1998
People are willing to accept the free “gift” of sin (through Adam), but not the free gift of salvation (through Jesus Christ). Man brought death into the world. God brought life into the world.
A free will is naturally a rebellious will.
What is it about babies? Something about them seems so virtuous and innocent that not even the atheist can deny. Innocence is something that everyone looks up to. Perhaps because humans cannot obtain it? Where did this idea of “innocence” come from? From some organic soup? No. Only from God Himself. And it’s through Him alone that He gives us a chance at real innocence.
On Judgment Day, Life will be the price. You will either pay with Jesus’ Life or with your own. It’s either His blood or your blood.
If we could comprehend everything about who God is and why He does certain things, would He be a very great God?
Christians should take a lesson from the moth: The moth, when in darkness, will flock to the brightest source of light. With unfailing perseverance and fortitude, his goal is to get to that light. He pays attention to nothing else. For us Christians, that light is Christ. We must seek Him at all times. When we are surrounded by darkness on all sides, it’s comforting to know that Jesus, that Great Light, will keep us from darkness and will not forsake us. Ever.
The messages, promises, blessings from God carry a common them which runs like a golden thread throughout His Word: Love.
Do you think any other great “religious leader” would’ve taken the time to teach and love children? No way! Jesus took the time.
People don’t want to be subject to God’s rule. But it’s like trying to get away from gravity: Impossible. You’re subject to gravity’s rule whether you like it or not. God’s rule and inevitable earthly kingdom is no less demanding.
It’s a good thing man hasn’t touched the stars: he’d ruin them. That’s part of their beauty; man hasn’t gotten a hold of them.
In a sinful world, He who is sinless calls the shots. He is the one who deserves our worship. He’s the One who we should listen to and obey and love.
“For God (the Greatest Lover) so loved the world (the Greatest Disappointment), that He gave His only begotten Son (the Greatest Sacrifice) that whosoever believeth in Him ( the Greatest Invitation) should not perish (The Greatest Escape), but have everlasting life (the Greatest Gift).” — John 3:16
Both Adam and Jesus had their sides opened for their bride.
Eternal life is like a $100 bill lying on the floor in a department store: you can be indifferent to it (I doubt it), you could just not want it and walk away, or you could want it and pick it up and keep it.
1999
You’ve heard it asked, “Can God create a rock so big that He cannot lift it?” My answer: make a checklist of all of God’s attributes: Omnipotent, Omnibenevelont, Omnirational, Omniscient, Immutable, etc. Now go through the checklist and mark all his attributes that would be in alignment with “creating a rock so big he could not lift it”. Omniscient would be checked off. Omnirational would not be. Already we have our answer. Whatever God does has to be in alignment with ALL of his attributes. For if even one attribute is not pleased, He won’t do it. His nature is so interwoven into what He does. Who He is is what He does, so to speak. So creating a rock so big that He could not lift it, would be out of alignment with His Omnirational attribute, as well as other attributes that I didn’t list (like Omniloving, Omnicreative, etc). So the answer is obviously a resounding “NO!”
I would rather have God as a friend than a stalker. To the unbeliever God is a stalker.
I would like to propose that God doesn’t send people to hell. People send themselves to hell. Hell is separation from God. He gives them exactly what they want. In fact, heaven, for someone who does not love God, WOULD be hell. God is actually more “merciful” in sending someone to hell, than forcing them into heaven.
The Law of Cause and Effect necessitates the existence of God. The big bang “cell” could not create itself from nothing. It defies logic. Evolution can’t explain: 1. First Mover. 2. The Gap between Nothing and Something. 3. The Gap between Something and Life. 4. The Gap between Life and Humanity. 5. Order/Design/Purpose. My conclusion: Atheists aren’t not born, they’re made.
If I paid someone $1 Billion to go to hell for eternity, would they do it? I highly doubt it. But everyday people go there and willingly pay a much higher price: their soul.
If your happiness is based on what you have materially, you’re going to be a most unhappy person.
We live in a Telecommunications World. We can communicate with astronauts, unmanned space probes, satellites, underwater machinery, etc. I can talk to anyone in the world with a phone, modem, palm pilot or Fax. But you know what? I can talk with the God who created the heaven and the earth. Now that is communication!
What philosopher ever saved anyone from their sins by their taught philosophies? Jesus Christ was no philosopher; He was the answer to the philosophers’ questions. He came to save the world from the philosophers’ philosophies.
What good is a “Messiah” if He just died and stayed dead? That would be no Messiah at all. My Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach DID rise from the dead. I don’t put my faith into some long-dead “messiah” who’s rotting away in a grave somewhere. I put my faith in the God who came back from the grave!
Life is not about creating art; it’s about the Creator and my relationship with Him and how I love Him and how I know Him. Every moment counts in this life; let us not forget the Giver of the moments.
Sacrifice is innocent life traded for sinful life. That’s why God can fellowship with us today—His sinless Son gave us His own innocent life for our sinful life.
God made the first sacrifice (the killed animals for skins for Adam and Eve) and He made the last sacrifice at Calvary.
If a father and a son are walking and the son falls in the mud, do you think the father will not pick him up? Are you kidding? That father will pick his son up with his own arms and get dirty.
You’re either a slave to sin and free from righteousness or s you’re a slave to righteousness and free from sin.
Only God could have saved us. An angel could not have been our Savior, for an angel still has the potential to sin (Lucifer’s rebellion). Not only that, but an angel isn’t eternal like God. We need an eternal Savior and One that we can worship: God Himself. One final thought: Only God could pay a God-sized debt. And He did!
God’s nature is infallible. God’s Word is infallible. But the people who interpret those things are fallible.
Jesus was not ashamed to be crucified publicly for me. His holiness should have been ashamed to even think of my unrighteous rags. How then can I be ashamed of that Great God who was not ashamed of me?
Why did Satan tempt Jesus in the desert? Because Satan is an idiot. He thinks all men have a sin nature. Well, He would’ve been right every other time if not for this Just, Holy God He was trying to tempt. Was there a possibility that Jesus could’ve listened to his temptations and followed them? Absolutely not. Jesus has a perfect, sin-free nature and it is impossible for Him to sin in the littlest of things. He’s absolutely holy. There was no chance that He could’ve sinned. So what was the point of the temptation? To PROVE that He was sinless. It’s one thing to keep talking about how holy you are; it’s quite another to actually prove it in the worst, real-time circumstances. Jesus did.
If you want to know what’s beyond the grave, wouldn’t’ it make sense to find an expert on the subject. Wouldn’t it behoove you to talk to someone who’s gone through it and has come back? Jesus is here and He’s willing to teach you all that’s beyond the grave. His credentials are His nail-pierced hands and feet.
People with weak faith have a little God.
Jesus could’ve come at any time in history. He could’ve died by shooting, stabbing, etc. But He came at the time of crucifixion. He chose the most cruel method ever devised by men, to die for me. Nothing else could have been so painful. His stigmata will be a reminder for all eternity of the price He paid for my redemption.
Jesus paid the penalty for the His own Judgment that we would’ve had to pay. He saved us from His own Judgment.
God doesn’t allow anything to happen to us that will not contribute to our mutual good. He allows everything to happen only in His love.
Why do the righteous suffer? I think Jesus asked the equivalent of that question on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” But of all men in history, He is the only one that could’ve asked it honestly. For everyone else isn’t righteous.
God majored in suffering on the cross. Don’t tell me He hasn’t experienced what we experience! He experienced worst things (indeed, THE worst thing) than we’ll ever experience.
God loves you for who you are and sees you as you can be.
A Christian is a soldier who joins a battle of a war that has already been won.
If you can’t call God “Father”, then you can’t call Him. Period. You can’t call Him until you’ve accepted the Only Way He’s given to heaven. God has only given one option. Don’t think that you can make more options. God could’ve chosen 5, 10 or even 500 ways to get to heaven. But He only chose One; that way is Jesus Christ.
