THE_LORDS_FREEMAN on Xanga

The Lord's Freeman	For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman...

THE_LORDS_FREEMAN
read my profile sign my guestbook Name: Sol Gender: Male Message: message me Member Since: 6/6/2006

SubscriptionsSites I Read

Subscribe to THE_LORDS_FREEMAN
Get trial subscription

holsinger_brent
homefire
TheGreatBout
gwflora
SirNickDon
revelife@revelife
Daniel_Spenrath
johndmetzger
lemming21
up4discussion
ResistHypocrisy
GBMole
samcgarber
ProvokingThought
PerilousTimes
RichDeaton
synablog
Now_Into_The_Word
survivan
bafocus_2
Happily_Married_Guy
HSmomto4
williedrake
davidpendleton
Supermansfriend
Mokus76
mom1945
superdav
boroball125
caught_in_a_deluge
MrsDarcy_MrsDarcy_MrsDarcy
brother_barabbas
Ian24601
heirbyadoption
BReformed

Blogrings
Old German Baptist Brethren Church Anonymous previous - random - next Headcovering previous - random - next A CHRISTIAN JOURNEY previous - random - next

Posting Calendar

\|<< oldest \| newest >>\|
view all weblog archives

Thursday, October 29, 2009

SUFFERING FOR JESUS

Greetings from the Land of Burning.

I sometimes get this urge to die for Jesus. It usually is for the wrong
reasons (posthumous glory of same morbid type), and thus to this point have
been disqualified. Unlike other faiths, in Christianity if you try to be a
martyr it does not count. To date my head remains attached to my shoulders
as God surely knows that even if lopped off it would quickly find a way to
swell.

Not so for some humble Sudanese saints this last week.

God is doing some amazing things in Darfur. Muslims are coming to Christ,
forming little gatherings, and sharing their faith. Earlier this month two
new believers bravely headed to a village with a stack of Bibles. Filled
with passion for their lost Muslim friends and relatives, they wanted to
give them the written voice of God. Once in the market, one of the men
slipped away on an errand. When he returned, he found his colleague stabbed
to death, body and Bibles burned. A few days later, another member of the
new believers was brutally bludgeoned to death.

If I give my body to be burned, and have love. It profits everything.

Please pray for those that remain. Both men leave young widows and small
children. Pray that the burning love of the Holy Spirit takes these
faithful few through their fire and onward in obedience. Pray that this is
the spark that lights broader revival in Muslim Darfur.

In that hope.

An Assemblies of God Missionary in Sudan

9:43 PM - 86 views - 4 eprops - 2 comments - email it

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

THE OBAMA ABOMINATION

Ladies and Gentlemen....The President of the United States!

During his speech Mr. Obama criticised defenders of traditional marriage, saying they “hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes”.

“You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

And he urged his audience to continue their campaign against “fellow citizens” who “hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families; who would deny you the rights most Americans take for granted”.

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, said: “One thing was clear from Obama’s speech – his goal (like that of homosexual activists) is not simply equal legal rights.

“It is, rather, to overturn millennia of moral teaching that has acknowledged the harms of homosexual conduct and the unique benefits of marriage between a man and a woman.”

I suppose one advantage of Obama's speech, if there is any, would be that Evangelists will have even more reasons to alert their audiences to the dangers facing the traditional family today. From the above comments by the President of the United States, I would conclude that he is more humanistic than Christian. We Christians certainly aren't perfect, but it takes a believer in the Bible to confess and call sin for what it is...sin. Mr. Obama believes in humanistic utopia, not the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures. I confess he is not different than the socialist planners of Europe in years gone by, who rejected the Holy Scriptures in favor of their beloved utopian agenda. I might now part ways with some of my Christian colleagues, I feel no urgent need to change the direction of our nation. While I certainly mourn and pray for our country, the laws passed by those enamoured with humanistic utopia will not affect my beliefs, but will undoubtedly give true Christians greater challenges and opportunities to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a western world that is growing tired of "outworn arguments and old attitudes". Perhaps we could benefit from the counsel of Scripture to "remove not the old landmark" and "stand you in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls". Proverbs 23:10 and Jeremiah 6:16. How typical and relevant to today the words: "We will not listen" Jeremiah 6:17. God will not be silent: "Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.". Jeremaiah 6:19

