Why I Am Thankful

• I didn't have to register with the national church of China so that I could freely worship God (China)
• I wasn't tried or convicted of being an illegal Christian (though,I don't resist the possibility) (China)
• My wife wasn't raped, nor my children brutalized because I proclaim the gospel of Messiah (India/Pakistan)
• I wasn't stoned to death for being a Christian (Iran)
• I'm free to make mistakes and be set right by my creator (USA)
• I have the freedom of religion rather than the freedom of belief (Russia)
• Even amongst my peers, I can endure what little persecution I suffer and in Joy proclaim the gladness of my heart, that I am in Christ, He's in the Father, and we are ONE.
• I'm thankful that I have the knowledge of God, that he teaches me His laws, His ordinances and precepts. That in spite of all persecution, no man can take what the Father has given. The most man can remove from me is my physical life.

So, as you approach tomorrow; don't think about what you need, think about what you can give to others. 

Peace, Love, Charity, Joy, Patience, Endurance, Long-Suffering, Loving-Kindness...

 

No Man on this Earth has suffered so greatly that he cannot bear to give instead of receive. Be like Christ, give of your love and you shall receive.

Imagine, by John Lennon: Covered By Joshua Barnes

I find this song to be the exact description in parallel language to the realities the human condition. This song is emblematic of the cognitive dissonance that has overtaken us; and most powerfully so, in song.

Imagine there is no heaven;

The opening line; he openly declares war on God. But, for a moment, let's assume he doesn't mean exactly what he says. Let's imagine there is no heaven for a second. What would this mean to humanity?

1. You have no purpose.
2. No Reward
3. No life after life
4. No place of peace and serenity that you'll ever experience other than the fluttering of a day gone by.

Imagining there's no heaven is not looking good so far.

It's easy if you try;

He's got that right.

No hell below us, above us only sky

It is interesting to me that he didn't start by removing the punishment aspect of a deistic view of the world, he chose rather to remove the reward. Of course, this makes sense that if you're too remove loving kindness, mercy and righteousness, you must also remove authority, judgement and penalty.

Imagine all the people, living for today

This is such a pretty song. It's too bad it's pure fecal matter. People do live for today, that's the problem. I choose to live for today when;

1. We say there is no God
2. We prioritize our own ego over someone else's
3. When we murder
4. When we steal
5. When we covet
6. When we lie
7. When we prefer pleasure over discipline
8. When we don't train our children
9. When we have sex without any fear of consequence
10. When we don't live up to our obligations
11. When we are prideful

Sweet Lord, when he wrote this song, who exactly is he talking about? We all live for today.

Imagine there's no countries

 

Yes, no countries like Great Britain or America, where you're allowed to express yourself in song, though fecal oriented, expression none-the-less, free of repression from the country that you don't want.

Nothing to kill or die for

Ok, finally we start hitting something that makes sense, but it's connected with something that doesn't, so I can only assume complete and utter confusion.

I agree, I wish we didn't kill. And that killing was so repulsive, but to equate that with the idea that there should be nothing that we would be willing to die for?

You mean your child or your wife, or your beliefs are so unimportant that they are not worth dying for? Imagine...this is the people he wants to see. And it's not that big of a surprise to me...he believes there is no God and no penalty for his belief. Now, don't you want to imagine all of this with him? Ain't it great?

No posessions

No greed or hunger

sharing all of the world;

 

So it takes him to the end of the song to get to the part he should have started with. A love of mankind that is without warrant. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet John Lennon, crucified Christ in song so that he could have his reality. Imagine all the people, killing as one, Jesus Christ, so they could have what he offers.

This is the condition of the human heart apart from God.

 

I Know He's Angry

I'm listening to John Piper's series on Romans. http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/by-series/romans-the-greatest-letter-ever-written

I'm 2/3's of the way through it. I find it astonishing that it was delivered in 1998. It's as real and potent to me now as though it were the day it was said. God is real, and this is proof. I fully recommend that you listen to it.

