Rand's Top Ten Bible Characters He Just Can't Stand!

I really have a problem with these folks...

Surely all you who have read the Bible, cover-to-cover, have come across a character (man or woman) that you just couldn't stand. Well, I have put together for you my "top ten":


# 10 - Saul: He could have been a champion, but he turned out to be ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! After being anointed as Israel's first king, Saul quickly ceased to follow the Lord making him a "class A" fool. Terrible judgement, pride, witchcraft and general disobedience are all qualifiers that best describe Saul. (1 Samuel 10 to 31)

# 9 - Lot: This man is the only saved man in my list. Yep, I'm going to spend eternity with this man in Heaven, but you wouldn't have caught me anywhere near this dude a few thousand years ago. For choosing to live in an EXCEEDING WICKED city (Sodom), for offering a mob of Sodomites his two virgin daughters so that they "may do to them as they wish", and for twice getting so plastered that his two daughters were able to "lie with their father" while he lay uncouncious... well... brother Lot, you've earned position 9! (Genesis 13, 14, 19)

# 8 - Delilah: Ah! the seducing temptress! For conspiring to kill off her husband for eleven hundred pieces of silver, for nagging and nagging poor love-sick Samson daily to find out the source of his strength, and for finally, prevailing against him, position # 8 is well deserved. (Judges 16)

# 7 - Herod Antipas: The spineless, characterless despot. For his incestious relationship with Herodias (his niece and half-brother's wife... how sick is that???), his lusting over Herodias' daughter (again, how sick is that???), for ordering the execution of John the Baptist, and finally, for his mocking abuse of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Antipas earns position # 7. (Matthew 14, Luke 23)

# 6 - Herodias: Yep, I put Herodias one notch higher than Herod Antipas, because some of the nonsense Herod did was orchestrated by this wicked witch. For her multiple incestious relationships, her hatred of John the Baptist, her conspiracy in which she used her own daughter to have John the Baptist killed, position # 6 is all hers! (Matthew 14)

# 5 - Herod the Great: Actually, make that Herod the small. So mad for power, so fearful he would lose his kingdom, this "Great" despot ordered the murder of young children/infants in Bethlehem in order to eliminate the promised Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the mass murder of innocent children, position # 5 is Herod's. (Matthew 2)

# 4 - Jezebel: The third and last woman in my "top ten", and she definitely deserves the top female spot. For her devotion to the false god Baal, her murder and theft of Naboth's vineyard, her murder of many of the Lord's prophets, and her threats against Elijah, idolatrous Jezebel earns position # 4. (1 Kings 16:31 and 2 Kings 9:37)

# 3 - Ahaz: One seriously wicked king. For his worship of Baal and other abominable false gods, for burning his OWN CHILDREN to the false god Moloch, for his foolish and costly wars (in human lives), his shutting down the temple of God and his building of altars to the gods of Damascus throughout all of Judah, king Ahaz is definitely a top 3 most despicable people in my books. (2 Kings 16)

# 2 - the Levite in Judges 19: A cold and characterless man. Okay, so I can understand that the Levite was faced with being sodomized by a mob of perverted men, and that probably freaked him out... but come on! Turning over his concubine to be sexually abused all night long in his stead!!! And then check out v.27. It says that in the morning, HE AROSE! While his woman was being brutalized, HE WAS SLEEPING. Talk about sick. And then, check v. 28. Does the Levite help his concubine up? Does he tend to her injuries? Does he even check if she is still alive (which, she was not)? Nope, he just says: "get up and let us be going." Now to be fair, he did protest what had happened and the tribe of Benjamin payed a heavy price for the actions of the Benjamite perverts, but all and all, position # 2 for this Levite is well deserved. (Judges 19)

# 1 - Judas: The betrayer himself. For being a hypocrite, a thief and of course, for betraying "innocent blood", Judas had to figure in the top 3. This man was COMPLETELY without excuse; he had spent 3 years with the Lord of glory, watching every awesome miracle, hearing every glorious teaching. And what does he choose to do in the end? He conspires with the Lord's enemies, and for a total sum of 30 pieces of silver, betrays the Lord Jesus into the chief priests' hands. This man is definitely the most CURSED man who has ever walked our planet. (Matthew 26)


So that's my "top ten". You agree? You disagree? You think I forgot someone? You think I was unfair to someone in my "top ten"?

