America's Pastor

In case you are unable to view this video it can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jmGu9o4fDE

I'm sure most of you haven't heard about this, but there's a bill that's likely to be passed by the Ugandan government making it illegal to be homosexual, and could possibly lead to the death penalty. Uganda has a large percentage of their population infected with HIV/AIDS and they feel that making homosexuality illegal will slow the spread of the disease. I do not support this legislation, nor do I support the homosexual lifestyle. As a follower of Jesus Christ I do my very best to hate the sin an love the sinner. Feel free to google "Uganda Homosexual Bill" for more details.

The premise behind me writing this actually has little to do with this legislation, but everything to do with the man many have deemed "America's Pastor" Mr. Rick Warren. It amazes me that Mr. Warren seems to go out of his way to defend his own name in the homosexual community, but never seems to defend the name of Jesus Christ in the media. It angers me to no end how the media will capitalize on this to make it appear that the majority of "American Christians" are alright with just because "Rick Warren" condemns this bill. It doesn't make the situation any better when press releases and video's like the on above are circulated in the media...

"It's not my role to interfere with politics of other nations, my role is to speak out on moral issues" -Rick Warren

I have no problem with this statement, a Pastors role is to preach the Word of God and tend to the flock of his congregation. However, I do have a problem when there are moral issues in the U.S. that go unmentioned by "America's Pastor" Where was his statement when on the 3rd day of his presidency President Obama changed a policy to allow federal funding for international abortions? Where was the press release when the Hate Crimes Legislation passed which could fine and imprison those who preach what the Bible says about homosexuality? In 2 Tim 4:2 Paul Exhorts Timothy to Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. I believe all of us who call ourselves Christians, including Mr. Warren should heed this exhortation.

Yes, God DOES condemn all sex outside of marriage (1 Cor 6:9,10), but that's not the topic of the legislation mentioned. What does the word say about homosexuality? (Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, Rom 1:26-31) to name a few. I wish Mr. Warren wouldn't skate around the issue and just call sin sin and not try to water down what the Bible says specifically about homosexuality.

BTW not sure if you caught it in the video but loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the great commandments, but I believe the Word says that to love the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, and strength is the greatest commandment.

Lastly Mr. Warren said that he opposed anything that hinders HIS P.E.A.C.E plan. His P.E.A.C.E plan?? What about God's plan? I hope I'm not the only one who sees something wrong with this. Let's take a look at what Mr. Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan stands for:

P: Promoting reconciliation

E: Equipping Ethical Leaders

A: Assisting the poor

C: Caring for the sick

E: Educating the next generation

Once again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with these these things they're all positive moral issues that we should be practicing as the Church of Jesus Christ. However, there's something missing. I've taken the liberty to make a few changes.

P: Preach the Gospel

E: Evangelize the nations

A: Assist the poor

C: Call sinners to repentance

E: Evangelize the nations some more

That looks a bit more like the P.E.A.C.E. plan that I read about in my Bible.

What it comes down to is this. We were here to glorify God. PERIOD. Even if our name is dragged through the mud, even if we have to set aside our own personal agenda (which we should be doing anyway as Christians) , even if we have to suffer, even if we have to give our lives. As Paul said to the Galatians, "For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." Galatians 1:10

I must ask the question. Mr. Warren do you seek to please God or man? All of us who claim Christ as our Savior need to ask ourselves this same question because in the end it doesn't matter what men think of you, but what God thinks of you. We are to live our lives for Him and Him only.

I don't know Rick Warrens' heart, only God knows that, but I do hear the word's that come out of his mouth. According to the scriptures out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45) With that said let us remeber to pray for Rick Warren and all of America's Pastors. So many have gone astray and are leading their flocks to destruction. Jesus warns us about these "hirelings" in John 10. We are truly living in the time where people are not enduring sound doctrine but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears are heaping up for themselves teachers, and are turning away from the truth and being turned aside to fables. But we MUST be watchful in ALL things, endure afflictions, and do the work of evangelists and fulfill our ministry. (2 Tim 4:3-5)Let us pray for God's mercy on all in these last days, and discernment to know the false from the true.