9:05 PM - 72 views - 2 eprops - 3 comments - email it

Sunday, October 04, 2009

THOUGHTS FROM A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN

"One wonders why no one in church history has ever been considered a heretic for being unloving. People were anathematized and often tortured and killed for disagreeing on matters of doctrine or on the authority of the church. But no one on record has ever been so much as rebuked for not loving as Christ loved. Yet if love is to be placed above all other considerations (Col. 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8), if nothing has any value apart from love (1 Cor. 13:1-3), and if the only thing that matters is faith working in love (Gal. 5:6), how is it that possessing Christlike love has never been considered the central test of orthodoxy? How is it that those who tortured and burned heretics were not themselves considered heretics for doing so? Was this not heresy of the worst sort? How is it that those who perpetrated such things were not only not deemed heretics but often were (and yet are) held up as "heroes of the faith"? If there is an answer to this question, I believe it lies in the deceptive power of the sword. While God uses the sword of governments to preserve law, order, and justice, as we have seen, there is a corrupting principality and power always at work. Much like the magical ring in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the sword has a demonic power to deceive us. When we pick it up, we come under its power. It convinces us that our use of violence is a justified means to a noble end. It intoxicates us with the unquenchable dream of redemptive violence and blinds us to our own iniquities, thereby making us feel righteous in overpowering the unrighteousness of others."

The Myth of a Christian Nation, Gregory A. Boyd, founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church, a mega-church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

8:33 PM - 160 views - 8 eprops - 10 comments - email it

Friday, August 21, 2009

CHURCH OF THE (HOMOSEXUAL) BRETHREN

LUTHERANS TO ALLOW SEXUALLY ACTIVE GAYS AS CLERGY

MINNEAPOLIS – Leaders of the nation's largest Lutheran church voted Friday to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

Gays and lesbians are currently allowed to serve as ministers in theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America only if they remain celibate. The proposal to change that passed with 68 percent approval.

At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA is one of the largest U.S. Christian denominationsyet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy.

The final decision on whether to hire gay clergy in committed relationships will lie with individual congregations.

Some critics of the proposal have predicted its passage could cause individual congregations to split off from the ELCA, as has been the case with other Christian denominations, including the Episcopal Church.

The debate over the so-called "ministry recommendations" got under way first thing Friday, and delegate Al Quie, a former Republican governor of Minnesota, proposed an alternative: "Practicing homosexual persons are excluded from rostered leadership in this church."

The proposal, which would have left the church's policy more or less unchanged, failed. Conservatives had lost an important vote Wednesday night when the convention's 1,045 delegates approved by a two-thirds supermajority a "social statement on human sexuality" that said the ELCA could accommodate diverging views on homosexuality.

The Rev. Katrina Foster, a pastor in the Metropolitan New York Synod, pointed out that the church has ordained woman and divorced people in violation of a literal interpretation of scripture.

"We can learn not to define ourselves by negation," Foster said. "By not only saying what we are against, which always seems to be the same — against gay people. We should be against poverty. I wish we were as zealous about that."

Katrina Foster's remarks caught my attention. Perhaps the problem with the professed Church today is it's growing unwillingness to take a literal interpretation of scripture. Do we need to depart from a literal interpretation of scripture to extend grace and mercy to a world lost in sin? Perhaps the least we could do would be to keep those from leadership positions in the Church whose lives are in violation of a literal interpretation of scriptural norms. I could more readily be longsuffering with those struggling with sin in the laity, those in positions of leadership in the Church need to be an example of Christian piety. Leaders who fall could certainly be reinstated after due repentance. We need to take a robust stand against societal sins like divorce and homosexuality.