Let's hear it in my comment box. But here is the rule: you can't just throw a name in the mix, it has to remain a "top TEN". So if you want to add someone to the list, you'll have to say who you would remove from my "top ten".

This should be fun,


Rand

Our Father-Son Camping Trip

City slickers? I don't think so!

Last week, I took my eldest son out for a father-son camping trip at Algonquin Park. We spent 3 days and 2 nights out in the great outdoors. Our days were mostly spent taking nature walks in Canada's beautiful boreal forest; and it is worth noting that the colors of the leaves as my country enters the fall season only accentuated the forest's beauty.

Here are a few pictures I took while at the park... you'll notice my son is the star of all the pictures...



Our home away from home.



A rather long climb up a hill covered with long evergreen needles.



My boys favorite discovery! A small stream running between large and small rocks. We spent a good hour here.



A very large rock covered in moss. My boy thought sitting in the middle of it was "soooo cool!"



Taking a break on an old tree trunk next to a still stream.



Another large rock my son just had to take a break on.



My son's second favorite spot: the edge of a very high cliff. We could see miles and miles of the park from up there.


And that was our camping trip. For now and for the next few years, it'll be my eldest and I alone who will be going to the annual "father and son camp", but I look forward to the day when I'll be able to bring both my sons with me.

In closing, not wanting to be charged with favoritism, here is a short video of my daughter feeding my youngest his cereal... it's pretty hilarious (she's such a little sneak).

Later,


Rand

Friday Night Notes

back from camping... and back to preaching...

It was just my pastor and I tonight. We did our usual 3 hours of street preaching in two different locations of the marketplace (our usual preaching spot was temporarily taken over by musicians).

We did the work, but again, our audience was, for the most part, quite antagonistic. Pretty sad... even when my pastor was preaching about God's love and grace (in that particular moment, he hadn't mentioned anything about judgement, or anything negative), people were still passing by hissing and groaning in disgust. It's becoming more and more difficult for me to not come to the conclusion that the curse of the Lord is on my country, since its citizens are so terribly hard towards the Gospel and are becoming harder and harder as time goes on. I wonder, did God give Canada over to its wickedness as we see it in Romans 1:20-32?

Other than that, I have very little to report. I guess on the bright side, I could mention that I did hand out a fair number of Bible tracts tonight, and I wasn't overtly cursed at, which is good. But on the down side, most people tonight simply couldn't have cared less about God or His Gospel, and therefore, they just thought of me as some quack with a Bible sign; someone so below them, I wasn't worth their attention.

How I yearn for some sign of spiritual life! How I would like the Lord to use me as a soul-winner! How I wish the Lord would put His fear in the people of my city! Even if it weren't unto salvation. If they could only have a "natural reverence" for God and His Word, how refreshing that would be.

Anyway, no use whining about the situation... that's what is going on in my city, and therefore, it is the way God wants things to happen for now. In the end, He knows what is best, His counsels are always perfect. So, I guess "thy will be done" is the only godly and wise thing for me to say to the Lord on this matter.

I still have a bit of work to do on my sermon, which I will be preaching on the Lord's Day evening service, so I better get to it. Good night dear readers.


Rand

Learning to Pray

by Twinklemoose

I am going to try to write a testimony here of changes that have happened in me over the past few months.

The first verse to mention is 2 Chron. 12:14 - And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Backing up to verses 11 and 12, you can see the he is King Rehoboam, and the evil he did was to enter the house of the Lord without first humbling himself. Verse 12 says when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether.

Making personal application of this, I am struck by how lightly I sometimes take the matter of entering the house of the Lord, as in the church. I often go to services with my heart unprepared to meet with the Lord. Often, I am taken up in personal matters, and all to often, they are also carnal or vain matters. Well that verse really hit home for me and made me see my light-hearted attitude in the whole matter as being evil.

There is something the Lord called me to do at least a year ago, maybe two or three years even - and I resisted until this July. Now I have been obedient for almost three months in rising early to spend time with the Lord daily. I am not saying this is necessary for everyone, although it has made such a huge difference for me, that I would not be surprised if perhaps it IS necessary for everyone. I get up at 5 or 6 a.m. (depending how early I managed to get to bed the night before) - occasionally I get up at 4 or 4:30. This time belongs to the Lord, and I spend it in simple Bible reading and prayer.

