Deception

C.S. Lewis wrote this after listening to a speech by Adolf Hitler over the radio on the Friday evening of July 19th, 1940, this would become the inspiration for Screwtape Letters:

“I don’t know if I’m weaker than other people, but it is a positive revelation to me how while the speech lasts it is impossible not to waiver just a little… Statements which I know to be untrue all but convince me, at any rate for the moment, if only the man says them unflinchingly.”

We are easily deceived. Do not think that you are above the many Germans enraptured by the speeches of Hitler? They were people just like us.We are people just like them.

And it happens, today, perhaps in more subtle mediums, but the lure of deception and evil is real. Like the foolish woman of proverbs it entices and it attracts with a false beauty. But in the end there is death and stench. It is alive and well in our own culture, promoting murder, hate, and a many other evils, bring destruction to lives and families. 

But the voice of evil is familiar, we barely notice . . .

What will death destroy?

"Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?" -- Leo Tolstoy

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

(Hebrews 12:18-29 ESV)

Outcomes

Some will measure the success of ministry by outcomes, God measures success as denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him and trusting Him on the outcome, for He does not fail.

Knowing God's patients with us in making us wise

With wisdom comes humility and patience, because the wise fear the Lord and understand His grace.

Woman foundation of culture - Alexis de Tocqueville

"[I]f I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people are mainly to be attributed, I should reply, to the superiority of their women."  -- Alexis de Tocqueville

Quotes from So Much More: The Remoarkavle Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God by Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin

Quotes from So Much More: The Remoarkavle Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God by Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin

"Honor is more than just a feeling or sentiment; it's something you practice daily."

"God meant for women to be honored and respected. However, this respect was not to be gained in the same way as for men. It is said, "Behind every great man there is a great woman." In times past, people would see a great man and know that much of his greatness ans success was due to his wife, and she would be honored and praised accordingly. Because women are not praised for being good wives and furthering their husbands in our society, it is little wonder that women don't think of that as being a praise-worthy thing and seek praise and glory elswhaere. No wonder our society is so short of real men! If our men aren't successful, it largely means that their women have not made them successful. They need our help." p. 46,47

"Confiding in our fathers (and, of course, or mothers) is another way we can show them honor. When we let our fathers know our hearts - our struggles, our weaknesses, our hopes and dreams - it encourages them to pay closer attention to the instruction and guidance they give us."

" We have a friend who used to ask us, very kindly, but pointedly, 'Do you get your father's slippers for him?' . . . . His point was, 'Are you helping your father even in the small things which he might never ask help with?' Those are things that will simply make his life more comfortable and pleasurable, things that will simply bring joy to his heart and make him more free to accomplish the work that God has given him. " p.48,49

"My father is responsible before the Lord for the guidance of his famiy. His heart is relieved and encouraged when he can trust his household, when he knows that our hearts are with him, that his wishes are obeyed, that his decisions are submitted to cheerfully, and that his family is praying for him and supporting him as he seeks guidance from the Lord. Helping my father has been a fun adventure and one that I am constantly growing in and learning from." p. 49

"A real woman understands that God designed femininity because masculinity was not enough in itself to represent God's image and glory. The differences downplays God's glory. A real woman wants to bring glory to God by being a woman." p. 76

"By self-denial, we mean something deeper than the usual meaning, 'denying yourself things you want'. Rather we mean 'denying that you have a "self"' " p.77

"The kingdom of God is depicted by relationships. It advances through relationships. Remember it was not good for Adam to be alone."

"We can dress in drab grays and browns, wear no makeup, and grease our hair flat back, but if we are haughty in heart and proud of our own 'righteousness', we are as worthy of judgment as the 'mincing' daughters of Zion." p.87

Quote by Hess - God's leading

"Long ago I made my life’s decision

To serve the Lord and have Him choose my way;

And when I’ve felt uncertain at a crossroad,

He’s never failed to lead me day by day." —Hess

Write Every Letter Of Your Law On My Heart - by Landon Lewis

Write Every Letter Of Your Law On My Heart

Write every letter of your law on my heart
That I may always have the highest regard
For every word that does proceed from your mouth
In all matters large and small, simple and hard.

Remove every desire and inclination
To coerce what is written to bow the knee
Before my feelings and presuppositions
For comfort’s sake or to justify my deeds.

