Happy new year...

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens, who created all these? He who brings the starry host one by one; and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26.

Today is the last day of the year; God has been so very good to me for the last 364 days; well, I should say for the last 50 years and 10 months. I can't believe that I am that old; this life is very short indeed, David said that it is as the flower of the fields, the sun sets and it has already withered. I have been created by His great power and mighty strength; and I'm not missing.

All I can say for today is that God is good, exceedingly good; I don't deserve to be alive. I bet some of you feel the same way, we see this life as a gift but also as a dream; as a vapor that fades away into eternity....where reality really starts.

Every year, at the beginning of the first month, I make some new year resolutions; at the beginning of this year I made a resolution to write on a notebook, at least one page everyday; and to my surprise I almost did it, the notebook only has a few pages left blank. But I failed because I didn't write everyday.

What is fun about that is that when I read what I wrote at the beginning of the year, and compare it with the last things I'm writing, I can see how much God has changed me; how much my mind has changed, how much more of His mercy I see; how much more of His grace I understand; how much more loved I feel. It is amazing.

One resolution I did not fulfill was to read the whole bible; I failed on that one too. One of my resolutions for this coming year is to not make any resolutions at all; I guess I can fulfill that one very easy, there will be no guilt trips at the end of the year; no reason to feel inadequate for not fulfilling my new year resolutions; that's grace.

That is the problem with lists of goals; have you ever read in the bible any instructions about making a list? I haven't. The goal thing is just part of the world system of philosophy and empty deceit, according to the basic principles of this world and not according to Christ; do not be deceived.

That is what the law does also; it shows you how screwed up you are and it makes you run to Jesus; it is indeed a schoolmaster to take you by the hand right up to the cross.

This is how Paul explains it: Gal 3:22-29 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Goals will just show you how incompetent you are; the world's philosophy is that at least 10% of all people would have more success if they had a list of goals written down; while that might be true in some cases, what that obviously fails to consider is the sovereignty of God.

It doesn't matter how many goals or items are on your list, if it's not God's will, they will never happen; there is no argument with that. I know some people will argue with me on this, but a list of goals is useless unless your main goal in life is knowing God; and even then, all your goals will change, God will change them into a single goal: the pursuit of righteousness and holiness; and even then they are impossible to attain apart from Christ.

It is a completely different thing when you are working; there are even computer programs that will help you accomplish, or at least track, the progress of any project; which is in fact a process to achieve some worldly goal; but I am not talking about that; I'm talking about life in general, about the spiritual side of everything.

The law for example, is very similar to a list of goals; you have ten simple goals on the list; sometimes you accomplish one or two, sometimes none; the implications of not achieving this simple goal list are of eternal significance; you can try all you want but you will never accomplish these ten goals. The end result is eternal fire, shame and gnashing of teeth.

Why did Jesus say to worry only for today? Think about it. Here it is so I won't misquote it: Mat 6:31-34 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

There you go; for all those who like AA and the 12 steps, here is the source of your favorite phrase: "one day at a time"; Jesus is the original "one day at a time" Man; you have enough evil for today, you have enough flesh, and desires and distractions for today; enough warfare for one day.

Notice there that the gentiles "seek after these things"; what does He mean by that? Well, it means that the gentiles don't know who God is; they have no idea of who is in charge of everything, and therefore they worry about their "goals" of eating and dressing and sheltering. What's appalling is that some Christians live the same way; they still don't know who God is; they hear that voice of the Great Shepherd: "take up and read, follow me", and ignore it most of the time.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; that is God's will, that we seek His righteousness, and where shall we find it? In Jesus alone, no where else. He took the list and nailed it to the cross; that is where the list ended up, nailed to a tree, beyond our reach. He being the only One in the history of mankind to have been able to complete the whole list of goals. He fulfilled it.

I started this post two days ago, and it still was 2009; now it is 2010 and it's too late; I missed it. It is gone forever, lost into eternity, and lost with all my sins, to be remembered no more. What will the new year bring? What will God show me this coming season of life? I need more grace; He will show me more grace.

That is my goal for the new year; to enjoy God and to glorify Him to the best of my ability, which is very minimal; to know God and Jesus Christ who He sent, the rest of the items on any list are irrelevant for life.

Happy new year.














http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Rejoice...

That's me, between the arrows....

Some people struggle with addictive behaviors; some don't. I'm talking the obviously clear addictive behaviors; like alcohol or drugs; like soap operas, like big gulps full of diet coke; like cheese burgers; like french fries; like looking in the mirror; or thinking that you're pretty all the time.

It all comes down to the ego; the center of our universes; that is where the problem comes from. What is clear is that everybody struggles with something; and for everybody their own struggles might not be struggles for everybody else. What I mean is that you might struggle with pity, and I might not but I might struggle with depression and you might not.

What is this guy talking about? Why does he have to say things like these? I wish he's stop drinking all that coffee. Maybe is the anti psychotic medication.

The point is that we don't have to struggle with anything; at least I don't, what I'm saying is that I don't have to struggle. I have been chosen before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4); I have been predestined to be conformed to the image of God's Son (Rom. 8:29), and God will do what He wants to do, even using all the things hidden inside of me.

You might have gotten loaded during or before Christmas; let's assume that you could not resist the temptation anymore and went and bought a bottle of Chivas Regal; you had it in your mind, and you planned it, you checked the balance in your bank account and considered that you had enough funds to spend; you went to the ATM machine and withdrew the cash, that way it wouldn't show in your statement and your wife wouldn't know.

Then you went to the store, but not any store, it had to be a store where no one knew who you were; you knew exactly what you wanted so you went and got it, went to the cash register and dished out the cash; you even said Merry Christmas to the clerk.

You got into your car, and either went home and waited for your wife to go to sleep, or parked the car in a shopping mall and pulled out the whiskey; the first sip tasted like crap but it felt good going down; during all this time you heard that whisper; "I should not be doing this"; but after the first step, you allowed your body to move by itself, you went along with it.

After the first gulp, you finally said "s*** it!" and got down to business; there it comes, the warmth, the fuzzy feeling, the "I don't care anymore" kind of a thought; the "just one more" kind of a reasoning, the "just one time and that's it" kind of justification.

We can justify anything in our minds, that's for sure; anything. Do you think God is surprised? Was that a shocker for the Almighty? Was He in heaven thinking: "Oh oh, I didn't see that one coming, what am I going to do with this guy, he is not trying hard enough?"

God chose you in eternity; He determined before hand to create you and to make you His child through Jesus Christ (Eph. 15):; He made you and at the appointed time He brought you into this world, He caused you to be born in the family you were born, in the country and in the hospital you were born in; He chose your parents, your brothers and sisters, the schools you attended, the people who surrounded you as a child; He made you grow up with all the dispositions of your heart; everything was planned out for you.

He determined how you would look, the color of your hair, the color of your eyes, the stature of your body, the size of your heart and your brain; the shape of your nose; He molded you out of dirt and with His own hands, you are His work of art, His poema, His art form (Eph. 2:10).

He chose your education or lack thereof; the financial status for your family, the kinds of jobs you would have in your lifetime; He chose your boss, He chose your wife; He chose the place you would live; they places you would go, the people you would meet; He appointed the right time to cause you to be born again, born of the Spirit; He knows everything about you, He knows all your thoughts before you think them, all your actions before you act them, all your words before you speak them; nothing surprises Him.

In the same way that He granted you life; He granted you repentance; repentance is a gift from His grace (2Tim:2:25); and in His grace He appointed Jesus to come and die on that cross so that you wouldn't have to pay for your huge debt; the wages of your sin is death (Rom. 6:23), eternal death, eternal separation from God in hell, burning forever in His wrath; and He saved you from that, He paid for all your sins, past, present and future (Heb. 10:14).

