Hallelujah

“Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord but you don’t really care for music do you? It goes like this the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah” –Leonard Cohen
 
How peculiar it is, when modern culture takes ownership of something, as simple as a saying, and makes it extremely popular even though it seems counter to that very culture.
The song “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen is one where the swooning, melody is accompanied by simply captivating lyrics. It is a tune of the quality that transcends time, allowing generations to hum along with it for, well, generations.

Hallelujah!

I mention “counter to the culture” because it is the entertainment establishment that has taken this song to make it the phenomenon it is. So much so that the writer asked people to stop covering, or re-recording it for a while, stating that “it is a good song” and not to overdo it.

What I find amusing is God’s sense of humor in this entire arena.

The word “Hallelujah” is from a Greek word ἀλληλούΐα or al-lay-loo'-ee-ah, and that word is taken from two Hebrew words
haw-lal’ meaning: be clear, shine, make a show, boast, or even be clamorously foolish in your celebration or
praise, and
YAW meaning: “the sacred name of the Lord God Most High.”
The God we’re talking about, just for clarity purpose, is the God of Adam & Eve, of Noah & the ark, of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, of Moses & the exodus, of David & Bathsheba, of Jesus Christ, of the apostles, and of modern Christianity.
In short, “let everyone praise God!”

Hallelujah!

I love the fact that the established society of “God mockers and haters” are indeed praising His holy, and precious name every time any of the song’s recorded versions are played over the airwaves, on personal listening devices, and anytime there is a concert with audience participation. Even though God may be “on their lips and not in their hearts”, His name is still magnified and lifted up to its rightful place of prominence.
Yes there are some verses of the song that do not really fit with the example of “acceptable worship” offered in the new testament, but it still remains the name of God is praised even by the “unbelievers.”

Hallelujah!
   
Doesn’t it say somewhere that God is not mocked?
    (Yes it does in Galations 6:7 the Bible says “be not deceived, God is not mocked…”)

Praise God!  (Or how about…)

Hallelujah!

I am a Christ follower

What that means to you may have a different definition than what I hold to.
So here’s my deal, where I’m coming from, and my understanding.

My SIN is FORGIVEN!

I hold to the premise that I am human, weak, simple and a sinner.
I have sinned and am under the influence of the “sin of mankind.”
I believe that God created the penalty for sin (death) as He created the world. Everything rusts, corrodes, decays, dies as a result, and Adam & Eve stepped into the time/sin penalty (for all the rest of us humans) of their own volition.

I am convinced that we were made by God to live forever, sinless, unaffected by corruption or decay, but now we’re locked into time, and then we undergo the decay of death.

I am simplistically holding on to the belief that God provided the “out” for sin through His Son Jesus.

Jesus is who I hold up as the one who not only died on the Roman cross, but rose up from the dead after three days. He appeared to over 500 people after he was resurrected. This after all these things were written about hundreds of years before. Even the great Nostradamus couldn’t match that record.

You can degrade me as an idiot for believing all the stuff in the entire Holy Bible and that will hurt my feelings but when it is all said and done…

My SINS are FORGIVEN!
My SIN is FORGIVEN!

The Bible says I am reconciled to God and everything that is right and pure and good and reputable.
The Bible says I am free from the penalty of the wages of sin (Death) and can live my life as an act of acceptable worship of God by loving Him, loving His Word and loving my neighbor.

Pretty simplistic isn’t it?

Pretty stupid isn’t it?

Pretty irrational isn’t it?

Did I mention that…
My SINS are FORGIVEN!

Do ya know what else?
My SIN is FORGIVEN! FORGIVEN! FORGIVEN! FOR-GIVEN!

HooRah!

Dude! Praise the name of the Most High God!

Friend

The other day an acquaintance was "friended" on a computer, cyberspace, social networking and general gathering place.
That prompted me to ask him the question:
How do you define "friend"

I ask that because we all have our associations, and associates, acquaintances, buddies, contemporaries, companions, comrades, fellow countrymen, neighbors, and let's not forget enemies, and foes, as well as regular ol' friends, both close and distant.
That circle of friendly, or not, associations can also include family members, close and distant

These can all be "friends" at one time or another, but what, really, is a friend?

