1. Any Bible based on the Textus Receptus Manuscripts - I do not recommend Bibles based on the Alexandrian Manuscripts such as the Vaticanus and Sinaticanus Manuscripts
2. The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
3. The following books by Alfred Edersheim:
a. Sketches of Jewish Social Life
b. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
c. Bible History Old Testament
d. The Temple
4. Strongs Exhuastive Concordance
5. A Textus Receptus Greek Interlinear Bible
6. The following Books on Science and Origins
a. The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel
b. The Science of God by Gerald L. Schroeder
c. Gray's Anatomy by Henry Gray
d. Evolution: Its Collapse in View? by Henry
Hiebert
e. Darwin's Black Box by Micheal Behe
f. Creation and Evolution by Alan Hayward
g. The Creator and the Cosmos by Hugh Ross
h. Noah's Flood: The new scientific
discoveries about that event that changed
history, by William Ryan and Walter Pitman.
7. Any book on manners and customs of the Bible
8. Which Bible by David Otis Fuller
9. Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola
10. Archaic Words and the Authorized Version by
Laurence Vance.
11. The King James Version Defended by Edward
Hills
12. Any book by A.W. Pink or Jonathon Edwards.
13. The Foxes Book of Martyrs
14. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by
Edward Gibbon
15. Anything written by Charles Spurgeon.
Study Links and Resources:
Audio Bible
www.audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html
Audio Bible is the complete King James Version.
You can listen to each chapter on RealAudio and read the text on line.
All About Israel
www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00pq0
Reference Documents-
The Balfour Declaration of 1917
Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel May 14, 1948 Camp David Accords
Various Peace Treaties
The tenet cease fire agreement
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1397 March 12, 2002
...and many more agreements and treaties.
Historic Church Documents Creeds and Confessions
www.reformed.org/documents/
A wealth of information. From the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith, Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Reformers, Calvin's Calvinism, John Owen, John Knox, A collection of sermons by George Whitfield.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College.
www.ccel.org/
It has books in electronic format, selected for your edification. There is enough good reading material here to last you a lifetime, if you give each work the time it deserves! All of the books on this server are believed to be in the public domain in the United States unless otherwise specified. Copy them freely for any purpose. This libraray includes the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Edersheim's The Temple.
You can view:
Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ here:
The Temple: Its Ministry and Services As They Were at the Time of Jesus Christ
Ginzberg, Louis
The Legends of the Jews
Hislop, Alexander
The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of
Nimrod and His Wife
Lightfoot, John
A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica
the Archaic and Classical Greek world
www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/perscoll
A large, heterogeneous collection of materials, textual and visual, on the Archaic and Classical Greek world with useful interactive tools.
Greek New Testament.
www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~fisher/gnt/chapters.html
This is a Web-based interface to the Greek New Testament (GNT) by chapter. Just click on word in verse and parse word.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
www.yourdictionary.com/languages/germanic.html#english
Look up English words on-line in Webster's 1828 Dictionary
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Crosswalk.com's Bible Study Tools
www.blueletterbible.org
This site is designed to facilitate in-depth study and exploration of God's Word. Largest resource of its kind on the internet. Choose KJV with Strong's- study tools- John Gill's commentaries can be helpful.
Crosswalk.com's Bible Study Tools
www.biblestudytools.net
This site is designed to facilitate in-depth study and exploration of God's Word. Largest resource of its kind on the internet. Choose KJV with Strong's- study tools- John Gill's commentaries can be helpful.
Medieval and Byzantine history
www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history:
he Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism
www.skypoint.com
The Encyclopedia attempts to cover all aspects of New Testament Textual Criticism in an orderly and fair fashion. This page is not affiliated with the Encyclopedia, and there is no particular reason to think the articles here will appear in the Encyclopedia. I just thought the idea was so good that I decided to create my own version of some of the articles pending the appearance of the real thing. It should also be noted that I (Robert Waltz) am not a recognized textual critic, and that the information on this page has not been peer reviewed. While I have done all I could to ensure its accuracy, this page probably should not be used as a bibliographic reference.
Our desire at Grace and Truth Ministries is to give as many tapes as we can to the world through this web site, TV, and radio. We make all of our tapes available free of charge.
You will find the tape listings on our sermons page. If you are a regular viewer/listener and are interested in being put on our tape mailing lists simply contact us by phone or mail.
Grace and Truth Ministries
PO Box 1109
Hendersonville, TN 37077 Local:
(615) 824-8502
Jim Brown
jimbrown@graceandtruth.net
Tape Servant
tapeservant@graceandtruth.net
Toll Free:
(800) 625-5409
www.graceandtruth.net/
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Discovery Institute is a nonpartisan public policy think tank conducting research on technology, science and culture, economics and foreign affairs.
www.discovery.org/
http://www.discovery.org/
Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Clubs are student-initiated clubs on high school and college campuses where students can promote scientific evidence that supports intelligent design. IDEA Clubs are a growing network of student-led clubs on university and high school campuses around the United States, and worldwide.
The Institute for Creation Research equips believers with evidences of the Bible�s accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework.
_________________________________________
This is a sampling of the latest news on intelligent design.