People always want the newest things: cars, houses, clothes, vacations, movies, cds, etc. How ‘bout a new life? I got one in Christ Jesus.
I heard this from someone: “The world says: ‘Show me and then I’ll believe.’ God says: ‘Believe me, then I’ll show you.’”
What is the point of a God-given art talent? It’s not practical! It’s not food or a power tool or a household appliance. It has the same point as a flower: it gives glory to God’s creative power.
Jesus was so made sin for my sake on the cross, that He couldn’t even call the Father “Father”. He called Him “God”. The Father cannot look upon sin; therefore Jesus was made the subject of total abandonment by both the Father and the Spirit on that cross.
The whole gospel story revolves around the humbling of two parties: God and me.
The Bible is THE BOOK where you can fellowship with the Author while reading. You can even ask questions!
God expects 100% perfection 100% of the time. If you committed 3,000 sins in your lifetime, you’re destined for hell. If you committed 3, you’re destined for hell. Now, what if God decided to wipe out your sin debt to Him. Would you take it? Jesus did just that for each of us.
Evil men are never satisfied with one of anything (money, gods, wives, ways of salvation, etc.)
If you honestly think that you can keep the 613 Jewish laws, then you’re obviously perfect and don’t need Christ. Christ is for those who can’t keep the law (like me). Christ is the human example of keeping the law. He is the fulfillment of it. The law is the highest standards ever devised in the history of the world. God expects no less than a perfect man who kept the law. Jesus was that Man and whoever believes on Him, will be made perfect like Him.
The glory I give myself will die when I die. The glory I give God will last forever.
If we were to tithe our time, God deserves: 10% of every 1 minute ( 6 seconds), 10% of every 1 hour (6 minutes), 10% of every 24 hour day (2.4 hours), 10% of every 1 week (16.8 hours), 10% of 52 weeks (5.2 weeks) and 10% of every 365 days (36.5 days). I don’t know about you, but I fall no where near this. God deserves much more than this, however. He deserves every second of our life.
If your philosophy isn’t good enough to live and die by it, then dump it. Christianity is good enough to live by and to die by. 100% guaranteed.
The longer you are in the dark, the more adjusted your eyes become to it. When you first see the light, it’s a shock at first, but is much more enjoyable than the dark, because you see!
What amazes me is that public schools teach evolution which teaches no moral law or ANY law for that matter and in the same classroom, on the wall, is a list of “Don’ts” (Don’t drink in class. Don’t knife people on campus. Don’t do drugs on campus, etc.) The evolutionists can’t have it both ways. There is either a moral law or there isn’t.
2000
Eternity isn’t time that goes on forever, eternity is the absence of time.
People think that getting to heaven is like when I give my dog a treat: If he can jump up and get the treat that I’m holding out, then he deserves it.
God makes the rules. We should live by them. It’s not that He’s trying to make us conform to His way of doing things, but He is God: He knows what is best for us. He loves us! He wants to give us life more abundantly—not take it away!
Isaac is the son that never should’ve happened. By all human reasoning, Isaac should’ve never been born. Do you think the fact that Gentiles were grafted into Israel was any less of a miracle? Praise be to God!
Art never used to satisfy me before I gave it up to God.
Christianity isn’t plausible only if you believe that death is the unconquerable enemy.
2001
The world cannot stop the blessings my God showers me with.
Love is going out of your way to die for a person in need, but who doesn’t want your help.
Everything I do I want to please my Daddy.
God doesn’t give second-rate gifts.
The world so needs Jesus Christ. But it isn’t going to ask us for Him. We need to share Him freely. When we are ridiculed, we mush show Jesus; when we are judged unfairly we must show Jesus. When we become martyrs we mush show Jesus. How easy it is to let these people go to hell; how easy it is to ignore their desperation. But “they” used to be “us”. What if someone hadn’t reached out to us? We’d be the ones hell-bound. We would be the ones scattered. We need to pull up the shades and let our light shine through.
I can’t stand it when I hear people say that human nature is basically good. “Good?!” How come we lock our cars and houses? How come we’re searched at concerts? How come we have jails and laws and have to sign ten times to borrow money? How come there’s no crime in ghost towns? Men are evil in nature.
The Law is a mirror; it shows us how sinful we are. It never made us sinners, it just reveals the sin that is already in our hearts. We don’t measure up. Next time you try comparing your “goodness” to some “lowlife”, first see how you measure up to the Law.
When I use white paint in my paintings, my brush has to be devoid of any other color. I want pure white. If there is a little bit of any other color, it will ruin the white; it won’t be pure anymore. That’s how our sin is to God. Even if I committed a few sins today, it’s enough to get me on the wrong track away from God. Repent of your sins when you’re convicted of them. Move on; but don’t push them back until your pureness isn’t pure anymore.
The challenges facing the Christian artist of the 21st Century: 1. Keeping abreast of the newest technologies. 2. Letting our Christian work be known. 3. Keeping our art Biblically accurate. 4. Not being opposed to new media, but embracing it and using it for Christ. 5. Doing art that is more pleasing to God than to the public.
I don’t care how “holy” a project may seem; if it takes you away from God then it’s not right.
People will take the world God has given to humans. And they will take the oxygen and the water and they will take his institutions like marriage and government, but they won’t take the one thing He has given humans that He really wants us to have, the one thing that humans need: Salvation in Jesus Christ!
There’s two worldviews: the one that says, “ I need a Savior” and the one that says, “I am my own savior.”
The opposite of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is found in the spiritual realm. 2 Corinthians 4: 16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
It’s pretty easy to turn a good situation into a bad one. But try turning a bad situation into a good one. That’s hard, if not impossible. However, God did just that. He turned my sinfulness into righteousness. He brought me from death into life. He saved me from hell and brought me to heaven. He’s good at reversing a bad situation into a good one.
I think God doesn’t answer us the way we want sometimes is because we couldn’t comprehend the answer He would give us. It’s like the kid that I heard that asked his dad, “What are cars made of ?” The dad could try and give his boy the answer, but he wouldn’t get it.
I can’t persuade people that God loves them. People can only believe that when God taps them on the shoulder. I can prove God’s existence by His creation, but the creation doesn’t prove His love. Only from a supernatural source (God’s Word) would one find that God loves them. And only after they believe that Word would they know that He loves them. But what bothers me is the fact that people believe in God, but they just stop there. They don’t go any further in their quest to KNOW God. It’s like people are just content in knowing that He’s out in the cosmos somewhere. But what kind of comfort is that if they don’t have a relationship with the God of the cosmos?
God always makes the first move in a relationship that He wants. He always shows His love first before the person does. He always makes Himself vulnerable in asking first, “Do you love me?”
Jesus gave up the thing He held most precious: His relationship with the Father. He did it all for me.
Righteousness hung for us sinners.
Paul says to think on whatever things are true, honest, just pure, lovely, things of good report, virtue and praise (Philippians 4). When I watch TV or movies or read comics or magazines or the newspaper I CAN’T THINK ON THOSE THINGS!
Just because you’re breathing doesn’t mean you’re alive.
From the Father’s perspective, I was saved before the foundation of the world. From the Son’s perspective, I was saved 2,000 years ago on Calvary. From the Holy Spirit’s perspective I was saved in the Summer of 1994. And from my perspective, when I leave this world, I will be completely saved, praise God!
Out of death (Sarah’s womb or Jesus’ tomb) came life (Isaac or eternal life).
There’s only 3 things that change at any given time in history: language, fashion and invention. Man doesn’t change; he’s still the evil creature that was cast out of Eden.
The best that the world can offer is hell in a box.
If God can take a dead branch that Aaron had and make it blossom with buds and almonds, He can take any rotten sinner and use him to bear fruit as well.