The Bible addresses a friend, friends, and even friendships. It speaks mainly to the relationship of people to people, or one to another. (Try looking up all the "one another's" in the Bible, it's an eye opener.)
The key factor is that there has to be a relationship in some fashion for there to be friendship, truly.
God's word speaks of friendship in many different forms, but perhaps the most important is the way the book of Proverbs puts it:
Proverbs 18:24 says it his way. "He that makes many friends does it to his own destruction; But there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
I think that it is saying you can have too many "friends" that are not really friends. They are better known as associates, or acquaintances, and that can be very detrimental, because they are not friends.
Perhaps if we used the proper terms for relational connections, and what portion of our "timespent" we invest with those connections in their various forms.

The Bible does speak to true friendship. "…he who would lay down his life for his friends."
Namely Jesus Christ in His ultimate gift of sacrificing Himself upon the cross to pay our sin debt. He gives us an example in His own actions in that He values His "friends" so highly that he made sure there was a way for all of them (us) to go to His home and live with Him in His own Father's house, forever in the joy of God, without pain or suffering.
Wow what a gift.
What a friend.
That is the example that we need to look toward, albeit not looking forward to a sacrifice like that for our own friends here on earth, because that is not possible or even realistic. That's why we only need to believe in Christ's work as the Son of God to be granted that free gift.

With women, friendship is usually easier in that they are more relational but men are mostly not.
I've long wondered about friends and how to be a good one. I find that, like many men, I am selfish. My time is my own, I don't want to share it with another.
Or at least very few.
It takes a lot of work, on my part, to be a friend.
I have to extend myself to others.
I have to allow myself to be vulnerable, to trust others, be available and listen.
That's an expense of energy that I do not hand out without first giving much thought to.

Nevertheless there are certain individuals that I like to be with, and around.
I like to engage in discussion with and work side by side with them.

I have a lovely bride, I call a friend, that I love to be with.
To hear her voice is music to my soul. I was attracted to her by her love of God and her intelligent discussion of the things of God. Here was a jewel that I did not deserve, yet the great God in heaven saw that we'd be a good match and made it so. I thank Him daily for our friendship.
I can spend much time on her, and for her, and with her. It is an investment that I set myself aside to make.

There are others in my life, and as I get older, I want to spend more time with them, but I find that our conversations mean more when I'm talking about things of God and the Bible.
Politics, events and the weather only carry you so far in that they are all temporary, but since the Word of God stands forever, we should be spending more time on it, in it, and with it.
Speaking of the word and since we're speaking of friends the word also says some harsh things about friendship.
James 4:4 says that "friendship with the world is enmity with God." Translated further it means that a philia (brotherly) love or a fondness for this world's stuff is a hostility against God. This word hostility, is the root word for hate, hateful, or even actively hostile or an enemy.
So I guess what I'm trying to emphasize is, while we will continually make acquaintances, we must cultivate friends, and yes that takes work. It takes timespent.
So, how are you spending your time?

Fortitudine vincimus – (by endurance we conquer)

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. -Ernest Shackleton."

Something I noted as interesting, when I read about Shackleton's incredible voyage, on The Endurance was not the test of will they fought through losing their ship to the crushing ice, even when they listened to the "animal like screams from her as the ice sought to break her back" and not even the fact that they endured the ordeal, and still pretty much retained their sanity. Not even the fact that they traveled so far on foot, rather than on the ship they took.

What I find curious is that while there were many interested in pursuing the quest, only a few actually went.
There were only 28 men on that "adventure." (twenty six were actually chosen, one stowaway, and, of course, Ernest himself,)

I believe that number is relative to the time that people spend on other people’s lives, or with their church, or in their own personal bible study/reading time, or even in the amount that people actually think.

I've heard it quoted that only 5 percent of people actually think!
15 percent think that they think,
and the remaining 80 percent of people…
would rather die than think!

It seems that most, but not all of us, are emotionally comfortable where we are, so don't mess with it.
Going to work and coming home to various transient pursuits, whether televised, or otherwise, seem to take up our otherwise generally fruitless time. Go to work, come home, disengage.

In my observation many people, in America at least, who call themselves "Christians" live their life in a sheltered place where they have become accustomed to their "right" to convenience.
They cling to mournfully lazy and ineffective lives as they are not truly committed or authentic followers of the same even though they would vehemently argue otherwise.
They just do not read The Bible and their prayers are ineffective.
We scarce know, in this, the greatest nation on God's green earth, real persecution and are rarely ever visited by evil because we're not a threat to the spread of it.
We have been too lazy, too long.
Too bad!

