Category Insights on Scripture

Stealing from our own children

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

…Children shouldn’t
have to provide for their parents, but parents should provide for their
children. 2 Corinthians 12:14 (GW)

Debt

A Youth Misery Index that measures young Americans’ woes has skyrocketed under President Barack Obama and hit an all-time high.

The index, released Wednesday, was calculated by adding youth unemployment and average college loan debt figures with each person’s share of the national debt. While it has steadily grown over the decades, under Obama the figure has shot up dramatically, from 83.5 in 2009 to 98.6 in 2013.

The index has increased by 18.1 percent since Obama took office, the highest increase under any president, making Obama the worst president for youth economic opportunity, according to the nonprofit that released the figure.

“Young people are suffering under this economy,” said Ashley Pratte, program officer for Young America’s Foundation, which developed the index and calculates it annually using federal statistics. “They’re still living in their parent’s basements, unable to find full-time jobs that pay them what they need in order to pay back their debt.”

Youth unemployment in 2013 was 16.3 percent, and student loan debt came in at a record-breaking average of $29,400 last year, the foundation points out; what’s more, each person’s share of the roughly $17 trillion dollar national debt stands at its highest level ever: $52,948.

via Under Obama, Youth Misery Index Hits All-Time High.

Talk about stealing from your kids futures. This is immoral.

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Run the Right Race – Ignore the Hecklers

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (GW)
Don’t you realize that everyone who runs in a race runs to win, but only one runner gets the prize? Run like them, so that you can win. Everyone who enters an athletic contest goes into strict training. They do it to win a temporary crown, but we do it to win one that will be permanent. So I run—but not without a clear goal ahead of me. So I box—but not as if I were just shadow boxing. Rather, I toughen my body with punches and make it my slave so that I will not be disqualified after I have spread the Good News to others.

Wrong Way

Wrong Way (Photo credit: Jack Zalium)

During the 1990’s in an NCAA Division II national championship cross-country race in California, a bizarre twist of events took place. Mike Delcavo and 127 of the best runners in the country were battling for glory over the 10,000 meter course. About three miles into the race, Delvaco was somewhere in the middle of the pack, when he realized that the runners had made a wrong turn. So he yelled out, “You’re going the wrong way,” but they didn’t listen. Only 4 others followed Mike when he turned in the right direction…and suddenly, he found himself in the lead.

However that lasted only about a mile, since Mike and the runners who followed him soon reunited with the larger pack who, having gone the wrong way, actually shaved about a half a mile off the course, and were now in the lead again. The last blow came when, because so many of the runners had gone the wrong way, the officials changed the official course route to accommodate their error. So when Mike Delcavo finally crossed the finish line, he was number 103 overall.

At the end of the race, some of Delcavo’s competitors “thought it was funny that he went the right way.”

You see many will mock you when you ‘play by the rules’ but play by the rules anyway because that is a true test of character. When everyone around you seems to be going in an entirely different way it is very hard to swim against the tide of public opinion. Standing your ground and acting on what you believe in takes a strength of character I am afraid few have. Even those who officiate and referee the laws have a tendency to bend their own judgments to accommodate the majority even when they know the majority is wrong.

You have heard it many times from your children or from your friends and family, well everyone else is doing it. Just because many are (I am convinced that there are still those who refuse to follow the wrong paths) does not make it the right way to go or the right thing to do.

There is a way that seems right to a person, but eventually it ends in death. Proverbs 14:12 (GW)

Not to belabor a point but it is worth mentioning again. The firestorm that erupted over the comments Phil Robertson made in GQ when ask for his opinion on what he thought sin was offers an excellent object lesson on staying on the right course even when met with a huge crowd going in the wrong direction. To simplify what Phil Robertson was trying to say so that even the unlearned mind can comprehend the concept. Sin is knowing you are running the race in the wrong direction but refusing to turn around and go the right way. Just because you are followed by a large crowd does not make your wrong way the right way.

In our mixed-up world, when everybody is wrong, wrong by default becomes right. However, in the world to come there is only one Judge and He will not change the correct course regardless of how many or how few actually run it. His rewards will be based on our having stayed the true course.