No, He is not surprised at all, in fact He knew you would get loaded that specific day; and He had already prepared more grace for you; and where your sin abounds, His grace abounds more (Rom. 5:20); don't you get it? I do. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1); so are you in Christ Jesus? Then there is no condemnation for you my brother. Just get up and keep on walking.

So is it OK to get loaded once in a while? Maybe once a week? Gee, please, that is not what I'm saying; is not ok, that is why God says to not be drunk with wine but to be filled with the Spirit; is not ok, the remedy is in Him, in Jesus alone.

When He satisfies you, you don't want to get loaded (John 6:35), that is my point; if you walk in the Spirit you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh, Paul says in Galatians 5:16. What happened? Did you stop reading your bible? Something happened and you gotta find out what it is so it does not happen again; God will show you, that is the reason why He let you do what you did, it is for His name sake that He will lead you in the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3); it is because of His great mercies that you are not consumed (Lam. 3:22).

Maybe it is because you don't know the right doctrine, maybe it is because you hang out with a bunch of brothers that are constantly putting guilt trips on your back; some of them point the finger constantly, they delight in making everybody else feel miserable because of their great sin; but they don't move a finger to make any body's load be easier to carry. Get away from those people; Jesus talked about them all the time, He called them hypocrites; brood of vipers; whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones (Mat. 23:27).

Whatever it is that you struggle with; whatever your addiction; Jesus does not condemn you; in fact He knows you struggle, He wants you to rest in Him (Mat. 11:28), in His completed work; see yourself as you really are, a sinner saved by the great mercy and love of God in Christ.

It is not about trying; trying what? Try to be better? Try to be a better man, a better Christian? How do you define better? All the good Christians are dead, bro; all of them, the rest are all bad, the only thing hat makes us any good in God's eyes is the blood of Christ (1John 1:7), nothing else. You are forgiven, period, end of story, Jesus paid for it, and it is gone; as far as the east is from the west (Psa. 103:12); to be remembered no more, and nothing can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28).

God says in His word that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear 1Cor.10:13; that He has provided a way of escape out of the temptation; so grab it, and run; the way of escape sometimes is just there hanging from your belt, grab it and dial the numbers and call somebody; run and escape by calling.

He who thinks he stands, take heed lest he falls, Paul says, and then in the very next verse he says: therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry. So run away from it, right into the arms of Jesus.

God chose you; even before you were born, before you had any addictions at all; and He knows all about them; just bask in His grace, enjoy His grace, His love. Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6); let Him give you a new gown (Zech. 3:3-5).

He will present you faultless before Him; He is able to keep you from falling (Jude 1:24), for His glory.

Let me now set something straight, for my sake; the term "addiction" or "addictive compulsive behavior", or OCD or whatever; is just a post-Christian, post modern world way of masking these things from our eyes, we are trying to make them appear not as nasty as they are by re-labeling them to something that sounds more "professional"; but the truth of the matter is that they are all sin; yeah, that's right, sin I said. You can trace them all back to idolatry. Mmmm...that's harsh.

How else could Paul put it? "Flee from idolatry"; what is he talking about? He is not making any sense. Idolatry? I-dol; I, I, I, is all self centered behavior, idolatry, that is what it is, and idolatry is sin, period.

The real problem is when people start looking for help anywhere else but where the real help is: The Word of God. You got the twelve steps, and you got the Christian counselors, and the psychology, and the philosophy of this world; you gotta get in touch with your "inner" self, deal with the past, with the way you were raised, with all the damage your parents inflicted on you when they got divorced. You gotta numb the pain.

Brother.

How long ago did you become a "Christian"? How did you become one? What happened? Think about it. What caused you to say: "I'm a sinner, I need God, I need help" What was it? Did they tell you: you better come down this isle and lift your hand and say this prayer? Is that how it happened? How did you become born again? What do you think happened? Don't read anymore, stop right here and think for a couple of minutes.

So? You see what I mean? You had to do something.....but the truth is, you don't have to do anything (John 3:8), and they way to know this is by reading and studying the word of God; and that is where the problem is, more often than not. People don't read, least study, the word of God. They make all kinds of assumptions, and acquire all kinds of "philosophies" that have nothing to do with the truth of scripture. A house built on sand (Mat. 7:26).

So here is the solution: repent and get into the bible; and get up and keep on walking. Rom 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Lam 3:20 -23 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Rejoice.





http://makariotes.blogspot.com

We Suffer...

Time flies away very fast; it seems it was Christmas just yesterday, and it's already garbage day. It seems it was a couple days ago when I held my daughters in my arms, both at the same time; now I can't even lift the garbage bag. I'm getting old (er).

Time goes by, and God continues to be faithful to His word; His provision is steadfast; His mercy endures forever, and His grace is unfailing. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever; His love for this wretched man does not change, He continually leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake.

Yeah, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for He is with me; thank you God.

There was a lot of physical and emotional suffering this year; not only for me but for a lot of people. We all suffer somehow; some people lose their jobs and their finances struggle; some people lose their health and their bodies struggle; some people lose loved ones and their whole world struggles.

One thing is for sure though; if you are a Christian, you will suffer somehow, so be ready because it is coming. You might not be suffering right now, it all might be fine, just fine, but the day will come when God is going to allow some of this world to come crashing down on you; and then what will be your rock? What will give you comfort? Will you bail out? Will you still worship?

The book of Romans has to be one of my favorite books in the bible; and chapter eight might just be my favorite chapter, my favorite chapter in my favorite book; maybe not, but think about what Paul says there:

Rom 8:18-23 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Nothing can be compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us; why? Why is this? Because of verses 16 and 17: Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We are co-heirs with Christ of everything that belongs to Him; that my friends, is the whole universe, and everything created; it all belongs to Jesus, and to us too. What tops it all off is the glory; the same glory of Jesus is what is going to be revealed in us, think about that for a minute or two, think about it, and fall on your knees.

The inescapable reality of the glory of Jesus is tied together to the inescapable reality of that phrase: "provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him".

Who wants to suffer? I don't think anybody wants to suffer, we all want comfortable lives, we all want healthy bodies, and healthy relationships, and healthy finances; we all want the comforts of the best this life can bring, but the reality is that for the real believer that is not the case; "in this world you will have tribulation" Jesus said, that is a bible promise we can count on.

In fact, that promise is true for the whole universe, the whole universe is now actually groaning, waiting for our redemption, says Paul; suffering is a universal reality; no amount of recycling will prevent the corruption of the earth.

As if the physical world was not enough; we also have the heavenly warfare to deal with; every day it's a battle; demonic forces are always at work to thwart our efforts to live a life that is pleasing to God; and then to top it all we have our own flesh to deal with; this Christian life is not an easy thing to live.

I don't know about you; but in my case, the flesh is always something I struggle with; I consider that as continual suffering; this contrariety of the will, this bondage of the mind to exalt itself against God, the constant struggle to kill the desires that spring up from the heart; the heart is deceitful above all things. Public enemy number one: the human heart.

"Thank God I'm not like that", said the pharisee; he was worse. Do you not sometimes make idols of your kids, or your wife, or your job, or of your etcetera? "Well some people spiritualize everything"; of course. Anyway...

The year is spent; and a new one is coming in a few days; and I thank God from the bottom of my wicked heart for His grace; for this amazing grace and the amazing love of Christ. This has been a year of suffering, at least for me, because the real suffering has been discovering the depth of my depravity; that is why I am so grateful for God's grace.

I'm still alive, the whole year I have been forgiven, I have been loved by my Savior; the whole year He's brought me back to verse one: therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.


http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I still believe...

Good morning!! It's early and it is cold, blurrrr; well, it is about 41 degrees and it's really not that cold but hey I'm a hot blooded Italian stallion, what can I say. I had nightmares last night, and waking up was painful; just as painful as being born into this world; but I'm grateful for life.