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace in every way. The LORD be with you all

Take heed that no one deceives you

Thus says the LORD:


“ Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD."
Jeremiah 17:5

The first mega-church?

What's this? Another mega church in Germany? I wonder who's preaching...

Not too many years later in China Mao Zedong they really know how to worship...

These guys look familiar, and these folks look really eager to worship...

...so do they...

Them too... Wait a sec... didn't God say something about this?

Thus says the LORD:


“ Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD."
Jeremiah 17:5

¹¹ Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. ¹² And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. ¹³ He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. ¹⁴ And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. ¹⁵ He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation 13:11-17


³ “You shall have no other gods before Me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:3-6

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him

John 4:23

Words of Man or Word of God

This is an article from Steve Lumbley of apostasywatch.com please copy and paste the link, check out his whole site when you get the chance.

http://apostasywatch.com/special/declaration.html

Please remember as disciples of Christ we are neither on the right or the left, neither conservatives or liberals we're on Christ's side

God Bless

Independence Day

Independence Day

In about 2 weeks this nation will be celebrating Independence Day. We’ll see parades, fireworks shows, U.S. Flags, people decked out in red, white, & blue, etc… My question is this. From what or whom are we celebrating our independence from?

I’m going to assume that most of you reading this have never actually read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. You’ll find the full text here: http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html . I highly recommend reading it at least once. Let’s take a look and some of the key points:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness…

Wow, those are some strong words! So according to the Declaration of Independence, at some point, when governments overstep their God given responsibilities it becomes necessary to the people, or the governed to separate themselves from the government, to alter that government, to abolish that government or to institute a new government based on self-evident truths given by our Creator. Looks like the writers of the Declaration of Independence weren’t big fans of evolution or the so called “separation of God (I mean) church and state”. Let’s look a little further at some of the indictments against the King of England:

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

I really didn’t intend for this to be a political blog but I think it’s of the utmost importance that we know our history, the good as well as the bad. Some one once said: (and I’m paraphrasing) “Those who don’t know their history are destined to repeat it”. In Deuteronomy 6:12-25 God commanded the children of Israel of this very same thing. Not to forget that it was God that delivered them out of Egypt, it was God that delivered them from the oppressive rule of Pharaoh. If we know anything about the Old Testament we know that the Israelites didn’t always practice this. They fell into a continual cycle of forgetting God, rebelling against God, being judged by God, and then crying out to God, turning back to God, and then forgetting God again.

It’s so amazing to me how 239 years after the Declaration of Independence was drafted the people of this country are suffering the same oppressions as the original colonists suffered when we were under the rule of the British Monarchy. So what happened? The same thing that happened to the children of Israel, as a nation we’ve forgotten our history, forgotten God, and right now we’re under the judgment of God. The biggest problem is it seems like there are very few crying out to God or turning back to God. Who’s making an appeal to the Supreme Judge today in America? What lawmakers are reinforcing the unalienable rights endowed by our Creator? Where are the Americans who are firmly relying on the protection of Divine Providence, and mutually pledging, their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor?
In 1776, this nation decided to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29), and with firm reliance on God, declared their independence from the tyrannical rule of the British Monarchy. Over 230 years later it seems that this nation is doing just the opposite and obeying man rather than God. God warns us of that Jeremiah 17:5,6:

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength whose heart departs from the Lord, for he shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see good when it comes…

Instead of following the example of our forefathers by declaring independence from tyrannical government, have declared independence from the very One, the ONLY One that can deliver us.
We’ve declared our independence from the only true and living God of the universe and are painfully reaping the consequences.

If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?
Psalm 11:3


May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Too big to fail

It seems like these days you can’t go anywhere without hearing about another “bailout”. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing a troubled company that’s “too big to fail”. You can’t read the newspaper for 30 seconds before you read about the “economic crisis”. I work in a bank so hearing all these terms are part of my daily routine. I hear folks everyday wondering where they should invest their money. They wonder about the safest place to put their money. Maybe Certificates of deposit, money market accounts, mutual funds, fixed annuities, the stock market, gold, cash, foreign currency, or maybe they should just bury a bunch of cash in their backyard. There’s a part of me that gets irritated and another part of me that feels sorry for these folks because they’re worrying their life away over money and things, and seem to have no concern for their own soul. There’s more concern for the well being of large corporations than their spiritual condition, more concern for supporting a president than exalting the King of Kings.