It’s easy to follow the crowd. But it takes courage and conviction to follow wholeheartedly after God. Sometimes it can get lonely running your race, wondering where the crowd is going, and even whether you, yourself are on the right road. Remember these words when you find yourself among the minority and taking the road less travelled.

Matthew 7:13-14 (BBE)
Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it. For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.

So as you plot your course for 2014, take a look at where you have been, take stock of which direction you have headed and if you find yourself running from God and not to Him, make a course correction and start running in the Right direction.

Image.gifThis is a view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

Along for the journey

Image.jpg

This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

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The Silencing of the Lambs

Allen Frederick 5 Comments

My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded. If they say—“Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun!

Proverbs 1:10-11 (HCSB)

God‘s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. And because they thought it was worthless to acknowledge God, God allowed their own immoral minds to control them. So they do these indecent things. Their lives are filled with all kinds of sexual sins, wickedness, and greed. They are mean. They are filled with envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, haughty, arrogant, and boastful. They think up new ways to be cruel. They don’t obey their parents, don’t have any sense, don’t keep promises, and don’t show love to their own families or mercy to others. Although they know God’s judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do these things but also approve of others who do them. Romans 1:18-32 (GW)

The crowd shouted loudly to crucify the man Jesus who claimed that He and His Father were one. He dared to declare himself God. To a devote Jewish elder this was deemed blasphemous. How could a mere human claim to be equal with God let alone be God? They could not tolerate anyone who would claim to take the place of God in the world, this was a place they held for themselves. For the ruling elders set themselves up as final authority on all things God and all things right and wrong.  Theirs was the last word, the  ultimate ruling, the final voice all were to obey and bow down to. Now their authority was called into question, their viewpoints being challenged by this carpenter’s son. They could not allow a simple man like this challenge their positions of  authority and dethrone them from their lofty positions of power and influence. If this man was allowed to gain a following their powerful positions would be greatly weakened by an ever-increasing pool of opposition.  Therefore it was important to quiet this rebel rouser before he could influence a larger percentage of the population.

The voices of mainstream thought and ideology was never to be questioned. Theirs was the loudest voices and they wielded the greatest influence in society and those who held these positions liked it that way. Any attempt to challenge these all-knowing, purveyors of all that is  true and right were dealt with forcibly and decisively. There was to be no doubt in anyone’s mind who was in charge and who made the rules.

This was the reason Jesus had to die. It wasn’t because he committed any crime deserving of death but it was because he dared to speak truth to power. He dared to challenge their school of thought and challenge their leaders and rulers.  He dared called them out on  their duplicity and falsehoods. He dared say that their way was not the right way and that there was another way. And what authority did he cite as his source? He did not quote some secular scholar nor credit an accredited academy or attend any institution of higher learning. He did not run in the approved  circles, nor did he hold any approved credentials from any recognized authority, He only cited his authority from God.

How could an unlearned carpenter’s son know what is right and wrong? How could a non-seminarian understand the scriptures or dare challenge anyone who has spent their entire life studying from the greatest theologians of the day? Only those approved were permitted to espouse biblical scholarship a simple average person could not be permitted to teach in their synagogues.  His voice and position needed to be dealt with intense opposition. His voice needed to be silenced.

Why would these leaders fear an uneducated, non-credentialed, simple carpenter going about talking to people about the bible? They feared him because what he was saying they knew was true, and the truth was what they have worked so hard to hide from the people. They knew their positions were wrong but they were not going to ever admit it to anyone, nor allow anyone to challenge them.

Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Kill this messenger and the followers will disperse, and then things can go back to the way they are supposed to be. The people will return to following our ways and not questioning our authority nor challenging our rulings. Unfortunately for the ruling class the death of Jesus did not stop the movement for it continues til today. What they failed to realize was what Jesus was saying was 100% true and truth can not be killed.  Truth will remain regardless of all attempts to dismiss it.

And the battle continues to this day. Liars still attempt to kill the truth and deniers still try to silence believers. Take Phil Robertson as the latest example of a public verbal crucifixion. His is just another in a long list of such attacks which seem to be happening more often than in times past.  What was his crime? Attempting to put a bit of God-consciousness back in mainstream America, and for that he was viciously attacked.