I'll make sense soon, be patient, my fingers are just warming up and I need a little Message of Love by Jimi Hendrix to fully come back into reality; and more coffee. Is that bad? I guess not; I wonder how did he make that guitar sing like that, anyway...

I woke up saved, again, I still believe; isn't that amazing? You go to sleep, and step into another reality; do some fighting there, and then you wake up in pain, and you still believe, it doesn't matter how much this world, or the other, throws at you; your faith is still there; you open your eyes, and the first thought in your brain is: thank you God. That's weird.

Some time ago, I wrote a list of things that I am grateful for; and then I wrote another list of things that I worry about. The list of blessings had about 87 items on it, the other one had about six; of those six things I worried about, only two had a high probability of coming to pass; and the other four I had absolutely no control over them. Only one was absolutely certain that it would come to pass: dying.

Today could be the last day of my life for all I know; God might decide to stop my heart from beating; and there is absolutely nothing I could do about it. The human heart is a muscle, it contracts and expands tens of thousands of times during a lifetime; it's a pump; pushing this red fluid all over the body through little tiny tubes. The heart is the only muscle over which we have no control; you can flex all your muscles, except this one; Jesus is the one who has the control over it; physically and spiritually.

I woke up this morning with my heart still beating; and with faith flowing from my spiritual heart; both are completely controlled by Jesus Christ; both hearts, the physical and the spiritual; and both, the heart and the faith. I am totally in His hand; and no one dares to snatch me from there; in fact no one can.

One of the reasons I write this blog is so that my daughters can have my thoughts available; I seem to communicate better through paper than through my mouth, just yesterday we were at Eutychus' home for Christmas dinner, and I was honored again by being asked to pray for the food; right after I prayed, my daughter says: "now in English dad", it was funny, I guess I still have that accent women love, ha.

But this is not only for the sake of just talking and blabbing away; not at all, I want to make them think. To my honor, a lot of people are reading this, mostly my close friends and family, but there are some who read my words, that I really don't know who they are, but God knows who they are, and they read. I want to make them think also.

So, think for a moment (you don't have to agree with anything I say, of course), if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and I mean a true believer, one who believes that He, God, came as a baby and grew up to be a man, and who had all divine power, who was the exact imprint of the nature of the Father, Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

If you are one of those people who believes that you have been redeemed not with silver or gold, or any perishable thing, but with the precious blood of the Lamb of God (1Pet 1:18-20); if you are one of those people who mourn over your sin (Mat. 5:4), if you are one of those who desire to please God, and yet you see your impotence to match His standards (Isa. 64:6); if you are one who screams with Paul: who can deliver me from this body of death? And then you thank God for Jesus, for Him saving you from wrath (Rom. 7:24-25), for Him dying in your place and taking your sin and casting it as far as the east is from the west (Psa.103:12), and who made you His possession by putting the seal of His Spirit inside of you (Eph. 1:13).

If you are one of those; Jesus freaks they're called; think and ask yourself this question; why do you believe? Why are you still believing in this Gospel of peace? What makes you to continue to believe? Why is it that you don't suddenly say: this is crap, I'm done with it?

It is the power of God at work in you; the same power that keeps your heart beating thousands of times per day, it is the same power that opens your spiritual eyes so that you can see with your heart; it is the power that the Father used to raise Jesus from the dead; a power greater than the power that was exerted to create the stars; that is the power of the Almighty, the Great I Am, working in you, day in and day out, while you sleep and while you are awake.

Maybe you are not a believer who knows what grace is about; and if you think that you need to keep on performing for God and making amends for your bad thoughts and actions; then you don't know grace. If you think or feel that you constantly have to do the right things to be accepted, then you don't know what I'm talking about.

If you have to do something to be saved, then you have to continue to do the same thing to keep your salvation; but if God is the one who saves you, then keeping you believing is His task, it's His work; He began the work, He will finish it.

That is why I woke up this morning and I still believe; what I celebrated yesterday was the birth of My Savior into this world, He came with only one purpose: to die on that cross to pay for my sin; I celebrated that He made it possible for me to believe so that I can still have eternal life; He is the One who made it possible. The words of Jesus still ring true in my mind: I will never leave you nor forsake you.

He proves that to me every morning....I wake up, and still believe.

Oh Night Divine

Christmas day; the great day of the first coming of the King of the universe; He came as a little baby, can you imagine that? I can't. Here is the King becoming a servant; the Almighty God of Heaven and earth taking the form of a human baby, and then being born in a manger; a filthy place indeed.

People from the cities really don't recognize how horrible this is; a baby being born in a stable; that is the most humble, most amazing place for someone to have a baby in, a stable, with cows and donkeys and sheep, maybe even some chickens; if I was the King I would have made arrangements at the Jerusalem Hilton or some five star hospital overlooking the Sea of Galilee, or something; but no, good thing I'm not the King, I would have blasted this planet away a long time ago.

But no; as it turned out to be; our King came into this world in the humblest place to be found; no doctors for Mary, no nurses, no oxygen mask, no cigars for Joseph; no brandy to celebrate; no family and friends in the waiting room; just a bunch of animals, the mooing and cowing of humble animals and the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies; the smell of manure and the stench of insalubrious waste .

Maybe I'm wrong; I'm probably wrong, for sure I'm wrong. The animals were probably quiet as a mouse, sensing the arrival of their creator, no moos, no blaaahs, no buzzing of the flies; every single animal was probably in awe in the presence of the Great I Am; The Prince of Peace permeating everything with his presence; even the bacteria in that place bowed down before the King. Yeah, that was it; there were microbes on their knees before baby Jesus.

Here come the shepherds after that; "we saw the Angel Of The Lord; and he said The King was born today in this place, and we have come to worship Him"; Joseph was probably ready with the .45 cal sling; shepherds didn't have a good reputation during that time; they were considered the scum of the land, unclean people; but here they are, with eyes as big as pancakes and still tripping from the sight: an army of angels praising God right after this angel announced to them the coming of the Savior.

The shepherds were chosen to get and spread the news; there were no horse emissaries to the city chiefs, no telegrams to the city council, no neon signs before the Sanhedrin; but a bunch of shepherds and a host of angels singing "Glory to God in the highest". They kept on talking about it for months...."but Mary kept silence and kept these things to her heart".

Two thousand and nine years later; here I am bending the knee and I am worshiping Him; Jesus the God-Man; the Savior of this wretched man. Bend the knee, fall on your knees, and worship the King.

The invitation is open to all who read; to worship, to proskuneo, to kiss, like a dog licking the master's hand, that is what worship means, that is what proskuneo means, to lick his hand like a dog; who will you bow down to? Who will you worship this night? This Christmas night, this night divine?

The One who keeps your heart beating, the One who made the earth where you stand, the One who came as a little baby; the One who lived to die.

Merry Christmas...

Today is Christmas eve; and then we celebrate the birth of Jesus into this world. It is my understanding that Christmas eve is the night before the birth of Jesus, and the night when the Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds was the night after His birth. So what is the deal with Christmas eve?

Traditions are cool; they cause me to think about the why of many things; and traditions are good for keeping people together, like family traditions, putting up the tree, decorating it, wrapping presents, cooking, baking, playing games, etc. It's fun, it's cool to remember things like that.

In my family, a nice big Italian family; Christmas is a big deal; since I was a kid, all my uncles and cousins came to our house and we celebrated it together; we had tons of food and tons of drinks, it all was an excuse to get a little drizzled and love each other; lots of hugs and kisses, and a lot of crying. A lot of laughter around the fireplace, it was fun. Then the presents; we opened presents on Christmas eve, that was the tradition.

At one point in time, and for some strange reason, I was the one appointed to pray before dinner; I guess I could make Spanish sound pretty, I don't know; but I remember always praying, thanking God for His mercy and for giving us life for one more year; for giving us such a cool family; and it was, it was a great family.