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain
Psalm 127:1

When I look at everything going on in our economy I can’t help but think of this verse. Our modern day economy is built with greed for bricks, and deceit for mortar. Do those sound like building materials that the Lord would use? When companies become consumed with making money at any cost, rather than providing a quality product for the consumer they’re destined too fail. When banks encourage customers to “state” (lie about) their income on a loan application, and when customers “state” (lie about) their income to get approved on that same application, that bank is destined to fail. Whenever a company grows from the result of sinful activity it is destined to fail and all of the workers work in vain. This verse also says “unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” Now as much as I appreciate our military, and law enforcement, all of they’re work is futile unless the Lord is guarding our cities and our country. Right now we’ve got Mexican drug cartels, kidnapping & killing U.S. and Mexican citizens in the south. There is legislation that may soon pass opening our borders for trade and tourism with Cuba a communist dictatorship that has strong alliances with Venezuela,( whose President/Dictator has expressed publicly his hatred for the United States) and also with Russia who is longing to be a superpower in the world once again. Not to mention our President proclaiming to the world that “The U.S. is not at war with Islam” By the way who are we fighting in Afghanistan right now, and in Iraq? Who does the Taliban consist of, how about al Qaida? Have we so quickly forgotten September 11, 2001? How about the U.S. electric grid being hacked into by Russian & Chinese hackers? Does it seem that the Lord is guarding the city? You can clearly see by these examples that the Lord is withdrawing His hand of protection from this once Christian nation, and as hard as this may be to swallow we deserve it. We’ve taken God from our classrooms, our courtrooms, and our government, so why would He protect a country that didn’t want Him?

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Matt 7:24-27

…and such a great fall is coming to this nation as long as we continue to turn from God


Now about where to invest your money… I am not a financial planner, I have no Series 6,7, or 66 licenses, I have no stock tips for you. However, I’d like to give you some startling financial news. There is absolutely, positively NO SAFE PLACE ON EARTH to put your money. You can invest in all the gold, silver, & platinum you want, you can buy all the stocks and bonds you like, dig the deepest hole and bury all your cash in it, invest in Euros, Yen, Yuan, Shekels, Ameros, Pesos whatever currency you like. Invest in real estate, life insurance, wherever you put it I GUARANTEE you will lose it all. How can I be so confident in my financial analysis? Because God says so in His word

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:19-21


First and foremost you can’t take money with you when you die. You can try, but trust me it won’t leave the casket. And second, did you see that last part of 2 Peter 3:10? “the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” I don’t care where you keep your money, who you leave it to, or what type of financial instrument you have it in when it’s all said and done this whole earth and everything in it is going to burn so why put so much effort into preserving your wealth?

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein
Psalm 24:1

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
Psalm 89:11

For “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”
1 Cor 10:26

Most importantly, it is not your money to be concerned about “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness” That means the earth and everything on the earth, including your money!!

17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
1 Tim 6:17-19

If the Lord has blessed you to have a surplus I would hope you’ve learned from the above mentioned scriptures that He hasn’t blessed you to horde your money and keep it to yourselves. Rather God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. We should all look for ways to use our money to glorify God. It wouldn’t hurt to pray and ask God how He would have you to use His money!

