Friday, June 09, 2023

A Foundation That Will Never Fail

With each passing year I find the world less populated with people that I grew up with, shared life with, and who constitute a large portion of my life memories. But I don't believe that we are to spend our lives fixated on the past, because our true destinies lie before us. So for me there is no greater reminder of my purpose on this earth than my daughter. Which leads me to the topic of this week's blog, three essential beliefs that I pray that my daughter, her future husband and children will all embrace. 

1. The Bible Is the Inspired Word of God

According to Barna, less than six percent of adults in 2022 believed that the Word of God was infallible —meaning God’s Word contains no errors, is completely true and applies to our lives today. That is a huge drop in previous surveys and can only be viewed as a victory for the enemy. Yes, the same enemy who's primary goal for you and me is to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. The enemy understands that in his quest to erode our faith, his first step is to introduce doubt into the equation. And this is exactly the worldview that our culture has embraced. If God's Word cannot be trusted, (and by proxy God Himself) than all bets our off regarding what we believe and how we choose to live. It is my personal belief that the Bible cannot be treated as a buffet, only selecting the verses and stories that you agree with, because at that point we have shifted the authority from God to ourselves. 

Wednesday, June 07, 2023

Friday, June 02, 2023

The Role Of Ambition In A Christian's Life

“Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine." Elvis Presley

Living the Christian life is not only difficult, it is impossible. And one of the main reasons it is impossible for us to live for Christ (in our power) is that we are fighting a spiritual war on two different fronts. We have our internal battle, our constant tug-of-war between our spirit being led by Christ and our flesh being led by our desires, because we were born with a sin nature. (Romans 7:17-24) We also live in a world that has been marginalized and diminished by the curse of our original sin which has resulted in the distortion of God's desire for this planet. 

Then we have to factor in the presence, power, and influence of an ex-angel, who driven by selfish ambition, pursued his own agenda and rebelled against God. His rebellion resulted in not only his banishment from Heaven, but also of one-third of the angels that had lived in paradise before this choice. Now these fallen creatures have one goal, to steal, kill, and destroy as many humans for their cause as possible before their time runs out. 

Friday, May 26, 2023

Who Do You Belong To?

[From Reflections: My Time? My Body? My Soul? C.S. Lewis Institute]

One of the subjects C.S. Lewis addressed in his book "The Screwtape Letters" was the topic of ownership. In this book, Lewis is writing from the devil’s perspective — showing us his temptation playbook. In one letter, senior devil Screwtape writes to his nephew Wormwood:

"The more claims on life… that your patient can be induced to make, the more often he will feel injured and, as a result, ill-tempered. Now you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him…

You must… zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption “My time is my own”… You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defence. The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon his chattels. He is also, in theory, committed to a total service of the Enemy…