Saturday, May 30, 2009

Link day

How stupid do they think we are? VERY
http://www.drlaurablog.com/2009/04/29/how-stupid-do-consumer-product-companies-think-we-are/


The ups and downs of breastfeeding and weaning
http://inclotheslinealley.blogspot.com/2009/04/bye-bye-milkies.html

Marriage
Are you committing “Little Divorces?”
http://inclotheslinealley.blogspot.com/2009/05/little-divorces.html


5 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License
I don’t agree with everything here, but it IS thought provoking.
http://www.mercyseat.net/BROCHURES/marriagelicense.htm


There is no such thing as an interracial marriage. Beautiful!
http://terrysoapbox.blogspot.com/2009/05/there-is-no-such-thing-as-interracial.html


Confronting the enemy-materialism
http://inclotheslinealley.blogspot.com/2009/04/thriving-on-one-income-confronting.html


Is it ok to kiss before marriage?
http://www.generationcedar.com/main/2009/05/its-not-really-about-kissing.html

Friday, May 29, 2009

My new farm

(My Mother's Day "Love" rose)

Been a busy couple of months.
I have always wanted a farm. When I was a little girl I had a pretend farm where horses were the main item, but I grew most my own food, too. I even joined the Future Farmers of America in high school to prepare myself. There I met the most perfect man for me. We dated for three years (waiting to be old enough to marry), and had our wedding six months after I graduated.

He hates animals.

Well, ok, he “says” he hates animals, but actually tolerates them if they don’t interfere with life too much and aren’t too expensive.

We lived in an apartment for eleven years, so we were limited to cats and fish for that time. Then we moved to a condo for two years. There we had a dog (who went back to the pound. It was a bad personality fit), a rabbit, and two ducks. We turned the ducks loose at a private lake (with owner’s permission) and the rabbit died. We gave the fish to a friend. Then we lived in a camp trailer for seven months after moving here.

Shortly after buying our house, we adopted a puppy from the pound. He was a good dog, though I think he was too smart. I don’t get along well with animals smarter than me. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car.
(Picture of a Bernese Mountain Dog. This is just what Bear looked like, though he was a mutt)

We also let our oldest adopt a cat. Good ole’ Mr. Whiskers was a stodgy old man who would wrestle with my dad, meet us in the window after we had been gone, and bathe in the middle of the living room for school time. Otherwise, he completely ignored our existence. He contracted cancer and we had him put down.

Someone gave us a kitten my oldest son named
Smokey. She was his cat. He should have named her Houdini. We never could keep her in the house no matter what. And my being a bit of a procrastinator, we didn’t quite get her down to be fixed…

Then we had three kittens. One we gave to a sister at church. The other two we couldn’t find homes for, so they just hung around. Shortly before Whiskers died, Smokey got out again. We still don’t know where, but she never came back. So we are back down to two cats; the kittens Peter and Susie (both duly fixed).

Last November we adopted a Labrador X named Jiffy. Wonderful dog. A bit stupid and a lousy guard dog, but he gets along great with the children, has been fairly easy to teach to leave the animals alone, and is a RATTER!!! He has caught three now!
(Hunting in the garden)
Add in some goldfish, a round or two of parakeets, and a Corriente cow (the breed used in the rodeo) and her two calves (all three were delicious) and that covers nine years of animals.

Then we found out our friends were starting a farm and possibly moving to a more rural community. I don’t know if hubby just felt sorry for me or didn’t realize until then how much I wanted animals, or if it simply hadn’t been God’s timing before, but it has been like a damn breaking around here.

Hubby found some rabbits on craigslist.com. We bought two girls and a boy Red Satins for my oldest daughter. Their fur is translucent giving them a deep shine. “Red” in rabbit colors is really a shade of reddish orange. Two weeks ago we had our first bunnies. A litter of two. This is normal for a first time mom. Unfortunately it is also very normal to loose one or two babies per litter. One died. The other now has its eyes open and even jumped out of the nest box today. So adorable! (New Mom Satin)(Daddy Red)
(Due Next Week Velvet)
Then hubby found an add on Craig’s list for milk cows and meat calves. We went over and looked and arranged to pick up two calves for the freezer. For a variety of reasons we didn’t’ actually get them until last week. One is a Holstein and the other a Holstein/ Jersey cross (not the best meat breeds but so cheap it doesn’t matter). Their names are Quarter Pounder (my oldest son’s calf) and Well Done (for my oldest daughter. I know from experience that teaching these calves will give my children a great deal of patience and confidence.
(Well Done) (Quarter-Pounder)

Then our friends found a local dairy with two cows for sale. The cheapy one was an eight year old who is now infertile (For those who may not know, a cow must give birth to a calf in order to give milk. Most must calve every year, though the record on one calving is six years). This cow has now been two years without birthing a calf and at ONLY six gallons a day, was not earning her keep. We bought her with the knowledge that we would only have milk for a short time and then we get hamburger.

This cow (Buttercup) thinks she is a puppy dog. She follows the children around the yard investigating what they are up to. She continually tries to groom us!

We have put her on all alfalfa (no grain) because it is more natural for her, reduces her stress making her healthier, reduces the bacteria in her manure, and is cheaper to boot. This lowers her milk production. For this and other reasons, she gave about four gallons per day (!) until about a week ago when she dropped to three and a half. I am still hoping she will come back up.

Needless to say, I now know how to churn butter, make yogurt and now cheese from scratch, as well as letting the children drink all they want (our fridge didn’t hold enough to allow that before), plus I get to share with friends. We have discovered EVERYONE we know who is dairy intolerant can drink this raw milk with no problems. (From my backyard. Really!)
(OK, so this is what most of my backyard looks like)(and this is my whole "Orchard")
Add to all this, we found chicks at a feed store Monday.

So now we have (to the tune of twelve days of Christmas):

Twelve scraggly fruit trees
Eight happy children
Seven weedy garden beds
Six baby chickies
Two blue-gray cats
Whoooo knows how many goldfish
Four red rabbits
One goofy doggy
Two eaten’ steers
Aaannnddd
One Jersey milk-en cow

:-)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

How to have a baby

(Really, this is a silly title. If you are pregnant, you will have a baby whether anyone every gives you instruction or not. Your body will go into labor by itself and push the baby out by itself eventually. Why do we need instructions?)

Ok, so you are pregnant. Congratulations! This is such an exciting time of life. You are, with God’s help, creating a human being- an eternal soul. This is something less than half of the human race can do. Only a fertile woman of childbearing age can be pregnant.

We have all seen the TV shows and movies of women in labor. They are in intense pain and need to be rescued by the medical staff and saved from this condition. Did you know American women rate the pain of labor far higher than women in other countries? We are taught from childhood that it is horribly painful; so much so that we need modern medicine in order to survive it. Reality fulfills our expectations.

The truth is that God designed the woman’s body to give birth. Women have been giving birth, without modern medicine, for thousands of years. They have been very successful, too. Look at the rate of population increase! Birth is a perfectly natural, though miraculous, bodily function. If you can poop without help, you can probably birth without help. They both use the same muscles.

There are two schools of thought. The first and the one we are most familiar with in America, is the Medical Model. This model of childbirth trusts technology more than nature. It believes that anything can go wrong with nature and we need to be saved by the doctor. (Just listen to our vocabulary; “the doctor who delivered my baby…..” Excuse me?! YOU delivered your baby. YOU did the work. All he did was catch.) This school of thought believes birth is an emergency and a medical event.