Lastly, I’d like to tackle this “too big too fail” nonsense. I’ve heard this so much in the past few months, “too big to fail” It implies that a company is so large that its failure would affect so many people either nationally, or internationally that the government must do whatever it can to keep that company from failing. Be it nationalizing the company, or giving the company a “bailout” (giving the company a loan from the government) Now ask yourself this, if a company is already failing because of massive debt that it can’t pay, how is giving the company a loan and adding to it’s debt going to “bail it out”? Ok another question what if the government can no longer pay its debt then who is going to bail out the government? And if the taxpayers, who bail out the government, who then bailout the failing companies, run out of money then what? And if all the nations that the U.S. government borrows money from are in financial chaos and run out of money, then the taxpayers, the government, the companies and the world, for that matter, are all in big trouble. Basically it’s like bailing out a sinking cruise ship with a medicine dropper; it’s inevitable the ship is going to sink, but since the ship is so large it’s going to take some time until it’s completely submerged. That’s our economy, that’s our country, that’s our world. That doesn’t sound “too big to fail” to me, that just sounds like something so big we don’t notice it’s failing.
Now let me tell you something, or rather someone that’s “too big to fail.” Not AIG, not Citibank, not Bank of America, not the U.S. Government, not the U.S. Economy, not the global economy, these are all failing and will fail guaranteed. The only one “too big to fail” is God. His economy is NEVER in a recession, a depression or any other kind of “ession”. He’s never had a housing crisis, is never in debt, and needs a bailout from anyone. But rather, He sent us the one and only true “bailout” in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.
Our accounts were eternally overdrawn with no possibility of bringing the balance positive but God sent us an eternal deposit in Jesus Christ and if we accept this deposit our account will never again be empty. We need to recognize our spiritual/ financial condition and repent. Turn from our ways of managing our lives and our money and turn to the Creator for our salvation from this spiritual crisis we’re in. God’s word says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life
John 3:16

God loves us all so much that He was willing to wrap Himself in flesh, and suffer the consequences for the sins of mankind past present and future, and because Christ rose again and lives, we now have an opportunity to have real life, everlasting life if we’d only repent of our sins and turn to Him. No one but God can get the world out of the financial mess it’s in. We’re looking to all the so called experts, but so many fail to look to the only true savior. We need to stop looking to the president, the government, the CEO’s, other nations, and start looking to the only One who can truly bail us out.

Now let me say this, being a follower of Christ comes with a price. You may lose friends, you may be persecuted, and there may be a lot that you lose.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt 16:26

Whatever you lose in this life is nothing compared to eternal life with Jesus!

Without Jesus we’re all spiritually bankrupt, and Satan has so many convinced that they’re “too big to fail” There are many whose eyes are blinded by the deceitfulness of wealth, believing that as soon as the economy recovers they’ll be OK. There’s a great possibility that things WON’T get better, that the economy WON’T recover, that things WILL get worse. What do we do then? Sit in despair because all our money is gone, and we’re living in our cars, or in a tent somewhere. Absolutely NOT! We thank God for that tent, that car, and the life that He’s given us to live, and appreciate all that He has blessed us with. I’ll end with this. Jesus said,

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28,29

May God bless you & keep you!

What is a watchman??

Some may look at the title of this blog site and wonder, "What is a watchman?" That's an excellent question, I'm glad you asked. Let's look at a few definitions:

S: (n) watchman, watcher, security guard (a guard who keeps watch)
wordnet.web.princeton.edu

watchman 
1. a person who keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves.
2.(formerly) a person who guards or patrols the streets at night.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/watchman

I'd say those definitions make it clear that a watchman is someone who keeps watch, keeps guard over something, perhaps a building, a city. When a watchman sees danger coming it's his responsibility to let the people know. It's not necessarily his job to stop the danger, or to fight the danger, but to let the people know about imminent danger.


1Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
3If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
6But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
Ezekiel 33:1-6

Over the past year or so I haven't been able to escape these words. It seemed like every time I turned on the radio or TV there was a sermon about Ezekiel 33. It wasn't just any old sermon, they were those sermons where you feel like the preacher is speaking directly to you.

Now let me clarify, by no means am I proclaiming myself to be a prophet, please don't misunderstand that. What I am saying, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a student of God's word, is that there are many people in this nation in imminent danger, this nation itself is in imminent danger, this world is in imminent danger!

You may ask yourself "What kind of danger could I possibly be in?" Well if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Saviour you fall into the category of being in imminent danger. Sin has infected this world worse than cancer, AIDS, or any other disease. The only cure is Jesus Christ!
In this blog my intent is to blow the trumpet and do my best to point folks to the cure, Jesus, because Lord knows I don't want any blood on my hands. I pray that this blog will convict you, offend you, and encourage you to blow the trumpet yourself. Most importantly, I pray that you will be transformed by the renewing of your minds and that you'll be washed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you & keep you!