Bestow the passion, courage, and endurance
Needed to stay firmly entrenched in your word
When apprehensive, ridden, heavy-laden
And assailed with speech or stone by friend or foe.

And generate a wellspring of compassion
As a complement to the steely resolve
That I may image forth your son’s perfect love:
Never harsh, never shifty, never dissolved.

Scripture Inspiration: Jeremiah 31:33-34, Deuteronomy 8:3, & Ezekiel 11:19-20

By Landon Lewis

"Wherever you are be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
--Jim Elliot

Live knowing He is there.

Realist

Hope arises out of the hard truth of how things are. Christians will always live carrying in one hand the promises of how it will be and in the other hand the hard reality of how it is. To deny either is to hold only half the truth of the gospel. --Craig Barnes

Prayer for work

"A prayer to be said before doing one's work" by John Calvin

Our good God, Father and Savior, since You have pleased to command us to work to meet our needs, by Your grace may You so bless our labor that Your benediction may extend to us: without it we cannot continue to live. And may Your favor serve us as a witness of Your goodness and presence, that by it we may recognize the fatherly care You have for us. Moreover, O Lord, please grant us aid by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may faithfully work in our place and vocation, without any fraud or deception; may we pay attention to following Your ordinance rather than satisfying our own lust for gain. And if it please You to prosper our labor, may You also give us the heart to support those who are in need according to the ability You have given us - but always without our wishing to set ourselves above those who have not received such generosity from You. And where You choose to give us greater poverty and lack than our flesh would like, You, O Lord, grant us the grace to acknowledge that You always feed us by Your goodness, so that we may not be tempted to defy You. But may we wait with patience for You to fill us not only with Your temporal graces but also with spiritual ones, so that we may always have greater reason and occasion to thank you and to repose entirely on your goodness alone. Hear us, most merciful Father, by Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Christians are not morally superior than non-Christians

"The Gospel is the only faith system I know that leads you to expect that people who don't believe like you believe will be better than you. What!? Yes! Because the Gospel says your not saved because your wise; your not saved because your good; your not saved because your virtuous; your not saved because your performing the truth. You are saved because Jesus performs the truth. And you can't get a salvation unless you admit that you are not any better than anyone else, that you are a sinner and that you need grace. And therefore the Gospel leads you to expect that the people who don't agree with you could easily be and usually are better people than you, wiser, nicer, more disciplined, more self controlled, kinder, less likely to fly off the handle; and they are. Every other system of thought leads you to believe that you will be better than the people who do not believe the right things, but the Gospel says if you believe the Gospel you are likely to see other people who don't believe the Gospel better than you. In other words, the Gospel humbles you before the people who don't agree with you. Humbles you! I don't know of any other system that would do that."

--Timothy Keller
Exclusivity of Christianity

It takes a community to know someone

"In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's [Tolkien's] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald . . . In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying "Holy, Holy, Holy" to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have."

--C.S. Lewis

Quote by Elizabeth Eliot

"If we imagine that happiness is to be found by furious pursuit, we will end up in a rage at the unsatisfying results. If, on the other hand, we set ourselves to pursue the wise and loving and holy will of our Heavenly Father, we will find that happiness comes - quietly, in unexpected ways, and suprisingly often, as the by-product of sacrifice."

--Elizabeth Eliot

Teaching life not "rules"

If you teach them "rules", then they have something to rebel against. If you teach them life and truth, then they have something to love.

music of the gospel

Quote by Randy Alcorn in Dominion

"You knows the words of the gospel, boy. But you's missin' the music."

The war begins . . .

Quote from my pastor

"Some believe that when you become a Christian that sin ends. But that is when the war on sin begins. War on sin is a sign that you are a Christian."

United States of America

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

-----------President John Adams

Written Sunday, October 28, 2007

When we base our Christian walk on how well we do, we become actors trying to fit the image of what this is thought to be. But when we come to God by grace and grace alone, we are free to be real.

It is not about impressing men or God, for God does not need to be impressed. Our greatest righteousness is like filthy rags.

Quote from The Book of Leadership by John MacArthur

“I occasionally hear Christians say, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that famous person over there, or this stunning beauty over here, or some great genius in the academic world became a Christian? What impact they would have!’ God does occasionally use such people, but Paul says, ‘not many,’”