The other school of thought is the Natural Model. This method says woman have been having babies for thousands of years without the help of doctors. Birth is natural. Most of the time a woman can birth without any help whatsoever. The only reason to have anyone around at all is for the very small chance you need a little help (such as cutting a tight cord at the last minute to allow the baby to finish being born). Women are strong and capable of doing this powerful, miraculous thing.

I very much believe in traditional roles in marriage and the home and am very “retro” in many ways. I would be called a male chauvinist if I were a man. But I am going to sound down-right feminist here; the Medical Model is the MAN’S way of birthing. It denies the inner power of women and, frankly, steals this one, completely female thing from us. Birth and breastfeeding are two things that only women can do. No man is capable of accomplishing this. (Yes, I know a “man” recently gave birth. That “man” was born with two x chromosomes and a womb. She had been mutilated by surgery to look male, but she was still a woman who carried a baby in her own womb.) Our culture has replaced breast milk with formula and robbed women of this very womanly thing. And in birth, we have done everything possible to make it something any man can do, too. 30% of American babies are born through the surgery called a c-section. Now, there are times when, because of “Adam’s fall,” this is necessary, but it is only about 5% of the time. I am woman! Hear me roar (which usually happens about 15 minutes before the baby arrives:-)!

Now how to actually get baby here.

First of all, how long is a pregnancy? Doctors will tell you 40 weeks, but they start pushing induction at 38 weeks. Most babies are developed enough that they can safely be born that early (meaning they can breath on their own. We don’t know what mental damage is done by making a baby come before his time), but how do you know your baby is really ready? Sonograms have been known to be wrong and the rate of pre-mature births has skyrocketed since doctors began doing this. Your body really does know when to start labor. It is very rare for a baby to stay in too long. A woman’s body is perfectly capable, far more capable than some (usually male) doctor, of knowing when Jr is ready to make his appearance.

Many doctors are afraid of baby getting too big for mamma to birth. They don’t trust that God really made us big enough. The fact is that God made both mommy and baby. It is very, very rare for a baby to really be too big. God knows what He is doing. I have heard way too many stories of mammas being told they were too tiny to birth their baby and having a c-section, only to go on in a couple of years and birth a BIGGER baby naturally. The fact is that surgery is good for doctor’s (less lost law suits, more money, more control of their time, more ego trip for being the savior, etc.). It is seldom the best option for either mommy or baby.

Think about the primary male sexual organ. It has an immense change in size under the correct conditions. Guess what? God made women to have an even bigger change in the size of their primary sexual organ under the correct conditions (child birth). And just like the male organ going back to its normal size without any side affects, the female vagina returns to its pre-birth size.

We arrived at the 40-week number rather arbitrarily. A doctor in Germany decided that since pregnancy usually lasts roughly nine months, he would set the length at the nice neat “ten moons.” A moon is exactly four weeks, so forty weeks for pregnancy. No studies, just nice human mathematics. Since that time someone actually did a study of when babies come, on average, when left to themselves; forty-one weeks and one day! So when a doctor tells a woman she needs to be induced at forty weeks because her body obviously isn’t going to do it herself, he is jumping the gun. Its an estimated due date for goodness sake! Not an expiration date! Induction starts a cascade of events that leads to more and more interventions and more and more sick, injured and dead babies and mommies.

Now if the average is 41.1 weeks, and some babies are born at 37 weeks, naturally, perfectly full term, then there are many babies that naturally and healthfully are born much later. I heard of one woman who carried all ten of her babies for exactly ten months! Some babies just need more time to “bake.” We are all different. Why discuss this? Because about 38 weeks most women get VERY anxious to have their babies and are very susceptible to pressure to induce early. Doctors have no problem scaring mommy into complying, either; “your baby might DIE if we don’t do immediate surgery!” (with NO indication that anything is actually wrong) Honest, it is best for your baby and YOU to just wait until your own body tells you it is time.

What can you do while waiting? Have sex! Honest. 1) It relaxes you and keeps you in a good frame of mind. 2) The medicines some doctors use to start labor are progestaglandins. Midwives are known to use evening primrose oil, a natural progesteglandin to help the body get ready to birth (progestaglandins “ripen” the cervix and get it ready to open and thin.) The main chemical in sperm is…. progestaglandin.

When a doctor induces without using a progestaglandin, he uses pitocin- synthetic oxytocin (this is used in 80% of American births). Orgasm and nipple stimulation both cause the female body to release oxytocin. This chemical causes the uterus to contract and the heart to fall in love. The first will help you jump start labor (and I am telling you this because all women in the last month want to do anything to get this over with! I know. I have had eight babies!) Too much synthetic induction medications can cause uterine rupture; potentially fatal to both mommy and baby, plus it causes distress in the baby. Natural chemicals can’t be overdosed! No matter how much sex you have, you won’t go into labor until baby is ready- but it is fun trying!

The fact is that no drug has been FDA approved for use during labor, including artificial hormones used to induce and painkillers. ALL drugs go through the placenta to the baby and can cause distress and even death in the baby. No amount of pain relief in mommy is worth that.

I won’t beat around the bush: I whole-heartedly believe most babies and mommies would be better off birthing at home. You are already immune to the germs in your own home and are passing on that immunity to your child. Hospitals are where sick people go and are by no means sterile. The stress of being in the strange place can cause complications in pregnancy. The security of being home speeds labor. Midwives trust nature and God’s design. Doctors trust their own skills and technology. Midwives are trained to PREVENT complications. Doctors are trained to TREAT them. The safest countries in the world to have a baby, have 80% of their babies caught by midwives and 50% of their moms birthing at home. For more information, go to here.Now if you are one of the 10% of women that truly are too high risk to safely birth at home, be thankful we do have that hospital technology available, but try to stay as close to natural as possible for the babies health.

How to handle early labor: move. Walk, rock in a chair, dance, bake cookies, etc. any low level activity is good (don’t shampoo the living room rug like I did before one baby! You will get too tired.) The moving around helps your pelvis to spread and gravity to pull your baby down. DON’T go to the hospital.

Most women do have pain in birth to some degree or another. Women who have had kidney stones and have given birth say the kidney stones win for sheer pain, hands down. A few lucky women actually have painless labor (and I have even heard of orgasmic birth!) Studies have shown that women birthing in hospitals need half as much pain medication if they have a doula (professional birth attendant). The doula (and the midwife in a birthing center or home) helps the woman breath through contractions, try different positions, move around, whatever her training and experience tells her might help. At home, you are free to do whatever you want while waiting for baby to get here. Distraction really helps.

In my eight births, I had two that were nearly painless, one closer to it than the other. In these births, I didn’t try to control the contractions, but accepted them and moved into them. The best analogy I can think of is a day playing in the ocean. Imagine you are just out in the water before the waves break, so they are just swells. You are deep enough that between swells the water comes up to your waist. In the middle of a wave the water is over your head. There are two ways to handle this. You could brace your feet on the floor of the ocean and turn your shoulder into the wave and fight back (but the water will cover your head and occasionally wipe you off of your feet and will leave you exhausted,) or you can yield to the water and let it lift you up. You could even jump up just as it comes up on you, giving you another boost. This second way is how I handled the pain in my least painful (and fastest) births. I yielded to the wave of contractions. I even tried to reach out and find more pain (the more pain, the sooner I get to hold my baby, right?) In one, I didn’t even know I was in transition (the most intense part of labor) until I was through it and pushing. The pain is not your enemy. It is your friend, bringing you one minute closer to holding your baby. Just think about one contraction at a time, not how many more you may have to face. Just this one. It will never come again and you will never have to deal with it again. And really, it isn’t like American women aren’t accustomed to pain. Let me just say…high heeled shoes, bikini waxing, corsets, plucking facial hair, ear piercing…..

