And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen (Rev. 1:17,18)
Apparently the wife and I could not resist using free air plane vouchers procured from last year’s flight fiasco from Las Vegas. In an effort to redeem these vouchers before the cut off date, we traversed back to “Sin City” for the weekend-and as usual no scenic pics to report of, sorry but I did come up with these:
Ah, mischief is to be had yonder…”
“I’ve laid hold to my ‘baba’!”
“Yeah dad but Van Til is soooo boring…”
Gabriel and I strolling down a Vegas street….Apparently this is as far asit goes with regards to scenery, and yes, that is SOME vegetation behind me
While perusing through Dr. James White’s vlogs of the Jalal Abualrub debate, I inadvertently ran across a You Tube clip of American Idol’s rendition of “Shout to the Lord”. I don’t really watch (or care for) American Idol but was made privy to this performance by visiting Anglela Grow’s blog (To Live is Christ). In her brief observation, she was troubled, by what appeared to be, a superficial nod to Christ. I, too came to a similar conclusion which was only reinforced when I saw the YouTube clip (shudders). What was more disturbing was the affirmational comments made by professing Christians.
Some heralded this performance as “spiritually moving”, “a work of God” and a host of other sentimentally ensconced declarations that shout (no pun intended) LACK OF DISCERMENT. These people seem to be basing their statements upon some emotional experience than on the objective word of God. Am I being too critical or does the word of God give people like myself Angela, and others who arrive at the same conclusion a reason to be skeptical? I believe it does…
After a lengthy conversation with a Samaritan woman in Sychar, the Lord rebukes the woman for her ignorance of the true God (John 4:22). She had false idealogical conceptions of the Messiah (and no real relationship to the God of Israel) yet with her sin and all (which the Lord does not bypass in the text) requests that Christ give her “living water”. How does this tie in with my previous comments on American Idol? I wont pretend to look into the hearts of men but I’m willing to “bet” most (if not al) of those contestants are not Christians. The name American Idol should make any Christian recoil in disgust-do we seek to self-aggrandize through some popular medium to gain noteriety-wherein does Christ get the glory and does this not a violate the second commandment?
Well here is the You Tube video of the performance-you decide
My mother passed away on February 22,2008. She died at the age of 51years old of a severe aneurysm/cerebral hemorrhaging. She was admitted to the ER Weds. night (Feb. 20) but slipped into a coma before undergoing brain surgery. She passed away two days later as her health quickly deteriorated and was pronounced dead on the 22nd at 5:03 AM. We will have a memorial service for her tomarrow at her church and her burial service the next day. She is survived by 5 children (including myself) and 4 grandchildren.
My only source of comfort is that she gave her life to the Lord 4 years ago (which I was privaleged to lead to Christ by God’s good pleasure), and thus, by riding upon the merits of Another, is resting in a glorious heavenly bliss with the Blessed Savior. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!! The grace and provision that God has extended to this family is beyond belief;we serve a good God!
Your prayers are coveted…thank you.
Jesus said unto her, I Am the resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.(1st Thess. 4:13,14)
“Let me die the death of the righteous!” Numbers 23:10
This was Balaam’s desire. The hypocrite, when he
is about to die and can keep his sins no longer—
now he desires a passport to carry him to heaven!
Such desires as these are found among the damned.
Hypocrites have desires—but no endeavors.
They would like to go to heaven—but they
will take no pains. But true desire is always
quickened into endeavor.
The hypocrite would have . . .
heaven—and his sins too,
heaven—and his pride too,
heaven—and his covetousness too.
“They have gone astray and have followed
the path of Balaam—who loved the wages
of unrighteousness.” 2 Peter 2:15
The true Christian says, “Give me Christ on any
terms. Let God propound whatever articles He
will—I will subscribe to them. Would He have me
deny myself? Would He have me mortify sin? I
am content to do anything—just so that I may
have Christ!” Hypocrites would have Christ—but
they will not part with their beloved lust for Him!
The hypocrite does not desire grace for itself.
He desires grace—only as a bridge to lead him
over to heaven. He does not so much search
after grace—as glory. He does not so much
desire the way of righteousness—as the crown
of righteousness. His desire is not to be made like Christ—but to reign with Christ. This is the
hypocrite’s desire.
But a child of God desires grace for itself, and Christ for Himself. To a believer, not only is heaven precious—but Christ is precious, “Yes, He
is very precious to you who believe!” 1 Peter 2:7
There appears to be a dearth of expositional preachers and with the passing away of Adrian Rogers and D. James Kennedy, who shall carry the great torch of expositional preaching? Who will take hold the reigns to follow in the footsteps of the MacArthurs, Sprouls,Mohler’s and the like? Fear not…Rev. Charles shall answer the call with his profound philosophical insights, exegetical prowess, and prolific oratorical abundance to spear head us into the coming decade.
Scribe