Plan "B"

I was driving into work this morning when I decided why I don't like Obama. Say you wanted to redo your floors (oh no, another analogy). Say that you were looking to get cherry hardwood floors, but when the flooring installer came, he only had oak. Well, you don't want oak, so you reject him. Another guy comes along and says that he has exactly what you're looking for - cherry. He shows you a plank that he's ready to install. You agree and he gets to work.



The trouble is that while this new installer is going to install a plank of cherry, he's also going to be installing a plank of pine, a plank of bamboo, a plank of laminate, some plastic, a few feet of steel and maybe a section lawn on your floors. Well, you're content not looking at the other parts of the floor and only looking at the part that you wanted and he promised. The trouble is that this floor, while ugly, won't stand because there's simply no way for all these pieces to join uniformly.

"I'll stand for anything to get elected"


No sir, Mr. Obama. There are just too many planks in your platform. On the other hand, while I don't agree with much of McCain's platform (i.e. I didn't order oak) - well, maybe that's why I've been living on plywood subflooring for so long.

Mr. Obama is either the most brilliant man to have ever existed or just telling people whatever they want to hear in order to get their vote. After all, by now we should all understand that the best candidate doesn't necessarily win the election. The winner is simply the person [or PAC] which can get the most votes.

Note: This is a rehash of an existing sermon which is stuck in my head.

2 Cor 13:5 "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"

The Bible says, "examine yourselves". What does that mean for me? It means putting my beliefs to the test - not just with my lips, or pious looking down on others, or rhetorical sacraments, or humble dietary restrictions. It means look at myself through the eyes of God to see how I measure up. Am I truly in the faith? Do I think I'm saved because I did something to earn it? Or is the Bible clear that there's none righteous - no not one. Do I think I'm saved because I prayed a prayer one time and asked Jesus into my heart? The Bible is clear there too.

I am seeing bumper stickers and hearing statements come from the mouths of people who profess to have a belief in God that totally contradict His Word. The Bible has a clear stance on proposition 8. The Bible has a clear stance on every proposition and candidate for that matter. The trouble is that we have been duped into thinking with our wallets and not our salvation. That's directly from Satan.

Someday, I will stand before a holy and perfect God and give an account for my every action. What will I say about my voting record? I already know that I'm going to be spending a lot on time looking at the floor - ashamed of many of my decisions. Through the grace that He gives me without cause and the faith that comes only through His son, Jesus Christ, will I ever have any ground to stand on. Not for any good work that I have done, because the Bible says that all my works of righteousness are like filthy rags before Him. Not because I did any sacrament or act, but because I have grace through faith alone that Jesus Christ.

I believe with my entirety and have Biblical foundation to show that my faith alone is not only enough to save me, but that there is nothing else I could do to save me. But let's be clear, salvation is preceded and followed by repentance. A hatred of the things that God hates and a love of the things that God loves. The repentance does absolutely nothing for my salvation, but is the fruit of it - according to Scripture.



Therefore, having been provided a way of salvation, I feel the cause upon me to walk the narrow path, for the path to destruction is wide and many will follow it, but narrow is the path and narrow is that gate that we are called to.

Nobody who gives an honest effort, reads the Bible intending to mislead themselves, but not everyone who calls themselves Christian has honestly taken the time to understand what they say they believe. I know this for a fact - I was such a person for many years.

to add to the confusion, many people who have taken the time to study the Bible disagree strongly with others who have taken the time to study the Bible. There are however (or should be), some non-negotiables:

1. We are all worthy of an eternity in a place called Hell.

2. God loves us.

3. He has sent His son to be the propitiation for our unworthiness.

4. If we believe that Jesus died for our sins, then we *shall* have everlasting life.

The grey area:

I get this question a lot. "How do I know that I believe enough?" or "How do I know that I know that I know that I really believe?" Well, off the cuff - just as much as I believe in gravity. If I believe in gravity, I'll be careful not to fall - as that will hurt. But even still, I sometimes fall. But even if I do fall, I have someone there to catch me and help me back up. That's what the Bible says anyway.