More can be veiwed by going to www.ideacenter.org/
Nano-machines in 'simple' bacteria?:
Should one be that surprised to hear that there are nano-machines even in some of the simplest organisms - bacteria? A recent article in the May 2005 edition of the journal Structure discusses the rotary clock found in cyanobacteria (see Jimin Wang, �Recent Cyanobacterial Kai Protein Structures Suggest a Rotary Clock,� Structure, Volume 13, Issue 5, May 2005, Pages 735-741, doi:10.1016/j.str.2005.02.011). What was noted in this article is that this clock functions like a rotary motor and keeps time for the cell, causing 'sleep' during the night and 'activity' during the day. It does this by preventing gene expression at night (i.e. 'sleep'), yet allows gene expression during the day time. This is accomplished through unphosphorylation (causing gene suppression) and phosphorylation of one of the three proteins involved in the rotary clock. This rotary clock has been known about for some time, but how it functioned was unkown until this research occurred. Another surprising feature of the clock is that it apparently lasts longer than cell division cycles. In other words, cell division does not cause destruction of the clock. A simple question: could this be another example of irreducible complexity? Though rather simple, all three proteins are required for proper functioning of gene expression to be consistent with when it is daylight and energy is available through photosynthesis - in other words, the rotary clock is a rather important ingredient for proper metabolism for the cyanobacteria. (8/4/05)
Controversy over Thermal Vents Heating Up:
A recent BBC news article, "Row erupts over 'life-starter' vents ," thermal vents, thought by some to be ancient sources of underwater heat that might have spawned the origin of life billions of years ago, may really be "nothing more than deposits from underground springs active in the last few thousand years." The article notes that "Seafloor hydrothermal vents emit jets of mineral-rich water that has been superheated to up to 400 Celsius by submarine volcanoes." If these vents are very young, then "[t]his is one chink in the armour of models depicting the early Earth as one big hydrothermal system" implying that hydrothermal vents may not have played an important role in the formation of life. As noted previously, the "Vent Hypothesis" has other problems, such a the extreme temperatures that would break down pre-biotic monomers and the fact that some important steps in the origin of life could not take place in an aqueous solution (i.e. polymerization cannot occur in water).
Did We Win the Cosmic Lottery?
A recent New York Times article, "Zillions of Universes? Or Did Ours Get Lucky?," discussed various views scientists have over the "anthropic principle." The principle essentially states that, "certain otherwise baffling features of the universe can only be understood by including ourselves in the equation. The universe must be suitable for life, otherwise we would not be here to wonder about it." Though one scientist says, "I hate it" and another calls it a "virus" he can't stop thinking about, one prominent atheist physicist, Steven Weinberg, actually accepts it because it made good predictions about the cosmological constant. The cosmological constant, "is a number that measures the amount of cosmic repulsion caused by the energy in empty space" and is important because it controls the rate of expansion of the universe. Weinberg, based upon the anthropic principle, predicted that the cosmological constant, "could not be too big or the repulsive force would have prevented the formation of galaxies, stars and us. Since we are here, the constant should be small." Dr. David Gross "hate[s] it" because anthropic reasoning "smells of religion and intelligent design" and Dr. Lawrence Krauss called it "a way of killing time" when physicists didn't have a better idea." Dr. Weinberg compared the anthropic principle to a person who is dealt a royal flush in a poker tournament, which "may be chance" or "the organizer of the tournament our friend." Controversy clearly among physicists exists over this question, but some seem to be at least open to the possibility of design.
Vital organs gave snakes their venom:
An Evolutionary Tail: A letter in Genome Research states that snake venoms evolved from other proteins in their body so that they could be toxic to other animals. But if such toxins were designed, then wouldn�t it make sense to just tweak proteins already present in animals such that they would become toxic? This shows that it is often very difficult to test between the predictions of evolution and design, and the evidence for evolution is greatly weakened in the face of design. Another interesting finding in the letter is that apparently, relatively minor changes in amino acid sequences can be deadly - literally. In other words, mutations causing changes in proteins can have lethal effects. Continuing along these lines, a system would have to be in place once these proteins were mutated to ensure that they did not "attack" the snake organs themselves from which they originated. This is beginning to seem a bit like multiple mutations and systems are required to be in place prior to utilizing such essentially poisonous proteins. Getting back to the idea with minor changes in the protein, this provides further evidence for the idea of how sensitive amino acid sequencing can - the specification for proteins is rather strict. Considering these aspects of the evidence, design may be a more plausible explanation for what is observed than unguided processes. Recall that simply because of similarity does not prove what process can take credit for what is seen - all other factors that allow venom to be effective, yet properly stored must be considered in an evolutionary explanation for these supposed mutated proteins.
What is Intelligent Design?
According to sources close to the IDEA Center, "What is intelligent design?" was a question on Jeopardy to which the answer was something like "a theory which is a 'rival to evolution.'" The reported category was "Smart Stuff." It looks like ID is making its way into popular culture. (11/03)
The Design Inference at Toyota:
Methods of detecting design seem to have had success in the field of criminology. An article in the The Sydney Morning Herald, "Toyota raided in Formula One industrial espionage investigation," reports that police raided the Toyota Formula One racing team's factory in Germany after detecting, "the apparent similarity of Toyota's TF103 car to the F2002 driven by the Ferrari world champion, Michael Schumacher." This is an example where complexity (the design of a car) and specificity (the pattern of the Ferrari's car) helped make the design inference. (11/3/03)
Science Teacher makes Moral Objection to ID:
An article in The Science Teacher, "The Risk of Intelligent Design " (by Lawrence C. Scharmann), makes a moral objection to intelligent design stating that we would not "like" to infer intelligent design to explain how some male insects hijack and kil other males who are mating to inject their sperm through the dead male into the female. The article fails to note that intelligent designed objects need not be aesthetically pleasing--as much as we hate it, torture chambers and nuclear weapons are all designed objects. However, the deeper point missed here is that this is a theological objection about the final (i.e. moral or metaphysical) cause of a biological structure, whereas intelligent design is merely a description of the efficient cause (i.e. the mechanism by which something was made). ID stands independent from moral issues, and if one wants to delve into those philosophical and religious questions, JudeoChristian religions provide plenty of answers to for the reason of the existence of natural evil. The article also states that ID does not make good predictions and prevents us from using evolution. The article fails to realize that many ID proponents affirm that evolution can make useful predictions involved in microevolutionary processes, and many of these have positive implications for research into medical problems like antibiotic resistance. However, ID does not seek to totally supplant evolution, but merely serve as a companion theory which can explain the origin of complex biological information. This has other implications, for if we are designed, then perhaps reverse-engineering could also help us make good predictions about solving medical problems. The article makes no mention of many failed predictions of evolution such as the failed expectation that DNA woul be junk, which could have grossly retarded our understanding of the cell, and medicine. (11/03)
Steven Weinberg Argues from Authority:
In a prime example of the argument from authority, physics Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg states that only evolution should be taught because it has won "general scientific acceptance ... [a]nd therefore, it should be presented to students as the consensus view of science, without any alternatives being presented." Weinberg would stifle learning saying that, "you're not doing your job if you let a question like the validity of evolution through natural selection go to the students."