And once the baby is born, the worst of the pain is gone. Oh, there is still the after pains (similar to early labor but more spaced out) whenever baby nurses the first few days. And if you tore or had an epesiotomy you might have pain with it for a few days to a couple of weeks. C-section pain lasts longer according to women who have had both. You also might have a little nipple soreness as your skin toughens up (but if it HURTS to nurse, call your midwife or a lactation consultant (check out La Leche League) because something is wrong.) but the worst of your pain is over and gone and now you get to play with the baby.

It is a well-known fact that mammals need privacy and security to birth. If they don’t have these, their body will release adrenalin and prevent labor from starting or proceeding. Humans are mammals. This is why homebirths need fewer interventions and have less pain. You feel safer and more secure at home than in a place where everyone is a stranger and wearing a mask and speaking a foreign language (medical-ese). But if you are going to birth in a hospital, wait as long as possible to go. It will give your body more time to get in birthing mode and less time for interventions.

While in labor, move, stay upright as much as possible, dance (Seriously. The movement of swaying hips helps baby move down.) laugh (releases endorphins which dull pain and loosen muscles), make out with your hubby (remember that oxytocin?), make noise (many women find this helps. Just keep the noises in the low register. High-pitched noises such as screaming, trigger the fight or flight reflex, releasing adrenalin. Low noises trigger the instinct to relax. Think “Moooooooo”)

Don’t push before your body tells you to unless there is a very good reason (I had one birth where we had a cord trying to prolapse and needed baby out NOW. I began pushing 15 minutes before I felt like it for that one). Generally, don’t push until you can’t not push. Doing so will cause your cervix to swell just like your thumb when hit with a hammer.

Pushing is most effective in the same positions that pooping is effective in. In other words, squat. Use a birth stool if you can. This position narrows and widens the pelvis giving baby the most room and the shortest distance possible to come out. Hands and knees is good too, as it also enlarges the birth canal. Flat on your back is second only to hanging upside down from the chandelier for complicating delivery. When you are flat on your back, not only is your birth canal longer and narrower, but your spine is pushed up into your birth canal as much as four inches, further decreasing space. And you are working against gravity.

Doctors tell you to hold your breath and purple-face-push. Most midwives tell you to breathe the baby out. Do what your body tells you to. I have had two where I didn’t need to push; my body just did it for me. Many women find it helpful to put their hand over their vagina and aim for it. In fact, many women catch their own babies this way.

After baby is born, put him put on mommy’s bare chest. This not only gives baby the warmth he needs at just the right temperature, he recognizes her smell. Birth is a traumatic event for baby and he needs the comfort of mommy’s smell and voice. He will recognize both. Mommy should talk to baby immediately. Her voice stimulates him. Baby will also instinctively and involuntarily match mommy’s breathing pattern in this position.

Mommy should try to nurse as soon as possible. First, baby eating will help prevent dangerous drops in blood-sugar (though don’t be too concerned if he just isn’t interested. Some babies are so fascinated by the new world they just entered, that they can’t think about such mundane things as eating.) Second, remember what happens with nipple stimulation? It releases oxytocin which causes the uterus to contract. When you cut yourself, you put pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding, right? Uterine contractions do the same thing to your uterus, preventing hemorrhage. Oxytocin also releases hormones that cause a mommy to fall in love.

Once baby has had a meal, looked around, got to know mommy and daddy, it is probably time to cut the cord. That’s right, it shouldn’t be cut sooner. Early cutting can cause jaundice and even anemia. Also the cord is giving baby oxygen while he is still figuring out how to use his lungs (I have heard of babies who didn’t breathe for as much as twenty minutes after birth even with CPR, but who were fine because the cord kept them in oxygen.)

Keep baby with mommy at all times. This isn’t possible in the hospital as they have policies and procedures. This is one great advantage on home birth; baby stays with mom even while he is being evaluated and tested. If you must birth in a hospital, do everything possible to keep baby with you as much as possible. It is better for him to have the comfort of your voice and breathing near by.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Brainwashing continued

Government School

Do you know what the first lesson you learned in school was? No, it wasn't the ABC's or how to count. It wasn't even to raise your hand when you have to go to the bathroom. The first lesson you learned in Public School was that what you think is not important. What the teacher says is what matters. This sets you up nicely for your entire life. "Listen to the experts and don't think too much." This lesson is further enforced latter. I am sure you remember being taught (about fourth grade?) that the Civil War was fought to free the slaves. Somewhere around eighth grade, however, you were told it was fought over state's rights. If you had a test that asked "Why was the Civil War fought" and answered "to free the slaves" you would be marked wrong. Truth, you see, is relative to who the expert of the moment is and we are to change our views depending on what they tell us.

I was raised in public school but I homeschool my own children (my parents would have homeschooled me had they known it was an option). I am in the position to compare the two.

Public school didn't really care about what I learned, only whether I did as I was told and was a good little girl. I didn't learn much.

Oh this isn't sour grapes from someone who didn't do good in school. I was that quiet little girl in the back of the room that always got straight A's on every test, who every teacher loved, and who was friends with every group in school, even those of different races. I graduated fourth in my class of more than 200 with an A average. I could have easily gone on to college and done very well. I was a "success" you see.

But I never felt like I was learning anything. I didn't really give a hoot what letter some teacher put on a piece of paper. I even quit classes I got A's in because I wasn't LEARNING anything. I could see the problem, even though I couldn't put it into words at the time. What the school really cared about was that I showed up, did as I was told, and didn't cause problems. They didn't give a hoot what I knew and didn't know. Oh, most of the teachers did, sort of, when they weren't too overworked to notice.

Why do I talk about this in an article on brain washing? You see, my research over the last twenty years has led me to believe that the purpose of public school has nothing to do with teaching reading and History. America was far more literate before public school was imported here in 1853. The system that was chosen for import was not the one with the highest literacy rate (actually that was England and our system was already very similar to theirs but with an even higher literacy rate). No, the system that was imported ("all kids except those of the very rich must attend a state run school with state run curriculum") was the one from Germany; the one with the highest obedience rate of its citizens.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Psalms 1:1

If you wanted to take a Christian, independent, thinking group of farmers and turn them into Atheistic, socialist, obedient factory workers (as we are today), how would you go about it? You can't stand up and tell everyone they should just change. They would ignore you or tell you why you were wrong.

The way to change what this country was in the mid 1800's to what it is today would be to first pass laws to force everyone to put their children into government schools. You wouldn't go after those teaching their own children at home just yet. Just those that are using private schools (or the much smaller Damn schools) and those that let their children get jobs during the day and teach them at night. After a generation of propaganda making people believe that a superior education is found in government schools, you institute teaching certificates. This forces the old teachers that believe in God out and lets the new teachers taught at your colleges with your "new, scientific (socialist) methods" in. Then you crack down on the homeschoolers and anyone else who resists. You gradually change the curriculum every generation to have less God and more man, less freedom and more security (socialism), less prudent money management and more consumerism (Pro 22:7 "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Debt creats a slave class that has no choice but to obey the rich.) Every few years you institute "new" teaching methods that invariably look a lot like the old ones, but make people think you are doing something to improve education. You encourage peer pressure to force those that would otherwise be independent into obedience. You would expect this to take a hundred years or so to complete. Now do our current schools make more sense?

