CCM artists and i am sure that is wrong.
They guys in the program told me they liked when I preached. They said the last fellow gave a rousing dissertation on baptismal regeneration. He stated that all “so-called Christians” that believe in baptismal regeneration are going to Hell. He knew that because he had the Holy Spirit and that if you had the Holy Spirit and attended a church that believed in baptismal regeneration you would immediately quit and join his denomination. So much for Steve “theoldadam” and the lovely Church of Christ people who first befriended me. Personally, I put a lot more faith in my Savior than in my denomination or my doctrine.
A lot of pastor meetings really depress me. I was with a friend who was really struggling with a crisis in his ministry and life. We were going to a pray in. On the way there he was rejoicing that he was going to confess and get support for a huge problem, it was so big that he needed the group to help. We circled up and began to pray in order. After one preacher prayed for God to guide the deacons to give him a raise, one prayed for his flock to accept modern music, and another fervently, tearfully, prayed to God for his board to give him permission to rip up the pews, as we all know that souls are best saved by preaching in the round. When it was my friends turn to pray, he said,”pass”. Two months later he left his wife and his two churches and ran off with the gym teacher. I don’t go to those meetings anymore.
I served on a regional board for about two years, we spent most of the time writing and adjusting the bylaws. When i was an organizer I was taught that to take a group out of a coalition, get them working on their bylaws, it renders them useless. I shared this, to no avail. We finished the bylaws, and within a year the structure of the whole thing changed. Throw those bylaws out, start over. I don’t go there anymore.
I fit in at Dayspring! Thank God he gave me a place to hang out and glorify The Lord! I feel at home there. We aren’t much, but we are real.
There is so much to be thankful for, health, wealth, freedom,friendship. One thing that outshines them all is that Jesus has risen.
| Luk 24:34 | Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon |
This is the foundation of the Christian faith, That Christ was born, lead a sin free life, and has, indeed, risen, to eternal life, and not just He, but we too shall rise!
| 1Cr 15:20 | But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept. |
The first fruits of a harvest called to fruition by God himself!
How do I know that He is risen? The bible tells me so, firstly.
| Act 10:40 | Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; |
It was no secret!
| Mat 28:16 | Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. |
| 1Cr 15:6 | After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. |
These words were written when living witnesses could collaborate the story!
Secondly I know He as risen for His promise to me has been fulfilled!
| Jhn 14:18 | “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. |
| Jhn 14:26 | “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. |
Lastly, I know He is risen because I see Him at work! The lives that change in ways only He can accomplish , cleansed from filth and sin. This is His labor still in the world, and to be a servant to Him is great!
| Phl 1:6 | Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun agood work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ: |
I have several times heard a story of a soviet party speaker on Easter. He called together a crowd in the town t lecture them on the folly of religion, how superstitious it was compared to the truth of the State. He spoke for two hours. when he had finished the Orthodox Priest stood amongst the crowd and said, “He is risen!” The crowd replied, “He is risen indeed!”
The truth can not be suppressed. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Give thanks.
Willohroots 