This is the way public opinion works in this country today. If it goes against the all-powerful tides of a current societal view, you will assuredly be drowned out under the voices of scorn and rebuke. Tolerance of unpopular views has become intolerable. What we are left with is a fear of character, a hesitancy to stand behind that which has helped define the person you are. Speaking out for differing views and challenging the things as they are is a dying practice in this society. There is an overwhelming sense of complacency and slumbering that has descended upon hearts and minds, infecting the pool of personal thought and stagnating true social and political progress.

The take away from all of this is no matter how much things  change, much remains the same. Those who want to suppress the truth to live their wicked lives will stop at nothing to silence those who speak the truth especially if they cite God as their source.

Yes, and all whose purpose is to be living in the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, will be cruelly attacked. Evil and false men will become worse and worse, using deceit and themselves overcome by deceit. 2 Timothy 3:12-13 (BBE)

Let us be thankful that at least up to this point deniers are only resorting to verbal assassinations and have not yet risen to real crucifixion.  In other  countries believers are not as fortunate.

What can we expect in the future? Much of the same I’m afraid and probably worse since the only remedy for what ails us is Jesus and many have already crucified Him again and again, and will continue to do so to anyone who happens to call on His name, and is bold enough to speak in His name in the public square.

Let’s face it folks, there are many in America who do not want Jesus or want anything to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But be strong and of good courage for greater is He who is in us then he who is in the world.

Image.gifThis is a view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

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Separation of Church and State… Is That Even Possible?

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. “And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.” Matthew 28:18-20 (GW)

Imagine for a moment that Jesus has just completed his three years of training with the disciples. He has been crucified and is now commissioning the twelve to go into the world and disciple the nations. Now imagine him also making this statement to them.

“Dear brothers, it is now time for you to share what you have learned from me. However, as you share with others be sure that you keep what I taught you separate from your social life. The principles I have shared with you only apply in situations inside your home. Do not try to make them fit into a social context. The miracles you saw in me can only be done in certain situations. Keep this in mind when thinking about praying for the sick or the lost. These truths will not work in society.”

Sound preposterous? It may, but this is the mindset of many in our world today. The spiritual does not mix with the everyday world. “What happens on Monday has no relationship to what takes place on Sunday,” they say.

These are the thoughts expressed so much in our day and time. If you heard it once you have heard it a hundred times at least. Separation of Church and State. The two should never mix. The two need to be kept apart.

The world would want us to keep our religion to ourselves and not to share it wherever we go. That is like asking you to live without breathing. It is not possible to live without breathing, nor is it possible to live your everyday life apart from Christ if you truly are a disciple of Christ. To truly follow him and live our life according to his principles it is impossible to live one way at church and an entirely different way at home or in society? Jesus would call this type of living hypocrisy. Either we are for Him or we are against Him. We can not serve Him only at our convenience for then we are not serving Him at all. We can not choose to love Him one day and ignore Him the next. 
 
We can not choose to follow His laws and commands only in the church since the laws were given to man before there was a church. The law of God was passed to Moses before there was a tabernacle or a temple. Moses was given the law of God and then instructed on how to worship Him. The law was given so that the Israelites would know how to live and prosper in the land God was going to give them. 
 
The laws were to be the principles by which God’s people were expected to live. God expected them to keep the law in all of society and not just the church. It is interesting to note that many of out founders knew how important God’s moral laws where to a civil society and based our own civil law on the Mosaic laws. No one would argue that murder is wrong. No one would argue that stealing is wrong. No one would argue that being respectful of our parents is a good thing for children to learn. No one would argue that infidelity in a marriage is destructive. 
 
Today however we hear that the law of God must end at the church door. We are told to not force our beliefs upon others, and yet those that say that have no problem forcing their beliefs on us. We are asked not to PRAY in public and yet how can we not when the world is faced with so many challenges? We are asked to not teach Christian values and principles, but how can we not if we actually believe that they are the way, the truth and the life? And yet it would seem that those who oppose God’s laws are winning the war on the separation of Church and State. Honestly how is that working out for our society? 
 