Poll Says Scientists Support Teaching ID: An August 22nd, 2003, poll reported in Science indicates that, "Seventy-six percent of scientists favored "teaching alternatives to evolution," and "79% agreed that intelligent design should be taught. " Science questioned the accuracy of the poll, which polled 217 scientists from Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. (Science, August 22, 2003).
Human and Chimp Brains:
Perhaps somewhat unsurpringly a study entitled Elevated gene expression levels distinguish human from non-human primate brains (PNAS, October 28, 2003, vol. 100, no. 22, 13030-13035) shows that human brains differ significantly from other primate brains. The study found that, "most differences between the brains of humans and non-human primates involved up-regulation, with 90% of the genes being more highly expressed in humans." Given the external simalirities of other parts of humans and chimps, the study also found another unsurprisingly conclusion that a, "comparison of human and chimpanzee heart and liver ... up- and down-regulated genes were nearly identical."
Humans n Chimps II:
The debate over the similarity of humans and chimps is complex because it requires comparing DNA, and different methods of comparison can yield different results. However, a recent study in PNAS (100:7708-7713, June 24, 2003, summarized in Driving man and chimp apart), found that differences between the human chimp genomes are much larger when one considers insertions and deletions ("indels") in the two genomes. The article concludes quoting the authors saying, "our perceived sequence divergence of only 1% between these two species appears to be erroneous, because this work [�] puts both species much further apart." (6/30/03)
Chemistry analogous to religion:
An article from Chemical Engineering News, (Science, Religion, and the Art of Cold Fusion; click here for table of contents), repeats the oft-made claim that, "the claims of science rely on experimental verification while the claims of religion rely more simply on faith" but goes on in rare acknowledgement that, "science also can, at times, require a measure of faith in the workings of the scientific method." "Cold fusion" provides "a case in point" where the author notes that mass-followers of chemists gathered, in a religious-like ceremony, to learn about cold-fusion. The purpose of this, the author says, was ultimately to affirm their "faith" in the scientific method. (8/25/03
The video music you are listening to is the song "Flood" by Jars of Clay. I am not a big advocate of modern christain music. Too much of it is based on popularity and the seeking of fame as well as making idols of the musical artist. The other problem is the lack of theological truth in the words of most modern christians songs.
So why do I have a modern christian video playing? Because the songwriter who wrote this song either on purpose or by chance came upon some real truth in the words.
The song has a dual meaning. The literal part of the song is in reference to the judgment of God on the earth during the time of Noah. The allegroical meaning of the song is in reference to the dual nature of the believer.
When I hear the song it causes me to reflect upon God's Judgment of America and the nations of the world. God is currently judging America and other nations and that judgment will continue with increased intensity as time passes. Elections and christian politicians will not be able to stop the judgment. It is God's providence that brings this about. Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Asia are two examples of God's current judgments.
God tells us in scripture that the world will grow worse in sin as the end of time approaches. Do not look for a revival, God is not going to grant one. God will not work contrary to his word.
The second thing I reflect on is the dual nature of the believer. Christians have a dual nature, the flesh and the spirit. The flesh can do nothing but sin and the spirit cannot sin. The flesh and the spirit battle against each other until the day the christian dies.
As christians, we have a difficult road to travel in life. This road is filled with trials and tribulations designed to conform us to Christ. When you confess Christ, (homolegeo) or in other words believe and speak the words of Christ, the world will hate you and persecute you. When we walk in the spirit, we are hated and persecuted by the world. When we walk in the flesh we are chastised by God through trials and tribulations to bring us into conformity with the image of Christ. This is a hard road to travel.
When the song says "lift me up" I think of God lifting us up and walking us through the persecution, trials and tribulations in the Christian life. It is ralated to God's judgment because scriptue tells us that judgment begins at the house of God. The house of God resides in the hearts of believers. When God judges, he starts by judging our hearts and brings us into conformity with the image of Christ. It is my hope that as you listen to the song, you will reflect upon these things. In Christ, Jeff.
The Young Person’s Guide to Wisdom is not a book about psychology or worldly wisdom. It is a book that returns us to the true source of wisdom, The Holy Bible. This book contains Biblical wisdom for all ages. Authored by Jeff Claiborne, forward written by Dr. David Gamble PHD, this book will challenge you, encourage you and help you to understand the wisdom of God concerning relationships, finances, education, God’s will in your life, the true meaning of success, redemption and the sovereignty of God. The book can now be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com and Books A Million. The Young Person’s Guide to Wisdom....God Bless. Jeff
Thank you for visiting. The purpose of this page is to help strengthen believers in the truth of God's word. May God's will be done. Agape: Jeff.
I recently wrote a book called The Young Person's Guide to Wisdom which is currently available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com and Xulon press by June 2010. Following is an Excerpt of the forward to that book written by Dr. Dave Gamble, Professor of Theology:
The Christian young person does not have to fall victim to the anti-Christian, anti-intellectual, feelings-oriented, self-centered mood of the day. He can, by grace, overcome. He can, by grace, rise above. He can, by grace, devote himself to wise things, good things, and permanent things. He can, by grace, die to self and to foolishness, and live to God and walk in wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In his outstanding commentary on The Book of Proverbs, Charles Bridges writes, “What is this fear of the Lord? It is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law. His wrath is so bitter, and His love so sweet, that hence springs an earnest desire to please Him, and become of the danger of coming short from his own weakness and temptations--a holy watchfulness and feat, ‘that he might not sin against him.’ (Heb. 12:28-29) This enters into every exercise of the mind, ever object of life. (Pro. 23:17) The oldest proficient in the Divine school seeks a more complete molding into its spirit. The godly parent trains up his family under its influence (Gen. 18:19; Eph. 6:4) The Christian scholar honors it as the beginning, the head, of all his knowledge, at once sanctifying its end, and preserving him from its most subtle temptations.”
