Brothers and sisters in Christ, forgiveness is plentiful and free. Grace and mercy are equally extended from the Lord to all. All we must do to receive it is humbly acknowledge we need it. As God’s children, we all know this well. So why do we ever pridefully insist God is wrong and any number of pet sins are right actions for us? Look at the machines we have made. What computer program would dare say to its coder, “You have coded me wrong. I will ignore your instructions and do what is right in my own eyes”? Today’s machines have no ability to disobeyRead More →

The mentally ill come in all the same varieties as people without a mental illness. You have wicked people who are mentally ill, and their mental illness does not make their evil ways any less wicked. You have demon possessed people who are mentally ill, who may need both an exorcism and salvation to be cured, and it may well be instant in their cases, but that is certainly not every case. You have lukewarm Christians with mental illness who use “I’m sick” or “my child is sick” as an excuse to wallow in unrepentant sin. This sort will answer to God on the sameRead More →

Since my tad-rebellious side found it humorous, and it’s still timely and a blessing to me this year, here is a flashback to a public prayer shared originally on January 3, 2011. Lord, in this new year, let us put our hand to the plow, and continue the work you have called us to, not looking back. Let us remember not the things of old, but look ahead to the new thing you plan to do in us. May we see rivers in the desert, a way in the wilderness. Strengthen us to throw off the weight of sin that so easily besets us andRead More →

First, my apologies for the meme’s attention-grabbing nature. True love for God does wait for marriage to have sex, and it is best to be prepared to enter into marriage before doing so. However, it seems we need to start preparing kids to marry at younger ages. If the reports are true that upward of 80% of Christian evangelical young adults are having premarital sex, that is a rather strong indicator we’re delaying marriage longer than most have the self-control to wait. Based on my experiences, for a young couple deeply in love, following the cultural trend of delaying marriage until nearly thirty and alsoRead More →

An internet meme of unknown-to-me origin, if it came from a Christian, puts its foot in its mouth with this “clever” zinger of a sound byte: “Grace didn’t save Noah, …obedience did.” At best, this is a half-truth (and a half-truth is usually dangerous.) Hebrews 10:38 tells “Now the just shall live by faith;” and HE 11:7 continues, “By faith Noah . . . prepared an ark for the saving of his household.” And Genesis 6:8 (KJV) says “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Thanks to Alice Spencer for supplying me that verse.) Walking in faith does mean obeying God, butRead More →