You Say There Is No God?

I have faith that there is a God, so much so that I do not doubt at all His existence nor His work in my life. You have faith that there is no God and I am sure that your faith is just as strong. The outcome of this is that my faith looks forward to an eternity in heaven because of my acceptance of my God and His teachings. Yours is that there is nothing after this life. If I had your faith, I

look forward to nothing. If I have faith in my God I look forward to everything. Which has the better faith?

Proof is in the faith because we don't have people coming back from the grave never to die again. That only happened once. My question is, your faith enslaves you to the laws and regulations of this world. My faith frees me from the outcome of this world. My faith is hope. Your faith is...well, I don't see the world getting a lot better in my lifetime. And if I had your faith, why would I care?

Just curious

God's Purpose for Music

I found this today and wanted to share it with you.  Thanks for taking time out of your day to see what I have to say.

 

What is the biblical approach to music in the church and in the life of the Christian? And why does it matter to the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the New Testament as well as the Old, biblical music and singing is vocal, joyful and respectful to God and finds its origin with God (Exodus 15:1,21; Acts 16:26; Rev. 5:9). The use of a concordance to find verses that contain the words: "song," "singers" and "singing," will confirm that God has purpose in music.
Notice particularly the special assignments given to singers and the special provision for singers in 2 Chronicles and Nehemiah. God also uses trumpets, harps, and other musical instruments for His purpose.

Satan also instigates the use of music amongst God's people to enhance his deceitful influence. Obviously, he has accomplished his agenda amongst many well intended Christians. Particularly, we see a weak endeavor to know what kind of music comes from the heart of God and what derives from the mind of Satan and little desire to discern the difference.

The music pattern and methodology of your church is very revealing about the intent and motive that drives that ministry. The fact is: what motivates us, conforms us, thus, methodology is conceived. For many Churches, the devil has a manipulating strong hold in the area of music that is emotionally driven. Churches across all denominational lines have been seduced to a false and vain obligation to provide a non-convicting environment through the use of musical enhancement and entertainment.

Charles Spurgeon, the great English Baptist preacher, declared with conviction:

"The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them... providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church...The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men of fire."

The character of Biblically based music is distinctly different in its origin and purpose. It is not intended to draw the world... it is separate from the world. Unlike biblical music, worldly methodology in music with religion sprinkled on it, is at its core a predator for the emotion of the vulnerable and carnal believer... while biblical based methodology in music compels devotion to the one and only true God... The Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 3;16). Amen!

Sincerely, Dr. Arthur Belanger

How Do I Feel About 8-1-12

I want everyone to know that I do not hate anyone nor do I believe we should hate anyone.  I believe that you have the right to your life and I have a right to mine.  My beliefs are based upon the word of God and I will stand for that as long as I live on Face Book, my blog, or anywhere else in my life.

You may not agree with what I believe and God gave you that right and I will accept and honor that right.  I may try to persuade you to see through God’s word how I believe if it seems that our understandings are different, but I will try to listen with an open mind to what you have to say. 

You have the right to your opinions as does everyone else on the face of this earth.  I will not condemn the person that I differ with in my beliefs unless it harms me or my way of life.  I will not picket, nor will I stand and scream at you for what you do with your life.  I will differ with your opinions and stand against them if they violate, or seem to violate the word of God.

However, I do not understand how standing up for something I believe in makes me an enemy or judge of men.  I can only state what I believe and as long as it is legal in this country to do so I promise I will do just that.  I believe that God gave us all that right and it is our right in the constitution of our country.

God gave mankind His word that we call the Bible.  It is written to those who believe in Him and want to follow Him.  In His word he gives us the examples of how we are to live and how we should share that with those in our world.  Not everyone is going to accept this way of life and there is nothing I can do about it. I will, however, love and respect you as a creation of God and hope and pray that we will remain friends.  I will never disown someone who holds a different belief than me, unless I am compelled by God’s word to do so.

I may not spend as much time with some as I do others because of these differences, but it does not mean that there is no love for them in my heart.  I believe in my heart that I try to love every person I meet with the hope of getting to know them better so that I may allow my beliefs to be shared with all men.

I will continue to stand for what I believe and what I understand the Bible to say.  If your opinion is different than mine, so be it.  We will just have to differ.  I still care about you and your stand with God and that is my primary reason for standing for what I believe.  May God grant us the ability to share our thoughts with anyone who asks us about what we believe in.

May He bless us all in our lives.

 I’ll see you later.

Grounded!

Grounded was a term that started sometime when I was a kid.  I don't remember being grounded.  I remember getting what we called a "whoopin", which we deserved most of the time.  "Whippings" got my attention and I believe that they filled the need of discipline in my life anyway.

Then we grounded our children.  There is nothing to do but go to your room and sulk.  Think about what you have done (in reality figure a way to do a better job of not getting caught next time ) and  consider what you did that made you have to enter that solitude and desolate place called your bedroom.  Parents then quickly forgot their children, and the children made sure that they would do better (yes, a better job of not getting caught.)

I am calling for making a change!  Let's do something that will make our children and grandchildren realize that when they do something wrong they are going to have to receive something that disciplines them into understanding that they don't ever what to do that again.  I don't know what that is but let me give you some thoughts on this.