God created us as thinking creatures. God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden; they were to exercise dominion, to use their minds to conceive of ways to defend the garden, to develop it to its full potential, and to enhance its beauty. They sinned, and thus lost access to truth and clarity of mind. But because of the Person and work of know the truth, gain understanding, acquire wisdom, and think God’s thoughts after Him. Because of Christ, a Christian can be “not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” (Eph. 5:17) Because of Christ, a Jesus Christ, man can be renewed, redeemed, recreated, re-born. This new Christian man can, because of the greatness of Christ’s redemption, once again Christian can “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” (Col.4:5) Because of Christ, a Christian is promised that if he lacks wisdom, he may ask of his Father, “that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraided not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5) Because of Christ, the Christian man has been called out of intellectual “darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Pet.2:9) Because of Christ, Christian young men and women can bring joy to the hearts of their parents as they “walk in truth.” (3 Jn. 1:4)
The mind of man is a gift of God. We are to be good stewards of this great gift, and use our minds to glorify and serve God. We are to be transformed--sanctified, conformed to the image and mind of Christ--by the renewing of our minds. (Rom . 12:2) We are to understand that we have “put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” (Col. 3:9-10) We are to live in terms of the fact that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7) We are to believe that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, will guide us “into all truth.” (Jn. 16:13) We are to declare that “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16) We are to heed the apostolic admonition of 1 Cor. 14:20, “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor. 13:11)
There is power in truth. God’s truth can triumph over the lies of men. History is replete with examples of the influence of the power of ideas, both good and bad. As Christians, we do not have to believe lies; greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We are to receive the message of God, seek to understand it comprehensively and extensively, submit to it, practice it, relate it to the world and relay it to the world. In the letters of the Apostle Paul he often includes his prayers for the early churches. His heart’s desire, his prayer, was that the newly-founded churches would grow in knowledge, understanding, discernment, and wisdom. “ Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Eph. 1:15-17) “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:9-10)
Well over a century ago, Pastor Samuel Miller wrote, “The man who becomes, by any means, instrumental in guiding a single youth to knowledge, virtue, piety, and true happiness, is a rich public benefactor: for the training of every such youth is a precious blessing conferred on his generation. . . Not only are his contemporaries rendered much his debtors, but future generations also will have reason to rise up and call him blessed.” Mr. Jeff Claiborne has entered into this realm of a rich public benefactor with the publication of this book. He calls us to wise living, logical thinking, and critical analysis, deep and consistent biblical study. He challenges us to deny self and reverence God. He exhorts us to abandon the trivial and superficial things that charm us, and to think long and hard about the important things, the permanent things, and the eternal things. Mr. Claiborne’s themes might at first be something of a shock to the system, because they are designed not to pamper us, but to stretch us. If we will give his chapters the time and effort any important writing deserves, we will find much solid food for our minds here. Mr. Claiborne writes with the heart of a godly father, passionately desirous of guiding his readers into the path of life. Three and a half centuries ago, the authors of the Westminster Confession of Faith wrote an introduction to their work entitled “To the Christian Reader.” They wrote of their time, “As we cannot but with grief of soul lament those multitudes of errors, blasphemies, and all kinds of profaneness, which have in this last age, like a mighty deluge, overflown this nation; so, among several other sins which have helped to open the floodgates of all these impieties, we cannot but esteem the disuse of family instruction one of the greatest.” Mr. Claiborne gives us The Young Person’s Guide to Wisdom as a tool for family instruction, yea, for family reformation, to serve his generation, and perhaps generations to come.
Christian reader, here is wisdom if you will have it. As the Apostle Paul contemplated the wisdom of God, he broke out into this doxology of praise and adoration to God: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:33-36) Thus we see that wisdom leads to worship.
The wise Christian young person will carefully contemplate the closing words of our Lord’s sermon on the mount: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” (Mt. 7:24-27)
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Following is an excerpt from Chapter 10:
You have probably heard the phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”. This certainly worked for Thomas Edison when his repeated effort resulted in the invention of the light bulb. However, what happens when we are striving against God’s will? Does repeated effort yield results? Does our repeated effort to exalt and please self result in success?
To answer that question I must introduce you to Nimrod. Nimrod has been dead for thousands of years but I can introduce you to him in the Bible. Genesis 10:9 says that Nimrod was a great hunter before the Lord. You might be thinking, “Well…Nimrod and I have something in common. I am a pretty good hunter also. My dad and I go hunting during open season and I am a pretty good stalker and a good shot.” I certainly hope you enjoy that quality time with your dad; however Nimrod was not that type of hunter. Nimrod hunted men. In other words, Nimrod was a military leader and a conqueror. Look at the context of the reference to Nimrod being a great hunter. “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” Nimrod conquered and became the ruler of Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh which is the forerunner of Babylon. Look at what Revelation 17 has to say about Babylon. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” It seems like God does not have anything good to say about Babylon. The tower of Babel was in Babylon and Nimrod was the ruler that orchestrated the building of that tower.
According to the McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, The name Nimrod has been said to mean both “lord” and “one who rebels”. So, Nimrod was a great conqueror that rebelled against God. The starkest example of that rebellion is the building of the tower of Babel. You probably heard the story of the tower of Babel in Sunday school, but as Paul Harvey use to say, now for the rest of the story. The Sunday school version of the Tower of Babel is not even close to what I am about to tell you. When I began to understand this story in its entirety it changed my walk with Christ in a profound manner. I hope I have your attention because this is some really good instruction from God’s word.
