At The Foot Of The Cross-A Poem Repost
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Cross, God, Health, Jesus, Lord, Medical Specialties, Medicine, Podiatry
At the Foot of the Cross
Fearing the battle was over
And I’d already lost the war,
I was tired of trying and failing.
I just couldn’t fight anymore.
So, dragging my battle-scarred body,
I crawled to the foot of the cross.
And I sobbed. ‘Oh please, Father forgive me.
But I tried…I tried.. and still lost.’
Then the air grew silent around me.
I heard his voice just as clear as the dawn:
‘Oh, My child, though you are tired and weary,
You can’t stop, you have to go on.’
At the foot of the Cross , where I met Him,
At the foot of the Cross, where He died,
I felt love, as I knelt in His presence .
I felt hope, as I looked in His eyes.
Then He gathered me lovingly to Him,
As around us God’s light clearly shone.
And together we walked though my lifetime
To heal every wound I had known.
I found bits of my dreams, long forgotten ,
And pieces of my life on the floor.
But I watched as He tenderly blessed them,
And my life was worth living once more.
I knew then why I had been losing.
I knew why I had not grown.
At the foot of the Cross came the answer:
I’d been fighting the battle alone.
At the foot of the Cross, where I met Him,
At the foot of the Cross, where He died,
Then I knew I could face any challenge
Together–just my Lord and I.
- by Marcia Krugh Leaser
http://wewalkwithjesus.org/?p=1202
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Action Alert: Fight Back as Hamas- CAIR targets Kansas Governor
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Capitol Records, Hama, Islam, Kansas, kansas governor, Muslim, Sam Brownback, Sharia
Hamas-CAIR is rabid. The Hamas groups are out for blood. They are harassing and trying to intimidate Kansas Governor Sam Brownback to veto the foreign law prohibition that passed the state legislature overwhelmingly.
Once again, Islamic supremacists are seeking to impose the sharia on non-Muslims.
Islamic supremacists have twitter tools designed to overwhelm Brownback’s twitter with a prewritten tweet. Fight back. See contact information below:
Or:
STEP 1. Click here to tweet Governor Brownback. We’ve done all the work, just copy and tweet. If you don’t have twitter ignore step 1.
@govsambrownback Support SB 79,freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and Constitutional rights, good for #Kansas #brownback #supportsb79
STEP 2. Call Gov Brownback at 785-296-3232 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 785-296-3232 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 785-368-8500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 785-368-8500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting ask to leave a message for the Governor. Say “I urge you to Support SB 79 and oppose Sharia.”
STEP 3.
Governor Brownback
Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 241S Topeka, KS 66612-1590
Toll Free: 877-KSWORKS begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 877-KSWORKS end_of_the_skype_highlighting (877-579-6757 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 877-579-6757 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
https://governor.ks.gov/contact-the-governor
Step 4.
Forward this message, and ask your friends to also act. Do it! And email it to all of your friends, associates and acquaintances.
Recording may reveal new evidence in Manson murders By Olsen Ebright and Patrick Healy, NBCLosAngeles.com
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: California, Charles Manson, LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery-Homicide Division, Sharon Tate, Watson, Wojciech Frykowski
Eight hours of audio never before heard by law enforcement has been requested by the Los Angeles Police Department, and it could link followers of the Manson Family to unsolved murders.
In a letter dated March 19, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck requested “eight hours or so” of audio recordings between attorney Bill Boyd and his then-client Charles “Tex” Watson, according to a U.S. bankruptcy filing.
Watson, the former right-hand man of Charles Manson, is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1969 Manson Family murders.
For more on this story, visit NBCLosAngeles.com
Although the LAPD has yet to receive the recordings, police believe the interviews could contain information about unsolved murders.
“The LAPD has information that Mr. Watson discussed additional unsolved murders committed by followers of Charles Manson,” Beck wrote in a request to a trustee with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The LAPD’s request corresponds to the liquidation of Boyd’s Texas-based law firm as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. Boyd, who died in 2009, represented Watson beginning in 1969 and “for some time thereafter,” according to Beck.
“It is requested that the original recordings be given to the LAPD in order to determine if information regarding unsolved murders was included in the recordings. The LAPD, Robbery-Homicide Division will be investigating Mr. Watson’s recordings…” wrote Beck.
Document: LAPD Chief’s Letter Requesting Audio Recording (PDF)
A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Plano, Texas, to determine if the audio will be given to police.
