Go into all the World – Many churches today have withdrawn into themselves and wait for visitors to come to them.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
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
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
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.
Second Sunday of Eastertide-April 16
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.
Previous Posts 15/15
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.
Freedom of Religion-B-R
Attorney Generals of twenty two liberal controlled States have asked federal agencies to end all “conscience” provisions in the Affordable Care Act. That would allow those government agencies to force doctors and nurses to perform abortions and sex change operations and force pharmacists to dispense abortion pills and gender blocking drugs, even when they believe they are wrong. The Biden Administration is also considering a regulation that would enable government agencies to screen out conservatives in the hiring practice in direct violation of Civil Service regulations that mandate that people be hired based on merit rather than political policies. The administration and various liberal politicians have been openly vocal in stating that conservatives, particularly pro-life and Trump supporters are not capable in serving in government positions. Now they want to make it general government practice. The Civil Service laws were created to prevent politicians from passing out government jobs to reward their supporters. The new regulation would allow the agencies to fill government jobs with their supporters and block them from opponents. Those of us who worked for the Census Bureau experienced that when President Biden took over. We were forced to submit new applications for the positions we had already been hired for. We had passed a criminal background check when hired under the Trump administration but were required to undergo two background checks before we could continue working. The first was the standard criminal background check but we were never told what the second one was. It apparently was a check of our political affiliation which is a direct violation of the civil service law. I passed the first but after the second one, my application disappeared and no one ever found it. These are just two more steps in creating a totalitarian government where citizens must think and do what the government requires and all thinking and acting that deviates is crushed.
Freedom of Religion-B-Q
The Postal Service has started requiring workers to work on Sunday and denied a worker’s request to have Sunday off to attend church. A federal court has ruled that federal worker have no right to attend church. President Biden is seeking the Supreme Court to restrict the right of workers to attend church. It is a continuation of attempts by the administration and liberal radicals to shut down churches. If federal agencies can deny workers the right, it could easily be extended to private employers. Liberal politicians tried to shut down churches during the pandemic on the excuse they were not essential services and tried to keep them shut even after other group meetings were allowed. They know that committed Christians will not bow to their liberal agenda and recognize the power of a church committed to serving God in derailing their plans to abolish the Christian faith. It is bad enough that many school sporting events have begun meeting on Sunday and do not allow students to be on the team unless they agree to attend Sunday morning practices and meets. Unfortunately, many churches are urging members to deny their faith and submit to the liberal agenda. When the liberal agenda contradicts the will of God, the Christian must choose between serving God and serving man. We cannot serve both.