Think about what the teachers were really happiest with when you were in school. My husband tells of his sixth grade class taking a special astronomy study one year. His big brother happened to be taking astronomy at the city college at the same time so he picked my hubby up every day and took him to class with him. At the end of the semester the elementary teacher tried to fail my husband. Why? Because he didn't know the material? No, he knew it better than any student she had taught (seems astronomy is pretty much the same whether you are in a college classroom or a sixth grade classroom. The difference was 1) the college professor presented all the material and expected his students to take away what they could while the grade school teacher only presented the part of the study "appropriate to sixth graders" and 2) the city collage held its astronomy class in an observatory with moving stars on the ceiling. Much easier to understand then the books and charts the sixth grade teacher was using). She tried to flunk him because he missed her classes. That is all. What he knew was irrelevant. How many teachers told you that attendance was a big part of your grade? Shouldn't you have got a good grade if you knew the material even if you never came to class? No, of course not. The whole point of school is to prepare you for the future, you know, show up to work at the factory when you are told, do what you are told, pee when you are told, eat when you are told, go home when you are told. Never mind that many people live without this kind of job and many, many more could. In fact, wouldn't it prepare us better for the future to teach us how to be innovative and think outside the box? Be self motivating and independent? Not for the future envisioned by those that control our education.

Those who funded the importation of the German public school system into this country were all very rich industrial moguls. They believed in evolution and socialisim. They despised individualists and, ironicly, the very capitalist system that gave them their riches. They believed they were superior to everyone else

The entire system we know as “public schools” is designed to make us believe what those in charge want us to believe and to behave as they want us to behave.

Even those teachers that I had that were Christian had been taught by Atheists and were teaching with textbooks written by Atheists.

“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” Luke 6:40

If the disciple (or student) is like his master (teacher), than a Christian taught by Atheists will have an Atheist thought pattern, even if they don't realize it. Many teachers that would throw a tissy fit if told to teach that there is no God, unknowingly teach just that by not teaching God in their History and Science classes. If you do not acknowledge God, especially in these subjects, you are saying He had no part in either the History of this planet nor the continued functioning of it. How often do you think in terms of "...are more advanced (evolved) now,” “Primal urges,” “Lucky occurance,” “Modern Wisdom,” “Ignorant Primatives,” etc? In most cases, these are statements straight from Atheisim/evolution. No teacher ever stood up in one of my classes and declared that there was no God, nor that I had to have an abortion or take drugs or quit going to church. That I could easily have ignored or even have openly fought. No, it was much more subtle, wrapped up in the assumption that evolution, Atheism, and Socialisim were true. Never outright stated, but taught just the same.

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” Colosians 3:17

Tell me, did your math teacher teach in the name of Jesus? How about your History teacher? English? Science?

“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Matthew 12:30 Luke 11:23

Was your education "With" Jesus? No? Than it was against Him. You were indoctrinated into an Atheist world view. You were brain washed.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Should we eat meat?

There are three kinds of vegetarians:
§ Those who believe meat is bad for us.
§ Those who believe it is wrong to kill any animal.
§ Those with honest health reasons to abstain.

If meat was bad for us, why didn’t God forbid Israel to eat it? Why, in fact, did He command them to eat red meat a minimum of once per year (on threat of being kicked out of the country if they didn’t)? The truth is that meat is good for us.

Was Jesus a Vegetarian?
http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVarticles/DidJesusEatMeat.htm,

Those who believe it is wrong to kill an animal are equating animals with humans. This lowers humans to the level of animals. This removes human’s rights. For example, why doesn’t the government do medical experiments on children instead of bunnies? After all, children would give much more reliable results than bunnies would. The reason is of course that humans are created in the image of God and bunnies aren’t so it is ok to use bunnies but not humans.

Now killing for the enjoyment of watching something die is wrong. The Bible teaches to treat animals with kindness. But there is nothing wrong with humanely killing an animal for food.

Some do have a legitimate health reason to abstain from meat. If you have had your gallbladder removed, for example, you no longer have the bile juices necessary to digest meat. You may very well feel better without it.

Meat is good for us and enjoyable. God gave us permission and even commanded Israel to eat it.

Now, go eat a steak:-)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fast Food and Church

My mom likes to take us out to lunch frequently. Now, my children behave just fine in a nice restaurant, but with this many people, fast food is just faster, easier, and cheaper. So we go to fast food most of the time.

Our favorite is Wendy’s. They have the dollar menu, which makes it even cheaper, we like the food, and the people at our branch on the north side of town are very good at getting our order right.

But every once in a while, we decide to go to Carl’s Jr., Del Taco (only place in town with Cherry Coke:-), Round Table Pizza’s lunch buffet, Jack in the Box, Arbys, or Subway. We like the variety and every place has something different to offer. Do we feel guilty because we aren’t loyal to Wendy’s? No, of course not. That is what fast food is. We are the consumer and have the right to go where we want. Other than paying for our food and not destroying the premises, we don’t owe any one franchise anything.

There is something that has happened to American churches I don’t like, but just figured out last night (at 1:00 am- blaaahhh:-P). It has taken me several years to figure it out.

We American Christians treat our churches like they were fast food restaurants. We might go to one for a while, most of the time, but church B puts on better holiday programs, and the Internet has great councilors, and books are cheap so we buy several a month to tell us what we should think and believe. We may pay our tithes wherever we go the most often (or not), but we don’t feel we owe the church anything else. Pastors of churches and owners of fast food are the same thing; they are just supposed to be there when we want them and not take offence if we go to many different places for our spiritual food.

Is this biblical?

Short answer is “no,” but whenever have you heard me give a short answer?

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

I usually quote this verse in regard to government, but that is not really what it is talking about. It is talking about those who have the rule of your church; the pastor you choose to set under. We have a direct command from the Bible, here, to SUBMIT to our pastors because they “watch out for our souls.”

James 3:1 “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

Don’t have many different “pastors” (spiritual leaders) because we pastors are responsible for YOUR souls and will be held to a higher standard than anyone else. We pastors are answerable to God for not only our own souls, but those of all who come through the doors of our church. So James tells us to have very few spiritual bosses because it is not fair to put a pastor under this condemnation and then not give him the chance to care for you. Besides, he can’t do his job if you aren’t THERE.

The biblical requirements for a pastor (1 Timothy 3) are that he is not a drunk or polygamist, not a fighter, he is able to teach, blameless, vigilant, sober (not silly), of good behavior, hospitable, not greedy, patient, not envious, and have well behaved children …(“For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”). The Bible says quite plainly that ruling a church is just like ruling a family and a man must be good at the family before he is to be given rule over the church. This means that parishioners are equal to a man’s children! They are NOT just customers!

(By the way, you won’t find the requirement to even BE a preacher, much less a good one, on that list.)

Pastors are human. They do make mistakes sometimes. But I can guarantee that those mistakes are made with the best intentions in mind. Many people are more tolerant of a fast food restaurant giving them the wrong hamburger than of their pastor caring enough to be involved in their life.

“But isn’t it ‘Just You and Me Jesus?’ “

NO. There is nowhere in the Bible that tells us that. We are supposed to be part of a community of believers, a family, and that community is in ONE LOCAL ASSEMBLY.

Let me spell that out a little better:
q Children are to submit to and obey their parents.
q Wives are to submit to and obey their hubbies.
q The man is the head of the house and will be held directly responsible by God for the spiritual condition of his household.

