Tag Christianity

Give me, Give me, and then give me Some More

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

 
 
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor
Insight from the Journey across the Sky
Children shouldn’t have to provide for their parents, but parents should provide for their children. 2 Cor 12:14 (GW)

The more I listen to political news pundits promote Obama’s "stimulus package" I have to pause and reflect on the wisdom of scripture. The more debt we amass for our children and their children, the less responsible we are as good stewards of what God has entrusted us with. It was the misuse of credit and deficit spending that has gotten us into this mess in the first place. Taking out loan obligations that are beyond our abilities to pay is irresponsible, and I might add sinful. God does not take too kindly to greed and avarice.

This is what happens to everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. Greed takes away his life. Proverbs 1:19 (GW)

Do not wear yourself out getting rich. Be smart enough to stop. >Proverbs 23:4 (GW)

10 Whoever loves money will never be satisfied with money. Whoever loves wealth will never be satisfied with more income. Even this is pointless. 11 As the number of goods increase, so do the number of people who consume them. What do owners gain {from all their goods} except {the opportunity} to look at them? 12 The sleep of working people is sweet, whether they eat a little or a lot. But the full stomachs that rich people have will not allow them to sleep. >Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 (GW)

6 …How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on?’ 7 Won’t your creditors suddenly rise up and those who are going to shake you wake up? Then you will become their prize. >Habakkuk 2:6-7 (GW)


We ignored common sense and good judgment when we heard about instant credit and ‘no payments, no interest’ loan schemes.   The purpose of these scams was to sell us goods we could not otherwise afford. So when the time came for the price to be paid, there was not enough money so we found ourselves in default. The fault is we have borrowed against our futures and our children’s futures and thusly done wickedly in God’s sight.

In our rush to ‘profit’ we disregarded solid biblical counsel and have reaped what we have sown. The promise of ‘get it now pay later’ has been too appealing for too long. Too many have drunk from the fountain of ‘easy terms, easy credit’. ‘Take what you want’ and not just what you need has been instilled in far too many of our citizenry, including those of the Christian faith.

It is to those who profess Christ that I address these comments. I fully expect those who do not accept Jesus as Lord, to do as their own selfish motives would dictate, but as Christians we are held to a far higher standard. This includes Christian businessmen and political leaders.

We do not need bailouts or handouts. We need repentance. We need to address our greed and lust for more and seriously repent of our sin before God. Parents, it is not the responsibility of your children or your children’s children to provide for your greed. It is selfish of us to think that we can continue to borrow against our future generations and bankrupt them while we continually pad our nests with more and more needless things.

If we were looking out for our children and actually laying up treasures for them then perhaps we would not be in the mess we now find ourselves. We are not providing for our children if we expect them to pay for our retirement programs because of our failure to plan ahead. We  are not providing for our children when we demand special low-cost medical care while saddling them with the increased costs of providing it. We are not caring or loving our children when we force them to pay over-inflated prices for homes, goods and services because we want to make huge profits. We are profiting off the backs of our children. Shame on us! We do not deserve a bail out. We deserve judgment from God. Repent so God can bless us once again. Let us get back to Godly wisdom when it comes to handling our finances. May the Lord have mercy on us all!

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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Inauguration Day

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor.



In*au`gu*ra"tion\, n. [L. inauguratio a beginning: cf. F. inauguration.]

  1. The act of inuagurating, or inducting into office with solemnity; investiture by appropriate ceremonies.

2. The formal beginning or initiation of any movement, course of action, etc.; as, the inauguration of a new system, a new condition, etc.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Near Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew. It had five porches. Under these porches a large number of sick people—people who were blind, lame, or paralyzed—used to lie. One man, who had been sick for 38 years, was lying there. Jesus saw the man lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time. So Jesus asked the man, “Would you like to get well?” The sick man answered Jesus, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.” Jesus told the man, “Get up, pick up your cot, and walk.” The man immediately became well, picked up his cot, and walked. John 5:2-9 (GW)

The Pool of Bethesda was located on the eastern side of the city near the Fortress of Antonia. The name Bethesda means "house of mercy."
 
The water source was a nearby spring. Recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed the Biblical account, that there were five porches and the fifth one divided the rectangular pool into two separate compartments. Josephus wrote about the Pool of the Sheep-market.

There is a loud cry of discrimination and inequality being heralded throughout our land. There are those who may feel like this crippled man, that there is no one looking out for them, there is no one to give them a hand out, there is no one to help them attain their goals. So here they sit and wait and complain about being discriminated against.
 
Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter when he asks. "Would you like to get well?" Do you really want your situation to change? Are you really ready for change? Are you willing to take responsibility for change?
 