Prior to starting this practice, I was not doing particularly well in my spiritual walk. Personal devotions were sporadic and never very long. My only excuse was the fact that my kids are really young, and I just don't get much time to myself. However, I had been aware for some time that the key to getting past that hurdle was to get up before the kids. I just never seemed to have the energy or will-power when morning rolled around. I was aware that I couldn't truly draw close to the Lord in sporadic 15 minute sessions. Our church was having a family camp in July with the theme for the week being revival. Church members were asked to fast and pray for revival leading up to the camp. We had a number of church prayer meetings for this purpose. At the first meeting I attended, I was struck by the sincerity of our church leaders in seeking this revival, and I determined that I would be at least as serious myself, so I decided to get up at 5 every morning for the next week to pray, that my heart would be better prepared for the following week's meeting.

Well, that was at the end of June and I haven't looked back. That first morning I read my Bible for a few minutes, then dropped to my knees in prayer. Now I have never been one to pray on bended knees in the past, but it just felt right that morning, and now it is my custom. We get brainwashed with the idea that you can pray any time, anywhere, sitting, standing, working etc. etc. and that is all true, but I think it's pretty sad that I've been a Christian for a long time and I've just learned that kneeling is the preferred position. For me anyways, kneeling down, and particularly dropping my face to the ground, has humbled me before God and helped me to focus in and really learn how to pray - that is, how to approach my Creator.

Being humbled by God in prayer was a new thing for me. I was used to bringing my prayer petitions, even praises too, but not addressing the state of my heart, or at least not enough to really get humbled. I purposely say being humbled BY God in prayer, because that is how it has been for me these past few months. I don't feel the need to fill the air with all my clever-sounding words. I am able to be quiet sometimes and just let Him deal with my heart.

With my heart humbled, my praises are truer and I have learned to worship God better than I used to. Even my petitions are different now, with a reverence for the one I am calling out to. He is my friend, but He is so terrible that Moses said "I exceedingly fear and quake." Heb. 12:21. He will do what He wills to do and it will be right. It is my privilege to approach him through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant Heb. 12:24, and to beg His mercy for lost sinners I love and care about, or see passing me by; to cry out to Him for the suffering and sick; to ask His guidance in the daily matters of my life. He hears everything I say and He cares, but I am not trying to - nor could I - change His will. That Calvinistic outlook is nothing new for me, but the attitude of seeing this whole matter of prayer as having importance too, and as being such a high privilege is all new.

I can really say I have a healthy prayer life now for the first time. I wish I could somehow pass that on to other Christians. Just tonight I was in the home of some *professing* Christians, who are in poor spiritual condition. My thought towards them is how pathetic to be carnal and miss the fulness of the Christian experience. Yet I was like that to a lesser degree, such a short time ago. I was not a praying person, and that made my public (i.e. prayer meeting) prayers phony in a sense, even evil.

Off to camp!!!

father and son time...

FYI... I am on vacation this week. For the first stretch of the week, my eldest son and I will be going hiking/camping. So you might not hear from me for a few days. That being said, don't all disappear on me since I believe I have convinced my wife to blog in my absence.

So you all behave now, my wife will be keeping an eye on the comment box (making sure that no nonsense takes place in there).

See you in a few days,


Rand

A Conclusion... Of Sorts...

again, no notes...

I was preparing myself to get back to some serious street preaching tonight, but I'm afraid that the last bit of hurricane Ophelia put an end to that plan. It's raining quite a bit outside, so no street preaching tonight. So instead of getting the "Friday Night Notes", you'll get this post instead.

This is, as my title indicates, a conclusion of sorts to my series on Romanism. I say "of sorts" because, like my series on "Calvinism Objections Answered", I plan to add to the Romanism series from time to time. For now though, I think I've covered quite a bit of ground; any honest soul, who is seeking the Truth, should see the importance of staying clear of Romanism by now. I know that this statement will probably vex some of my Romanist readers, but I am called to be truthful, and that's exactly what you are getting.