10:33 PM - 266 views - 8 eprops - 11 comments - email it

Sunday, August 16, 2009

AAHCA Bill

AMERICA’S AFFORDABLE HEALTH CHOICES ACT OF 2009 (AAHCA Bill)

“IS IT AFFORDABLE? IS IT A CHOICE?”

“EVERYONE MUST HAVE INSURANCE”

After hearing some startling statements on the AAHCA bill before Congress, I decided to download a copy of the 1,000 plus page document for a quick perusal of my own. After wearing out the scroll wheel on my mouse and suffering from a temporary case of carpal tunnel syndrome of my right wrist, here are some of the things that jumped out at me:

Enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice (I guess they are saying they are paying the doctor by direct deposit? Or are they taking the premium directly from our bank account as some have alleged?) Page 59

There is a lot of info in bill on how this plan will affect businesses and individuals, the penalties for noncompliance concerning government rules and regulations and individual and employer responsibility since everyone will be required to have insurance. Pages 143-194

Religious exemption (wonder if I can take this way out?) Pages 170-171

Surcharge on high income individuals(other than corporations). Page 197

Inflation adjustments. Page 202

Limitations to growth rate of physicians services. Pages 238-257

Reducing hospital readmissions. Pages 280-298

Use of quality outcomes measures (will this lead to rationing and denial of care?) page 338

Prescription drugs Medicare part D. Pages 358-379

Promotion of access for Medicare Beneficiaries with limited English proficiency by providing reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (you mean if I don’t speak English, I can still get on the gravy train? Andig*!%##“neignekgrihtri8nreiigj!!) Pages 405-419

Advance care planning consultation, advance directives, living wills, etc., end of life services, hospice, life sustaining treatments, government control and quality measures on end of life care (Let’s see, those in decision making positions will be sensitive to Christ-centered solutions, right?) Pages 424-434

Patient care programs for medical homes, support for patient self-management, patient monitoring, support for family caregivers, implementation of evidence based guidelines. Pages 460-479

Coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services (again, Christians believe marriage a God-ordained institution between a man and a woman. Will gays get marriage counseling? Lord have mercy!) Pages 489-498

Comparative effectiveness research. Pages 501-524

Nursing home transparency. Pages 525-619

National priorities for quality improvement in the delivery of health care services in the United States. Pages 620-634

Nothing jumped out at me on page 666:)

Access to information needed to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. Healthcare integrity and protection databank and the national practitioner databank. Privacy and security standards. Pages 735-740

Preventative services. Tobacco cessation. Pages 740-765

Family planning services. (what about equal rights for gays? What about the guy that wants to marry his toaster? Will abortion be promoted?) Pages 770-778

Grants to states for quality home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children (so now the State will come into our homes and tell us how to raise our children? I guess some need that.) Pages 838-852

National Health Service Corps. Pages 865-869

Public Health Workforce Corps. Pages 898-

Public Health Training Centers. Page 910

Preventative medicine and public health training grant program. Pages 911-913

National Prevention and Wellness Strategy. Pages 935-

School Based Health Clinics (to promote abortion and safe sex without parental consent?) Pages 993-1001

National Medical Device Registry. Pages 1001-1008

THE END (of life as we know it)

“Don’t be alarmed, we can rest in the assurance that Big Brother has our best interests at heart.” (the Left)

“We don’t want or need National Health Care” (the Right)

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

I believe in relief for the sick and needy. I agree we have a responsibility for those less fortunate. But there are some things I do not believe in or wish to support. I understand that we are also commanded to be Salt & Light no matter what government or what laws we are under. May we as believers permeate the structures of men, and be a preserving moral influence upon them.

7:40 PM - 96 views - 8 eprops - 6 comments - email it

Next 5 >>