The recordings remained private until September 1976 when Watson authorized its sale to author Chaplain Ray Hoekstra to help cover unpaid legal fees. Hoekstra used the material for his 1978 book “Will You Die For Me?”
Watson was sentenced to death for the murders of Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Thomas Jay Sebring, Steven Earl Parent, and Sharon Tate Polanski. California temporarily suspended the death penalty in 1972, and Watson has been serving a life sentence ever since. He was most recently denied parole last November.
A bad Penney keeps turning up
10 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Christianity, J. C. Penney, James Cash Penney, JCPenney, Mother's Day, MSNBC, Penney, United States
A couple of months ago we brought to your attention a myriad of examples that demonstrated that J.C. Penney is no longer the family-oriented store so many of us grew up with. From regularly sponsoring some of the worst programming on network television to thumbing its nose at traditional families and aligning with homosexuality, JC Penney has emerged as a corporation that is pushing an agenda that undermines not only the values of millions of Americans, but also undermines its own foundation. (Click hereto read our earlier report.)
Did you know that James Cash Penney’s first stores were not named after himself, but were called “The Golden Rule Stores” because he desired to build his business on that foundational principle? He often said, “I would rather be known as a Christian than a merchant.”
How tragic that a store chain grounded upon Godly principles is now virtually spitting upon those values. In addition to the concerns listed in the link above, JC Penney’s has now come out with a Mother’s Day ad showcasing a lesbian couple with “their” young daughters.
Click here to express your concern to JC Penney’s, letting them know you will not do business with a corporation that undermines your values. (See below for further action points.)
MSNBC reported: “The first step to making a controversial ad work is to recognize that the material could be divisive. Penney certainly knew that featuring a same-sex couple and their family in its new Mother’s Day catalog would upset social conservatives …” and added, “J.C. Penney’s inclusion of a same-sex couple in its catalog was calculating.”
The ad, under the heading “Freedom of Expression,” is a two page photo spread of the two lesbians and the little girls with a caption referring to “Wendi, her partner, Maggie, and daughters …”
This portrayal of a lesbian couple with children as a normal, traditional family – in a Mother’s Day ad, no less – is a slap in the face to the values of James Cash Penney, and more importantly, to the values of millions of Americans who do not appreciate a formerly trusted corporation to purposefully seek to undermine the sacred institutions of marriage and family.
With this ad, along with other recent corporate decisions, JC Penney is choosing to align with the forces seeking to attack the family and biblical values. Instead of holding a neutral position in a debate that has nothing to do with selling merchandise, Penney’s has made their position clear.
We, too, need to make our position clear – that we will not in good conscience support a company that has made a calculated decision to undermine the family and our values.
James Cash Penney once stated: “The assumption was that business is secular, and service is religious. I have never been able to accept that line of arbitrary demarcation. . . . Is not service part and parcel of business? It seems to me so; business is therefore as much religious as it is secular. …”
Penney’s parents grounded him in the Christian faith (his father was a Baptist pastor) and those faith-filled principles guided him throughout his life and career. JC Penney built an empire on those principles, leaving a vast chain of 1,660 stores at his death at the age of 95 in 1971. He was known to frequently share his favorite Bible verse: “I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I will walk in faithfulness to you” (Psalms 26:1-2).
While JC Penney strived to “walk in faithfulness,” the corporation that bears his name has not only betrayed that faith and tainted the values he strived to promote, but has purposefully and actively sided with an opposing ideology that seeks to corrupt those values.
Express your concern to JC Penney’s, urging them to, at the least, remain neutral regarding this divisive issue and to remember that traditional American families and values are what built the company.
Action points:
1. Click here to send a message to the JC Penney’s corporation.
2. Contact your local Penney’s store (either in person or by phone) and ask to speak to the manager. Kindly, but firmly, express your concern about their Mother’s Day advertisement promoting same-sex marriage. Let them know you cannot support a store that is purposefully working to undermine your values. Click on this link to find the Penney’s store closest to you. You can also find phone numbers and mailing addresses (if you would prefer to write a letter) for local stores at this link.