My Romanist readers: YOU ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE. Whether you accept my expositions or not, it is irrelevant. There is alot in my posts on Romanism that cannot be refuted. Your rejection of the Second Commandment of Moses (check out how Romanist's present the 10 Commandments, and this isn't an exception), your rejection of Sola Scriptura which is CLEARLY taught in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (replacing this precious doctrine with your vain, wicked traditions), your worship of Mary as the Queen of Heaven (which is nowhere taught in Scripture, even the title is made-up)... these are but a few examples of your heresies that will someday condemn you, if you will not repent.

Now let me make something clear: THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS. A worldly saying, but an all too often accurate one nonetheless. Do I believe that Romanists are a bunch of people who secretly meet with Satan to plan how to condemn the most souls possible? Uh... no. I believe that like all other types of sinners, Romanists only seek to do one thing through their religion: self-justification. They don't want the justification that is from God because they reject God's Word as THE ONLY AUTHORITY for faith and practice. So they made up "their own way" through their traditions. And like I said, Romanists aren't alone in this business, ALL SINNERS, whether by religion or philosophy, seek to justify themselves.

Friends, there is ONE WAY to justification, and it isn't through Romanism. It is through the Jesus of the Bible: the One who was born of Mary, a woman who was a sinner saved by grace (no more, no less), the One who had half-brothers and half-sisters (the sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary), the One who died to cover ALL THE SINS of His people, the One who requires worship TO BE IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH (not in images). He is the narrow way that few find (Matthew 7:14). All other paths are just part of the broad road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13), and the millions of Romanists are definitely part of the "many who enter thereat".

Think about it... eternity is a long time... especially when it's spent under God's wrath.


Rand

The Two Genealogies of the Man, Messiah Jesus

by ArBee


(Note that this post was put together by a faithful and knowledgeable member of our fellowship. He has posted comments on this blog in the past under the nick ArBee. It's a long one, but well worth the read. This is ArBee's 0.02$ (actually, make that a 0.25$) on the various comments left by some Romanists in the comment box attached to my Romanist Mariology - Part 1 post)


The two genealogical records in Scripture of the Lord Jesus Christ (= Messiah) have been placed in the Scripture record by God the Holy Spirit, in order that mankind can witness the marvelous way in which our omniscient and omnipotent God keeps His promises, regardless of the apparent difficulties that fallen mankind perceives as being impossible obstacles! They are also a witness to the integrity of the Scripture record, as one must tie together (connect the dots) in a number of pertinent books of the Bible to resolve the apparent (from man's view) problem.

In the first place, one must understand that the four gospel records were written by God the Holy Spirit to specifically highlight four separate views of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel record written (humanly speaking) by Matthew, the Levite, consistently points to the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel; therefore, he continuously supports that position (60 times) from the Old Testament Scriptures. The very first chapter starts with a Jewish-format genealogy, that when read by a son of Abraham in the Hebrew language, points him specifically to Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, and Daniel for their Messiah! That gospel account stresses over and over the credentials of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, proving His right to claim that authority over all the sons of Abraham in the flesh by establishing from Scripture His legal and royal title. Thirty-eight times the Matthew record uses the word, "fulfilled" in pointing the Jewish reader to their Messiah, Jesus. The first miracle recorded in that account is of direct application in the eyes of the Jewish reader, for it presents their Messiah as the One who could completely cleanse a foul leper of every trace of that disease and make his flesh perfectly whole. Although this imarvelouslous deed in Gentile eyes, to the Jewish reader who knows that leprosy was ALWAYS used as a type of sin in the TaNaK (the whole of the Old Testament), this points to the One who is the fulfillment (Anti-type) of all the Messianic promises it contains! The Holy Spirit in Matthew's account, writes of the One who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; hence the genealogy begins with father Abraham and ends with the last recorded person in that line who can lay legal claim to the Genesis 49 promises to Judah.

On the other hand, the Gentile author, Dr. Luke, who is widely acknowledged as being an accurate historian, presents this same Jesus as the Perfect Man - the last Adam. This Perfect Man is presented in the gospel record as being everything that the first Adam could have been, if he had perfectly obeyed God. Dr. Luke is writing primarily to a Greek audience to reveal to them that this same Jesus is the eikon or perfect representation of ideal humanity, and Luke uses the many times that the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man to point the Greek reader who believed that although God could look like a man, no god could actually BE a man, to the One who not only was, but IS both perfect God and perfect Man! The first miracle that Dr. Luke, the physician, records is the authority of Jesus of Nazareth over the acknowledged but unseen world of demons - a demonstration of the power and authority of this God/Man who was not only publicly seen to die - but who was also widely acknowledged to have conquered death and to arisen out from among (that's what the Greek text says) the dead, over those unseen and greatly feared demonic powers.