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Before writing The Young Person's Guide to Wisdom which will be available in bookstores by June of 2010, I wrote a book that I made available for free orginally called Doctrine for Sale. I recently changed the name to Tolerance: The False God of the Christain Pop Culture. Below is the forward and Chapter one of that book. I hope you find it a challenge and a blessing.
TOLERANCE:
THE FALSE GOD OF THE CHRISTIAN POP CULTURE
BY
JEFF CLAIBORNE
FORWARD
I am not anyone of significance. I do not hold any degrees in theology, science or any discipline of worldly significance. I view myself as a depraved broken repentant sinner walking in the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The path God designed for me to walk does not lend itself to the writing of this book. I am neither a preacher nor the son of a preacher, but God burdened my heart through the study of God's Word to write about these truths. As a veteran of law enforcement and military service, I have seen the depths of the darkness of this fallen world. I have walked through the miry clay of society observing its depravity. This dung of depravity affects both the unbelieving world and the established corporate church. It is my hope that this book succeeds in providing the elect of God, the sheep of God's pasture with the necessary tools to learn the truths of scripture. It is my hope that this book provides you with a means to survive the traps and snares of our modern society and the deception of false teachers and doctrine. The goal is to walk in fellowship with the true God of Holy Scripture being filled with the perfect doctrine of God's Word while concurrently denying the false god of our imaginations and the doctrine of devils.
It is my intent that this book be distributed to the body of Christ without charge or cost to the recipient. God will provide the funds for the printing and distributing of this book. I do not intend to copyright this book. A copyright would unduly restrict the ability of fellow believers from reproducing and distributing this book to the brethren. This book may be reproduced without my permission. I request however, that those who reproduce and distribute this book do so with integrity, without altering the content and maintaining the accuracy of that which is said without modification, other than correcting grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.
In Christ Service:
Jeff Claiborne
This book is free and may be distributed without permission of the author and without cost to the recipient.
Table of Contents
1. The packaging and marketing of a modified God – 4
2. The god of scripture – 12
The Freewill of God – 13
The Self-will of Man –14
The great “I am” –14
Love and Hate - 15
The God who uses good and evil –16
The four judgments of God –18
Two views of God –19
Vessels designed to fulfill God’s purpose –22
3. The baptism of Christ –25
Water Baptism –28
Baptism of Blood - 35
4. The Passover meal - 41
The First Passover Meal and its meaning - 43
The Shadow and the Very Image - 46
The Agape Love Feast - 47
The Transition of the Feast - 51
The Spiritual Passover – The Very Image - 52
5. The Act of submission called prayer - 53
In Prayer we must honor the character of God - 53
Thy Kingdom come -56
Thy will be done - 60
Our daily bread - 62
Forgive us our sins - 64
Deliver us from evil - 66
CHAPTER ONE
THE PACKAGING AND MARKETING OF A MODIFIED GOD
"When at the first I took my pen in hand
Thus for to write, I did not understand
That I at all should make a little book
In such a mode; Nay, I had undertook
To make another, which when almost done,
Before was aware I this begun."
John Bunyan 1675
The result of the above quote was Pilgrims Progress, a Christian classic of allegorical fiction that has instructed Christians for four centuries and which will continue to instruct future generations of Christians. Bunyan, a non-conformist puritan preacher, wrote Pilgrims Progress while confined to an English jail. Bunyan's preaching as a non-conformist preacher was so effective the regular clergy took notice and like the Pharisees of the time of Christ's ministry upon this earth they sought to condemn Bunyan. Bunyan was brought to trial, convicted and sentenced to jail for preaching without a license. It was during his incarceration that the Holy Spirit moved upon Bunyan's heart and mind to write books of which Pilgrims Progress became the most read and distributed. By the end of his life Bunyan had written nearly sixty books.
The quality of Bunyan's books directly reflects the quality of his character. It is also true that the quality of our Christian growth and our yielded obedient work of serving the body of Christ and carrying forth of the gospel is a direct reflection of the quality of our study of scripture and the quality of our character.
Quality was a great concern to men like John Bunyan. In his classic tell Pilgrims Progress, he speaks of this quality of character. The main character in the story, whose name is Christian, walks the narrow path of God's direction and guidance and along the way through various trials and tribulations develops the character God intended to bestow upon him.
Attention to detail and quality of work is evident in the life, writings and sermons of Christians that went before us, including the Puritans, and men like John Bunyan, George Whitefield, Jonathon Edwards, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Abraham Kuyper, A.W. Pink, Charles Spurgeon, Dean John Burgeon, Thomas Watson and Jim Brown of Grace and Truth ministries, among many others who took the time to carefully and with great attention and detail to study the scriptures and expound upon them.
Modern society has lost this level of dedication to the pursuit of truth. In our pursuit of fame, self-glorification, monetary gain and climbing the ladder of success while swinging the club of power, we have along the way lost quality of character, impact of integrity and the strength of proclaiming and living in truth. David Livingstone did not evangelize African tribes by the pursuit of self-gratification. George Mueller did not live a life of great faith by the pursuit of monetary gain. The Apostle Peter did not preach the sermon on the day of Pentecost by pursuing the ladder of success.
It is a sad truth, that in our modern Christian pursuit of instant success and notoriety, we have mistaken true quality of character with a fake quality of performances and entertainment. Even those who try to spend some time in the scripture rarely dig deep enough to define the words of scripture, concentrate on the context, consider the grammar of the passage, and seek to understand the ancient cultures that thrived at the time scripture was written. All of these things, along with ancient idioms and metaphors that are used in the scripture and comparing scripture with scripture are rarely if ever considered by modern Christians when studying and by preachers when teaching and preaching to the sheep. Quality of character is lost. Slothfulness is rampant in our modern Christian culture.