It is a custom, a tradition in my family, to kiss each other when we meet; for me it is the most normal thing to kiss my father (when he was still here) and mother, and my brothers; and it is a Mexican custom to kiss the ladies that are friends; or the friends' wives; I miss that; everyone is so cold around here.

Anyway; what is the deal with Christmas eve? Now that I have been a Christian for about twenty years, it is easy to see; but out there in the world, this evening is just another excuse to get loaded. As time goes by and I get older and older, I think more and more about Jesus; not just on Christmas but any day, this is not something that I can boast about since it is Him who causes me to think about Him.

This is a big celebration; this is the celebration of the coming of the God-Man; the Almighty; the Prince of Peace. Even when people don't believe on Him for redemption, they are celebrating Christmas, unconsciously they are saying Hail The King! In their stupor they see the calendar and acknowledge that Jesus came two thousand years ago, when they write the date on a check or anywhere else, everybody acknowledges that the King arrived.

It's Christmas eve now, I started writing this in the morning and it took all day to finish, but that is the way life is, isn't? So it is now 11:56 P.M., I barely made it.

Luk 2:10-14 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
"This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Is the Lord Almighty pleased with you? That is the question to ask ourselves on Christmas Eve; is the King pleased with the way I lived this year? If you didn't live by faith, I think you shouldn't listen to the angel, and be afraid.

Merry Christmas....

Here we go again...

Are you scared of guns? Are you really? Oooooh, a gun! How scary! I won't be able to sleep tonight! I saw a gun! Oooooh, someone was talking about guns at Starbucks and it scared me!! Ooooh!! Guns are bad, no one should be able to have one, oooh....guns are soooooo bad.....

Guns are just tools, are you scared of your hand drill? Are you scared of your 6 foot aluminum ladder? Ooooh, don't touch that screwdriver, it's baaaad.....

What a bunch of nonsense; I have to say it; people are so ignorant. It surprises me, or maybe not; I was not born here, I was not raised here; I became a citizen of the USA in the year 2000, and I know more about the history of this country and the constitution than most people I know; it's a shame.

But I know one thing for sure; the liberals will not stop until they are in control of everybody's lives; starting with the UN, they have been seeking to destroy the constitution of this country for only one reason: they hate us. They hate our freedom, they hate that the power is with the people for the people, they just hate it.

I'm inviting you to do some research and find out what this country was designed for; find out who the framers of the constitution were, and what they intended when they signed that document; find out why why the people in this country are able to go into a store and buy a hand gun, find out why you are free.

I've been saying it for quite a long time, gun control is imminent; in fact our governor, yeah, Arnold, just passed a law that requires registration of all ammunition purchases, this is to control how much you can buy; it has nothing to do with crime, the fact is that the more gun control there is, the more crime there is. And if there is no ammo, they are forcing us to hand-load our own. They forget that criminals don't go into the store and buy a legal gun, they buy it in the street, stolen; while the lawful citizens pay the bill and the consequences of the government's inadequacy.

The whole thing about control is to control you, and me, and our kids and grand children; it is obvious, at least to me and to 40 million legal gun owners, and the loss of our most basic freedoms; our second amendment rights for example; I'm ranting.

I am inviting you, no, urging you to get educated, and to join the NRA; they are the only shield we have in Washington and the UN. Let me re-phrase that; God is King of the universe and He wants you to be free, so join the NRA; I just renewed my subscription.

This video is only about nine minutes, I think you should watch it.

Good morning...

It's raining; it's windy; it's cold; it's very good, I like it a lot. Somewhere in other parts of this country it is snowing, and it's cold and it's windy, and is not very good at all; this is what makes this place so awesome to live in.

Growing up in Mexico City was like a horror show sometimes; have you ever driven your car in rain so thick you can't see the hood of your car? It's like opening a fire hose on your windshield, the wipers are useless; it is scary; I've never seen anything like it again.

How about shoveling your way out of the house, through 6 feet of snow? I did that when I lived in Montana; or walking through fog so dense that you can't see 3 feet in front of you? I've seen that in the mountains of Veracruz; or how about heat so intense that not even the birds come out to fly? You can experience that in Mexicali, during summer.

How about wind so strong that you can't drive your car at more than 25 mph? Wind that overturns semis? You can experience that in La Ventosa in Chiapas. This earth is indeed a trippy place to live; a dangerous place.

I can't wait for redemption; for the total and complete redemption of the universe; it's coming soon. I'm going to have a body that feels no pain; a heart that is not deceitfully wicked, a mind that thinks what is right all the time; a heart that feels no fear, no worry, no sorrow, I will have a face with eyes that cry no more. It's coming soon.

The earth cries in expectation for the redemption of the sons of men; the planet convulses and shakes in eagerness for the coming of the King; the mountains smoke and tremble; and we groan with the weight of sin and corruption.

God loves me; that is a good thought to have early in the morning; God loves me, more than I can ever imagine, more than my puny little worm heart can fathom; God loves me, He cares, He understands my infirmities, He knows my heart, He sees the blackness and has compassion; He forgives all my iniquities. I have no idea why.

Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name; Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

I'm trying to memorize Psalm 103; I got stuck in the first five verses though; it seems that my mind just wants to stay there: who redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; that is enough for me. I'm still trying to memorize it, and I get stuck there, my iniquities forgiven, my diseases healed.

I woke up forgiven; with a lovingkindness crown on my head, redeemed from destruction; it's a glorious morning, the King has forgiven this man; this wicked man, what else is there to do but to bless His holy name? I look at the clouds, and the trees moving in the wind, and I see the rain falling like His grace, all I can do is bless His holy name, with all that is within me, I bless His holy name.

What else is there to do but to praise His holy name? He carried my sorrows, He is acquainted with my grief; He was wounded for my transgressions, Isa 53:5-7 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

So I open my mouth and praise Him; I click this keyboard with my fingers and praise Him; and this brain can hold only one thought; bless His holy name. Jeremiah is right, Lamentations 3:21-26 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

It is good that I should hope and quietly wait for God's salvation; my hope is in Him alone; He has made me to hope in Him, He has caused me to trust in Him, He is the one who leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake, He is the one who is at work in me to will and to perform of His good pleasure, He is the one who rightfully claims the rights to my life's ownership; He is the one to whom I willingly surrender.

It's windy and cold, and it's all very good; Psa 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. I can't think of a better way to start the day than to say to my soul: bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is withing me, bless His holy name.

I need more coffee....

I have friends

Friends are a blessing from God. I don't deserve to have good friends; really; so many times I am not friendly at all; my egocentric heart doesn't relent, it's gotta be about me, all day long, thinking what I need, what I lack, what I plan to do, what could have happened, what I could get, what am I going to eat, how am I going to pay, what am I going to do to get more money, what I want to do tomorrow, and what about the pain that nails me, and what about the suffering, what the discomfort; what the horrible mood; etc, etc. It goes on and on....

Sometimes I just don't feel like talking to anybody; mostly when I wake up; all I want is coffee....sometimes I just don't feel like talking period. Sometimes I'm surprised I made it through the night.

The egocentric heart of a sinful man....we all have one of those.

Then, out of the heavenlies, as sudden as a bolt of lightning; grace, this amazing grace of God that washes my sins away; this grace that has transformed my heart of stone into a heart of flesh; this grace that assures me, that humbles me, that fills me with gratitude, that gives me hope; this grace that just makes me give all the praise and all the glory to God, and forget about myself; this grace that gives me friends and keeps them friendly. Sovereign grace.

This is the blessing for today, besides all the air that I have taken in; and all the sun and blue sky my eyes have seen; dinner with my friends and my daughter, a house full of people, and children, and dogs, and exotic birds, and pumpkin pie; dinner, fellowship, worship with my friends, singing to God with my friends the musicians; singing to God-here I am to worship-; singing with my friends-your love oh God reaches to the heavens-; sing to God with my friends-and I fall face down-we all sang to our God. Even the dogs were blessed. Thank you Jesus.