An analogy for life: We have a boysenberry bush in our front yard. Any one who knows about boysenberries knows how good they taste and how thorny the bush is. It seems that the biggest and tastiest boysenberries are always in the back, in the shade of the leaves. I want that boysenberry! I am willing to get my hand cut and scraped by the thorns to get to the back of the bush and get it. Most people are willing to accept the other, not-so-quite big boysenberries in the front that are pain-free to obtain.
The Lord put His Name on the line when He chose me. Everything we do reflects the Name we hold so dear to us.
I don’t understand the thief on the cross who was lost. He was condemned together with Jesus. He had the Savior of the world next to Him. Yet he didn’t believe on Him. Is that stupidity or what? He went into eternity his own way. The other thief did believe on Jesus and is in heaven for eternity.
The saddest, most horrific words ever uttered were uttered by Jesus on that cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” That question answers God’s question to man, back in Eden, “Where are you?”
The Greatest Man in history was a servant to all and He didn’t even have to be. Talk about getting out of your comfort zone.
Jesus is the only Man that has ever been able to look back on His life and say “It is finished.” Every other man’s aspirations reach further than a single life span. Jesus finished His work in a mere 33 years; he lived a more abundant life than any other man in history.
Humans love to give each other awards and congratulations and pats-on-the-back. How about a pat-on-the-back from your Savior: “Well done good and faithful servant.”?
“Your life for My Life.” That’s essentially God’s offer to each of us. It’s hard to imagine God wanting to make a deal like that, but He is more than willing to do so.
The summary of the Old Testament is: “Messiah is coming.” The summary of the New Testament is: “Messiah is here.” The summary of the Bible is: “Jesus is the Messiah and He is here.”
As I study Paul’s life, I never see him selling the gospel. I do see him going out of his way to preach it for people’s sake. I see him making a living doing something else so that he can preach the gospel. I see him becoming a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles to win the more. I see his strong relationship with Jesus. I see his humbleness and self-sacrificing and the limitations he had. I never see him asking for a donation or to pay for the gospel. I see his love and his devotion and his unwavering focus on his Savior. I see him take the criticism and the beatings for the truth he held dear. I see him running the race and never giving up and always hoping in God. I see him always going to the unbeliever, meeting them where they are. I see his faith in God to supply all his needs and his security in his Savior. I see his inventiveness and his stubbornness and his loneliness. I see his leadership. I see him fellowshipping and giving and helping. I see him defeated yet never really defeated. I see him finishing his course with the utmost enthusiasm to meet his Lord. I see his writings and his legacy. His name lives on because the gospel was more than a strong conviction to him; it was the very basis as to how he lived his life. He is a tremendous example as to how each of us should live our lives in light of Christ.
It’s easy to die for Christ; it’s hard to live for Him.
God will reinvent this world in love.
God has so much existence He can give existence away.
Men rise to the heights when they’re in the depths (by God’s grace). War, pestilence, poverty, famine, depression, persecution, etc bring new heroes to the surface—Heroes who would not have been in more peaceful settings.
God asks us not to be unequally yoked with a mate. God follows His own advice: His bride isn’t someone foreign to Him. His bride is just like Him.
Without God nothing is possible. But with God nothing is impossible.
The paintbrush doesn’t make an artist, nor the guitar make a musician. An artist would paint with his fingers if not with a brush; he is an artist regardless of what he has. And the musician would make music with rocks or sticks if not a guitar. “A man’s life doesn’t consist in the things he possesses.”
The devil’s strengths are my weaknesses. The devil’s weaknesses are my strengths.
God doesn’t give His children easy destinies that can be accomplished humanly; He gives us destinies that seem impossible but we have to totally rely on Him to fulfill them for us. God doesn’t specialize in human-strength destinies of the world. He has so much planned for our lives than the world could ever think of on their own.
Real power is found in having the power to stop evil, but rather choosing to be merciful.
Jesus was never so Kingly as when He carried His cross. Jesus was never so servant-like than when they were nailing Him to the cross. He was never so gracious as when He asked the Father to forgive His murderers. He was never so obedient as when He was in Gethsemane. He was never so strong as when the stone rolled away and He walked out.
The weight of my sins alone were enough for me not to be able to carry; and yet, Jesus carried everyone’s sins. Tremendous.
Buddha or Confucius or Zoroaster or Mohammed never had the marks of self-sacrifice. You can verify my God’s love by looking at the nail prints in His hands and His feet and slash in His side.
A prophet represents God to the people. A priest represent the people to God; Jesus and is both.
Only the artist knows how many hours goes into a painting. And the pain, and the frustrations that went into it. Other people can only enjoy the art not knowing what went into it. Likewise, only God knows how much pain went into getting us saved.
What am I really striving for? Excellence in art or excellence in prayer?
People think that it is inconceivable that God allows evil to happen to this country. But I find it more inconceivable that God has let this country have peace for so long in spite of us kicking Him out of our schools, abortion, corruption, materialism, homosexuality, etc or did we forget about those things? I don’t want evil to happen to this country, but we have brought it on ourselves! Stop the evil inside first, then we can be in a position to protect ourselves from the evil from the outside. And lest we forget: God isn’t foreign from the effects of evil. He knows what it’s like to have lost a Son.
Do you think the four living creatures stopped singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to the Lord on September 11, 2001?
If God is omnipotent and He deeply longs for you to believe in Him, then obviously He doesn’t see allowing evil to happen as a huge barrier for people believing in Him. In other words, if He thought that the allowance of evil was a stumbling block to someone’s belief in Him, then He would, obviously, stop the evil before it happened. So, the excuse, “ I’m not going to believe in Him.” Isn’t a valid excuse in His eyes. But get this straight: He will stop evil once and for all in His own time. He will come to this earth and establish His Kingdom and put all evil under His foot. You don’t worry about that. You worry about who’s side you’re on before that Day comes. One last thought: If God got rid of evil, He’d have to get rid of free will.
Jesus bled love.
The only way one can make sense of the world is if he sees the spiritual side of it. The world isn’t made up of just stuff that we see. How can one make sense of only ½ a photograph? Or, what if he only saw ½ of a movie? Life is no different; the whole picture is needed and it’s found in the Bible.
The world has nothing to offer me; it showed me its best and I was still thirsty. Jesus alone quenches my thirst.
Judas wasn’t the first or last to betray Jesus. Satan betrayed Jesus long ago. One third of the angels in heaven betrayed as well. In fact, for 15 years of my life, I betrayed Him.
God is a God who set the maximum penalty for sin and paid it, Himself, with His own blood.
This is the truth: you and I will both die someday and meet our Maker. Our entire lives are but a preparation for that inevitable meeting. Every thing done in this life can be a positive or a negative for that meeting with God. If you’re not forgiven by Him now, you’re a dead man. If you’re a “good” person, you’re a dead man. God wants perfection. He only meets with perfect people. He only spends eternity with perfect people. If you’re not IN Christ, His perfect Son and Savior, you are not perfect and you are a dead man.
Romans 13:10 states that “love is the fulfillment of the law”. In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law.
People say that God doesn’t give second chances. Read Numbers Nine. If a person was unclean or away on a journey and couldn’t keep the Passover, God said they could keep it on the 2nd month on the 14th day. God WANTS your offering. He wants your fellowship. He wants you to come to Him. He always gives a 2nd chance on this earth. God is the God of the 2nd chance and 3rd chance and 4th chance. . . How many times did Jesus tell Peter to forgive someone? 70 x 7? Do you think we should expect any LESS from God? He wants to forgive us and be with us. But He also can’t just ignore our sin . . .He has provided the Sacrifice. And He provides as many chances as you need to come to Him. We constantly need to be “passed over”. He is our constant Advocate.
2002
I good thing about living in an evil world—it’s easy to shock people with acts of kindness.