The man answered that he had no one to help him. There was no one to enable him. There was no compassion being shown him. No one cared or showed mercy. There were others skipping in line and going before him. His answer should have been YES SIR! I want to be healed. Instead he made excuses. Jesus then commanded him to GET UP! PICK UP YOUR BED! and WALK!
 
There is the simple remedy to life’s ills. Get up, pick up, and start to walk!
 
I have listened to crowds of people cry YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN and then come running with their hands out. Now I am not the smartest person on this planet but I am having a hard time understanding how you can say YES WE CAN and then turn around in the next breath and cry NO WE CAN’T.
 
We are about to inaugurate a leader who made us cry YES WE CAN but then says NO YOU CAN’T. Our new leader seems to think that the government has the cure, while simultaneously ignoring the huge pool of opportunity sitting right before us. He promises that all can drink from the public pool of funds collected from those who have been healed by the pool’s waters of opportunity, yet he does not offer to lift anyone into the pool to actually be healed.

The crippled man sat by the pool for 38 years. He had seen a whole generation pass before him into the waters while he was continually passed up. For those who have long been imprisoned with this crippling mindset, I can understand their lack of internal strength, to do whatever it takes to obtain their goals and objectives. There are some in our society who have been put down and overlooked for so long that they have accepted their lot and gave up on their goals. They sit by the wayside of life, day in and day out watching others succeed, and lament their inability to achieve. They have lost the inner desire to achieve.

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THE MANY NAMES OF CHRIST

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

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"If then you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:1-2)

To the ARTIST, He is the One Altogether Lovely.

To the ARCHITECT, He is the Chief Corner Stone.

To the BAKER, He is the Living Bread.

To the BANKER, He is the Hidden Treasure.

To the BIOLOGIST, He is the Life.

To the BUILDER, He is the Sure Foundation.

To the CARPENTER, He is the Door.

To the DOCTOR, He is the Great Physician.

To the EDUCATOR, He is the Great Teacher.

To the ENGINEER, He is the New and Living Way.

To the FLORIST, He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.

To the GEOLOGIST, He is the Rock of Ages.

To the HORTICULTURIST He is the True Vine.

To the JUDGE, He is the Righteous Judge, Judge of All Men.

To the JEWELER, He is the Pearl of Great Price.

To the LAWYER, He is the Counselor, the Lawgiver, the Advocate.

To the NEWSPAPER, He is the Good Tidings of Great Joy.

To the OCULIST, He is the Light of the Eyes.

To the PHILANTHROPIST, He is the Unspeakable Gift.

To the PHILOSOPHER, He is the Wisdom of God.

To the PREACHER, He is the Word of God.

To the SCULPTOR, He is the Living Stone.

To the SERVANT, He is the Good Master.

To the STATESMAN, He is the Desire of All Nations.

To the STUDENT, He is the Incarnate Truth.

To the THEOLOGIAN, He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

To the TOILER, He is the Giver of Rest.

To the SINNER, He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World.

To the CHRISTIAN, He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Redeemer
and the Lord.

— Author Unknown

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Godly Persistance Produces Plenty

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

Keep Pushing Tender Sprout

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.

William James

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)

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Moderates: Unable to Stand for Anything

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor

“`I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Rev 3:15-16 (RSV)

And Eli’jah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Ba’al, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 1 Kings 18:21 (RSV)

Hot and Cold
Image by Alex Barth via Flickr

A lukewarm individual is always torn between two opinions and unable to come to a conclusive decision on anything. They have to wait until the consensus comes in. Poll takers form their decisions and opinions for them based upon the popular opinions and beliefs of the day. They are ever changing, never able to come to a solid conviction. They do not stand for anything and are easily led astray. A lukewarm individual will usually follow after the path of least resistance which eventually leads to their downfall and destruction.

For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. James 1:6-8 (AMP)

When confronted to take a stand for what they believe the lukewarm quickly acquiesce and change their minds and positions so as not to appear inflexible. In doing so they loose themselves in the process, no longer an individual with individual thought, they become assimilated to the crowd. Like the name suggests lukewarm water is a mixture of hot and cold and once mixed you can no longer differentiate between the two sources.

 

Jesus does not want us to be lukewarm individuals for his desire for us is to follow in paths of His righteousness. We are not merely mindless sheep just going in whatever direction we are pushed. That was our state before we had an encounter with Jesus the Great Shepherd.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. James 4:8 (RSV)

He now dwells with us and has given to us His Spirit wherewith we are able to stand against great opposition. When we take a stand for the Lord He takes a stand for us. We can not afford to be lukewarm in our walk with the Lord. He prefers we were either on fire for Him or totally cold toward Him, the Lord takes no delight in those who can not seem to make up their minds one way or the other.

And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Josh 24:15 (RSV)

Hot or cold it’s your choice! Take a stand! Choose a side! Make a decision!

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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