I have about three friends, that's it; only three, maybe four, no more; but I can say for sure that they are real friends, good friends, friends that will keep me accountable, friends that will not get their feelings hurt if I don't call them, friends that pray for me. Even then, I only have one best friend. Do you have any of those? They are rare.

These friends are a treasure in earthen vessels; they are vessels of honor, and I am a cracked pot. But I think about friendships; some friends we think we have, that are not, will never be; some that we never thought we had, we have.

That doesn't make any sense, does it? It doesn't matter; what matters, as always, is what God is doing in our lives for the sake of magnifying His glory through the Son; that is what is important; and how did I get here from dinner? Whatever....

God says; the Father has chosen us from the beginning unto salvation; He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him; and in love He predestinated us to become adoptive children through Jesus Christ; so that the glory of God's grace might be praised. Read Ephesians one for that.

If He, God, chose us, then it is obvious that He chose our friends too; that is even more obvious after almost twenty years of dealing with the same friends. But if God has predestinated me to life; it is my belief that God has also predestinated all the events that come to pass in my life.

God is never surprised by anything; He foreknew me. He knows all my thoughts before I think them; He knows all my words before I speak them; He knows all my dreams before I dream them; and He knows all my actions before I act them.

I have to apply the same logic here for all the people that I ever meet; not all of them will or have become my friends; but only three or four. But there is a reason why I met all these people in my life; I have probably met thousands of people since I was a kid; have you ever thought about this before? Really, think about all the people you have ever met during your life; each one of those people have a little world they live in.

God uses all people around me to change me; I'm not a very friendly guy, I know some people who can just talk to anybody wherever they are, they just strike conversations with strangers; I find that really hard to do since most of the time I just want to be left alone.

Some brothers feel they need to be constantly looking for opportunities to save people, to proselyte others into their faith; that's fine with me but I'm not like that, maybe regrettably so, but just can't do it. I know, I'm not making sense, but maybe I will.

Some even see this as a marketing type of opportunity; you tell two people, and those two people tell other two and so forth; and then the whole world will be saved; "hey Jesus wants to solve all your problems; He will fix your marriage, and He will make you prosperous, and healthy, and make you all happy and nice nice"; really? Will He do that for me? Ok, I'll believe...where do I sign?

Once they're "in"; what they hear from the pulpit is: "you need to make a commitment, you need to take this more seriously, you need to get off the throne, you need to commit to this body and give more...etc, etc". Hey, I already committed, I made the right choice, I read the book and all I have is problems..." Well you haven't stopped drinking, you still watch porno, your wife says; and you still cheat on your tax returns; plus you haven't volunteered to watch the kids once a month or serve in the doughnut ministry, I don't think you have counted the cost;to make it all worse we haven't seen a check with your name on it for a long time".

They leave church spinning, bowed down by the guilt trip; "I"m such a sinner, I'm a bad Christian".

What happened to hell? What happened to repentance from sin? What happened to Jesus being born in this world with the sole purpose of dying on that cross to pay your debt, and save you from the wrath to come? What happened to all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? They never heard that before; "is that in the bible?".

A true friend will tell you that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Rom. 8:1); a real friend will tell you that God promises to you are true, like "in this world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33) for example; your real friends will remind you that God chose you (Eph. 1:4, 2Thes. 2:13); that you have a destiny in glory with Him (Rom 8:18); your best friend will tell you that God is the one who began the work in you and He will be faithful to complete it (Phil.1:6), that Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith (Heb.12:2), that you are saved by grace so that you will not boast about performing for God (Eph. 2:8-9); that you are a work of art in His eyes and He will make you what He wants you to be (Col. 2:10); that you had nothing to do with your salvation and is God the one who will keep you saved (1Cor. 1:8; 1Cor. 1:30).

I knew I was going to go off tripping; I can't help it though, that's the way God made me; all I wanted to say is how cool is to have good friends and how blessed I am for having them; so yeah, I have good friends and I am a blessed man.

I miss my grand kids....

No need to feel ugly..

Eph 1:15-21 Therefore I also, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us, the ones believing according to the working of His mighty strength which He worked in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name being named, not only in this world, but also in the coming age.

Oh, that I could learn to pray like that. Paul knew what prayer is about, huh. When I read Ephesians, especially chapter one; I can't help but to be in awe of God. It's Paul's prayer, and by consequence Jesus' prayer and God's desire, that we may be granted by God the Father the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; in the knowledge of the Father.

Reason gets in the way of just accepting this at face value; the Spirit of wisdom and revelation... I will probably not make any sense. The way He does this is by enlightening the eyes of our understanding, first to digest the word of God and then to know who He is; Jesus said it: John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know You (the Father), the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

The only possible way for me to know the Father, is to know the Son (John 1:18), Jesus said: John 10:30 I and the Father are one! So when I read that "in the knowledge of Him", it means the Father, but it also means the Son; it's beautiful.

The eyes of my understanding are the eyes of my heart, of my mind, the eyes by which I perceive everything around me, and by which I see the spiritual things that God has blessed me with; these are the eyes that have 20/20 vision at all times; these are the eyes that allow me to see Jesus in His word.

Will the eyes of my understanding be opened if I get a brain tumor? Will I know the Father deeper if He told me I was about to die? God is just too merciful to me; I don't deserve to be here, I don't deserve to see my children's faces, to hear their voices; I don't deserve to have Jesus be revealed to me; I don't deserve to have His Spirit. But He chose to do that...

Mat 11:27 All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him.

If I ever get the eyes of my understanding opened so that I can know the Father, is only by Jesus choosing to reveal Him to me; that is what He said. it is not my choice; and that is exactly what Paul is asking; that God may choose to reveal Himself to me; I have no idea how the previous statement got italicized, seriously, it just happened as I was writing.

I probably clicked the I symbol by mistake, I can't see how that would happen, but it did. Anyway...

The reason I need to know the Father, besides the obvious, is so that I can know the hope of His calling; what calling? What meanest thou? The hope of eternal life; that calling, the hope of eternal happiness and fulfillment, the hope of having a body and a mind that is willing to obey God at all times; the hope of being in an undefiled body, free from temptations and sins, and fleshly desires, that is the hope, that is my hope, that is the hope to which I have been called, to be like Jesus and with Jesus. My hope is to be with Him; to be like Him is worthless if He is not there.

But why do I need to know this hope? Isn't it something that I have always had, since I became a Christian? Didn't I have this hope from the beginning? Obviously not; and even if I had it, it has never been to the extent designed by God.

But who am I anyway? What gives me the authority to talk about these things? What makes me think that I am right, or that I'm wrong? And does it really matter if I'm wrong or right? Not really. What matters is what God says that matters, in this case, that the eyes of my understanding might be opened for me know what is the hope of His calling.

And not only that but that I might know what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints; wow, God has an inheritance; an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for me who believe and who is being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, says Peter, (1Pet.1:4-5); that's amazing.

I was cruising through my dashboard yesterday, and I ended up in this girl's blog; and the title to her post was: "I feel ugly"; I read it and it made me weep, I read it and it really made me think about my daughters; how many times have they felt ugly and I didn't know about it? I felt ugly at the end, I am an ugly sinner, and old ugly sinner with no Christmas tree; but then I started thinking, by God's moving in me, about Ephesians chapter one and the wonders that await me; it blew my mind. That's my inheritance, glory with Jesus, with the God Man, in heaven, forever.

But why? Why is this so? Why does He want me to know this? The answer to that question is contained in the few verses before: we have received a deposit of that inheritance, the Holy Spirit, for the praise of His glory; that's it, for the praise of His glory; that is the purpose, that is the end, the praise of His glory.