It would take all the powers of hell to stop one bird from chirping. Billions of birds chirp everyday and glorify God. Unstoppable.
It seems to me that “science” is the study and process of something. “Art” is the end result. Examples: Grand Canyon, a butterfly and a waterfall; science is the means, art is the end result.
If having a Porsche was the point of existence it makes you wonder why Jesus didn’t come to earth in the 20th century and not save sinners, but cruise around. It’s ridiculous to think so. Jesus’ way of living, sacrificially, is much better.
“Redeeming the time” means spending more time with the Creator of time.
Dead grass burns faster than alive grass. If you’re not in Christ, you’re dead already. If you are in Christ, you’re alive and won’t burn.
If materialism was living, then how come when you die the more things you have and the more things you’ve done won’t bring you back to life? If it is life and it is living, then it should defeat death. But it doesn’t. Jesus is Life. He defeats death. Knowing Him is Life.
If you want to succeed, then count the cost. If you can live without God for eternity, then don’t accept His son. If you can’t , then turn to Jesus.
Here’s Christian liberty in a nutshell: I can do whatever I want, but why would I want to hurt the One I love?
Does God know what fun is? Does He know how to have a life? Follow His example. He gave His all for the joy that was set before Him. Think about it: the God of the universe KNOWS what a satisfied existence is and it has to do with giving yourself away.
The best and only way that men will believe the gospel is if it is carried on the backs of God’s sons. If writing it in the sky would’ve made believers, He would’ve done it a long time ago. But Jesus was a Man and He brought it to us that way. If there was a better way, I’m sure He would’ve done it. But people believe when they see their friends’ lives changed and the action they now take. That’s God’s method; it’s the only method.
Even though your sin may not have hurt anyone else and no one else even knows about it—God knows about it. You’ve still broken His Law. Sin isn’t honorable. It doesn’t accomplish anything. You hurt yourself. You hurt God. You waste time. You damn yourself. You’re laughing all the way to the guillotine.
I’ve never seen a “Darwin Bless America” sticker yet.
God gives men gifts everyday. Whether it’s His Savior or forgiveness or eternal life or your very next breath. What can we give to God that He hasn’t already given to us?
I think the world looks to Hollywood for advice. People want to know how to live their lives; people in Hollywood are the counselors, the examples, the mentors and the standards that people look to. They should turn to God; they’d have better advice from Him than what Hollywood ever could offer.
If you die before you’re dead, you’ll live before you’re dead. John 12:25: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
The Christian life is: Soldierhood, Spouse hood and Sheephood.
The Father’s best for Christ was that He would be sacrificed for me.
The God who destroyed Sodom, the Amalekites, Jericho, the Philistines and tons of other evil people was the same God on Calvary who became the weakest of men, beaten, bruised, and bloodied and still had yet another victory. God doesn’t lose.
Jesus finished His “To Do” list while on this earth (1/3 of the old testament messianic prophecies). He’s coming back to finish His other “To Do” list.
Jesus came to save the underdog by becoming the underdog. Now He is the Victorious One.
After 3 years of teaching people, I think Jesus had the strongest vocal cords on earth. I think the reason He wanted the drink of vinegar on the cross was because He wanted to make His victory yell: “It is finished!” I think His victory yell” was the loudest yell in history and He most certainly had the vocal cords to do it.
I was born in darkness; I was born again to light.
The nails didn’t make Jesus stop. The stick, the crown, the spitting, beating, whipping, bleating, sweating, cursing didn’t make Him stop His mission. His mission was to deliver me from much worse punishment. Mission: Accomplished.
The American Dream isn’t the best God has for you.
Why is God so great? It’s not only because He’s absolutely lovely, gracious, perfect, holy, just, patient, good, etc. but because He humbled Himself to even be concerned with a miniscule planet and some sinner named “Robert”. God wasn’t too busy to do all that for us; are we too busy to do things for Him? Are we any more busy than God?
Jesus wasn’t just a sacrifice on the cross, but He was a living sacrifice His whole earthly life and continues to be a living sacrifice at the right hand of the Father. There is definitely a connection between “love” and “relationships” and “sacrifice”. Love IS sacrifice.
Follow your Daddy’s footsteps. They are right in front of you.
I wonder how most church people would react if they were to lose everything. You know, like how Job did. Would they take it like a man like Job or would they curse God? I wonder how I would react to losing everything. Thankfully I don’t have much to lose. Jesus lost a lot more than I will ever lose, on that cross.
No one can say, “Life is too rough” or “Life isn’t fair”, because God Himself lived this life. And He didn’t even have to. He went through more hell than you’ll ever go through.
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” and God will say, “There is no you.”
You are either “in Christ” or “not in Christ”. There is no “sort of in Christ”. In the Great Flood you were either “on” Noah’s ark or “not on” Noah’s ark. There was no middle. In Sodom’s destruction you were either “saved” or “killed”. There was no middle ground. I hope that settles the issue of any “purgatory”.
Who else other than Jesus, the Creator of life, could have the cure for death?
The problem in keeping the Ten Commandments isn’t with the Ten Commandments; the problem is with the evil person trying to keep them.
A gift from God is irrevocable; especially One drenched in blood.
Creating art is of no value to me if it does not bring me closer to Jesus. And the finished piece of art is of no value to anyone else if it doesn’t bring them closer to Jesus.
Mediocre Christians never were a witness to me before I was saved.
God gives you so you will draw closer to Him; God takes away so you will draw closer to Him.
If you have a sin problem, you have a love problem with God.
Why would I put my trust in mere mortal men, who couldn’t save themselves if their life depended on it. I put my trust in the immortal Man.
There is nothing secure in this world. Don’t even bother putting any stock into it. There is no foundation for which to put your base your life on. Science is ever changing and art is so relative; nothing is safe and secure. Philosophies, tastes and preferences change. Governments rise and fall. Men and women live and die. The only secure foundation is found in Christ Jesus.
Someone who doesn’t know Jesus isn’t condemned because of that fact, but is condemned on the fact of himself being a sinner. If you are an unbeliever, and you know you are a sinner, wouldn’t it behoove you to find a cure to your sin. You’re condemned because you didn’t bother to accept the God-given cure for sin!
If you don’t have absolutes, you have indifference. An indifferent life is a walking death.
Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law; He came to fulfill. Ask yourself: Why would Jesus want to destroy His previous work (Laws, Covenants, Prophets, etc.)? He made that foundation! It would be illogical to start over. He makes NEW from the OLD.
Saying God doesn’t exist makes one an idiot. Saying God exists and ignoring Him makes the person more of an idiot.
Go through the encyclopedia: you’ll see pages and pages of great men and women who lived different philosophies, but their philosophies couldn’t keep them alive. Each of them have a birth date a dash and a death date. Jesus had a birth date and a dash!
If every Christian was doing what they were supposed to be doing, this world would be a different place!
Every man is a prisoner to reality, regardless of what his philosophy may be. The reality is always there. A philosophy must incorporate and take into account and explain the following: 1. The external reality (the universe), 2. the internal reality (what’s inside man). The philosophy must also be sufficient and final for all men and women throughout time, space age, continent, and every other possibility in which men have lived. It must also provide an answer for man vs. God, man vs. himself, man vs. man and man vs. nature. And finally it must provide an answer to life and death. If the philosophy cannot do all the above, then it is inadequate. Only Christianity does this and more. You can follow it through in a straight line past eternity.
If your philosophy of life is right then it is true and truth is universal. Is your philosophy universal? Can it be applied to every man in every situation in every age? Truth is truth no matter where you go. 2+2 equals 4 in 4th Century Siberia as well as 19th Century Madagascar. It doesn’t change. Christianity is proven to be truth and universal.
