As children we liked to get as close to the edge of pretty much everything. Some of us, like me, were just plan hard-headed. Really. How long could it hurt? How far will I fall? Just how bad could the consequences be, anyway? As far as getting a spanking was concerned, it always ended and was never as bad as expected. It was soon a distant memory.
Had my first plane trip when I was 6. I jumped off ledges. At 9 I walked a ledge around the second story of our apartment building. Ran away from home at 12 on a passenger train. That was not as adventurous as it sounds. My aunt bought the ticket for me and my father was waiting for me at the destination. I would rather have a beating than get a lecture. A spanking was over when they tired, but that voice seemed to go on and on and on.
But that was then; 50 years and a lifetime ago.
Today is different. Today, I watch as Christians, those who have become reborn, a child of GOD, try to walk as far from GOD as possible. Of one thing I am certain, my Salvation was a totally free gift from GOD; I did nothing to gain Salvation and therefore can do nothing to lose Salvation. I can, however, grieve the HOLY SPIRIT.
But knowing that GOD will never leave me nor abandon me, should I really want to see how far away from HIM I can stray without severing that sweet communion we have? While liberty has been bestowed upon me by GOD'S Grace and I am free to choose holiness, the HOLY SPIRIT has also come to live within me, give me comfort, support the Will of GOD, and encourage me to do HIS Will and not my own. Each time that I choose my own way, I grieve the HOLY SPIRIT and the HOLY SPIRIT'S voice of reason is heard less and less until it is ignored altogether. If I truly am a child of GOD, it should grieve my own spirit and cause my heart to weep unconsolably to know that I, in my own stupidity and pridefulness, have quenched the ONE thing that wants above all else to Comfort me and bring me back into sweet communion.
And that brings me to celebrating pagan holidays disguised as having innocent fun or even worse yet, mocking evil. Evil and sin (which to me are one in the same) are nothing more than disobedience to the WILL OF GOD. Are we truly authorized to mock sin? Or are we to spread the Gospel and lead lost souls to CHRIST? The answer is clear. Flaunting our Salvation and dressing up in innocent costumes to taunt the Devil and his emmisaries is found nowhere in Scripture. The Old Testament shows the Prophet of GOD mocking the priests of Baal and asking them if their god was on the toilet and unable to respond to their requests, but he did not dress up in an angel costume when he did so. At no time in the New Testament does it show anyone of GOD'S people dressing in costume, flaunting their Christianity, and/or tempting Satan.
In the New Testament, Gentiles who became Christians were not commanded to participate in Jewish rituals, such as circumcision. Nor were Christian Jews told to cease celebrating their rituals, such as circumcision. When Gentiles (which is anyone who is not Jewish) were saved, they repented of their sin, just as the Jews did and became a new creature in THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Is our participation in questionable holy days (holidays) simply a form of walking to close to the edge of the precipice? Are we taunting the dark side (evil), daring it to try to win? Or are we, Christians, being just plain stiff-necked and pride-filled in trying to go our own way?
Paul said that he did not do the things he should do and did the things that he should not and did not want to do because of the battle that rages within. We all suffer from that battle. The HOLY SPIRIT is at war with the flesh that we reside in for the simple reason that our flesh has not been reborn, only our soul.
As you go through each day, ask yourself if what you are about to do is a matter of your own pride or is it what GOD has chosen for you to do?
Shalom! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
What is sin?
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of
his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or
whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to
violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to
everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by
it.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
I came across this on Facebook this morning and thought it worth sharing. The old ideas need to be revived. If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them. Countries that have embraced the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the sins of the Roman Empire as it decayed and was torn apart from within, will be summarily destroyed. The consequences of destroying families, killing babies, and spending beyond their means is a recipe for disaster.
The United States of America is by no means standing alone in this respect.
If we cannot learn from the mistakes and sins of others, we are doomed to learn from our own. May GOD have mercy on this shameful and sin-filled world!
SHALOM! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
I came across this on Facebook this morning and thought it worth sharing. The old ideas need to be revived. If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them. Countries that have embraced the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the sins of the Roman Empire as it decayed and was torn apart from within, will be summarily destroyed. The consequences of destroying families, killing babies, and spending beyond their means is a recipe for disaster.
The United States of America is by no means standing alone in this respect.
If we cannot learn from the mistakes and sins of others, we are doomed to learn from our own. May GOD have mercy on this shameful and sin-filled world!
SHALOM! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Now that is interesting! Hmmm....
Going from 100 to 200 views a day to none is interesting to me when it is entire countries.
Wonder what is happening. Cookies?
SHALOM! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!
Wonder what is happening. Cookies?
SHALOM! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!
Monday, November 2, 2015
United Nations Takeover or Paving the Way for the Anti-Christ?
Do “We the People” have a valid
reason to fear the Federal Government? As a growing number of
unarmed Federal agencies are now either armed or in the process of
being armed, there is a real reason for concern. Paranoia is only
unfounded if there is no reason for it. We have untold numbers of
reasons to be concerned about the push to disarm “We the People”
and put more arms and ammunition in the hands of agencies within the
Federal Government that maintain alliances with the United Nations.
There will be many of us who wake up
one day to find that “chip” that was just a suggestion for
convenience is now mandatory and what you eat and when you eat, where
you go and how you go, is no longer your decision, it is dependent
upon a Government computer somewhere telling everyone what to do.