We read through the Bible in a year and with great satisfaction proclaim our success without having understood a vast majority of what we read and misinterpreting the rest. Being slothful in the reading of scripture, many who read the Bible do so in the same manner they would read any other book, as if the Bible were nothing more than a good novel. Quality of study is absent. Yielding to the Holy Spirit's guidance in scripture is absent, being replaced with opinion and interpretation of scripture based upon opinion. We become the interpreter of scripture, the ruler of our own will, seeking in the scripture the secrets to personal success, the path to prosperity and the key to a more abundant life. Serving self is the ultimate goal of modern civilized man, and the scriptures are used to justify this pursuit of self-fulfillment and self-gratification. Quality of character, self-discipline, integrity, truth and true worship of the holy, righteous, all powerful God of creation and redemption has no place in the minds and hearts of the 21st century man. The gospel of the 21st century has become a gospel of self-esteem, financial gain, fame and the pursuit of power. It is a gospel of worldly tolerance, and self-worship. It has invented a different god and different doctrine from that which is presented in scripture. It is a god that tolerates our sin, and grants our desires for fame, worldly financial success and riches. It is not the God of the Bible.
The god that is worshiped by many today is the same god that was presented to Eve in the Garden of Eden. A god that does not mean what he says, and winks at our transgressions. It is a god made in the image of man and subject to the will of man. We will call this god of deception by the name "tolerance". In our modern culture, tolerance, by definition, is the acceptance of all things and ideas being equal to all other things and ideas. Tolerance is viewed as being compatible with Christian fellowship. A fellowship that is subject to a misrepresentation of the love of God and is void of the fear of the judgment and punishment of God, and is absent of divisive acts or words. Tolerance is the god worshipped by most modern Americans. Tolerance is a god that imitates the real God of scripture, yet delivers a different message. It is a message that contains enough truth mixed with error to deceive the many who are on the Broadway to destruction. This message of tolerance is even capable of deceiving the very elect of God (Matthew 7). Its sweet beverage is poisoned with the doctrine of let us be like God and let us make us a name (Genesis 3:1-7; Genesis 11:4).
Tolerance accepts and encourages ritualistic traditions that are contrary to the true spiritual worship of God. An example of ritualistic tradition is the celebration of Christmas upon which the birth of the god of tolerance, otherwise referred to as Jesus (not the true Jesus of scripture) as it is celebrated on December 25th of every year. This time of year is known as the winter solstice in the pagan world, both ancient and modern, and is the time of pagan worship called Saturnalia. Modern Christians call this celebration Christmas. The pagan and the Christian celebrations are linked by concept and ritual. Both refer to the birth of a savior to a virgin, and both utilize ritualistic symbols such as the Yule log, greenery in the home, the round reef on the front door, the decorated tree in the home (to the pagan as part of the ancient tree worship that God condemned Israel for in Jeremiah 10), the fire which today is located in the fire place and the use of candles. These rituals were pagan before they became Christian symbols of Christmas. The pagans used them to revive the sun which they believed was dying out. It is very easy to establish and see that Christianity brought pagan rituals into its own worship, associating abominable symbols and rituals with the Christian God. This is a practice which God hates.
Even the very term "Christmas" is anti-truth and against the Christian God. It is derived from two words which are joined together to form the term "Christmas". The words are "Christ" and "Mass". Do not mistake this to be the Christ of scripture, but rather it is more in tune with the mythological god called Mithras than with Jesus Christ. The Mass is the Baal worship ritual found in the Roman Catholic Church. It is the Catholic celebration which is connected to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. This doctrine states that when the priest administers the Eucharist and the wine, that the Eucharist turns into the literal body of Christ and the wine into the literal blood of Christ. This doctrine is a direct assault upon the Levitical Laws of the Old Testament forbidding the eating of human flesh and drinking of human blood. It is a gross perversion of Christ commands in John 6:54 which are to be understood in a spiritual rather than a literal sense, and which when interpreted in the literal sense causes Christ to break commands he instituted. This is done in opposition to truth and in favor of ritualistic tradition.
Alexander Hislop, in his infamous book The Two Babylons, shows these rituals and traditions to be of pagan origin adopted from pagan worship. Hislop's research and book was very detailed. The Mass is cannibalism. Cannibalism is a word which is traced in its origin to the term "Priest of Baal". Hislop explains the origin of the word:
“We know that they (the Druids) offered human sacrifices to their bloody gods. We have evidence that they made "their children pass through the fire to Moloch," and that makes it highly probable that they also offered them in sacrifice; for, from Jeremiah 32:35, compared with Jeremiah 19:5, we find that these two things were parts of one and the same system. The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show, and the last-cited passage proves that children were offered in sacrifice to Baal. When "the fruit of the body" was thus offered, it was "for the sin of the soul." And it was a principle of the Mosaic law, a principle no doubt derived from the patriarchal faith, that the priests of Nimrod or Baal were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices; and thus it has come to pass that 'Cahna-Bel, ' the 'Priest of Baal, ' is the established word in our own tongue for a devourer of human flesh.
FOOTNOTE:
"The word Cahna is the emphatic form of Cahn. Cahn is 'a priest' Cahna is 'The Priest'."
"From the historian Castor (in Armenian translation of Eusebius, pars. i, p. 81) we learn that it was under Bel or Belus, that is Baal, that the Cyclops lived; and the scholiast on AEashylus (p.32, ante, Note) states that these Cyclops were the brethren of Kronos, who was also Bel or Bal, as we have elsewhere seen (p.32). The eye in their forhead shows that originally this name was a name of the great god; for that eye in India and Greece is found in the characteristic of the supreme divinity. The Cyclops, then, had been representatives of the God - in other words, priests, and priests of Bel or Bal. Now, we find that the Cyclops were well known as cannibals, Refere ritus Cyclopum, 'to bring back the rites of the Cyclops, ' meaning to revive the practice of eating human flesh.”