On one hand men say that humans are just a collection of molecules kicked up by chance in some unnamed past and on the other hand they are trying to give these “molecules” a purpose for existence. How can one give a accidental molecules a purpose, let alone self-esteem or reason?
Freedom without love = chaos.
The evolutionists’ universe: If you begin with nothing, you end with nothing. But that doesn’t explain the something right here and now.
Jesus practiced what He preached. His three-year ministry was about love. He told people to love one another, love your enemy, love God. His way to Calvary is the culmination of those teachings. He loved His enemies (me) all the way to the cross. Had He not done what preached, He would’ve been a hypocrite not to mention a liar. But He did do it. His actions lined up with his teachings.
Life without God is not a life worth living.
You can take Christianity as an “idea” all the way to the end, all the way to its conclusion and not be afraid of what it will lead to. The world’s “ideas”, on the other hand, one should be very reluctant in taking them to their conclusions because their conclusions lead to suicide or Hedonism. Therefore, hardly anyone ever goes that far with the world’s philosophies, but just hold onto one happy section of it that they like. They stop far short of the cliff. They wimp-out basically.
No one ever says, “Give me your worries. I’ll take care of them for free.” But God does. So how come we don’t take Him up on it?
Anything not done in love is a waste of time to you and will never benefit anyone else.
The greatest achievement in my life will be to be the masterpiece God intended me to be. I’m an artist. But don’t forget: God is an Artist too and I am His artwork.
There’s more to Christianity than it being “non-destructive”; it’s “pro-positive”. There’s plenty of “nice” music that doesn’t mention God; but what good is it if it isn’t “pro-positive”?
There is no unity to life apart from God. There is no way to bring actions, experience, evidence, history, science art ,etc into a meaningful whole without God. God is the unifier. Without Him, all you have is a bunch of f r a g m e n t e d half-truths.
The critics are the ones behind you, ridiculing you, because you are doing what they could not , because they were too fearful.
My art table is an altar.
Almost all our toil in this world is just so we can fill up our stomachs temporarily.
The hero is the martyr. The martyr is the hero.
The hero always has a weak spot in which the villain can hurt him through: the love for another.
Do you think that if you are good enough, you will make God a debtor to you so He will let you stroll into heaven? No my friend; you are a debtor to him.
God uses at least 4 ways to communicate to men: 1. Creation, 2. Conscience, 3. Christ, 4. Scripture
If you're using art to show how different you are, if you're living a life to show the world how weird, crazy, obnoxious, psycho, off- the-wall you are: you don't have to dress weird, do weird art, or even talk weird. You don't have to do weird things, do weird things to your body, or have weird beliefs: ALL YOU HAVE TO BE IS A CHRISTIAN! That's right! You want to offend someone? Be a Christian. You want people to think you're weird? Be a Christian. You want people to think you are so off the wall? Be a Christian. You want people to hate you? Be a Christian. You want people to persecute you for your beliefs? Be a Christian.
You will drive people nuts! They won't understand you. They won't be able to figure you out! People will be offended by your lifestyle. People will think you're weird, hate you, and persecute you. Because your lifestyle is so off the wall that no one wants to be a Christian! People think that cussing, tattoos, nose rings, pink hair, drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, Satanism, etc, is offensive? You take all those things in the world that offend people and add all those who are offended up, and the number of offendees will not even come close to the number of offendees Christianity creates! So, offend some people. Do it today! Do it for Christ! Be a Christian!
Satan has so blurred the ideas of good versus evil, and have made people so indifferent in this world that the movies and entertainment that are made today can’t even be compared to the movies of yesteryear. The movies of yesteryear expounded upon right and wrong, good and evil. Today’s movies do not. Today, movies are made by indifferent people for indifferent people and are works of hideous nonsense, for no one cares about right or wrong. If the ideas of right and wrong are done away with (or worse traded in for new morality) then the very fundamentals of entertainment are destroyed. Isn’t entertainment supposed to teach us a little more about the human race? But, instead, we are just left confused. One’s ideas of right and wrong are not the same as another’s ideas of right and wrong and we are left with moral relativism.
Today’s movies lack a spirit of good and evil; you can’t take one side of reality (the physical) and separate it from the other side (the spiritual)- and I think that is the reason for the lack of any virtuous characters in movies. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who the hero is supposed to be... What we’re essentially dealing with is good and evil, and good and evil is a spiritual reality that manifests itself in the physical. I suppose that even satanic movies have more of a “spirit” to them than a “normal” movie- just the wrong spirit. There are no longer any characters that have high ideals of making things right, they only want to make things “their” right.
2003
There is more to manhood than football, hot rods, sex, audio systems, etc. There is a manhood beyond all that. It transcends space and time and Jesus was that First Man. He’s the man’s Man. He knows what manhood (and Godhood) is.
Only those furthest away from God know how far God can reach.
Hell and justice go together. Likewise, Heaven and love go hand in hand. If there is no hell, there is no justice. If there is no heaven, there is no love. Ah, but God IS Justice and He IS Love. Therefore Hell and Heaven Do exist. People want ultimate justice without a Hell.
Heaven will be God’s art gallery. And who will God be displaying? His special people, his children, his elect. I’ll be happy to be displayed for the glory of God for all eternity.
If my purpose in life was to just do art, that would be a pretty pitiful existence, would it not? And yet my body, everyday strives towards that pitiful end. I was meant for more. I was meant to serve the Lord.
There are not too many opportunities in this life to show how much you really love Jesus. Being a martyr is one of those few opportunities. Don’t miss that one.
The traits that we all look for in a hero are all found in god. The traits that we look for in a suitable companion are all found in God. The people we wish we could be, the traits we desire to have are all found in God.
Death is the unseen, inevitable enemy of which we all will face someday. You will either shrink in defeat , or you will conquer to the glory of God. Will you be able to say with Paul, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (I Corinthians 15:55)
Western civilization cannot be conceived apart from Christianity. Christianity can’t be conceived apart from Jesus’ resurrection. Both hinge on the fact that Christ rose from the dead.
Is the world passing me by, because I don’t immerse myself in its media? Or am I passing the world up as they see me move ahead?
The Lord delivered Israel from their outside enemy (Egypt). Then He had to deliver them from themselves. That’s what God does for all of us.
You don’t appreciate life until you’ve experienced death, or close to it.
The highest mountain in hell won’t even come close to the deepest valley in heaven.
Someone trying to convince me that God doesn’t exist is like me trying to convince them that your parents or brothers or sisters don’t exist.
God’s love prevails because He can draw any sinner to Himself. God’s love prevails because it is more satisfying than the life man can create apart from Him. God’s love prevails because it is more powerful than Satan’s will to stop a sinner from going to Him.
The world puts the names of their gods on their cars; why shouldn’t I put the name of my God on my car?
God has His master plan for this world. You can be a part of it or not be a part of it.
God’s covenants are irrevocable. If He adds one, the previous ones are still in effect. This is amazing to me, because with each subsequent covenant (Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic), He limited the possibilities of the Messiah only coming through all of them. Jesus went through each “hoop” all the way to the cross.
It’s easy for people to condemn David for his sins. “He sunk to the depths of unrighteousness” they say. That may be true, but how many of the condemners have ever reached the HEIGHTS of his relationship with God? He sunk to the depths—true. But how many have soared to his heights?
I’d like to ask the atheist if the sun is shining at midnight. (“I don’t see it”).
People worship their fiberglass gods. They may not have gods on a shelf in the living room, but they sure do have one in the driveway. They wash it, ritually, every two days. They shine it up. They even put the god-cover on it at night. They look at it through the window before they go to bed and dream of their god. They go to work to provide for their god. All this for a god who will rust before the owner does.
Before God can use someone, it’s got to be clean. You don’t use a dirty bucket to clean your can and you don’t use a dirty glass to drink form. The Holy Spirit has to bring you (clean you) into the Kingdom first, then He can use you.