While I say many, I really do mean a lot.
Their lives are superficial, and they don't know it or don't care.
Their pursuits are transient, their goals are random, and their children are not acquainted with sterling examples of lives devoted to a loving God who directs the path of their parents.
The same children are, however used to compromise, and if you can get away with it it's okay. As long as no one gets hurt.

Nevertheless, there are still some who are true "believers" following closely the teachings of the Bible and living their lives accordingly.

What is your prayer life affecting?
What do you pray for? Or who?
Does God answer your prayers? This too can change, through endurance.
Endurance takes time, much like any other worthwhile pursuit. Getting to know people takes time.
Letting them get to know you takes time.
Getting to know God takes, not only time, but a life-time. But then that is time very well spent, because as you get to know God, you learn what is important to Him, or maybe I should say you learn Who is important to Him.

I Want To Be Like Him

“No single factor is more compelling than a challenge of a man whom people suspect walks closely with God. When the radiance of heaven is discernable in the messenger's life and face, even those outside of Christ are frequently touched." –Paige Patterson

"Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering their conduct, imitate their faith." Hebrews 13:7

I remember the man who led me to Christ.
It was only yesterday…
In 1968

He was a farmer.
Drove a Caterpillar steel tracked bulldozer as a plow.

He was also a Sunday school teacher for junior high boys.
You know them.
The unruly ones.
The ones with much to prove, the ones who were hard to capture their attention.

With hands the size of hams he would pick heavy things up and move them like nothing.
He got our attention.
He let us read the Bible out loud in class.

We were just kids and he took an interest in us. We never let an opportunity go by to test his firm handshake, knowing full well his vise grip would absolutely crush our poor fingers.
Through the excruciating pain we were not going to give up trying to “best” him.
Not soon were we to realize that it would never happen.
We’d never best him.
We’d never have the grip he had.
We would probably never experience the work he did.
I wasn’t around when he died.

His name was Gould Taylor and he was a man of God, and he led me to Christ. And I want to be like him.

Global Warming (global climate change?)

The daily news hawkers and commentators incessantly remind us of the palpable stupidity their profession has espoused even to the affection of the “educated” establishment.
People reputed to be “smart” fiercely promulgate not only the perceived dangers of global warming, but that it is the fault of the natural behavior of animals, people using the “wrong”
hairspray, driving vehicles they don’t like or approve of, and carbon dioxide.

(CO2 is that same gas that dry ice is made of, that humans exhale, that the green plants and trees produce at night.)

The prophets of the religion of greenness and liberalism espouse that you should act the way they say you should, and we can all agree to get along as long as you adhere to their viewpoint and there is no god but
(insert personalized object of worship here, as long as it is NOT Jesus Christ)

The Bible talks about those people (names them scoffers) and their ruin, in 2nd Peter
(New Testament – Holy Bible)
2 Peter 3:5-7 (ESV) "For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept
until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly." (irreverent, impious, wicked)
(Historical note - this was written during the time of Nero approx 65-68 AD)

Those “scoffers” continually and deliberately, even today, overlook the Holy Bible and it’s historical reasoning and teaching that God created the universe (heavens) and all the laws of thermodynamics by His own intelligent design.

God after He destroyed the earth and its creatures, by water, because of their continuous
wickedness and increasingly sinful thoughts and behavior, then made a promise to Noah.
Genesis 8:22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

Plainly put, the God of the Hebrews (Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, etc.) has, in place, a plan for the destruction of the earth just as He had a plan in place for the creation of it. In His own time.
But not while the earth remains, and we remain on it. (But then this too shall pass.)

Are we so foolish as to believe that humans, and animals, by their mere existence on this very big planet, are perceived to be the foremost cause of its destruction, due to our simple exhalations?
Come on, let’s really think about that premise.

Are we so full of ourselves that we can specify a timeline for something as spectacularly, and monumentally cataclysmic as when the polar ice caps are going to melt and drown humanity?
This while bearing in mind that in all our wisdom and prognostication, we cannot accurately predict a deadly ice storm, hurricane, or tornado, more than a few hours, or days away. Let alone an earthquake and subsequent tidal waves, or tsunamis.
Lightning? Don’t even go there.

Are we so arrogant that we actually think we can destroy this earth?