3. Inform your friends and family about this concern, urging them to stand with us.
4. If you have a JC Penney credit card, consider cancelling the account. A cut up credit card and letter explaining why you are cancelling your account will speak volumes!
http://www.americandecency.org/archives/a-bad-penney-keeps-turning-up/#more-6651
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‘Gay’ anti-bully activist ‘savages’ Christians
28 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in This N That Tags: Christian, DanSavage, God, High school, Journalism, Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association, SEATTLE
Homosexual activist Dan Savage, recently invited to be the keynote speaker at a high school anti-bullying conference in Seattle, Wash., promptly used his podium to bash Christians so severely, droves of the students fled the auditorium, some say victims of bullying themselves.
The National High School Journalism Convention, hosted jointly by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association, was supposed to give aspiring students exposure to professional journalism workshops designed to make the journalists of tomorrow the best that they can be.
“Student journalists cover a world where bullying, harassment and hazing are part of their experience,” says the workshop description in part.
Instead, when Savage took to the microphone, the real life exposure to bullying became all too real for the young high school students.
Savage launched into an attack on the Bible, saying, “People often point out that they can’t help it. They can’t help with the anti-gay bullying, because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans, that being gay is wrong.
“We can learn to ignore the bulls— in the Bible about gay people,” he pronounced, “the same way we have learned to ignore the bulls— in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation. We ignore bulls— in the Bible about all sorts of things.”
In this video of the speech below, students can be seen streaming out a few at a time, but begin to leave in groups when Savage continues to blast the Bible as “a radically pro-slavery document.”
While the promoters of the conference that booked Savage billed his address by saying, “Savage is also a syndicated advice columnist. With his frank, funny advice on sex and relationships, he creates a safe space for all audiences to honestly discuss ‘taboo’ topics,” it was evident that many in the audience failed to feel safe.
While much of his audience walked out on him, Savage continued the Christian-bashing by lamenting the fact that the Apostle Paul didn’t tell a Christian slave owner “not” to own slaves, just “how” to own them.
While proclaiming that the Word of God is flawed on issues of slavery, and “got it wrong” on “the easiest moral question humanity has ever faced”, he assured his audience that the Bible is also 100 percent wrong on human sexuality and alluded to the retreating students as “pansy a–es.”
As WND has previously reported, Dan Savage is widely known as a radical, homosexual activist, who created a obscene site that redefines Rick Santorum’s last name as the byproduct of anal sex.
While Savage promotes his video sharing site, “It Gets Better,” aimed at helping homosexual teens survive bullying, but as Fox News wrote, “For some … students, they felt like the anti-bullying activist was in fact the bully.”
WND has reported on other instances of Savage’s obscene tirades:
- Savage said on HBO that he “wished all Republicans were f—ing dead.” (He later apologized.)
- Savage created “Santorum.com” and “SpreadingSantorum.com,” redefining Santorum’s surname as follows: “San-TOR-um, n. The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.”
- When Americans for Truth CEO Peter LaBarbera asked Savage to take down “Santorum.com,” Savage replied, “I’m asking Peter LaBarbera to go f— himself.”
At the Seattle conference, Savage also turned his remarks to the country’s Republicans. He described the Old Testament custom of stoning a girl on her wedding night if she’s discovered not to be a virgin and wondered if the GOP would try to pass a similar law in the U.S.
Savage then announced that he was done “beating up the Bible”, and referred to those that left as “pansy a—es,” and told someone to “tell the guys in the hall they can come back in now.”
Responding to feedback from convention attendees, the organizers issued a statement informing people that they were well aware of the viewpoints Savage has publicly made, saying in part to Fox News, “Yet Savage has appeared regularly in the news media, so we were familiar with his general background and the broad range of viewpoints he has made publicly.”
The closest they appeared to come to an apology for featuring the activist speaker was for them to say, “we wish he had stayed more on target for the audience of teen journalists.”
While the statement addresses peoples concerns about the attendees that were “hurt” by the Savage speech, and assures them that it is never the organizers intent for anyone to be “hurt” by a speaker, it then admonishes the young journalists by reminding them that they should “be able to listen to speech that offends you.”
Anyone wishing to see the video that written about in the above story, click on the link below, and you will be able to see the video.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/gay-anti-bully-activist-savages-christians/?cat_orig=us
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Is It Wrong to Be Proud? by Mark D. Roberts
26 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Assyria, Bible, Bible Study, Common English Bible, Ezekiel, God, New Living Translation, Old Testament
So now the LORD God proclaims: Consider the fate of those who tower high! When it allowed its branches to reach up among the clouds, it became arrogant. (CEB)
Early in my years as a pastor, I was leading a Bible study for several college students. We were studying one of many passages in Scripture that warns us against pride. To my surprise and chagrin, one of my students challenged me: “What’s wrong with pride,” he asked. “I was taught that it’s good to feel proud about your accomplishments. Pride motivates me to work hard in school and to be successful. Why is the Bible so down on pride?”