The smaller you are, the less you have to lose.
A story is only as good as the conflict it takes to get to the goal. A hero can’t just walk up and take the prize; he must go through hell to get it.
You want to know what power is? Try opening your grave from the inside.
Without God in your heart, you have NO proof that God loves you. You don’t know if He does! You don’t know the first thing about God’s love!
Christians have always separated themselves from the society in which they live. But 21st century Christians are more compromising than 1st century Christians ever were. I don’t see Christians turning off their TV or not going to rated R movies! They are freely immersing themselves in the evil society in which they live. Also, Christians are being more subtle in their message to the world (no crosses on churches, no mention of Jesus in Christian music, sermons from the pulpit are a blend of post-modern psychology mixed with stand-up comedian-level entertainment). Guess what! For all the subtleness and antics and facades that Christians are putting on today: the world is still turning its back on us! Why are we bending over backwards when the world certainly won’t? Why are we watering down the gospel? The world needs 100% gospel! It won’t come for anything less! Instead of worrying about entertaining the “poor heathen” who may happen to enter your church, may I suggest you worry about getting 100% gospel of Jesus Christ to them?
The quality of my life is determined by the quantity of time I spend with my Lord.
God doesn’t call you to vote for the “lesser of two evils”. He doesn’t call you to vote for the best of the Republicans. God calls you to vote for the RIGHT person. God doesn’t call us to vote for the winner! He just asks us to vote right! Vote for the person who is in line with the Word of God! And if there is no such person on the ballot, then don’t vote for any of them. If all the Christians in this country were voting for who they were supposed to be voting for rather than for who they think should win, this country would be a different place. I’d rather vote for the loser, doing God’s will, than vote for the winner and disobey God. Who you vote for, you will be held accountable for. I answer to the Lord, not the polls.
Love is when you want to shine the spotlight on the other person.
Don’t try creating art on an empty spirit.
Think of the insults that the Israelites must have had thrown at them by the Jerichoites. Satan will try anything to discourage you. Jericho underestimated—not Israel but their God. Pharaoh underestimated—not Moses, but his God. Goliath underestimated—not David, but his God.
God uses small people to do His BIG plans. He can’t use BIG people to do His BIG plans, because they get in the way.
If anyone could’ve made it, it should’ve been Adam. No ghetto. No abusive parents. No traumatic childhood. Everything he ever wanted. He still failed. Do you think you could’ve done a better job?
If you break one clause in any modern-day contract, you are guilty of breaking the contract. God’s contract (the Law) is no different.
Calvary isn’t pretty to look at. No one said it was. But it’s only through that blood and disgust and that death that our redemption is made.
Whether humans realize it or not everything they do is proving that they are incapable of self-rule. Come quickly Lord Jesus!
If I can teach someone about God, through art, then why not? If I can bring joy through a piece of art to someone, then I ask, “Why not?”
There are so many things that tug at my heart, for it to follow. God tugs at my heart from the inside.
When I gave my life to Christ, I was in it for the long haul. What makes anyone think that they can drag me away from Him? What can they offer that is better than God Himself?
2004
If you don’t want to love God, you really don’t have to. Guess what? He will give you exactly what you want: an eternity separated from Him (hell).
Isn’t it interesting? Atheist claim they have no hell to fear, because they deny its existence. Christians have no fear of hell because God is their Savior. Two different solutions to the same problem. Too bad only one of them will work.
If there was no conflict in the world, would we really turn to God? That’s what the Garden of Eden proved and that’s what the Millennium will prove.
God must punish sin. God doesn’t send good people to hell. He sends sinners to hell. His justice must be satisfied. Satan’s iniquity was punished and so will humanity’s. What He did for one He will do for the other. Sin is sin in His book: it doesn’t matter who commits it, only that the punishment must be paid. Blood must be spilled. It will either be your blood or the blood of Another.
God has never done anything that He didn’t have His whole heart into.
Jesus gave His blood so I could give my heart to Him.
I was thinking of how God is with a person throughout his lifetime. He’s with him in Kindergarten, Junior High, High School, college, Marriage, career, 75 and death. God has no favoritism. He can use an 80 year old just as much as a teenager. He’s with each of us continually. How sad it is then when we ignore Him in our life. Young people think they are indispensable. The Senior Citizen wonders if God can still use him. Why doesn’t the young person make the decision now to serve God? He will have a whole life of love ahead of him! Don’t ignore Him! God is with you through it all, every day, every age.
Take away Christianity; go ahead; what will you put in its place?
Jesus has such a beautiful heart.
I shudder to think the judgment these female models will incur on the Day of Judgment. These super models for cosmetics, Victoria’s Secret, Playboy etc. will be judged by God Almighty for all their paid labor to entice men to sin. God will say, “Why did you tempt men? Why did you use the beauty I gave you for your own sinful gain? Men have enough sin apart from you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity.”
When do people most often give up? When they are almost there! Don’t give up on whatever God has called you to do! What if Jesus would’ve “thrown in the towel” in Gethsemane? Our redemption never would’ve happened. Pick up your cross and follow Him!
Influence the influencers.
One of my understandings of demons from the bible is that they are continually in search of a host (someone or something with life in them, to feed off or). When they separated themselves from the Source of Life (God), they willingly stepped into an eternity of wandering; an eternity of continually searching for other not-so-good sources of life (animals, people; preferably people).
Who’s to say that one of my ancestors wasn’t one of the Romans who beat Jesus? Or, are you only exempt from the human family’s plague of sin? Don’t tell me the gospel is Anti-Semitic. It’s not any more Anti-Semitic than it is Anti-Gentile. But it’s really Anti-Sin. It’s Anti-Human Nature. It’s Anti-Death. It’s Anti-Satan. Don’t try to distance yourself from the cross; it’s the source of your new life.
It’s through His shed blood that we find life. It’s through His blood that we find forgiveness. It’s through His pain that we find restoration with our Heavenly Father. He took the fall—our fall—freely—so we could be with Him in eternity.
The Transfiguration of Jesus perhaps shows the glory that men had before the fall. The glory that Jesus has brought back for us.
The Pharisees wanted to argue with God. They wanted “God’s Word” God-free. They wanted their own little system to get to heaven; it’s called “religion”. They wanted to get to God’s home and “kick out God”. And that is what religion does: it sets the individual on the throne and has no place for God.
The price for our redemption was a piece of God’s heart.
Every person Jesus healed was potentially another “vote” for His Kingship. Every person’s life whom He touched should’ve backed Him up when it was time. Where were all the people He healed when He was being condemned to death?
I’ve heard it said, “You know, there have been other people who have suffered more than Jesus did.” My question for them is, “Name one.” Even if it came close to the physical brutality He suffered through, it in no way acknowledges the spiritual suffering He endured; suffering that no sinful-born human can even begin to fathom. He was absolutely separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit for our iniquities. It wouldn’t have hurt us spiritually, because we’ve never been close to God to begin with. But Jesus—He hurt for us. I am the proud recipient of a God-given grace.
There is amazing typology in the story of Isaac’s bride: Abraham (antitype God) sends his “oldest servant” (antitype Holy Spirit) to find a bride (antitype Church) for his son, Isaac (antitype Jesus). How beautiful!
Solomon said “All is vanity”. And that is true, if you leave out the spiritual perspective of things. Creating corruptible pieces of art that will be destroyed someday IS vanity, but not if it has an impact on someone’s relationship with God. If it was JUST a piece of art, then, yes, it’d be vanity. But if it’s a piece of art that God has commissioned you to do and His Spirit can work through it to affect someone’s life towards God—then, no, not vanity. At that point it has eternal significance even if the artwork is destroyed the next day. It is powerful.