Or, perhaps, as the Christians see it, the Anti-Christ, ruling lives
through his “mark of the Beast” which is a tattooed RFID chip.
Very convenient.
Published on Oct 16, 2015
www.undergroundworldnews.com
According to the Washington Times, the agency is spending millions of dollars to build a small militarized force of around 200 agents. These agents are charged with fighting environmental crimes and have been equipped with some of the most cutting edge military equipment available.
Among their cache of weapons and military gear include semi-automatic rifles, guns, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned drones and aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear, and other military-style weaponry and surveillance equipment.
https://youtu.be/NbntRSt6zgY
According to the Washington Times, the agency is spending millions of dollars to build a small militarized force of around 200 agents. These agents are charged with fighting environmental crimes and have been equipped with some of the most cutting edge military equipment available.
Among their cache of weapons and military gear include semi-automatic rifles, guns, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned drones and aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear, and other military-style weaponry and surveillance equipment.
https://youtu.be/NbntRSt6zgY
April 23, 2014
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) now have armed agents. The Department of Justice is
heavily partisan — and that assertion has nothing to do with
racism. I support our law enforcement agencies having the proper
resources and equipment to fulfill their mission of keeping us safe
from criminals and enemies who have penetrated our sovereign borders.
However, we do not need to become a “police state” where our
government agencies start to resemble special operation strike troops
of the U.S. mlitary.
During the 2008 campaign, I recall then-Senator Obama stating, “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” Just like the fundamental transformation of America, what exactly did this mean? And just as amazingly, behind the young inexperienced junior Senator, you can see American military veterans applauding.
July 14, 2014
Besides the IRS, no agency should scare the American people more
than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A new EPA rule makes
it easier for the controversial agency to garnish personal wages for
the collection of fines owed to the government. Prior to the EPA’s
July 2, 2014 rule, the agency was required to first obtain a court
judgment before garnishing a private citizens’ wages. But the EPA
thought it was best to, you know, cut out the middleman and be
allowed to collect non-tax debts without a court order.While there are undeniably many instances where citizens or businesses do violate one of the countless EPA regulations, removing the courts from the initial garnishment process is ill advised. Checks and balances is a good thing, not an inconvenience.
The direct garnishment rule is unsurprising given the Obama EPA’s attempt to “strong-arm” private citizens. Around four years ago, Mike and Chantell Sackett purchased a parcel of land near a lake in Idaho. They planned to build a house there. After the Sacketts began building their new home, they received a notice from the EPA informing them that their property was classified as wetlands under the Clean Water Act. If the Sacketts did not halt construction, they could receive daily $75,000 fines. Concerned and perplexed, the Sacketts attempted to sue the EPA to get the agency to reclassify their property. Only the Sacketts couldn’t sue the EPA since the agency had not first sued the couple to enforce its order.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sacketts shouldn’t have to wait around for the EPA to sue them. In the decision, Justine Antonin Scalia writes that access to courts is a proper response to “the strong-arming of regulated parties” by government agencies. Justice Alito took the EPA to task in a concurring opinion criticizing the agency for its implementation of the law it used to fine the Sacketts with and the agency’s behavior:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisprandoni/2014/07/16/epa-wants-to-garnish-your-wages/
September 14, 2013
The recent uproar over armed EPA agents
descending on a tiny Alaska mining town is shedding light on the fact
that 40 federal agencies – including nearly a dozen typically not
associated with law enforcement -- have armed divisions.
"Environmental law enforcement, like other forms of law enforcement, always involves the potential for physical, even armed, confrontation," the agency said.
But Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has already ordered an investigation, saying "This level of intrusion and intimidation of Alaskans is absolutely unacceptable."
January 31, 2008
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_areas_of_the_United_States
As of 31
January 2008, according to the United
Nations Environment Programme, the U.S. had a total of 6,770
terrestrial nationally designated (federal) protected areas. These
protected
areas cover 2,607,131 km2 (1,006,619 sq mi),
or 12 percent of the land area of the United
States.[2]
This is also one-tenth of the protected land area of the world.
2008 United Nations National
Forest Monitoring Systems: Monitoring and Measurement, Reporting and
Verification (M & MRV) in the context of REDD+ Activities
The
purpose of this document is to describe the elements in National
Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMSs) as they relate to REDD+ under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and
to describe the UN-REDD Programme approach to Monitoring and
Measurement, Reporting and Verification (M & MRV) requirements.
This paper is presented in a series of sections discussing the
various elements of relevant texts of the UNFCCC and the
methodological recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). This approach aims to allow the end-user to
consider the implications of the implementation of REDD+ activities
in distinct national contexts, and the various steps involved.
The
future vitality of the world’s forests and the globally significant
environmental services they provide are increasingly under threat
from human activities. Not only do these activities have negative
impacts on biodiversity and hydrological services but they also
contribute to global climate change. It is estimated that
deforestation of tropical forests released around 1-2,000 Mt C/yr to
the atmosphere during the 1990s, which corresponds to approximately
17 percent of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
during the same period. This significant source of emissions is being
addressed under the UNFCCC, through reduced emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), with the aim of lowering
the contribution from the forestry sector. REDD became ‘REDD+’
with the addition of activities aiming to conserve, sustainably
manage and increase forest carbon stocks.
And in 1997 the United Nations
is monitoring the United States of America for our EPA
accomplishments, but to what end?
NATURAL RESOURCE ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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