BUT

The man is to find a pastor and sit under his authority and teaching in order to grow (this is part of “caring for his own”). Sometimes this does take some shopping around. That is not what I am talking about. I am also not saying you should have your ultimate loyalty to the pastor or the church. That belongs to God.

What I am saying is that just as a child needs parents in order to grow up right, Christians need pastors. A baby Christian who doesn’t place himself under the authority of a pastor is the same as a daycare baby (daycare.homeschoolwwh.com). He is in extreme danger of “growing up” unbonded to anyone. He becomes a church hopper (equivalent of Reactive Attachment Disorder.) He can’t learn all that his potential would otherwise let him (Learning Disorder). He can’t settle in enough to be of any good to the body of Christ as a whole (ADHD).

James 5:14 “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

This does not say “Go to the Internet and find a spiritual warrior to say a prayer for you.” Or “send some money to a TV preacher or missionary so he will put you on his prayer list.” It says to call the elders of THE CHURCH- the church you have submitted yourself to- and they are to pray and anoint with oil. This anointing is not some magic ceremony that is to be preformed. I have looked it up. This “oil” was Olive Oil, which is highly medicinal. The word “anoint” here is not the one used for sacred events but for ACTS OF APPLYING MEDICINE! James is telling the parishioners to call the leaders of their church so the leaders can not only pray for them but can physically minister to their needs. Internet and TV preachers CAN’T DO THIS! Only your local pastor CAN. But you have to CALL him. You have to tell the leadership of your church you have a problem.

Yes, I know. Many pastors today think they have the same role as the owner of a fast food restaurant; make sure the place is ready just in case any one cares to show up. But if you look, you WILL find a pastor that understands his role as your shepherd, your (I hate to use the term, but no other one fits) spiritual father. No, he doesn’t replace our Father God, but leads you closer to Him just as a child’s father is supposed to do.

(Fast Food is not nearly as accurate of a term as Prostitute is to describe the feeling we pastors have. We stand on the corner all gussied up with a repartee of activities to offer. We will give you what you want and smile and nod when you tell us you are going to see someone else this week, but what we really want is your love.)

The fact is that you DO owe your pastors more than just tithes. When a pastor (and by “pastor” I mean the senior pastor, teachers, musicians, etc.- the leadership of a church) “does” a service, it empties him. It is very exhausting. We get this tired no matter how few people there are in the congregation. How does a pastor get “filled up?” By the people being there to hear him. The more people, the more refreshed and “fed” a pastor will be after the service. I know this because I have watched my parents pastor for my whole life and now my hubby and I are assistant pastors and experiencing the same thing. I have seen the exhaustion and discouragement on their faces when no one is there. I have felt the depression that comes when yet another family simply quits for no apparent reason. I have felt the hurt when someone who is supposed to be coming to us for their spiritual food excitedly tells us about some new prayer quake in the neighborhood who is “helping” them. (“Oh, Wendy’s, Burger King offers French fries! Isn’t that cool! I am going there tomorrow to get some.” What? We offer French fries. Always have. You never told us you wanted any.)

When you go from church to church, when you don’t submit, you are stealing from the pastors. You are not giving to them but just going to enjoy the show. They “feed” you and you aren’t paying them back with your presence, emotional and spiritual support. You are using them.

You DO owe us more than your tithes. In fact, keep the money. We don’t even want your money. God will supply without you. He always has.

You owe us to BE IN CHURCH where your very presence feeds US. You owe us the chance to teach you about serving God, something we CAN’T DO if you are not HERE. We will have to stand before God Himself and give answer for YOUR SOUL. The least you could do is give us a chance to help you.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Romans 11

Understanding this chapter is essential to understanding prophecy.

1 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.

Paul was a Jew so obviously God still saves Jews. In fact, history tells us that the church in Jerusalem alone had a memebership of around 50,000 people, dwarfing even our mega churches today. The city of Jerusalem had a population of around a million, I believe.

2 God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

The incident refered to here is just after Elijah killed the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel; the time when fire came from God and burned up Elijah’s sacrafice, the alter, and the water soaking them both. Jezebaal was now trying to find him to kill him and he is feeling sorry for himself.

4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.”

God has always had a people reserved to Himself.

5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remanant according to the election of grace.

Paul is saying, that in just the same way, God has kept part of Israel serving Him because He was giving them the grace to follow Him.

6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work.

The works of following the Law is not what had retained them to God. It was God mercy. If works could save you, than salvation would be your just salary. But no human can be perfect enough to earn salvation through works. Salvation comes only by the greace on God. It is a gift.

7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded

The leadership of Isreal was looking for Her Messiah but hadn’t found Him. They were blinded to the truth. However, a relative few were saved. These were “the elect.”

8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day,

9 And David saith, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them.”

The Jews were snared by their own pride and greed into not recognizing Christ.

10 “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.”

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

The Jew’s refusal of Christ was no surprise to God. He expected it from the beginning and used to to carry out the Plan of Salvation. He did hope jealousy of the relationship the gentiles had with God would bring some Jews to Him, and it did (Read the book of Acts).

12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the gentiles; how much more their fulness?

The Jews refusal of Christ opened the door of salvation to everyone else. Now if their refusal brought so much good, how much more good would their salvation, or anyone else’s salvation for that matter, bring? A Jew who comes to Christ has a headstart on others who get saved. The Jew already knows the Bible. A non-Jew has to start from scratch.

13 For I speak to you gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Paul’s special calling was to preach to the non-Jews.

14 if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

He hopes his preaching Christ to the Gentiles will cause at least some of his countrymen to take notice and find Christ themselves.

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

Jews who accept Christ are often some of the most dedicated servants of God around.

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

The Jews who did come tho Christ were the firstfruits. If the foundation is solid, the building is solid. The Jews that came to Christ truly understood His salvation and served Him. Because of this, the Gentiles that came after were taught to be holy also.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

When you graft branches onto a tree, you break off the old branches and bind broken branches from a different tree into their place. The tree will heal the “wound” and make the new branches part of the origional tree. In most trees, the branch continues to produce the kind of fruit it did on its old tree. So you will find in plant catalogues, trees with five varieties of apples, or five varieties of citrus (oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit), or even five pit fruits (cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, etc.) on the same trees. Olives are the only known tree where the grafted braches (from different varieties of olives) produce the same fruit as the trunk of the tree.

The Jews were broken off; they rejected their Messiah. God took the believeing Gentiles and bound them to Him and His Word, making them a part of the Tree of Life, part of Israel. We Gentiles are fed by the root of the Bible just like believing jews. We are all the same tree, the same people, producing the same fruit (the Fruit of the Spirit). “He is not a jew who is one inwardly, but who is one

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Paul is telling the Gentiles at Rome to not brag that they were saved and the Jews lost because they were being fed by the same root as the believing Jews; they were part of the same tree.

19 Thou wilt say then, “The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”

Some of these Gentile believers were evidently putting themselves above all Jews, even those who believed in Christ. Paul is expalining to them that they are wrong.

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.

Paul is warning that it would be just as easy for God to break these believing Gentiles off (if they quit following Him) and throw them away as it was for Him to break off the unbeliving Jews. They needed to be afraid and careful that they didn’t backslide.

22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

It is very simple: those who believe God receive His goodness and are part of the tree of Israel. Those who don’t are punished. It doesn’t matter what genetic material runs through their veins.

23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

Any Jew who decides to believe in Christ will be grafted back into the tree just like the Gentiles were.