On Jesus ruling this earth: Only a man in David’s lineage has the promise of ruling the nations. Only a God could rule flawlessly. Jesus has both natures. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Jesus’ Passion was the “laboratory” for testing all of His teachings of the previous three years (“love your neighbor as yourself”, “don’t be overcome by evil”, etc.). His Passion (the betrayal, sweat, whippings, beatings, thorns, mockings, crucifixion, separation from the Father) was to show that His teachings weren’t just “hot air”. He kept them. He followed His own advice. He never lashed back at His enemies. He has never asked us to do what He hasn’t done Himself.
A virgin womb and a virgin tomb.
A short answer to why bad things happen to good people: John 9:3: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” This was Jesus answer as to why the blindman had been born blind.
About the bread that Jesus dipped and gave to Judas: Why did He dip it? Was Jesus offering Himself even then to His betrayer? Did the dipping symbolize Jesus’ forthcoming sacrifice? Did it symbolize the blood that Judas was betraying? Would it have had the same impact had Jesus not dipped that bread?
It’s not “faith” and “works”. It’s “faith” and “love”. Are you a “worker” for God? Then you are a “lover”.
Love/obedience/action go together. How can we be blessed if we don’t bless God first? Blessing comes from love/obedience/action.
When you read the word “Levites” in the Bible, try substituting “Christians” in your mind. For both Levites and Christians were “set apart” for the service of God.
You know, the Resurrection isn’t without its precursors in this world. Every Spring the world witnesses life coming out of death. Have you ever had your skin burned? My dad tells the story of my Grandfather having his arm burned to a crisp by an exploding welding air tank. There was no check valve on the tank and the flame got sucked back into the tank and it exploded. Well, my Grandfather, to protect his face, had his entire left arm burnt. His skin was all crispy-dead. About 8 months later, the doctor came and cut away that crispy skin and right underneath was vibrant pink skin like a baby. Life from death. Have you ever put a clear, thick, plastic sheet on the grass in 100° weather? Well, I did and the heat cooked all the underlying grass. But, within a few weeks, green grass had begun to appear again. About a month later it was 80% green again. Life from death. And finally, in 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. The lava destroyed miles upon miles of vegetation. And yet, within a few years, vegetation had begun to grow again. That is life from death. Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead isn’t that hard to believe. Yet somehow, people will not believe it because it is too “extraordinary”. How “extraordinary” are the four aforementioned examples of life from death?
Nehemiah was so upset when Tobias had made a room for himself in the house of God.(Nehemiah 13:4-9) So, Nehemiah chucked all of Tobias’ belongings out of the room. People aren’t to make themselves rooms in the house of God. It doesn’t work that way. God makes a room for you. You don’t make room for God in your life; He makes room for you. “ You did not choose Me, but I chose you . . .” (John 15:16a)
I can’t stop time, but I can stop wasting time.
When Jesus forgave the adulteress (John 8:11), He didn’t just do it arbitrarily. He did it because He knew without a doubt that He would be sacrificing Himself for her sins on Calvary. There was no possibility that it wouldn’t happen, therefore, He could forgive her beforehand.
For the evolutionist :If something works well one way, then why try it another way? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Isn’t that how the theory of evolution works? If an organism was evolving just fine one way, then why would it try other ways and risk stopping the whole process? However, evolution doesn’t explain the diversity of kinds in the world. There are myriads of different kinds of the same animals. Evolution, it would seem, would not have “taken the chance” to “step out on a ledge” just to create different kinds of the same kind.
When I was in High School, I was asked a question in US Government class: “If smoking Marijuana was part of a person’s religion, does the government have the right to stop that person from smoking Marijuana?” I naively answered, “If it is genuinely part of their religion the government has no right to take their religious ritual away.” I had an ulterior motive for answering that way. If the government was going to take away these people’s religious rights away, then the next step would be to take Christianity’s religious rights away. Now, nine years later, let me answer the question correctly: “Yes, the Government DOES have the right to stop these religious people from smoking Marijuana.” Human government is established by God to protect people from others and from themselves (hence the laws forbidding suicide, drugs, not wearing seatbelts, etc.) If someone is hurting himself, the Government has the right to stop him. The Government has no other purpose for existence than to protect its citizens, yes, even from themselves. It is a scientifically proven fact that Marijuana kills brain cells, hence, the Government is mandated to stop them. Now, back to my naïve answer of “genuineness”. A person could be genuine and be genuinely evil. A person could be genuine and be genuinely ignorant of the fact that they were killing themselves slowly. Consider the same question asked like this: “If human sacrifice was part of a person’s religion, does the government have the right to stop them from sacrificing humans?” And the answer is, of course, “Yes”. Genuineness of a person’s actions doesn’t absolve the Government’s decision to stop them. The Government is mandated to stop evil (at least in theory; look at the tobacco and alcohol industries). Religion isn’t above human government. That is what the Bible teaches. Now, about the Government taking Christianity’s religious freedoms away: the time is coming. There is not much that I can do to stop it. But let it be known that tolerating other evil religious rights won’t buy Christendom any time.
As you look around know one owns their houses and cars, or even their education. The banks have made people slaves. So, when the Mark comes, they are going to make it very appealing. They’re not going to say, “We have something new and we expect you to take it.” They’re going to say, “We have something new AND we will forgive you all your previous debt if you accept this Mark.” That would be very appealing to the world and, unfortunately, to most of Christendom. Who wouldn’t want the chance to be forgiven of their debt. Where did they counterfeit that concept of forgiveness from? May I encourage you to try and live without debt?
On Shroud of Turin, Pieces of the Cross, James’ Ossuary, etc. People will bend over backwards to believe in anything other than God. People will stake their faith in anything as long as it is not God. None of those things can ever save you. Now, granted those things may be legit. So what? Will it make any difference between Jesus and me? As for me, I’d rather reserve my little-as-it-is faith for Jesus alone, because it is going to take all I have to keep walking in faith.
Excellence in Christian art shouldn’t be confined to bumper stickers.
Satan disguises death as life.
God will not be defeated in His creation of this world. He won’t destroy it and leave it destroyed; He will destroy it to make it new (which was His plan the whole time). Nature on this earth (including animals, plants, bugs, etc) can not be defeated as God’s original creation. (Which is why, in my theory, I believe that we will see our pets in heaven). He will not be defeated in creating humans with free will; He will not destroy a person for eternity. They will keep their free will, be separate with God and be punished for eternity by their own choice.
Paul talks about “…I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent concerning evil.” (Romans 16:19). That means don’t be looking at racy stuff or anything that you know you shouldn’t be looking at. You shouldn’t be looking at evil things. The world does enough of that; why should Christians add more evil to the world?
Jesus never promised physical blessings; He did promise irrepressible life (as Oswald Chamber said). You only get out of a life that which you give. You can give Jesus all day long and never run out. He should be flowing through each of us continually.
Temptations are opportunities to do good or evil.
The Law condemned sin in the Spirit (Romans 7:14) and Jesus condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3)
A hero saves people along the way to his goal. He helps people who can’t help themselves out of situations. He’s not just a selfish hero on a journey who blocks out all non-essential obstacles to obtain his prize. No! When he sees someone in need, along the way, he helps them. He does good to people. Then, he gets back on his journey. The Hero’s journey is the road to Calvary.
Jesus wasn’t just the Second Adam; He was the Second Noah, the Second Abraham, the Second Moses, the Second David and the Second Robert.
How do you think Moses felt when he read “Thou shalt not kill” for the first time? God uses people even after their mistakes.
When God doesn’t bless people in the way they want to be blessed, they start looking for ways to bless themselves: gambling, sex, alcohol, etc. They are willing to sin against God in hopes of being more blessed than what God would’ve given them. That’s kind of what sin is: it’s a hope placed in something else other than God for the purpose of being a blessing more than God Himself. (i.e. “Let’s live together and save money on rent”.) Sin is all about taking shortcuts to “blessings”. Sin is thinking you you have a better plan than God has for your life. Sin is thinking you can do a better job of running your life than God can. Sin is a misplaced hope. Sin is a deception of Satan. Sin is the opposite of love, hope, faith. And the wages of sin lead to death itself.