Perhaps you’ve wondered the same yourself. Is pride necessarily wrong? Does pride have to “go before a fall”? Should I confess when I feel pride in some accomplishment? Should I be on my knees when my children graduate? What’s so wrong with pride, anyway?
When the Bible warns us about pride, it’s not talking about the sense of delight that comes when you complete a project or see your children accomplish something wonderful. Indeed, if God stepped back and saw that his creation was very good, you and I have the freedom to enjoy similar feelings. Scripture focuses on the negative sense of pride, that which we often call arrogance.
In Ezekiel 31, for example, Assyria illustrates an inappropriate and destructive pride. Our translation says that when Assyria noted its own greatness, “it became arrogant.” Other English translations speak of Assyria’s “pride” (NIV, ESV). The New Living Translation uses “proud and arrogant” together. In fact, the original Hebrew of this verse could be literally rendered, “the heart [of Assyria] became lifted up in its height.” The Old Testament uses the image of the heart being raised up as a way of describing human pride that goes beyond the temporary enjoyment of one’s accomplishments. The lifting up of one’s heart means putting oneself in the place of God. It’s not just healthy pride, but unhealthy arrogance.
So, is it wrong to be proud? No, not always. It depends on what you mean by pride. But I would offer a word of warning. I have found that healthy, humble delight in my accomplishments can easily run over into unhealthy, arrogant over-valuing of myself. If you’re inclined to think too much of yourself, let the example of Assyria be a warning to you. Remember, all that you have is ultimately a gift from God. All your accomplishments come by way of his provision. So, yes, delight in what God has done through you, but don’t let your heart be lifted up to the place of God.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How do you understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable pride? Do you ever struggle with arrogance? When? Why? What helps you to enjoy your accomplishments in a way that is not sinfully prideful?
PRAYER: Gracious God, help me to see all of life as a gift from you. When I pause, as you once paused, to enjoy that which I have done by your strength, may my pride become thanksgiving, my thanksgiving become worship. In all things, may I humble myself before you, so that you might exalt me in your way and your time. Amen.
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Praying for the Impossible by Mark D. Roberts
22 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: God, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus, Lord, Muslim Quarter, Old City, Prayer
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces.
Often, when I pray for God to do something, I am fairly confident that what I ask will happen. For example, when I’m helping to lead a retreat at Laity Lodge, I ask the Lord to bless those who have gathered with his grace and make his presence known to them. As I pray, I am almost certain that God will answer this prayer in the affirmative. Why? Because for over fifty years he has done this very thing at Laity Lodge in thousands of lives. So I pray with boldness based on experience as much as faith.
Sometimes, however, I pray for things that seem impossible. Indeed, they are impossible without God’s miraculous help. I’m thinking of times I have prayed for healing of people with advanced cancer, or for God to restore a marriage that has been shattered by years of anger and infidelity. I’m also thinking of prayers I offer for the world in its overwhelming need. In particular, I’m thinking of prayers I offer for Jerusalem.
There may not be any place in the world more rife with conflict than Jerusalem. Last summer, I had the privilege of spending a day there, walking through the Old City. I sensed tension in the air that was so heavy it seemed to press down on my soul. Walking through the Muslim Quarter, I noticed as people eyed me suspiciously. Throughout the city, there were soldiers armed with automatic weapons. The part of my group that visited Jerusalem the day after I did found themselves in the middle of an anti-Israel skirmish and had to be rescued by the police. My single day in Jerusalem, though filled with profound moments, also underscored the deep-seated conflicts there, which I read about almost daily in the newspaper.
Yet, Scripture calls me to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, even as I pray for God’s peace to envelop the whole earth. This is an impossible prayer, from a human perspective. But I pray in obedience. I pray because I trust God. I pray because the God who did the impossible by saving the world through Jesus can do the impossible again. Indeed, one day his peace will cover the earth, including Jerusalem.