24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

It is easier to graft the tree’s own branches back in because they are the same as the tree. Branches from different trees do risk rejection.
It is easier for a Jew (or someone who comes from a Christian culture) to become a Christian than for someone from a Secular or Pagan culture (as these believing Gentiles did) because the change in lifestyle is not so different and they already have a knowledge of the Bible.

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Paul is telling them to not be proud of themselves for their belif because many Jews would still come to God. All those who believe God become part of The Tree, part of Israel.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, “There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away their sins.”

God’s plan from the beginning was for Jesus to be crucified for the sins of the world. All those who accept God’s plan are part of Israel, always have been. Before the cross, if you accepted God’s plan, you became a Jew. After the cross, you you still became a Jew- spiritualy, on the inside where it matters. All those who reject Christ, are not Jews; they are not part of Israel because they are rejecting God’s plan.

27 “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

God promises to take away all the sins of Israel; all the sins of those who accept His plan, no matter what their blood lines.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Fathers’ sakes.

The rejecting Jews are enemies of the Christians and of God. The believing Jews are still loved by God.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

God has called them to Him and will not turn away from them just because they are biologicaly related to those who crucified Christ.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

“You used to be a sinner and converted to Christianity.”

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

“These Jews are being saved, just like you, because of your testamony.”

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of god! How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past findign out!

God is so wise we can’t even begin to understand why He does what He does nor how.

34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor?

We don’t tell God what to do. We don’t advise Him.

35 Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

36 For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Everything is from God. Period.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

What do you mean when you say we are all brain washed?

I mean we have had our opinions and thought patterns formed against our will and without our knowledge, much less our consent.

The Media

Did you know that in Austria, when Nazi Germany invaded, Hitler's army hung loud speakers from every corner and blasted pro-Hitler messages day and night. They knew if they kept repeating something in different ways long enough, eventually the people would come to believe it.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” Proverbs 23:7

We Americans (and Europeans) have carried this to a new height. Now we not only have the conqueror's message blasted right into our homes, we PAY thousands of dollars for it to enter in large screen, high definition format. No, this isn't some Obama-hating speech. I don't think any one president could affect this issue one way or another.

Let me approach it this way: If a picture is worth a thousand words, and a half hour sitcom has ten thousand pictures, and half of those pictures show women as powerful business women and anyone being domestic is either a man or stupid or both, how many "words" are there telling you that smart women work outside the home and don't do “that domestic thing?” When was the last time you saw a TV show where dad was a hard working, intelligent man, mom cared for her family more than anything else and showed it by actually being with her family, and the children were happy, home centered people (You know, a "Traditional Family")? Leave it to Beaver? Father Knows Best? It certainly wasn't “Married with Children,” “Full House,” “Growing Pains,” “Three's Company,” “Friends,” etc. Oh, I know, for the most part the parents are shown loving their children and each other, except for that “Married with Children” one. In fact that show is a good example of what I am talking about. This is the closest you will come to a traditional family structure and NO ONE would want to be like them. "Traditional" is bad by association.

Let's start with the men. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:25-“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;… 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.”

Colossians 3:19-“Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”

1 Timothy 5:8-“But if any provide not for HIS own, and specially for those of HIS own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

Ephesians 6:4-“And, ye fathers, provoke (frustrate) not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (culture) and admonition (education) of the Lord.”

When was the last time you saw a man on TV that fulfilled these scriptures? I have to be honest, it has been several years since I have really watched main stream TV so you will have to correct me if things have changed for the better. Do the men on TV love their own wives so much that they would die for them? Love them more than their own bodies? Provide for their own families, not just money but for their spiritual and emotional needs too? How many of them bring their children up themselves much less in the culture and education of the Lord? In fact, the men on TV when I was growing up and into my adulthood were just about universally buffoons, too stupid and powerless to do anything except what their wives told them to. Do you really think it is an accident that all men on TV are portrayed this way? No. It is very intentional.

Genesis 1:18 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. … 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

1 Peter 3:1-“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;”

1 Peter 3:22 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”

Colossians 3:18- “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.”

Ephesians 5:22- “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”

Titus 2:3 “The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

What was that noise? Oh, just Hollywood fainting.

When was the last woman you have seen that fit this description? Here is the crux of the problem. Between “Leave it to Beaver” and today, Hollywood has been conquered by the radical feminist left. These are women and men that believe that all humans are identical (except for a few strategically placed lumps and bumps of course.) They honestly believe that women were little more than slaves in the past until the feminists "gloriously brought us out of bondage." The problem is that we were not. Women and men worked together towards family goals in the past. The average man knew very well his success depended on his wife's help. They were partners. Yes, there were some jerks that looked at women as stupid just because they were women, but that hasn' changed any. Those jerks are still around. God clearly teaches us in His word that the men are the movers and shakers and the women are the managers and the holder-togetherers (like my new word I just invented?)

A survey asked the general public if they were conservative, moderate, or liberal. The numbers were divided about equally. Then the surveyors asked those that work in the media (producers, directors, actors, reporters, editors, makeup artists, singers, writers, etc.) which they were. 80% said they were liberal or ultra liberal. When asked what the numbers of the general population would be they said the same as the media. These people are out of touch with reality. What is worse, most said they are in the Media Business to change the world. Now how would a person in the media change the world? Remember Austria? You change the world through the media by constantly putting your message in front of people, worded a little differently each time until they just accept it as the truth.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psa 14:1

How many stupid men have you seen in your life? Remember to count the ones you sit down and watch for two to four hours every night. I bet the stupidest ones were on the boob tube. How about women? Whiney? Yep. Domestic? Not on your life. Feeling worthless at home? Everyone of them…on TV. I have yet to meet one that truly feels that way in real life. The attitudes portrayed on TV do not portray reality. They do portray what the feminists/evolutionists want reality to be.

Are children on TV blessings or burdens? I remember one episode of a popular show where the woman found herself pregnant. She was shocked and concerned about how her hubby would take it. Her friend told her she could just get an abortion and not worry about it. The woman decided she wouldn’t do that, but the whole tone of the discussion was that abortion is a viable option, just not the one for this woman. Many such discussions over the course of several years desensitizes us to the issue and makes us automatically think abortion is a viable option.

Remember when Theo on the Cosby Show told his dad he should just love him for who he is and not push him to get better grades? I think we all expected Cliff to say Theo was right and he was sorry. The reason the scene was so memorable was because he was the only TV parent I can remember that had the courage to tell his child "You don't do good because you are lazy" Remember "I brought you into this world and I can take you out"? All other shows had the children running things and coming up with the right answers while the parents simpered and apologized or at best used modern psychology and "What is right for one person isn't always right for others." Gee, if this is how we should solve every problem, how did the human race survive before they showed us? (The sad thing is that the Cosby show reversed this wonderful scene towards the end of its run. They had Theo diagnosed with Dyslexia so it wasn't his fault after all and Cliff should have done what Theo said, accept him just like he was.)

Do you remember when homosexuality entered the TV world? I do. Roseanne introduced a character and got us emotionally attached to her then had her "discover" she was gay. (She later "discovered" she was bi.) Anyone remember Ellen? Same thing. This was blatant, bald faced propaganda to get us desensitized to having gay people around and accepting it for normal. Now nearly every show and movie has at least one gay caracture. You don' give a second thought to it do you? Never mind Paul called it a stench in God's nostrils.

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matthew 5:28

Actually all issues concerning a traditional family have been handled this way. It started with the school being right any time the child had a problem and the parents being prejudicial or just stupid.

Then all the moms had identity crisis and had to go to work so they would feel better.

Then there was divorce.