But the praise of His glory would be incomplete if it is not the praise of the glory of His grace; His grace, demonstrated in the coming, dying and resurrecting of our Lord; the King of the universe; Jesus Christ, the one and only God over all, who is blessed forever, amen.

The most important, the greatest, the unmatched and unequaled person in the universe, is the Lord Jesus; period. Nothing and no one compares to Him; all the beauty, all the holiness, all the wisdom, all the power; and all the glory and might belongs to Him alone; and it is to Him, to Christ Jesus, that belongs the praise of the glory of God's grace; in Him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and understanding, in Him alone is the love of God revealed to men and women, and it is from Him alone that the revelation of God's amazing grace comes from.

God wrote the letter to the Ephesians by the hand of Paul; God Himself dictated the words contained therein and directed them to the Ephesian Christians, and to me, and to you; and 2000 years later we can read these words and take courage and revel in the amazing request of this man of God for the eyes of our understanding to be opened so that we can know the Son of God; and have eternal life and joy.

Paul is asking that we might be filled with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Father; that the eyes of our hearts, our understanding, our minds, be opened so that we may know three "whats"; the third what is "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places"

The ESV puts it like this: Eph 1:19 "and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
Eph 1:20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places"; His power is immeasurable in greatness, unquantifiable; infinite.

This power, He says, is the power He is exercising in us who believe; so I can clearly see that I believe because He is exerting this power in me; but this power is not like any power; but the same power He exerted in Jesus Christ to bring Him back from the dead; is not the power He used to create the universe, is not the power He used to divide the Red Sea; is not the power He used to fling the stars into existence; no, this power is greater than all powers, it's the power of resurrection, of divine life.

Do you see what I see? Do you feel like I do? Are you not in awe? Is your heart not filled with praise to the King? Maybe not; you can't be amazed on your own, God has to open the eyes of your understanding; He is the One who has to amaze you.

If you are not in awe; there is nothing you can do to be in awe, you can't gather awe from the recesses of your heart, you can't open the eyes of your understanding, you can't see what is the hope of your calling, you can't see what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance, you can't see what is the power that is being exerted in you to believe; unless God does it for you; there is no way out of that one.

But if you read and understand Ephesians one; then you can be sure that it is God who is causing you to understand; if you don't understand, there is no need to feel ugly, no need to feel less loved, lack of spiritual understanding doesn't make you less in the sight of God.

The only possible reason for anyone to understand the riches of His glorious grace, is so that we can give praise to Him; as John Piper says: "He is not intending to make much of us; He intends for us to make much of Him". We are nothing and we are undeserving of anything from the King of kings, but He is absolutely deserving of everything from us; even the glory of a breath of air.

God's grace is amazing; it ravishes the heart; it demolishes man's self-determination; it obliterates the ego; it turns a worm like me into a precious possession of the King; not because of anything I have done, all I have ever done is sin against God; but because of His great love, because of the counsel and pleasure of His will, and to the praise of the glory of His grace.

"They're gonna kill gramma"

The "masters of deceit and deception: Mr Obama, the Democratic party and the mainstream media"; hey I didn't say it but I told you so.

Watch this guy named Martin Gross author of 'National Suicide' talk about the government and the trillions of dollars that your grand children are going have to pay in the future; all in taxes, so that our "brilliant" president and his minions continue to use your and my money to kill babies.

Click here to watch the video in Newsmax TV.

"the Planet is getting cooler"

I've been saying it for years; global warming is just part of the new world order movement; one more way to control people by subjecting everyone to stupid regulations; such as hugging trees in the morning after you've got your early dose of medicinal THC.

I told you before; they claim that cutting trees in the jungles of south America and southern Mexico causes the planet to heat up; I have always said it, it is stupid to believe that, if you have never seen the jungle (I've actually lived in it for almost 2 years); the rain forest is called rain forest because it rains like crazy; trees grow at an insane rate; in fact they have to cut down the jungle every few weeks in order to keep the roads open; I've seen it, I've been there. They can probably cut trees forever and they will never be done with them; and they are not pine trees by the way.

Hear the guy in the video say "the planet is not getting warmer but cooler"? This proves me wrong; not all American people are misinformed.


http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid20971858001?bclid=22770165001&bctid=55733824001

A .308 Rifle

I'm loading .308 Win. ammo; I have been praying for a rifle and I am getting ready for the moment when God gives it to me; He knows I like shooting, so I believe He will answer my prayer. Ammo is good; .308 is good, .5 inch groups at 100 yards are good, and it's also expensive, reloading makes it cheap.

Would God answer a prayer like that? "Lord, you know all things, and you know how much I enjoy shooting guns, it is almost spiritual; so dear God, would you please give me a .308 rifle for Christmas? Thank you, in Jesus name amen."

James says we have not because we ask not, and when we ask we ask amiss, to spend it on our lust; we ask for the wrong motives sometimes. But what is the right motive? What would God consider the right motivation? What makes a motive the right motive? Questions, questions....

Like I said before, actually Jeremiah said it, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9; Genesis 6:5; Ecclesiastes 9:3); so when I think about motives the heart immediately comes up in my mind, a motive is what causes a person to act in a certain way, or think, or speak in a certain way; a motive is the force that causes the will to perform an act; that is the way I understand it; so for a motive to be right, it must be congruent with righteousness, the problem is that the heart is devoid of righteousness unless it is guided by the Spirit of God. It is simple logic, a wicked heart cannot generate righteous motives; that is only possible for a person who has a new heart; or in other words, has been born again.

It is clear by what Peter (1Peter 1:23) says, and Paul (Romans 10:17) , that one is born again by the Holy Spirit through the word of God; that even that miracle is actually a fulfillment of God's promise of the new covenant; (Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them).

And the same new covenant is also mentioned in Jeremiah 31:31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.


Who is doing it? Let's see: "I will make a covenant...; I made with their fathers...; I took them by the hand...; I was a husband to them...; I will make with the house of Israel...; I will put my law in their hearts...; I will be their God...; I will forgive...; I will remember no more.... God Himself is doing this; YHWH, the Almighty is doing this; not you, not me, not the pope or your pastor or your best friend, nor whoever carried the gospel message to you; no one can boast about having any part in this; I didn't have anything to do with it; I didn't make a choice to be born again; God did. Again, did I or you have anything to do with this? NO.

Talking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3; Jesus explains how this happens after old Nic asks if he needs to go back into his mom's womb to be born again: John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

If you would like to see the kingdom of God; you must be born of the Spirit, says King Jesus; and if there was anything in our flesh or in our condition that was enough to make it happen, He would have said so; but there is nothing in us that could make that birth possible; old Nic should have known this since the Lord YHWH says it over and over in the old testament; that's why Jesus puts Nic on the spot and asks him how is it possible that he is a teacher and he doesn't know these things; it is obvious.


And did you read the words of Jesus regarding the wind thing? Everyone who is born of the Spirit is born the same way as the wind blows; you can't see where it came from or where it is going; nobody knows; no one can control or grasp the wind except God; period. Even when we think we had something to do with it, we didn't; God made the choice for us.

When did He make that choice? Before the foundation of the world, that's when: Ephesians 1:4-6 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: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

But why? Why is He doing this to me? And to you, if you are born again. Not that I'm complaining, (I had enough of that); well, it says right there, because of the good pleasure of His will and to the praise of the glory of His grace; it's that simple; it just pleased God to do it, He doesn't need a reason to do what He does; He does whatever He pleases on the earth and in the heavens: Psalm 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

"But hold on a second", someone might say; "that's not what Papa Smurf says; God knew you would believe and that is why He chose you and predestined you, that is what it says in Romans; and Papa Smurf couldn't be wrong, come on, he is the founder of hippies for Jesus man, are you kidding?"