Christmas or Christ-mass is connected to this pagan practice. These pagan rituals are historically connected to Babylonian Baal worship. Baal or Bel was the Babylonian sun god known by many names throughout history of which the original was Nimrod, of Genesis 11, who was the builder of the tower of Babel and the originator of the rebellion against God known as "Let us make us a name", which is interpreted to mean, "Let us be our own authority in opposition to God's authority". The Hebrew word for name in that passage is "Shem" meaning authority. The god of Christmas is not the God of scripture, but is a god created by the imagination of men. The incarnation of the true Christ is a Christian truth that is separate from the incarnation of Christmas. The Christ of Christmas is a counterfeit Christ.
In Jeremiah 10, God warned Israel that they would be severally punished for their participation in tree worship (same as the Christmas tree of modern Christianity) and associating that worship with the Jehovah God. Tolerance was alive and well in ancient Israel. As a result, God had Babylon destroy Israel and take a small remnant of the Jews into captivity.
Tolerance considers anything other than tolerance to be "narrow-minded". Tolerance views itself as "open-minded", and thus does not condemn pagan rituals in the church and in society. Tolerance has no problem with assimilating pagan rituals and forms of worship into the Christian form of worship. This mixture of paganism and Christianity could be called "Tolerancanity". It uses its pagan festivals and pagan religious observances to spread a gospel of deception, or a gospel which is compatible with tolerance. It is the gospel of men's imagination. It contains the terms used by the true gospel of Christ and yet the definitions of the terms are altered to fit the dictates of man's imagination.
Tolerance is also celebrated every year in association with the death, burial and resurrection of the true Christ of scripture at the celebration called Easter. Easter is a pagan name. It is a derivative of Ishtar, the Babylonian pagan goddess of fertility also known as the "queen of heaven". Today Catholics call Mary the queen of heaven, a term which was taken from Ishtar. Mary is in essence a modern version of Ishtar. Easter has been known throughout pagan history by many names in various cultures including Ishtar, Isis, Astarte and Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod. This is the reason the Puritans and other Christian sects in the 1600's through the mid 1800's did not celebrate Christmas or Easter. They believed those rituals and holidays to be of pagan origin and associated with the Roman Catholic sect.
Tolerance embraces pagan observances while placing a Christian veneer upon them, making them compatible with modern Christianity. Many Christian scholars and church leaders know that these celebrations are pagan in origin, but they say that they have "baptized" them and "cleansed" them, thus using the celebrations to further the gospel of Christ. In other words, they are trying to wash the pigs while wallowing in the pig pen. The result is that the pigs stay dirty and the one who is washing gets dirty. The true God of scripture does not use deception and paganism to spread the true gospel of Christ. Job understood that pagan rituals and traditions cannot be cleansed when he spoke these words, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. (Job 14:4)”
Tolerance teaches that God loves everyone, even the workers of iniquity. According to Psalms 5:5, 6, the God of scripture hates all workers of iniquity. Romans chapter 9 reveals to us that God loved Jacob and hated Esau. The idea that God hates anyone is rejected by Tolerancanity and is repulsive to the followers of Tolerancanity. Tolerancanity is a product of a misguided and perverted interpretation of scripture, resulting from slothfulness and a lack of quality study in scripture. It invents a god made in the image of tolerance. It's foundational and most loved verse in scripture is John 3:16. It views John 3:16 in the following manner: God loves everyone in the entire world so much that he gave his son to us on Christmas and Easter, so that the entire world and everyone who ever lived upon the face of the earth, might have eternal life resulting in an eternal party in heaven, granting to us the ultimate fulfillment of self throughout eternity. Typical of Tolerancanity, this is a perversion of the verse. It ignores the definitions of words, parts of speech or proper grammar in the verse, context and the comparison of scripture with scripture. A careful study of the verse reveals a much different meaning than the one insisted upon by Tolerancanity. The word "so" in the verse is an adverb, modifying the verb "loved". The word "loved" is the Greek word "agape" which is the word used in II John 6. In II John 6, God places his own definition on the word "agape". Agape here is defined as following God's commandments. Christ fulfilled the commandments of God, by going to the Cross. The Greek word for world is "Kosmos". According to the McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, the definition of "Kosmos" is the “orderly arrangement”. A careful study of scripture reveals that God arranges our lives in such a way that it glorifies and fulfills God's purpose (Romans 9). Christ walked within the bounds of the orderly arrangement being the messiah that takes away the sins of the elect (Ephesians 5:25) who are bound in the orderly arrangement of God. In the Greek Textus Receptus the word "whosoever" is actually two Greek words: "Pas" and "O". "Pas" means "all" and "`O" means "the", thus it is "the all". This is referring to a specific all rather than a general all. The English word "whosoever" does not lend an accurate meaning to the Greek words Pas `O. Christ gathers all of his sheep. His sheep hear his voice and respond to it. When John 3:16 is written according to the correct grammar and correct definition of the Greek words it is as follows: "For God in this manner loved by fulfilling the commandments of God the orderly arrangement that he gave his only begotten Son, that the all who believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Tolerance does not require repentance for salvation. Repentance is not compatible with tolerancanity, especially if it is a daily repentance. Those who believe in and preach truth (we will call them truthites and their worship truthianity), cause people to reject tolerancanity by their harsh and narrow minded methods of evangelism. It is the seeker friendly (rather than truth and God friendly) churches that are the most effective in winning the world to tolerancanity, by making tolerancanity appealing to the world. Tolerancanity evangelists teach unbelievers and believers alike to accept tolerance as the god of their choice, making that god their personal savior. The response from unbelievers does not require repentance of sin, but only a willingness to verbally acknowledge tolerance. Tolerance churches are the largest churches in America, and the Truthianity churches are the smallest. Tolerancites point to this successful growth of tolerance churches as proof that tolerancanity is far superior to and more successful than Truthianity churches.