One by one Hollywood has attacked traditional moral issues and taught us to accept their way as right.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:”

1Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

When you watch TV you are thinking what is on the TV, what the people in the media want you to be thinking. Think that way long enough and you will come to believe it.

Remember, men are stupid, women rule the roost, children are burdensome little pests that have all the answers, and every problem can be solved in half an hour with pop scycology and relativistic values.


Continued …

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Luke 17

This is the parallel passage to Matthew 24.



20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;



21 “Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.



Unlike the political revolution the Jews were expecting, you can’t see the kingdom of God. It is in your heart. It "came" at Calvary.



22 And he said unto the disciples, “The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.



“You will miss this time with me, but this time won’t happen again.”



23 “And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them,



24 “For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven: so shall also the Son of man be in his day.



“When it is time for the world to know I am God, it won’t be a secret thing, but EVERYONE will know.”



25 “But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.



“First I have to be crucified.”



26 “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.



27 “They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark and the flood came, and destroyed them all.



When Israel was destroyed by the Romans, the Jews were living their lives like normal. The Christians saw the army coming and fled just like Noah and his family got on the ark when it was finished. The the Great Tribulation destroyed Israel just as suddenly and thouroughly as the flood did the pre-flood population.



28 “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;



29 “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.



30 “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.



Just as Lot and his family barely escaped from Sodom and Gomorea, The Christians barely got out before God revealed Himself in His wrath against Israel.



31 “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.



32 “Remember Lot’s wife.



“DON’T GO BACK when you see the Armies coming. Remember how Lot’s wife was destroyed.”



33 “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.



“If you try to save the life you have had here in Jerusalem, you will die. If you give up your stuff, property, your life here, you will be saved from the Great Tribulation.”



34 “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.



35 “Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.



36 “Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left.”



“One will choose to flee and one to stay. “



37 And they answered and said unto him, “Where (will this all happen), Lord?”



And He said unto them, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”



“Wherever the dead body of Jerusalem is, the Eagle Roman army will attack.”



Monday, May 11, 2009

Matthew 24

1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.



The temple here is the one built by Nehimiah and gretly enlarged by Herod just a few years earlier. Why, exactly, they were showing Jesus the buildings, I don’t know. He would have been just as familiar with them as they were.



2 And Jesus said unto them, “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.”



In the year AD 70, general Titus of the Roman army brought his soldiers to seige Jerusalem. When the seige finaly ended, the soldiers were so mad that, though Titus tried to stop them, they tore the temple down to the foundation and took all the gold between the stones. Turnus Rufus ploughed up the ground on which it had stood just as Micah 3:12 prophesied; “Zion shall, for your sake, be ploughed as a field.” Later, Julian the Apostate removed all remaining stones to clear the way to rebuild the temple. This was in opposition to the Christian faith. However, there was an eruption of fire out of the ground which destroyed the foundation they had just laid and scared everyone away. There is still no building on this spot. There is no scriptual suport for there to ever be on again.



3 And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying; “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

The disciples ask three separate questions, though they may not have thought they were separate. To them, the destruction of the temple would have been the end of the world and it certainly was the end of their world. They were still expecting Christ to set up a natural kingdom at this point, so “the sign of thy coming,” would have referred to the natural kingdom they were expecting. Surely, if He set up a kingdom that lasted forever, as scripture predicted, the temple could not be destroyed. In short, they were confused.



4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, “Take heed that no man deceive you.



5 “For many shall come in my name, saying, ‘I am Christ;’ and shall deceive many.



Josephus tells us of many different men in the next forty years or so who claimed to be the Messiah.



6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.



Christ was born during the Pax Romana (Great Roman Peace). This was a time of relative peace in this part of the world. Christ is predicting that the Great Peace is almost over. War is coming. But the world is not ending yet.



7 "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.



Acts 11:28 tells us that there was a famine in Judea during the time of the Apostles, but there was a greater famine during the seige of AD 70. At that time, the Jews fought each other to the extent that in the city of Scythopolis alone more than 13,000 people were killed. Josephus tells us of one man who, wanting to spare his family any more suffering, killed his parents, wife, children and himself.



The Jews fought each other and their neighbors everywhere during the AD 60’s. This is why Rome sent Vespasian, and later Titus, to calm things down. the fighting caused famines which caused disease to spread (pestilence). We also know Vesuvius blew in AD 79, proceded by a great many earthquakes, as volcanic explosians always are.

8 “All these are the beginning of sorrows.



9 “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

10 “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.



Saul/ Paul led the persecution of the Christians in the early apostolic period. The Jews continued and increased this persecution after his conversion. Later, Rome took up the persecution, especially under Nero.



11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

There were many during this time who pretended Divine inspiration and fooled a great many people. They would even lead multitudes of them into the wilderness to show their followers signs of liberty from God. They upset the city as much as the rampant murderers did.



12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.



13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, (of life) the same shall be saved.



14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.



“World” here is means the Roman empire, the “Roman World.” Paul said that this had been fulfilled in his time. Romans 16:26, et al.



15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)



Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary:

abomination

1. Extreme hatred; detestation.

2. The object of detestation, a common signification in scripture.

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Prov.15.

desolation

1. The act of desolating destruction or expulsion of inhabitants; destruction; ruin; waste.



The abomination of desolation was the hated destruction and empting of Jerusalem. The disciples had grown up on stories of the Macabees and the Abomination of Desolation set up by Antiochus IV, mentioned in Daniel 11:31. What Jesus is refering to is a different, though similar, event mentioned in Daniel 9:27.



The Jews everywhere in the late 60’s revolted against the Romans. The Romans slaughtered the Jews in towns from Egypt to Syria, making them desolate.



16 “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:

17 “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:



18 “Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.



19 “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!



20 “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day:



The Roman general, Vespasian, led his army from Syria into Judea, destroying everything, and laying siege to Jerusalem. He made such rapid progress that the city was on the verge of being captured. The trouble makers left the city in great numbers, and the peaceable inhabitants were about to surrender. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he withdrew his army from the city. It turns out, the Roman Emperor had died and Vespasian had to go to Rome to help pick the next emperor. He was the choice.



This was “the abomination of desolation” spoken of by Christ. In other words, “When you see the gentile army coming throught he land destroying cities, GET OUT.”



This began a time of terror foretold by Jesus and Daniel in 12:1.



21 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

At this point the Jews began to prepare to defend Jerusalem against Rome in the enevitable war. This is when Josephus, the famous historisan, was appointed general of the armies in Galilee. He was evedently a very good soldier even though the romans did defeat him.

Vespasian was givent the task by Nero to subdue the Jews. Vespasian, an experienced general, assigned his son Titus to help him. They marched through Judea killing as they went --18,000 at Askelon alone. Galilee was filled with fire and blood. Josephus opposed the Roman invasion the best he could, but he was overwhelmed and overmatched. The Romans killed everyone, not even sparing the nursing mom and her baby. Many Jews killed themselves to avoid the Roman’s wrath. When Josephus was taken as a captive to Veapasian, he prophesied that both Vespasian and Titus would become Caesars. He was not killed, miraculously, but kept a prisoner of war, though he was with Titus during the seige of Jerusalem.

The Romans continued their campaign of killing throughout Palestien. They also took more than 30,000 people to sell into slavery.



It took the Romans more than a year to destroy Gallilee and Judea before they got to Jerusalem. Christ’s first warnings to flee were to those in Judea. We know that the “Abomination of Desolation” (the signal to flee) was the Roman (heathen) army because Judea was destroyed long before the army got to the temple of Jerusalem. If the “Abomination of Desolation” had been the sacraficing of an unclean animal on the alter, it would have been much too late to escape.