 

Dear Daddy,

I know that you're angry:

he's angry with me

I don't desire God because I'm unrighteous

I cannot know Godliness because 

I'm in love with sin, I'm in love with

distortion and truth bending

I'm in love with my self-centered,

self-appointed, self-directed, god of self

who cannot know God, does not 

seek God and supresses the truth 

in unrighteousness.

Thanks be to God our Father

who in his mercy and by the washing

and renewing of His Holy Spirit

appointed us as sons for adoption

to be conformed to the image of His Son

Jesus Christ, whom he poured out

that we might be Justified. That we 

might be made righteous. Blessed is the man

whom God does not impute his sin to.

I'm not righteous, Christ is righteous and

his rightouesness has been given to me

without anything I could do or could have

done. I cannot repay. I stand in forever

adoration and thankfulness that my 

life is counted righteous, not because

I will it so, but because my Daddy did.

I love you Daddy and I'm very very very very sorry. Please forgive me, Joshy!

 

The gloriousness of this, is He has. He loves me and I love him. I praise him because it seems reasonable service owed only to the person who brought me back to life. He's my Hero, he's my Father, he's my God and I am his child and his portion. Praise be to God always.

Father I Will, By Your Grace & Mercy

I will be obedient despite my lack of understanding

I will listen despite my lack of hearing

I will believe without seeing

I will worship even though I want worship

I will defer though I prefer

I will lay my head low, though I would to raise it high

I will declare that you alone are God, there is none other

I'll not shrink back

I'll give mercy, help the infirmed, feed the poor, strengthen the weak

Though you slay me, I will serve.

Marked, Bought, Broken, Disciplined, Slave, of the one true God, who's Son Jesus Christ rescued from the wages of sin, and whose Holy Spirit receives all that is asked of the Father, that I might know and serve the God!

 

 

Man I've been busy

Seems like I don't get to touch this. I need to read my Bible.

 

 

I had an interesting experience; because I've never experienced anything like this before. I believe it was a dream from God.

Two days ago, as I was listening to Piper on Romans, I was thinking about how in some ways I don't remember what it felt like to be in bondage to sin; or dead. Or there was some sentiment of that. Not declarative, just pondering if I really remembered the hopelessness of it.

That very night I had a dream. In my dream I was uncontrollably engaged in my sin, but at a point I became aware that I was sinning against God but there was no hope. Like Sampson going to reach for his power, only to discover it was no longer there. The best word picture I can describe is the parable of the rich man and lazerus. I wasn't burning in hell, I was uncontrollably shaking because there would be no rescue from my sin. No matter how much I tried or desired, I could not free myself from it. It was like a straight jacket, writhing only made it worse. I could not escape it.

I woke up with a profound sense of awe, knowing that while I may forget in some sense what it was like to have no hope, I never want to be without hope of my eternal salvation.

 

Just one of those wow things.

 

What Did God Save Us From?

My Sunday school teacher asked us the question Sunday "what did God save you from?"

I was surprised at some of the answers and at the same time very thankful to God who has, without question offered me knowledge of him and his wisdom. What I say, I don't intend to offer with a sense of pride, but rather with a sense of trepidation, for the answer is as true in this moment as it was when I said it.

I heard the answer, sin, hell, relief from sins

I don't fully understand these answers in a sense. What is sin going to do to you? Hell is certainly a punishment that we're saved from, but to say that we're saved from the condition of punishment, rather than the punisher himself seems to, in sense and at least in my mind, demonstrate a very child like state of mind. Similar to my son who sometimes doesn't fear me, but rather being punished...I think we recognize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. This ofcourse leads to a loving and wonderful relationship with our creator.

In truth, God poured out his wrath on his Son, so that we would not have to face it.

God saved us from his wrath. Sin is a violation of the law which God put in place so that sin would increase all the more. God didn't create this so he could save polly pure hearts...he did not even spare his Son so that he could save the most wicked, the completely depraved, the fully undeserving so that Grace is Grace all the more. And he tolerates the wicked so that his chosen understand his mercy.

Yes, God saved us from HIS Wrath. Not going to hell is simply a by-product of what should be our ultimate fear, facing the wrath of The Almighty God. This is a fear so great that in Revelation, it says that men would rather be crushed by stones than to face the Lamb.