RSS
 

Freedom of Religion-B-T

19 Apr

There have been growing liberal attempts to destroy the churches by what they call a First Amendment mandated separation of  church and State in the Constitution. However, their work reveals, at the least, a complete ignorance of the Constitution, and at the extreme, a contempt for it and all those who believe in it. The Constitution clearly states that Congress shall make no laws to establish religion, prohibit free exercise of it, or abridge freedom of speech. It not only does not authorize the government to do these things, as liberals claim, it specifically prohibits the government from doing so. Yet, liberals have sought to remove Bibles, crosses, manger scenes, the Ten Commandments, and even the Constitution from our schools, libraries, and government buildings. During the Obama administration, federal judges demanded that pastors turn over their sermons to make sure they weren’t preaching against programs like abortion and Gay rights, which liberals promoted. They have fined and jailed those who refused to participate in things condemned by God such as Gay marriages, and forced taxpayers to fund activities like abortion which violate their beliefs.

 

 

Freedom of Religion-B-S

19 Apr

Our forefathers came to the United States to escape the State supported churches that used their government influence to threaten and intimidate other churches in order to maintain their monopoly. Our founding fathers wrote into the Constitution a specific Amendment which forbid government interference with churches to protect them from the rise and domination of a State sanctioned religion. Our forefathers then wrote into the tax laws specific exemptions for churches to prevent the government from interfering with churches. It made churches tax exempt since the power to tax is the power to destroy. They also released the churches from filing the financial disclosure information required of regular non-profit organizations since filing it would open the churches to potential scrutiny that could lead to government intervention and control. Formerly, churches were held in high regard, even by unbelievers, because of the good which the churches did in their communities. Not only did they hold their members to a higher standard of morals, they also provided care and relief to those in the community through church benevolence and social services. Now social services have been divorced from the churches and is carried out mostly by the government and independent non-profit organizations and the church is no longer held in high regard. In fact, many cities now try to restrict the expansion of churches through zoning laws that prevent churches from expanding or building new buildings. They would rather have a business there that would produce tax revenue. Many liberal government officials also talk quietly about taxing churches which would provide a huge windfall for city and State governments, as well as for the federal government, but do not dare try it because of the huge backlash they would get from churches.

 

Third Sunday of Eastertide-April 23

19 Apr

 Go into all the World – Many churches today have withdrawn into themselves and wait for visitors to come to them. In fact, many churches do not even acknowledge visitors let alone try to get to know them. Yet Jesus was emphatic that we should go out. In fact, in the parable of the feast, He emphasizes that we should go out and compel them to come. In Acts, He proclaims that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem (our town), in Judea (our country), Samaria (the people we don’t like), and throughout the whole world. Evangelism starts in our town among our neighbors. Many churches act like their neighbors are Christians and don’t need the Gospel, yet many of our neighbors and those we work with and go to school with have never heard the Gospel.

 

Environment-I

14 Apr

While environmentalists blame man’s pollution for global warming, they ignore other possible causes. The earth’s temperature seems to vary according to the intensity of sunspots.  There has been a great deal of sunspot activity in recent years, but in the early 2000’s when the temperature of the earth suddenly dropped, there was a lull in sunspot activity on the sun.  Volcanoes also pour out huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the air. One volcano can pour out more gases than all the cars and trucks on the road and we have seen a great increase in volcanic activity in recent years. If you don’t believe in God, you could attribute it to an aging sun and an aging earth. However, if you believe that God is real and is concerned about us, you could think that God might be trying to tell us something. God allowed the enemies of Israel to take her people captive because they sacrificed their children to false idols, and we are seeing over a million of our children in America who are sacrificed through abortion to the idol of pleasure to free them from responsibility for their sins. Since 9-11-2001 when the planes struck the twin towers, the United States has seen an increase in both numbers and intensity of floods, droughts, snow storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Maybe God is withholding His hand of protection in the hope that we will turn from our wicked ways, repent of our sins, and seek Him, so that He might turn away His anger from us.

 

 
 

Environment-H

14 Apr

Over the years, we have suffered a constant barrage of warnings about global warming. However, pollution of the atmosphere would affect the world fairly uniformly. Even though the world’s temperature seems to be getting generally warmer, and some areas in the northern U.S. have seen warmer temperatures, other northern areas in the U.S. in recent years have experienced colder weather where they found themselves digging their cars out of snow like they haven’t seen for many years. Many places, in the normally warm Deep South, have experienced that great Northern treat (threat) called snow for the first time in the memory of anyone living outside a nursing home. Pollution of the atmosphere would cause long term effects. Weather changes are not consistent and do not seem to have any relationship to pollution or the lack of it. California had terrible pollution but has since cleaned up their air, yet recent temperatures have been higher than in recorded history. Global Warming theories also don’t explain why the average temperature of the earth in the mid 2000’s had raised 1 degree in the previous 10 years and Global Warming supporters warned of great consequences from man’s pollution, but the average earth temperature suddenly dropped 1 degree the following year alone. It seems like environmentalists are too quick to blame man and too slow to examine other factors.

 

 
 

Environment-G

14 Apr

California has proposed a ban on sale of cars and small trucks with internal combustion engines by 2035. Such proposals show how far environmentalists are willing to go. Previous advancements in pollution control eliminated California’s smog problem so that  isn’t a major concern anymore. They are merely pursuing it to control global warming. In addition, the proposal has far reaching effects because 17 other States are also considering similar proposals.  Combined, they would effect 40% of  car sales. The elimination of that many cars and small trucks will have very little effect on the environment. The United States produces only about 2% of the world’s man-made pollution and due to pollution controls currently in place, cars only produce a small percentage of that.  It would flood the market with obsolete cars that could not be sold to help buy the new cars so it would literally leave most people in those States without transportation. In addition, California and other States are struggling to maintain their electric grids due to increased demand and limits on coal and gas burning plants forced on them by environmentalists and could not handle the increased demand of so many cars having to be charged. In effect, it would destroy the American economy while producing no real benefits to them. The only ones that would benefit are the car manufacturers who produce the environmentally friendly cars. Republican Congressmen have proposed  a bill called the “Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchase Act” to protect consumers.

 

 
 

Sermon-Winning the Lost-video

12 Apr

 

Second Sunday of Eastertide-April 16

12 Apr

Before Christ ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples two commands.  He told His disciples to (A) go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and (B) to make disciples of all the world. He had come to earth and showed us how to live and had selected twelve to train. He later sent them out to see how they would do with what He had taught them. He later sent out seventy more, but the Bible never said he called seventy. I believe that they were ones His disciples had called and were training under Jesus’ supervision so they would learn to train others. When He was ready to ascend, He commanded His disciples to carry on the work that He had started. As each disciple was trained to live a Christ-like life, they would then be trained to train others. As each one would train others, it would create an ever-expanding group until everyone had heard the Gospel and all who responded would enter the kingdom. Unfortunately, many churches have become so busy with their many programs, that they have forgotten their primary assignment. Eastertide is a time when we are reminded of our primary assignment.

 

 

Meaning of Eastertide-video

11 Apr

 

Previous Posts 15/15

09 Apr

This is the fifteenth in the series of previous posts and highlights

The environment, books, Sermons, Misc

Click on the links below to access those series.