There is a fair amount of fear placed into people though. It is as if we are adopted sons and daughters of God. Actually, it's exactly like that according to the Bible. We are made joint heirs with Jesus. But if we should dare mess up, will God tear up our adoption certificate until we earn our way back into His graces? Will God take back the gift that He has so freely given us? What a cruel and manipulative parent that would be. My Bible states clearly that He offered this gift years before I was even born and long after I had begun sinning. While I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. He didn't die for my sins because I somehow earned that gift; it's a gift, freely given and freely received.

Now, read the Scriptures to see if these things be so, but read also those portions of the Bible that you feel contradict what I've said the Bible says. (I've intentionally left out all verse references). Now, ask yourself if God can adopt you as His own; give you a gift which we cannot earn (freely given and freely received); send His son to be the total propitiation for your sins [past, present and future]; and promise that if you believe that He did these things for you, that you could somehow loose it all if you look at a woman with lust in your eyes - requiring some act or deed other than contrite confession directly and personally to whom you have offended (in this case, God and possibly the woman) and repentance (a turning away). Yes, my friend, life on the straight and narrow is exactly like walking a tightrope. There is no one who walks the tightrope without correction in their step, and if they do happen to fall, they have a net. But woe to those who fall without a net.

I'm not one to parrot what I've heard unless I've heard it from the voice in question itself. Well, I try not to be anyway - there's still this issue of the "Bear flag revolt of 1846" that I need to give up on with some people.

On another thread, I read something while researching the Vatican and the Pope, which I thought immediately alarming. As I investigated, however, I could not find enough evidence to say that the Catholic church ever said this about their leader.

“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, Himself, hidden under the veil of human flesh.” – Catholic National, July 1895

“The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” — Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, “Cities Petrus Bertanous.”

I could neither find a copy of the Catholic National from July of 1895, nor could I find any such quote in the Vatican's website (my main source of all things Catholic). I have found lots of hateful websites posting the same quotes - and many others, but I couldn't find the source for these two. Authoritative sources, that is.

Some Saturdays, I wish that the shelter director was able to see the effects of his work. I wish that I could trade places, so I could do some of the mundane paperwork and telephone calls, and he could witness the joy of helping out first hand.

I know I bash a lot on this blog, but some people/sects need bashing in the hopes that others will flee from their false teachings. Unfortunately, in the end days people will have itching ears to hear what they want, and people like Joel Osteen is feeding it to them. Joel Osteen is lying to thousands of people every week.

Let's take a look at Ephesians 1:4:

Joel Osteen's Bible - "Long before God laid down earth's foundation He had us on His mind. Because of the sacrifice Christ made, we are free people and not just barely free but abundantly free." (apparently to be free from debt and illness)
Source: http://www.goodnewsline.com/sermon/view/1998/LivingInTotalVictory/

The Message (The loosest possible translation) - "Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ."
Source: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians%201:4;&version=65;

The Bible - "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
Source: The Bible

OSTEEN'S CREED (with corrections):
This is my Bible.
(*His* Bible - not *The* Bible. He changes words to suit his prosperity gospel purpose)
I am what it says I am.
(The Bible says that we are dirty, rotten, no good sinners)
I have what it says I have.
(The Bible says that even if we live in want, we should be content)
I can do what it says I can do.
(The Bible says that all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags before God)
Today I will be taught the Word of God.
(Every Sunday, people are mislead by the teachings of a heritic)
I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive.
(When they should be boldly confessing they are sinners and in need of grace)
I will never be the same.
(That's for sure)
I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God.
(Which has been corrupted and destroyed by a temporal being - Joel Osteen)
I will never be the same.
(That's for sure)
Never, never, never.
I will never be the same. In Jesus name.
Amen.

So apparently, if you're convicted of murder in the Philippines, they make you do this for the rest of your life. Realizing that capital punishment is the easy way out. We should start showing this video to the inmates at Folsom. That place would empty like a sinking ship.



Talk about scared straight. Of all places, I found this while attempting to find that "Kids sing about Obama's change" (aka the Glorious Leader song).