By the time Vespasian got to Jerusalem, the city was already in chaos. The inhabitants suffered more from each other than the Romans!

Josephus tells us that the lowest of men had been appointed to the office of high priest and the sanctuary was violated by them.



The Zealots (the most violent faction) hired Idumeans to kill everyone who wanted peace with Rome. They killed so many- at least 8,500- that blood was flowing out of the temple like a river. Humans would be unclean sacrafices.



“Now after these were slain the Zealots and the Idumeans fell upon the people as upon a flock of profane animals, and cut their throats."

More than 12,000 nobles who refused to join the Zealots were tortured and killed and no one dared to bury them.



Quote from Josephus- “Along all the roads also vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps; and many who at first were zealous to desert the city chose rather to perish there; for the hopes of burial made death in their own city appear less terrible to them. But those Zealots came at last to that degree of barbarity as not to bestow a burial either on those slain in the city or on those that lay along the roads; as if * * * at the same time that they defiled men with their wicked actions they would pollute the Deity itself also, they left the dead bodies to putrefy under the sun. (IV. 6. 3).



“About this time above 15,000 fugitive Jews were killed by the Romans, and the number of those that were forced to leap into the Jordan was prodigious. * * * The whole country through which they fled was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it (IV. 8. 5, 6).”



At this point Nero died and Vespasian was called to Rome. This left the conquering of the Jews to Titus. Vespasian was made emperor.

In adition to the gangs roamng and killng in the city, the granaries and storehouses of food were destroyed. This caused famine. The different factions couldn’t agree on anything but to kill all the peaceable inhabitants.



Josephus: “They, moreover, were still inventing pernicious things against each other; and when they had resolved upon anything, they executed it without mercy, and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity" (V. 2. 5). "Here we see the true occasion of those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during this siege by Titus and who perished therein. For the siege began at the feast of Passover, when such prodigious multitudes of the Jews and proselytes were come from all parts of Judea, and from other countries.” Josephus, eyewitness to the seige, assures us there were 1,100,000 killed,besides 97,000 captives.



“For I venture to say that the sedition destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed the sedition. This was a much harder thing to do than to destroy the walls. So that we may justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own people (V. 6. 2).”



We know of no other seiged city that was more destroyed from their own inhabitants than from the enemy in all of history!



Titus sent Josephus to try to make a treaty. Josephus tried very hard to convince the Jews that they needed to Yeild to Rome because God had obviouly left them. No deal. The famine and fighting got worse. Things got so bad that mothers even ate the last of the food that would have kept their children alive.



The famine got so bad, some began to sneak out of the city at night to try and find food. The Romans found and crucified them in view of the city. There were so many, they had to nail more than one person to each cross.

"Then,” says Josephus, “did the famine widen its progress and devour the people by whole houses and families. The upper rooms were full of women and children dying by famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged. The children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them (V. 12. 3).”



Josephus tells us of one woman of a noble family who killed her own son, roasted him and ate half of him. When the rebels smelt the food, they demanded she tell them where she got it. “She replied that she had saved for them a choice part, and withal uncovered what was left of the little body, saying, Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself. Do not you pretend to be more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother.” (Matthew Henry) Even those wicked men were horrified and left trembling. We have to remember that all this trouble would have ended immediately, everyone kept alive, and the temple saved if they had just surrendered to Rome. But God had determined to destroy Israel completely. The temple was burned down (as scripture fortold), though Titus tried to save it.



Josephus: “But as for that house, God had for certain long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages. It was the tenth day of the month Ab, the day upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon (VI. 4.)”



Hosea had prophesied (8:13, 9:3) that Israel would be resold into slavery in Egypt. The Romans sold more than 1,000,000 to Egypt to work their mines.



This ended the Jewish nation, the greatest tribulation the world has every seen, and the Old Covenant. God’s vengence on Israel for their rebellion, idoletry, and crucification of Christ was complete.



Jesus had said, “then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” If the most common teaching that this “Great Tribulation” is to come at the very end of time is true, why would Jesus have said, “…Nor ever shall be.” His wording emplies there will be time after this “Great Tribulation.” In fact, we can rest asured that the worst has already happened. AD 70 so exactly fits both the prophecies in Daniel and of Jesus, that we can be certain that there will never come another tribulatian as bad as that one.



22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.



23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.



24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.



25 Behold, I have told you before.



26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.



I believe this is why Thomas was so skeptical of the other disciples having seen Christ after His resurrection. Jesus told him not to believe rumors of Christ being around.



We have many records of false christs in the time just before and just after AD 70. they did, in fact, deceive many.



27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.



“son of man” is, by definition, the son of a human being. The term does not always apply to christ. In this case it is refering to the coming of Titus. Just as the lightening is visable to all, so the coming of Titus would be visable to everyone. (Capitals, punctuation, and verse and chapter divisions were not added to the Bible until the 1700’s)



28 “For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.



The carcass is the city of Jerusalem. The Roman soldiers flew on the city, carrying their eagle ensigns, just like vultures or eagles surround and devour a dead animal. In this way would Christ be revealed, from the known east to the known west, as the vengeful God.



29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:



In the patriarch Joseph's dream, Jacob (Israel) was the sun and the moon was his wife. The stars were his sons. Sooooo Immediately after the tribulation of the siege of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel will no longer be visible. It won’t exisit.



30 “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven (Not the Son of Man; His sign): and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.



The Sign of the Son of Man is the great power with which God allowed the Jews to be destroyed.



God gave proof of Himself to those who refused to acknowledge Him in the person of Jesus. His proof was the vengeance and judgment so visible, that every people everywhere would be forced to acknowledge Him the avenger.



31 “And He shall send His angels (servants) with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.



32 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:



33 “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.



“When you begin to see the Roman armies (proceded by their trumpeters) approach, you will know the time is here.” In fact, because of the disciples repeating this warning, the christians in the area all fled the cities, especially Jerusalem, and hid in Petra. Josepeus says there was not one christian left in Jerusalem when Rome arrived. “His elect” were gathered together in one place from all ends of the region.the trumpets refered to here could be the literal trumpets of the roman army or the “trumpets of voices” of the disciples and other ministers telling people to evacuate.



34 “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.



This will all come to pass before all the ones He is speaking to die, NOT two thousand years down the road.



35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.



“Everything I say will happen. My words are the only permanent thing in the universe.”



36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.



Even Jesus didn’t know when this terrible time would happen. Daniel placed the end of Israel’s favor with God about three and a half years after the crucifixtion. God, in His great mercy, gave Israel another forty years to accept Christ before He destroyed the nation.



37 “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.



38 “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,



39 “And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.



Life would be going on like usual when all the fighting broke out.



40 “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.



41 “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.



Two people would be working side by side when they would hear the warning and one would leave for Petra and one would stay behind.



42 “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.



43 “But know this, that if the Goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.



44 “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.



The disciples were commanded here to always be ready to responnd to the heathen army. Only in this way would they keep from being surprised.



45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?



46 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.



Christ is speaking to the very men who will be held responsible to give the word for all the chirstians to run for saftey.



47 “Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.



48 “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;



49 “And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;



50 “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

51 “And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.



If these men had not been faithful to deliver the message christ wanted them to and had allowed His followers to be caught in the massacre in Jerusalem, they would be severly punished in the afterlife. This actually applies to all ministers. They are all commanded to warn the people of the coming destruction and if they don’t, they will be punished for it.