First, when your children need discipline...just do it.  But what ever you do, don't make it something that they will quickly forget the ramification of.  It needs to be a memorable experience.  They need to know that certain behavior is not acceptable and will "cost" them something for behaving in an unacceptable way.

Second, love them through it.  You can discipline without your child thinking you hate them.  They are not even capable of understanding the amount of love you have for them when you are disciplining them.  I know I didn't, and I don't think my children did either.  But, I do know that my children, for the most part, understand that I loved them more than they knew at the time.  Why?  Because I made them understand there were repercussions to certain actions that caused them to think about what they were doing and why.

Finally, pray for them.  Pray with them and pray for them.  Let them hear you talk to God concerning them and their actions.  They will get it at some point if you are sincere in your prayer life concerning them.  They need to know that God is that important to you.  Never give up your faith and your faith will never give up on you.

Think about it!  What if God grounded you?

I'll see you later.

How Far Do We Go?

I have a question.  How far do we go before we reach the point that states our intentions where we get as far away from what we know is right before we are unable to realize it may be too far for us to come back?

That was a mouth full.

What I am thinking is this.  So many of us get out on our own, making our own decisions and we realize that we  may have overstepped the limit of where we feel comfortable with our past decision making guidelines.  Before, we had our parents and our church friends, but then we find there is a whole other world out there that doesn't hold us to those guidelines anymore and we can pretty much do what ever it is we want.  We don't have to really answer to anyone at all.  At least that can "make" us do something we don't want to do.  It starts off small with little resistance or even discipline if we do something out of the ordinary.  But then, after a while of doing those things without repercussion, we find ourselves venturing further and further away from what we thought were our limits.  We may even realize we are able to make our own decisions, but the repercussions are now upon us when we do something that could or does cause us to find ourselves away from what we have always known.

Moms and dads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, friends and church family, we will find, aren't with us nor do they mean as much to us as the did in the past.  We have walked away from what we have known and away from the people who have known us.  We do make new friends,  but they are not really a part of who we have been.  Now, let me say, this is a freedom of choice that God has given us, but it is one that can lead us to loneliness, heartbreak, and a failure to be in the most important relationship we could ever have.  A relationship with God can be lost because we walk away from what we know into an unknown world that is accepting and easy.

Through this rambling my question still remains, "How far do we go?"

Don't let a funeral be the time to say, "I wish I had been strong enough to stay with God and His family", though difficult and burdensome.  Swallow some of the desires you have and never walk so far away that you can't see those you love and so far that you completely walk away from God.

I'll see you later!

City on a Hill

“I don’t know what to do,” she stated as she sat in my office crying and looking for answers. “I’ve tried praying, begging God to take the pain away.  Why is this happening to me?” Her life was falling apart.  Her husband had found someone else at work to spend his free time with.  He left her with their two children and a house payment along with the bills to pay and left his family to be with his new found friend.  Her children didn’t understand why daddy hadn’t been home in weeks. “What do I do?”

This story is so familiar to so many of us.  It has either happened to our family or to someone we know.  It may have even happened to you personally.  I personally know that the pain of that type of loss, separation,  and the feeling that there is no love to be found can be overwhelming.  I have lived through it as a child and was blessed enough to have my dad “find Jesus” and show us the way to a better place than where we were.  Through a man, who knocked at our door back in the mid 1970’s, named Buck Bloodworth my dad found salvation through Christ Jesus and brought the message he had heard back to my mom and ultimately to his entire family.  Many of those my dad shared that message with became born again Christians.  Some that he shared that message with decided to continue in the lives that they had chosen beforehand.  Not everyone accepts the message that I believe will help them cope and deal with the situations that seem to tear their families apart.

Yes, I believe that Jesus is the answer to our problems.  For the young lady whose husband had walked out on her, Jesus was the answer.  She was immersed into Christ and gave herself to becoming the child of God she is today. With this decision she remarried a great Christian man who had suffered the loss of his wife and has led her children to know Jesus as she does. I know of story after story of people who have turned their lives around by deciding to follow in the steps of Jesus.

There is a "City on a Hill" that shines as a beacon pointing the way to a better life.  I hope you will search it out and find it. Search it out and find the answers that you are looking for and that God is trying to show you.  Your story, once shared, can help others find the answers that they are looking for.  Don't let the bad things of life swallow you up and hide the wonderful story of Jesus from you.  Too many times we give up and take the easy route.  I pray you take the right route and work at your life to be who and whose you are supposed to be.

I'll see you later!

Where are Your Treasures?

I am amazed that we are so wrapped up in this world.  So much so that we worry about it.  We fret over the years to come that we are not able to control.  We worry about the future here and what will be left.  We are concerned with the here and now and the things we want to do.

Don't get me wrong, proper planning is a good thing for our future in living on this rock that is spinning and flying through space through the grace of God.  We need to look to care for ourselves and nature without just dumping everything and not doing anything.  But worrying?  Please folks!  Wake up!

"This world is not my home, I'm just a passing thru.  My treasures are laid up some where beyond the blue; The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

Don't you think its time to believe this song and the scripture of Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


I believe it to be time to stop and realize that our treasures are truly in heaven and that is what our focus in this world needs to be about.  Not what we have, but what we are living toward.

I'll see you later.