If you really and truly look at the whole "climate change" & "green" movement at its face value it is another religion that man has devised to garner power over other pliable individuals and take their money.

But that is all a sidetrack to get you away from the knowledge of God. The real issue is not about the earth or all it contains, but WHERE ARE YOU?

God is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but He’s patient toward YOU, not wishing that ANY one should die, but that everyone reach repentance, (changing your mind)

God has promised global warming.
In the summer.

God has also promised global cooling.
And that would be called winter.

God has also promised a forever life without pain, or tears to those who change their mind (repent)
That is called salvation in Christ Jesus.

Revelation 21:4 "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
-Wo

What Can I Do

While wringing my hands, about what I thought to be a particularly evil political climate, I found myself utterly at a loss as to “what else can I possibly do” to affect what I saw as the legislator's undoing of our country.
I had written my letters to senators and congressional representatives, made telephone calls and even received written correspondence from some of them expressing “concern” for my views and that they would certainly be taken under consideration”
Eventually this tale leads to highlight my own prayer life and how I repeatedly asked God “what else I should be doing?”
He, one day while I was on a “prayer walk”, answered my question in the form of a question impressed upon my soul.
“How many pairs of tennis shoes do you have running around your house?”
Well, at that time, my lovely bride and I did have four children living at home, and I was very busy with work, and commuting etc.
So it dawned on me that the Great God of Heaven had granted me the ability to affect the lives of some very small people, by training them and raising them “in the admonition of The Lord”
That was the day when Fathering took on a new light for me. It caused me to remember Proverbs 22:6.
The Word says “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Literally it says discipline or initiate your son, or daughter, from infant to adolescent in the way of their bent or disposition.
The picture is one of training, or working, or narrowing of a piece of wood into an archer’s bow, or a custom made yoke for a pair of oxen.
The wood worker, whether a novice or a skilled craftsman, can, by working the grain or “bent” of the wood, fashion a very exquisite piece of furniture, or weapon.
Notice I made no distinction in skill level; point being you have to study the wood to “find the grain” (Study the child to find the “bent”)
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. You have to invest TIME in the study of your own children to find out how they learn, what they’re good at, what are their likes and dislikes, and then present them opportunities to grow the way they’ll do best.
If you’re rearing children, whether you’re a father or mother, I hope you “see” the very rewarding responsibility God has granted you.
And as a loving Father Himself, He gives you plenty of grace to accomplish that task, provided you are faithful to HIS Word.
Yup… That’s what I said, & I mention THAT because it’s really important that YOU are also studying GOD. (Hence theology) As you grow closer to God, you’ll also grow closer to your children.
Hope this helps, Go study your kids, and while you're at it
-Wo

MEN have forgotten God

"We have grown in numbers, wealth
and power, as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten
the gracious hand which preserved us in peace,
and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
us; and we have vainly imagined, in the
deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced by some superior wisdom
and virtue of our own." –Abraham Lincoln

So here we are in the 21st century and we still don’t get it. Men have forgotten GOD. Key word MEN.
Honest Abe didn’t say a thing about women, because it’s the responsibility of men to do men’s work.
I think, with all the religiousness available today, even in some (many) conservative Christian churches, there are too many men who are quick to say “I’ll pray for you brother.” But then they forget something really important. (besides time on their knees in communion with the Almighty) They forget ACTION. Hence they abdicate their effectiveness.

So I got a great idea. If you want to reflect the POWER of Jesus Christ, then put feet to your prayers. “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
Where are you, if you’re a professing "born again" believer? Are your prayers effective? If you really believed the Bible, and that Christianity is really "cool" how does that show in your life?
-Wo

Set in the Door

Once upon a time I was Air Assualt. That's ARMY talk for knuckleheads that jump out of helicopters on a rope. Many times with full pack, weapon, and, you know... stuff.
The goal was...
Never mind that, the point is: When we were almost ready to jump, we heard the command "Set in the Door!"
Well son, this is that point. I'm new to blogging and this is my first post.
I find I'm almost as nervous as the one time I jumped, and everything was fine until I ran out of rope.
Yeah, the bird was too high, but I landed on my feet, and looked up to see the bight (end of the rope) dancing joyfully about 10 feet above me.
So the great God of heaven gave me another day to praise His Holy Name, and here I will write about Him, as well as other things relevant.
-Wo