Well, Mr Smurf can say whatever he wants, this is a free country and he is protected by the first amendment of our great constitution; but that is not what the bible says; who are you going to believe? What a man says or what God says? Believe the bible? What a concept.

But let's talk about that for a moment. What is he talking about? He is talking about Romans 8:28-30; And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

And the argument goes like this: "God foreknew you would believe when presented with the gospel, so He predestined you to become just like Jesus, that is what God predestines you for; but that is based on the fact that you would believe, it is based on the free-will choice you made; you took action so God took action; see He knew because He lives outside of time and He knows the end from the beginning and He knows what's going to happen in the future, so knowing your choice, He made the choice".

It sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But there are a few problems with that kind of reasoning; I talked at length about this before, but in view of the fact that the dead horse is almost dead, I will continue to kick it.

One of our problems is that when we read passages like this one in Romans; we really are not paying attention to what is saying; and then to make it worse we haven't read and studied the whole book; and by that I mean the whole bible. I am not a teacher of the law, and I am not a pastor, nor am I claiming that I am a theologian; all I'm saying is that line of reasoning does not make sense; based on what the bible says, and what the passage says, and most importantly, based on who God is and His character.

My first argument goes like this: what does it mean when Paul says "foreknew"; when you define the term, it is logical that means "to know beforehand"; in other words, it means that God knows things before they happen, and I'm coming back to that later; but for sake of clarity let's just see how the term is used in "the whole counsel" of God, the whole bible.

The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is in Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

The word there for "know" is the Heb. yada; which means to know, to be acquainted with, and also means to choose. Next..

Hosea 13:4-5 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

Again, the word is yada; here is the Strong's definition just for kicks: yada (393b); a prim. root; to know: - ability (1), acknowledge (4), acknowledged (2), acquaintances (5), acquainted (1), aware (6), becomes known (1), bring forth (1), cared (1), chosen (2), clearly understand (2), cohabit (1), comprehend (1), concern (2), etc, etc.

Next is Psalm 1:6; For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Same word, yada; yada, yada.....yabadoo...

Amos 3:1-2 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

You only have I known, God says; so didn't He know the other families of the earth? Of course He did, and still does; the point is that the knowing here is that "intimate" knowing that God has of His children, He is concerned about them, He acknowledges them; He cares for them; that is why Paul speaks in a similar manner in Romans 11:1-2: I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.

The word Paul is using is προγινώσκω, proginōskō; which besides meaning knowing beforehand also means to ordain...interesting. The point is that if you really study this it becomes apparent that the term foreknowing is equivalent with foreordination; which is the same thing as predestinating, or predestining.

Going back to the beginning of my dissertation; God is sovereign and awesome in power; His ability to know things before they happen surpasses all our expectations, our minds are too small to even try to comprehend how He does things; and the fact is that when God knows an event in the future, it also means that He is decreeing that event to come to pass; and nothing can prevent that event from happening; in fact, even when things look grim and we think that there is no way out of our predicaments, God always does whatever He deems best, this to the praise of the glory of His grace, not for our sakes but for His name sake.

His plan for the universe is the best of all possible plans, and the plan He has for your life is the best of all possible plans and whatever comes to pass during your existence has been ordained by God to become a reality, even before the foundation of the world.

That makes my point clear back in Romans 8:28-30; now think about something here, just give me a moment so I can put it in a logical order; Paul says in verse 30: Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Ok...

At this point I'm going to show you that you had nothing to do with your election; Mr Smurf says that God knew you were going to believe and based on that God chose you; but that is not only illogical it is also not scriptural; think.....those whom God predestinate them He also called, ok fine; and then those whom He called, them He also justified; and how is it that one is justified? We are justified by faith, Romans 5:1-2 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

How is it that we obtain the faith that is required for us to believe and be justified? God gives it to us: Ephesians 2:8-9; " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast"; besides this, Paul just said in Romans 5:1-2 that it is through Jesus that we have access to this faith; do you see it now? I do.

In salvation, God is the one who alone gets all the glory; not man. Or what else could "lest any man should boast" mean? God takes all self-determination and boasting out of the equation when He is the one that gives you the faith in the first place; there is nothing you can do to obtain this faith on your own; you don't have it, period.

It is so evident that we don't have faith, that in fact Paul says that we are at enmity with God, our minds are not able to subject to God's law and authority, it is impossible: Romans 8:5-9 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.....

It is at this point that I get stopped, the bible study is interrupted; and the controversy starts; man's pride is so deceivingly corrupt that it is considered offensive on my part to give all the glory to the Almighty God for saving me; wow. Whatever.

So yes; God knew you were going to believe because He made sure that you would believe by giving you the faith you needed to believe; is that simple. So if you say that God based His predestining you on the fact that you were going to believe; you are wrong, I just proved that that's not the way it is because He is the one who made you believe in the first place and your self-determining powers all came crashing down like a house built on the sand. Sorry Smurf.

If you are a believer, it is because God appointed you to believe; it is not because you had a remote section of righteousness in your heart and you were seeking for God; no one seeks for God, read Romans and you will see; if you think you made a choice and that you invited God to come and rescue you from your depravity, you are mistaken; you were not seeking for righteousness, none of us were; we were dead in trespasses and sins following the desires of our flesh and of our mind and were children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3); we were condemned and on our way to hell; that is the simple truth.

God chose you before the foundation of the world and when the time was right He caused you to be born again, and then gave you faith to believe; and then, and only then, you made a choice to say: "yes I want God"; otherwise it's impossible. He predestined you to become a child of God, you were ordained to become a believer (Acts 13:48); and there is nothing you could do to avoid that from happening; His grace is irresistible; you can resist all you want, but when God says enough, it is enough, you surrender.

To say that God is waiting for us to choose Him, or that He is patiently knocking on the door waiting to be invited in, robs Him from all His glory and sovereignty; it makes Him look like a little god, with small g, it turns out that now He needs permission from us to do what He wants, what a joke, it is offensive. Don't try it, don't throw revelation 3:20 at me to prove me wrong, it is completely out of context, and prideful. That's a topic for another post.

So then, just like David said in Psalm 34, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart; that has always sounded to me like it is God who is going to give you the desires of your heart, meaning, Godly desires; if it is true that God is at work in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), then it is obvious that what you pray for is something that God is putting in you to pray for; even if it seems foolish.

When is the last time that you prayed for a million dollars? I have never prayed for a million dollars, maybe I should; but I really don't believe that God would give it to me; His answer would probably be "NO"; but what is it that you usually pray for? For your kids, for your wife, your husband, for protection, for sustenance, for the salvation of your loved ones, for open doors to minister, for your children to grow up and know Jesus and fall in love with Him, for excellence in your work, for God to use you, for patience, etc, etc,...all Godly desires.

So, Gee, all this talking and still don't know the answer; will He give me a rifle for Christmas? I will never know, unless I ask. Does it matter? It doesn't. Do I have the right motive for asking for it? I think I do but probably not. Does it line up with His will? I don't know, maybe it does. Do I need it? Probably not since I already have some and the weapons of our warfare are not made with hands, say Paul; but if He does give it to me, I will praise His holy name for being exceedingly good to me; and I will for sure shoot it for His glory.

So there; .308 ammo, it's good; 175 grain jacketed hollow point bobtail Sierra bullets are good......I need more powder...

And primers...

Prepare for the North American Union; the future US-MX-CAN union

Another cultural and political brief; courtesy of Makarios for all my dear friends.

The liberals are denying this is happening; and I keep on saying that their next step is gun control; in fact they have already started blaming Mexico's drug traffic organizations weapons problem on the law abiding, hard working, misinformed, American people; and the freedom that the Second Amendment affords them to protect their lives and family and possessions. Just another step towards including this country in the UN's global gun control program, in which 40 countries have already signed in.