When you lust after a woman, you set her up as a goddess, which not only makes you an adulterer but an idolater.
No one can kill Christianity. They can kill me, but there will be 10 more to take my place. Christianity is UNSTOPPABLE! Christ will rule this entire earth. The sooner you realize that, the happier you’ll be.
Do something heroic today.
If I’m not a hero in the little things, I’ll never be a hero in the big things.
It’s only in the midst of incredible evil that incredible heroism is displayed.
Being an artist is about saying what needs to be said to the world, at tremendous cost to yourself.
2005
Jesus was the King of sorrow.
Applied scientists (engineers, doctors, etc.) benefit mankind on the outside. Artists benefit mankind on the inside. Of course, it could be argued that engineers and doctors are just other types of artists that are being creative. But their craft has more to do with function than with form. Artists deal with form to affect people’s hearts.
To be an artist is to carry pain. To be a Christian is to give that pain to Jesus.
The world is your enemy in not only taking things from you—jobs, finances, you very life— but also in giving things to you —prestige, acclamation, pats-on-the-back—things that will destroy you either way.
How can pastors criticize congregations for being so fickle and vacillating, moving from church to church, when the pastors themselves, at the drop of a better salary, will leave their congregations flat?
Love is anti-evil.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” “If it is possible” for what? That there was another way to redeem mankind? No. Jesus knew that if mankind was to be redeemed, which is what the Scriptures promised, that only the Deliverer would be able to do it. Jesus was locked into it. He knew that. So why did He ask “if it is possible”? Because His flesh certainly didn’t want to go through it. And yet He did. He stayed true to the Father’s will and the unbroken Scriptures of old.
To any man who seeks to betray, subvert, change or distort Jesus into anything other than who He is, take a lesson from Judas: for your future is only death.
“Good Works” is more than just creating art.
I will live by your Law even if it kills me.
All artwork should be done to praise God, to worship Him. How could one worship Him subtlety?
God didn’t create art to be secular. All art was designed to be “Unto the LORD.”
A universal truth is a true Truth.
After an earthquake, the News reporters can only ask questions. The preachers are the ones giving the answers.
No Messiah but Yeshua.
Being a hero is about counting the cost and doing it anyway.
There are great men and then there are great men of God.
If something (or Someone) brighter and larger came from behind the sun, it would certainly be darkened! (This is in regards to the sun being darkened in Matthew 24:29).
Every time you step out in faith, you are testing God’s faithfulness.
To know God is to obey God. To know God is to fear God. To know God is to love God.
Honesty and Reality have taken the place of right and wrong—both in storytelling and reality shows. Someone can be honestly right or honestly wrong; people really don’t care as long as they are honest. Reality shows give an excuse to glorify sin.
The closer you art to Truth, i.e. abiding in Christ, the freer you will be from error.
It is pretty sad that non-Christian artists exhibit more faith in getting their artwork done than Christian artists who actually have a God to give them strength and are still afraid to sit down and do artwork.
Satan doesn’t want you to be happy. He wants you to have the illusion of happiness.
Use your influence to influence.
Jesus freely gave Himself to the cause of making my life better. Jesus died abundantly, so that I could have life abundantly. Jesus identified Himself with sin, so I wouldn’t have to.Jesus took the fall so I wouldn’t have to.
Satan made himself the underdog of this own story. He wanted to portray God as a bully and one who was to be rebelled against. But his “underdog” status should be seen for what it is: the result of pride. Jesus’ underdog status was due to His immense love for each of us.
Sin is always: a result of pride, self-centered, a lack of faith destructive estrangement from God, a waste of time, despisement of Jesus’ blood, makes you the god of your own demise.
Christ is eternal. When you are in Christ, your freedom is eternal. When you are outside of Christ, your freedom is finite.
God will never do anything that contradicts His nature. He can’t.
I am unwilling to label myself anything other than “Christian”. I think labels are beneficial for creating wars, spilling blood and causing disunity, but really do not benefit the solidarity of the body of Christ.
To say that Christ’s death is the only thing that saved us is too simplified. Technically it was Jesus’ suffering AND death. You couldn’t have the death without the suffering. And you couldn’t be atone d for without the death. Same goes for the death and the Resurrection. You couldn’t have a resurrection without death. And you couldn’t have a new life without the Resurrection. It is all connected. You can’t separate them.
God gives men bodies. He gives them bodies, he gives them air to breath and keeps their heart pumping. And what does man do? He uses his body to sin against God. Ingrates.
Separation from God is always man-ordained.
Am I a Calvinist or an Armenian? Let me answer that question with a question: “Is salvation the best thing you ever put your faith in or is it the best thing Jesus ever gave to you?”
A spirit cannot separate itself from the Source of Life and expect to still live. That goes for humans, angels and demons.
“Absolute Autonomy” is a misnomer. God’s autonomy is limited by His Nature. He cannot do anything above (or below) His Nature. Take for instance His love for us. It’s not that He won’t turn us into robots to love Him; it’s that He CANNOT. Every decision He makes is limited by His own Nature. Everything God does or allows to happen, He has His whole heart into. He cannot do anything else.
God is not the Author of sin. He is the Author of free will. God cannot be blamed for our taking that free will and doing what we will with it.
What can man do to me? I’m already dead.
You don’t deal with temptation by submitting to it, nor by fighting it, but by giving it to God to kill it.
My flesh is too weak, my imagination is too strong, my evil is too great. I cannot be holy apart from the LORD.
God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows that will he also reap. If you sow it in your mind, you’ll reap it in your mind. If you sow it in your heart you’ll reap it in your heart. If you sow it in your spiriti you’ll reap it in your spirit.
It’s easy to fight the devil; you rebuke him in Jesus’ name. But, how do you fight your flesh?
To be free from God is to be an indentured servant to Satan.
Satan taught me the ropes: lying, cheating, stealing, backstabbing. For years he had me in his grip, doing those things to my fellow man and to my God-the God that he backstabbed many millennia ago. I became a Christian in 1994. Now I use what I’ve learned from Satan against him. He hates it. I’ve backstabbed God’s backstabber. Heh, Heh. That makes me a double-crosser twicefold. Thankfully, though, God has forgiven me and I’m now working in the enemy camp.
Jesus is the only one in history who was specifically born so that He may die. All other men were born to live.
Spending time with family and friends—as good as those things are—does not supercede spending time with the Lord of the Universe.
2006
The love of God defines my existence.
I have to believe that obeying God is infinitely more gratifying than disobeying Him.
I want to grow up into that “perfect man” to the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
There is a difference between “compromising” and “being balanced”. Compromising is going to the middle when only one side is true. Being balanced is going to the middle when both sides are true.
Salvation is a free gift. Not a cheap gift.
Wasted time is essentially time spent on things I think I need.
There is not a sin out there that will bring value to my life.
The first country to throw off the reigns of Darwinism will be the first country to lead Science into the new millennium.
If God can forgive you for things you deliberately did to hurt Him, can you at least try to forgive Him for the things you think He did to hurt you?
Women live to tempt men and men live to be tempted.
How does a Christian Evolutionist reconcile his conscience that says” Do good to others” with the theory of evolution that says, “Stomp on others”?
What Adam was not able to do in a perfect garden, Jesus did in a dry wilderness.
The greatest villains are the attractive ones. Not just physically, but in wisdom, power and cunning deceit. You can forget depicting the devil with horns and pitchfork.
Satan is his own tragic hero. He is fighting for something that he can never obtain: the throne of God.
Last modified June 18, 2006
