Marketing Madness

I find this so maddening. This article comes from one of the "latest headlines" from BBC world news. Here's an excerpt.

The images are by turns beautiful, violent, oblique and provocative - much like the book itself.

The text "She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus" is illustrated with a veiled Muslim. One verse has a photo of a pair of knickers draped over high-heeled shoes, sending you back to the passage to find out what it's really about.

The person behind this remarketing of holy writings is Dag Soederberg, a Swedish businessman. And contrary to expectations, he is not a Christian hoping to convert anyone. "I'm not on a mission from God," he explains. "I'm not particularly religious. I'm not telling anyone they should believe."

Find this article here.

This just makes me sick and angry. I'm sort of at a loss for words, so I'm not going to comment any further.

Buddhism Coming to a Classroom Near You?

Sad, but true. Is Buddhism coming to a classroom near you? Maybe. Read all about it here.

I found out about this by reading a commentary here.

Parents, it is high time to wake up and find out what is going on in your child's classroom. That is, unless you don't care if your child is practicing Buddhism while learning his A-B-Cs.

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Last year I was being trained to teach that exact thing in my "health" class. I cannot even count the number of times I was introduced to "mindfulness", "yoga", "deep breathing exercises", "visualization", etc. etc in my days training to be a teacher at university. From what I hear, many of my nursing friends are learning the same things. They even get to go walk labyrinths and try hypnosis.

Well, I guess what can a person expect when future teachers are being taught to introduce these things into the classroom?

Did I forget to mention just how thankful I am not to be in university anymore?? :)

The Sky is Falling

This morning I learned that I missed an incredible sight last night--a massive fireball that flashed across the sky. I would have loved to have seen it! I saw some video footage of it, and I must say that it was quite incredible.

To see a video footage of it, click here.

Did you notice the astronomer said, "...you should always be outside looking up." Well I'm not sure if being outside is necessary, but looking up....most definitely!

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring

Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:25-28

**As for 4 and a 1/2 billion of years old, however....I think not. For several articles about that, click here.

Your Best Life...

You've probably heard of the book "Your Best Life Now" . I have not read the book, but from the title it seems the author believes we can all truly live our best life now (as opposed to later). But for Christians, is this true?

Today I watched a sermon by John MacArthur titled "Your Best Life Now...or Later? which explains that the Bible clearly teaches that for Christians, our best life begins when this life ends. It served as a good reminder that we need to cling to our living hope.

To listen to MacArthur's message, which was especially encouraging to me today, click here.

For some related reading, read an article from Apprising Ministries here

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. "
1 Peter 1:3-5

America Cries, "Give Us a King!"

Although I am saddened by the outcome of last night's election in the USA, we can rest assured that God is in control and will accomplish his purposes. As I was skimming some blogs that I follow, I was directed to an article this morning by Jan Markell called "America Cries, "Give Us a King!" regarding the presidential election. Here is an excerpt.

None of the candidates who ran in "Campaign 2008" can save us! Only the Lord God of Israel can do that! But as in Samuel's day, God is not good enough for America. Thus, I believe He has allowed "strong delusion" to filter across the nation and around the world. It says in Isaiah 66:4, "I will choose their delusions." Thus, all has happened for a reason. God removes kings and establishes kings for His own purposes. (Daniel 2:21)

Read the rest of that article here.

For an interesting article regarding the theme of "change", click here.
.............................................................................................................................

And now, a few of my own scattered thoughts.

As I watched the whole event last night, I must say I was not really surprised by the results, given the times we live in. As I watched, I was disturbed by was the worship-like admiration displayed by so many of Obama's supporters.

I also wondered what Obama meant by parts of his presidential victory speech: What did he mean by "our destiny is shared"? I also wondered who he will interpret as "those who would tear this world down" versus "those who seek peace and security." It seems evident to me that he is very much pro-globalization. Here's the part I'm referring to:

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you

Anyway, I know my thoughts here are scattered, but I must get back to my bread-baking. I tried out a new recipe today; I hope it turns out!

A Challenging Message This Morning

The one thing I most certainly will miss when we move again in spring is the congregation at the little church we currently attend. What an incredible blessing that church (and by church, I mean the people) has been to me and my husband. I firmly believe that God has used several families in that church to encourage us and challenge us to grow in our faith. Being conservative in our beliefs, we find it very difficult to find like-minded friends our age. Most professing believers from our generation prefer to have one foot in the world and one in the church. Having grown up in this post-modern age, my husband and I are constantly being challenged to keep ourselves separate from the world. Age is no longer very important when you share fellowship with like-minded believers. Some of our dearest friends are more than a decade older than us and have several children.

At church this morning another challenging message was preached by a friend of ours. We are currently going through the book of Luke. The message this morning was from Luke 6:27-49. The message addressed loving our enemies and also looked at Stephen's response when he was martyred and our Lord's response when He was on the cross. The message also addressed righteous judging versus hypocritical judging and the foundation on which our faith is built (true vs false conversion). I really thought the speaker did a good job of explaining that ever-so-misused verse "Judge not lest you be judged." One should not base one's doctrine on one single verse, but needs to look at the context of a verse. He looked at several passages about judging. It is clear that we are not to judge hypocritically, but we are to judge righteously.

Anyway, the verse that especially stood out to me this morning was verse 46.

"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

This verse is specifically addressing professing Christians. As our speaker pointed out, the Bible often makes the distinction between true and false converts; wheat vs tares, sheep vs goats, wise virgins vs foolish virgins, those with a foundation built on the rock vs those with a foundation built on sand.

This verse poses a challenge for all professing Christians. If we truly believe, we should be obeying His commandments.

This is not a works-based gospel. We are saved by grace. What the Bible says is that if we truly believe and have received the Lord Jesus, obedience will follow. If you call someone "Lord" but do not obey him, then he is not truly your Lord.

I am attempting to memorize the book of 1 John, which also talks a lot about the evidence of our faith.

"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:3

I am looking forward to next Sunday when we will hear another Bible-based message froma dear brother in Christ and fellowship again with these wonderful people who love the Lord.