Are you praying for the impossible? Are there challenges in your life that seem beyond help? Let me encourage you to pray, not because you can figure out how your problem will be fixed, but because our God is gracious, merciful, and all-powerful. When we pray for the impossible, we put ourselves into the safe, strong hands of God.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Are you praying for the impossible? What keeps you going? What discourages you? Have you ever seen God answer a prayer that seemed impossible?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, today I am reminded that I am to pray even for that which seems impossible. I ask for such things, not because they seem likely, but because of who you are. I pray because you are good and wise and merciful and powerful. Indeed, you can do the impossible, or that which seems impossible to me, at any rate. Nothing is impossible for you.
Help me, Lord, to trust you with everything in life. Give me courage to ask for big things, impossible things. May I pray, not on the basis of what is likely, but on the basis of your character.
Today, I pray for Jerusalem. Lord, I know that someday you will bring peace to this city, even as you will foster peace throughout the world. It’s hard to see how my prayers can make any difference in Jerusalem today. Yet I pray because you have told me to pray. I pray because I have confidence in you. I pray because you alone are the hope of the world…and my hope. Amen.
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Tozer Devotional-Prayer and Faith
18 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Apostle Paul, Christian, Epistle of James, God, holyspirit, Pharisees, Prayer, Religious text
Prayer and Faith
It is . . . critically important that the Christian take full advantage of every provision God has made to save him from delusion. These are prayer, faith, constant meditation on the Scriptures, obedience, humility, hard, serious thought and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. 1. Prayer is not a sure fire protection against error for the reason that there are many kinds of prayer and some of them are worse than useless. The prophets of Baal leaped upon the altar in a frenzy of prayer, but their cries went unregarded because they prayed to a god that did not exist. The God the Pharisees prayed to did exist, but He refused to listen to them because of their self-righteousness and pride. From them we may well learn a profitable lesson in reverse. In spite of the difficulties we encounter when we pray, prayer is a powerful and effective way to get right, stay right and stay free from error. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). All things else being equal, the praying man is less likely to think wrong than the man who neglects to pray. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). 2. The apostle Paul calls faith a shield. The man of faith can walk at ease, protected by his simple confidence in God. God loves to be trusted, and He puts all heaven at the disposal of the trusting soul. But when we talk of faith let us know what we mean. Faith is not optimism, though it may breed optimism; it is not cheerfulness, though the man of faith is likely to be reasonably cheerful; it is not a vague sense of well-being or a tender appreciation for the beauty of human togetherness. Faith is confidence in God’s self-revelation as found in the Holy Scriptures.
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Idiots are Among Us
09 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Automobile, Car dealership, Counties, Deer, Taco Bell, Texas Instruments, United States, Used car
Idiots are Among Us
DEER CROSSING
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: “too many deer were being hit by cars” and he didn’t want them to cross there anymore. This one was from Kingman, KS.
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IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for “minimal lettuce.” He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg. And he was a Kansas City chef!
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, “Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge? To which I replied, “If it was without my knowledge, how would I know? He smiled knowingly and nodded, “That’s why we ask.” This happened in Brimingham, Ala.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it’s safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged co-worker of mine when she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, “What on earth are blind people doing driving?!” She was a probation officer in Wichita, KS
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to “downsizing,” our manager commented cheerfully, this is fun. We should do this more often.” Not a word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. This was a bunch at Texas Instruments.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the life of her couldn’t understand why her system would not turn on. A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriff’s office no less.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. “Hey,” I announced to the technician, “it’s open!” To which he replied, “I know — I already got that side.”
This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, Mississippi!
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Run To The Cross
08 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in This N That Tags: Crucifixion of Jesus, God, God the Father, Jesu, Jesus Christ, Lord, Maui, The Old Rugged Cross
Whenever a tsunami warning is given on the northern coastline of Maui, Hawaii, the people living in Hana rush up the side of a mountain to a high place of safety. Nearby is a tall wooden cross that was placed there many years ago by missionaries. For their physical safety, people run to the area where the cross is located.
In a similar way, all of us need a place of spiritual safety. Why? Because the Lord gives us these warnings in His Word: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). Hebrews 9:27 states: “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” We might not like to think about what the consequences of our sin will be as we face a holy God, but it’s a serious thing “to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31).
The good news is that out of love for us, the Father has provided a place of safety! He sent His Son Jesus to die so we wouldn’t have to be separated from Him forever (Rom. 5:8-10; Col. 1:19-22).
Because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, that place of safety is available. Have you run to the cross?