According to Tolerancanity broad is the way (Broad-minded) to a more abundant life and narrow (narrow-minded) is the way to a stuffy doctrine that is bigoted and hateful. The true Christ of scripture is the Christ of the narrow way (Matthew 7:14), and broad is the way to destruction. The doctrine of Tolerancanity is a doctrine of non-judgment, lacking the ability to discern truth from error (Matthew 7:1-6; I Corinthians 2:15). It is an inclusive doctrine allowing pagans and Christians to worship together, for both celebrate Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Catholics and Pagans both recognize and revere the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, that Babylonian priestess who is the Mother of Babylon the Great, the Mother of all Harlots, being the great spiritual fornicator (Revelation 17). Both Christians and pagans give reverence and recognition to the Christmas tree and green holly during Saturnalia and Winter Solstice. It is the tree of the fall of man, the root of the pleasing of self, the fulfillment of our wants and desires, that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yes, Christians and pagans both bow before that tree, retrieving from it the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
In the September 18, 2006 issue of Time Magazine, the cover story was titled, "Does God want you to be rich?" In the article, evangelical leaders were quoted. Some of the quotes are excellent examples of the subtle deception of tolerancanity. Joel Olsteen addressed the subject: "I think God wants us to be prosperous. I think he wants us to be happy. I think he wants us to enjoy our lives." Joyce Meyers said, "Who would want to get in on something where you're miserable, poor, broke and ugly and you just have to muddle through until you get to heaven? I believe God wants to give us nice things."
This is the world of the hireling, the wolf in sheep's clothing, also known as the scorpion. This is the minister who preaches for gain, and believes that gain is godliness. This is the one who fleeces the sheep. The sheep are not taught the true doctrines of scripture and they are left to be devoured by the wolf, because the sheep are defenseless without a true shepherd. This is the Christianity that has a Dow Jones Stock Market average (Revelation 3:14-22). It markets the doctrine of tolerancanity for a price. Christian bookstores are filled with the books and materials that Tolerancanity markets and from which it receives great revenue. It is filled with worldly riches, and lifted up with ego. This is Tolerancanity.
Tolerancanity has also created its own entertainment industry, fit to be seeker friendly. Not only does the god of Tolerancanity attempt to prosper people into heaven, it also attempts to entertain them into heaven. Ministers of Tolerancanity have become experts in providing the faithful followers with song and dance combined with theatrical productions, none of which are adequate to feed the real sheep of God. The sermons of tolerancanity are designed to teach the principals of self-esteem along with instruction in how to have a more abundant life through worldly gain, all without offense to the seeker. They do not dwell upon negative words or thoughts. Their emphasis is upon having a positive mental attitude about the world and a healthy self-esteem. Self cannot be fulfilled when dwelling upon the negative doctrine of the narrow way. To Tolerancanity, daily repentance, daily death to self, and bearing a cross (Luke 9:23) are negative concepts. Ministers of Tolerancanity emphasize relationships rather than the true doctrines of scripture. The god of tolerance is not a judgmental god, but rather is only a god of love who tolerates all faults and short comings absent repentance. Tolerancanity is designed to teach us how to overcome any negative consequences of our imperfections through a positive mental attitude, self-esteem, and an abundant, prosperous life. Tolerancanity has its own psychology which is marketed by Tolerancanity psychologists, who are always available to fleece the sheep with apostate doctrine. Tolerancanity is rich with worldly goods, filled with the world's doctrine, well organized, well funded and widely accepted by the world.
How does the god of tolerance compare to the God of Holy Scripture? Is the God of the Bible compatible with the god of Tolerancanity? A careful examination of scripture will reveal the answer.
YCS does not provide enough space to put the entire book on my page. If you would like a copy of the entire book, contact me at Claiborne1611@AOL.com. There is no charge for the book. I can email the book to you or send you a paper hard copy. You can reproduce the book without my permission and you can use it in Bible studies and as a resource. I am here for my Christian family. Agape: Jeff.
Reading good Books especially the Bible and books about the Bible. I like practicing in and teaching the martial arts. I like to write about the Bible and subjects about the Bible. I like to go out with my wife and to spend time with my three children and one grandchild.
I don't like the culture of abortion, arrogance, rap music, gangs, drugs, false bible teachers, fake christians, fake preachers, fake bibles, anything fake or sinful. I don't like myself when I am sinful. In my flesh is no good thing.
Hi, I hope you and your family remain so very BLESSED in JESUS!!!!
It has been on my mind to mention to you, after seeing your post on the profane name and practices that are ~traditionally~ added to, and replace, the PASSOVER our LORD initiated among His disciples in the upper room.
There is a game that i'm told Jewish children play before Passover where they search for hidden bits of leaven hidden through out the house to remove. As leaven is symbolic of sin, i think this would be a wonderful game instead of the absurd pagan hunt for colored fertility symbols.
Have you ever participated in a Messianic Passover?
I think Obama's books have worked much as Reagan's mid to late 70's weekly radio addresses ( though appealing to a different crowd) to arouse hope to restore what is perceived to have been lost, to communities that have long felt marginalized. I think the continual polarizations are tools of the adversary to confuse and distract from the development of his one world system, to enslave us. I think too many Christians are blinded by their idolatry of nationalism and forget that the BIBLE tells us that ALL nations,/ political structures, are controlled by Satan in this Age Of The Gentiles, the last age before our Good Lord returns to bring forth His Kingdom. I'm not saying any of this accusatory, pointing fingers, and i'm not looking for argument (though i love a hearty discussion, "Iron Sharpens Iron"). To clarify a bit, I think for many generations now the Democratic and the Republican parties are but two factions of one malignant Corporate party. Very sad to me, considering what our founding fathers offered to us, and very scary. Particularly when responsible for little ones. Have you checked out Arron Russo's film "America: From Freedom To Fashism"? It can be viewed on line on utube or google video. Russo before his death, welcomed this, but asked that viewers choose the one that starts with the quote from George Orwell as this was the only complete version posted at the time. I'm not looking to offend. (sorry my spelling can be atroctious)
pray you are well Jeff, welcome to the New Year 2009 - another year closer to our redemption - Praise the Lord!
May the good Lord continue to bless you brother,
In His love always
Eileen
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