I can not force my views upon anyone since I do not have that power. All I can do is attempt to persuade others that God’s moral law is superior than anything man can come up with. Personally I have to choose for myself how to live in this world, whether I should obey the temporary dictates of man or the eternal law of God. I choose to obey the eternal law of God for I have found it to be just and right and holy and true. It is the only law that shows no partiality for all are treated equal under God’s law. There are no special exemptions for special interest groups. There are no lighter sentences for the well-connected. All are judged equally and punished accordingly. 
 
So by asking those of us who believe God’s law is superior to man’s law to shut up and keep it to ourselves, you have elected to be ruled by tyrants and subjected yourself to the inferior, biased laws of man. Remember those who make the laws exempt themselves from the law making the law only applicable to those who the lawmakers disapprove of.
 
If we acknowledge a Supreme lawmaker and judge then we have no control over how that law is going to be enforced, nor can we use the law to garner special treatment for ourselves, since we too will be judged by that same law and standard.
 
I can not separate my faith in God from His ways and laws. I can not live my life differently in public than I do in private. Since I believe

the teachings of the Lord are perfect. They renew the soul. The testimony of the Lord is dependable. It makes gullible people wise. The instructions of the Lord are correct. They make the heart rejoice. The command of the Lord is radiant. It makes the eyes shine. The fear of the Lord is pure. It endures forever. The decisions of the Lord are true. They are completely fair. (Psalms 19:7-9 (GW))

I shall continue to live my life by the law of God. You can have the inferior law of the land.

eagle_feather_icon.gifThis is a view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

Along for the journey

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This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.
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Chalres Stanley’s 12 Step Approach to Turning the National Tide Toward God

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The United States faces many crises, from financial troubles and escalating crime to corrupt leaders and families that are falling apart. If Christians don’t pray and act to help reverse the destructive tide that is sweeping across our nation, the tide may eventually sweep away the freedoms that American citizens now enjoy.

Here’s how you can help turn the national tide away from sin and toward God according to Charles Stanley in his book:   Turning the Tide: Real Hope, Real Change (Howard Books, 2011).

 

  1. Pledge your allegiance to God first. Make your relationship with God your top priority in life, and develop a habit of seeking God’s guidance for your daily decisions
  2. Pray for God’s guidance. Recognize that the problems facing our nation are all spiritual problems at their roots, even though on the surface they must just appear to be diplomatic, economic, etc.
  3. Live faithfully so you can represent Jesus well and inspire people to grow closer to Him. The people you want to impact are watching you closely to see how you choose to live as a Christian, so do your best to be the kind of role model God wants you to be. (in other words practice what you preach)
  4. Study the past to learn from it. Read about the history of the United States, including the story of how it was founded on Christian principles.
  5. Deal with financial problems. Help with financial problems such as debt and unemployment by getting your own finances in order (paying off debt, sticking to a budget, giving generously, etc.) and encouraging others to do the same. Become an advocate for wise financial management in the government, and hold government leaders accountable for their financial decisions.
  6. Help bear people’s burdens without making them dependent. Reach out to people in need with compassion and be willing to help them, but do so in ways that empower them to live independently rather than becoming dependent on you or others to meet all of their needs for them. Help people in need learn the skills and work ethic they need to support themselves once they get out of their current crisis.
  7. Exercise your freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly. Use the freedoms you have as an American to make your voice heard, saying “no” to what is wrong and “yes” to what is right.
  8. Choose faithful government leaders and hold them accountable. Get to know the views and lifestyles of people who are up for election to government offices. Look for objective and verifiable evidence that candidates possess good moral character. Communicate with government leaders in office, asking them questions and sharing your views on the legislation on which they’re working.
  9. Stand against pride and embrace humility. Acknowledge God’s sovereignty in all situations, and pray for God’s will – not just your own – to be done in every national issue that concerns you.
  10. Gain wisdom from God’s Word. Make a habit of reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible, letting God’s wisdom from it soak into your soul.
  11. Pray for government leaders. Intercede in prayer regularly for the government leaders you know, praying specifically about the various issues they’re working on, and asking God to guide them to learn and do His will.
  12. Keep going. Never give up your efforts to help turn the national tide from sin to God. Remember that God has promised to forgive people’s sin and heal the land, if people like you keep praying and seeking His will for the issues that face the nation.

There you have it twelve easy to do steps to turn our nation back to God. But it all starts with you. Are you willing to take up the cross and follow Him?