Remember New Orleans? Katrina? The BTFA used the bill of rights as toilet paper after going into homes of law abiding citizens and confiscating their hunting rifles and hand guns; I personally watched a video in which the police arrested an 86 year old woman for refusing to surrender her .38 special revolver that she inherited from her husband; she could barely lift it up, but she was handcuffed after being thrown down on the floor by a 250 lbs. gorilla dressed in a police uniform; and I didn't see it on CNN of course. More than 50% of the arms confiscated were never returned to their rightful owners.

They have tried for decades to get rid of the US constitution and the Bill of Rights; first they prohibited prayer in schools, then legalized abortion, then instead of calling drug addiction and alcoholism what it is, sin; they called them disabilities, now marriage is not a man and a woman but Tom and Jerry; and they finally legalized marijuana for "medicinal" purposes. In progress is the first move of the government to turn the greatest power in the history of the world into another socialist experiment..

Even Fidel Castro is putting Obama on the spot for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize and then sending more troops to Afghanistan; the new world order is being set up and there is nothing anyone one can do to prevent it from happening, voting on election day will only delay it, so vote next time you get a chance; everybody has an opinion, but there is only one truth. God reigns.

End of Brief.

Obamacare?

It never ceases to surprise me; the American people are the most misinformed people in the world, period. The obamacare health plan is a socialist move by our new "government"; next thing up will be gun control.

Whoever doesn't see that Obama is a socialist radical wacko, must stop drinking the liberal cool-aid. Mike Savage is right when he says that liberals are demented people, what is worse is that I know some people who say they are Christians who actually voted for Osama, I mean Obama..

And finally; The Lord is coming back soon, the signs are everywhere. I'm ready to get out of this place; well that's what I think, I am obviously not ready if I'm still here. But, hey, listen to this guy, I think it's interesting....

Oh Christmas Tree...

Do I have any right to complain about anything? Or just complain period? No, I don't. The children of Israel wandered for 40 years in the wilderness because of their grumbling and complaining; in fact that whole generation died in the desert and never saw the promised land, even Moses was a victim of a patient-less heart.

Thinking about this objectively I find that the only thing I am promised by God is trials and tribulations (John 16:33) while living on this earth; foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of God had no place to lay His head, what makes me believe that I have any rights? I am a slave, slaves have no rights. An unprofitable servant is what I am, Luke 17:10. That is what Jesus said.

On the other side, I can complain all I want and it will not change anything; nothing at all. Complaining is pretty much like worrying, it doesn't accomplish anything; it doesn't make you grow, it doesn't make your hair grow, it doesn't help your eyes, doesn't make your teeth whiter and it will not help you lose weight, it only causes harm; it turns your hair white instead of your teeth, makes you grind your teeth and makes you fat and ugly; in fact, complaining is pretty much like worrying, they are almost the same in my dictionary, they are sisters, or little brothers if you will, maybe twins; there they go, complaint and worry holding hands, bitching about life together.

Oh oh; I said bitching; sorry. Bitching is a close relative of complaint and worry, so I had no choice; they go together through life; making life miserable for anyone who will let them; they are all part of the family of the discontent; and they live in a dark place; a place of turmoil and desperate want: the human heart.

But that is the way the heart is; the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; I have one of those; and guess what...., you do too. Watch your heart said Solomon, for out of it proceed the issues of life (Prov. 4:23); and what about Jesus, He is wiser than Solomon: Matthew 15:10-19 And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us."
And he said, "Are you also still without understanding?
Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

What an immense problem!! Do you see it? It is a dilemma for all humans, even Christians. See, you and I have a heart, deceitful above all things; and it is out of that heart that evil thoughts come from, as well as murder (southern California freeways, Target parking lot); adultery (check her/him out); sexual immorality (colorful websites; daytime soap operas, the Young and the Restless); theft (covet that new Mercedes); false witness (I didn't do it; and the boob job); slander (did you hear about so and so?); is that bad? Houston, we have a problem; I just got defiled when I used the b word; the first one, not the second one.

The things I don't want to do, those I do; the things I really want to do, those I don't; who can deliver me from this body of death? If you don't think like that, it might be an indication that you need to read your bible, if you are not a Christian, then it doesn't matter what you do; you are toast and you really don't have a problem. In fact, you think your heart is good; and all people are good inside.

But that is a lie; no one is good; no one seeks after God; this is Paul in Romans 3, quoting from the OT:"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
"Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." (there goes the b word again) "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Not one, what an indictment!! Everyone is guilty, period. Not even my grand kids are free of guilt, little sinners. I love those little sinners; I miss them little sinners.

So we stand powerless over the effects of our nature; step one....never mind; let me go back to what I was saying; complaining doesn't fix anything, and worrying doesn't either; you know what I mean, the bills, the insurance, the brakes on the car, the electric bill, your lack of husband, or wife; or your husband or wife; either way; the Christmas tree or the lack thereof; what will happen if we don't have a tree this year? Let's worry about that, or complain. Or b word it.

Will you be thinking about not having a tree ten years from now? I can almost hear it: "I know what it is to suffer need, our whole family suffered depression for months; it was devastating, we couldn't sleep for days into the new year; back in 2009 we couldn't afford 50 dollars for a tree; it was the most horrible Christmas of our lives; all our neighbors had theirs, all we had was a busket, we could see the lights through their windows; we tried not to stare; what a horrible nightmare of a Christmas, a tragedy indeed; it was like torture, I don't wish the lack of a tree on my worst enemy, it's just too cruel; it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and be chastised that way; it's the electric company's fault."

And what about Christmas presents? Celebrate the birth of our Savior with no presents and no tree? Are you kidding me? What a horrible way to think; it's blasphemy! What kind of undeveloped third world hole did you crawl out of? You are not serious, are you? The kids will be traumatized for life; that's not even patriotic.

This year we will not be getting a tree; and the way things are going, we might not have presents either; should I complain or worry about that? I don't think so. I'll look at my neighbor's Christmas lights from my garage; he can spend the money on the electric bill; if I want to smell a pine all I have to do is walk about 25 yards and rub my hands on a branch; I might have to borrow my neighbor's little car pine deodorizer from his rear view mirror, or what about using Pinesol to clean the floor, that should do the trick.

Jeremiah was serious about trees:
Jeremiah 10:2-4 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

I will read the account of Jesus' birth in Luke chapter 2 and will have peace since God is pleased with me because of what He has done: Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

By the way, that is the correct translation, is not "good will towards men" as we read in the KJV; what does that mean? It means that the peace is directed toward those who believe, and how is it that they believe? God causes them to be born again, and then gives them faith; that is why God is pleased with them; that is what the bible teaches, that is what Jesus meant when He said that every plant that His heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up, so there.

Jesus was not born in December, not even in winter; nowhere in the bible does it say anything about putting a tree inside your house, or giving each other presents; those are all pagan rituals related to the ancient Saturnalia, or the winter solstice; the birth of the sun, Nimrod, etc.....all pagan festivities, in fact the early church was opposed to the practice; so I don't feel bad about the tree or the presents; I should be celebrating the birth of Jesus as a human being everyday, not once a year.

How many families do read the account of Jesus' birth on Christmas? I don't know, but that is a good question. It is on Luke chapter 2 by the way; did I mention that before?. As for this world goes, Christmas is not all about Jesus; in fact the world hates Him; and the world hates you and me too; they hate the fact that we don't complain, or do we? We shouldn't if we do, Philippians 2:14.

But we do; we complain and grumble, that is our nature; if we say that we do not grumble the truth is not in us, and we stand as liars, if we say that we have no sin we make God a liar and His word is not in us.

Ok, I just made all that up to feel better about not having a tree and complaining about it, couldn't help it, it sounds so spiritual. Trees are good, they bring the spirit of Christmas to the house, they look so cool when the lights of the house are off and the lights on the tree are on, they smell good, plus they make the ideal place to put the presents; have a nice Christmas.