Dr. Luke, then, begins not with the genealogy of this perfect Man, but with an authoritative account of the events surrounding the arrival of this perfect God/Man into the world via the means of a human birth - something that would challenge the Greek reader to rethink his belief that although a number of their supposed gods were said to have descended from Olympus and walked among men; not a single one of them had EVER done so via human birth! Dr. Luke, once he presents the genealogy of this Jesus of Nazareth, begins with - not father Abraham - but with the very first created human being - Adam - and provides a genealogical trail from the first Adam who failed, to the last Adam who succeeded, in perfectly doing the will of His Father all the days of His human existence on this planet - thereby earning the right to redeem all His people from the bondage of sin and death!

Now, having that background, let's specifically look at the apparent problem with the two genealogies that were discussed on your blog about Mary, near the first of the month.
There is no dispute about the fact that the genealogical record in Matthew points to the Lord Jesus as being the eldest son (legally speaking, but not of his flesh) of Joseph, the last person in the line of Abraham, Judah, David, and Solomon who could lay legal claim to the throne of David in Jerusalem. The curse that you mentioned was placed upon a king in Judah who had a variety of names - Coniah [Jer 22:24, 28], Jeconiah [1 Chron 3:16, 17], Jehoiachin [2 Kings 24:8], and a number of scholars have followed the biblical record to establish that his physical descendants all perished in Babylon - but that through the God-approved means of Levirite marriage, the legal inheritance of the line was continued from his widow, down to Joseph. It is quite an involved discussion that I won't pursue in the interest of space; but I assure you that it does exist (Shealtiel is the end of that broken line - Zerubbabel is of a separate blood line. Joseph, therefore, had the legal right to the throne of David, which his legal firstborn son could claim upon the death of his father, but the blood line from Solomon no longer existed; it had ended in Babylon.

This is important, as it clearly gives Jesus of Nazareth the legal right to claim the throne of David in Jerusalem - which I believe that He will soon do! However, as the blood line from Solomon was broken when the blood offspring of Jeconiah perished in Babylon, it was necessary to affirm the existence of that Davidic blood line - and that's where Mary comes into the picture.
The Holy Spirit, through the pen of Dr. Luke, wrote the verse that started the discussion on your blog, which I want to deal with.

v.23- "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli."

Firstly, notice that the words "the son" are italicized. That indicates that they are not in the Greek text, but have been inserted by the translators as a "best fit", in an attempt to clarify the meaning for the English reader. The thirty years of age is significant, also, but not for this discussion.

Many times we read something in Scripture that seems to be quite irrelevant to the portion that we are reading; but our God makes no mistakes! He does, though, hide little treasures in seemingly strange places in His Word, that His dear children might experience the joy of discovering them for themselves as they read. One of those hidden treasures is the account in Numbers 26:33; 27:1 - 11; 36:2 - 12; Josh 17:3 - 6; concerning the daughters of Zelophedad. Their petition and God's resolution of their dilemma is the key to understanding the situation with Mary and Joseph.

In order for the inheritance of a man to not be lost when his lawful marriage produced no sons, his daughter(s) could pass on the inheritance from their father to their son(s), so long as they married within their own tribe. The record of Zelophedad's daughters illustrated the principle that God would then apply in the situation of Mary and Joseph, some 1,400 years after Zelophedad! In order to pass on the inheritance, the sonless father would officially adopt his daughter's husband as his own son; hence Joseph could be said to legally be both the son of Jacob (Matthew's account - royal inheritance) and the son of Heli (Luke's account - blood inheritance)!

When God cursed the royal line in Jeconiah, Satan and his minions must have really partied hearty; for they thought that God could no longer fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David concerning the lineage of the Messiah! Yet, our great and wonderful God who knows the end from the beginning, knew EXACTLY what He was doing, and had perfectly arranged things long before Jeconiah's day, that His Word would NEVER fail!

You might also be interested to know why certain kings do not appear in Matthew's account of the royal line. Remember, Matthew's gospel was written specifically to the Jewish reader, therefore, it must accurately reflect the application of the Law.

Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah all died violent deaths; God thus dealing with idolatry literally "to the 3rd and 4th generations" (Ex 20:4-5); their names are therefore "blotted out" according to the Law (Deut 29:20). Jehoiakim and Jechoniah, likewise; since the kingdom ended as an independent kingdom with Josiah's death at Megiddo. Thus these were "blotted out" of the groups of "14 generations" in Matthew's account. [E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible, Appendix 99.]


Click here for a schematic of Christ's genealogies.

Purgatory - Part 3

show me the money!!!

1032 - This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead." (Roman Catholic Catechism)


We've seen, in part 1 and part 2, that the Romanist doctrine of Purgatory not only has no Biblical text to support it's existence, but that this doctrine stands in contradiction to the COMPLETE and TOTAL ATONEMENT of Christ. This should be enough for any honest saint to "chuck out" the wicked doctrine, but I wanted to put together this third installment to show you just how far into left field one can go when they accept doctrines that are not found in Scripture (doctrines which, in the end, are contradictory to Scripture).

ALMSGIVING, INDULGENCES, AND WORKS OF PENANCE. With these simple words attached to the doctrine of Purgatory, Romanism has become one of the wealthiest religious institutions in the world. This is how it all works:

1- Grampa dies. Grampa was a "good catholic", but, Grampa liked his Scotch whiskey and his Saturday poker game "with the boys". So, Grampa, being imperfect, isn't in Heaven, he is "being perfected" (as in, suffering) in Purgatory.

2- Gramma and the kids loved Grampa alot. Losing their loved one is a tough pill to swallow. And to make matters worst, they all have the Romanist knowledge that Grampa is suffering in Purgatory.

3- Enter the Romanist extortioners with the words "almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance on behalf of the dead". You see, money, prayers, and good works (whatever amount and sort the Romanist priest desires) will then be credited to the soul who is in Purgatory, effectively reducing "his sentence".

4- Not being big on "prayer" and "good works", most totally depraved, unsaved Romanists will opt for the cash. It's quick, easy, and best of all, it takes care of whatever guilt in their consciences about letting Grampa suffer Purgatory.

With the rate of death in the world somewhere in the vicinity of 1.68 per second, and with millions/billions of Romanists in the world, the money quickly accumulates. And just like the coffin business, there is a degree of pride in the amount given for the dead. What I mean by this:

-the cheapest coffin one can buy in my country is a few hundreds of dollars.

-most people will opt for a more expensive coffin.

-Why?

-Because grieving spouses and children often want to honour and demonstrate their affection for the departed soul... and a cheap coffin just doesn't "look right".

The exact same logic can be applied to indulgences. It's the perfect conspiracy. Everyone in Romanism is in on it, and no one wants to do a thing about it. The grieving family sleeps better knowing they have done "something" for the deceased, the Romanist priest is dead laughing because he's collecting thousands of dollars to perform an act he has absolutely NO WAY of doing. So he has choirs sung, a few extra "Hail Marys" here and there, a little plaque somewhere in the house of idols... etc.

Oh! I can hear Romanists screaming now. They will try to make us believe that this kind of thing died with Johann Tetzel, a man who sold indulgences to acquire money for the reconstruction of St-Peter's Basilica. They will affirm that their wicked Council of Trent has put an end to this kind of simony. But it's all smoke-screen and lies. I have a Romanist grandmother who is 10,000$ poorer today, and a Romanist Basilica which is 10,000$ richer in my hometown. And let me assure you, everyone knew what the money was for.

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18-19)

This is my Gospel. No fooling around dividing sins that are covered by the Atonement of Christ and others that are not. No silver, no gold, no foolish and ungodly traditions. The precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God + ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Christ has purged me from ALL SIN, past, present and future (1 John 1:7); I stand before God holy and and without blame (Ephesians 1:4).

So it's up to you friends, you can go with man's religion, and spend your money to bring yourself comfort, or, you can go with the Gospel and have Life forevermore. Think about it.


Rand


Note: in the Romanist Catechism, they speak of a passage in the "sacred scripture". What they are referring to is the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees, specifically chapter 12:39-46; so the "sacred scripture" isn't so "sacred". And even if we were to accept that 2 Maccabees has merit, the passage in question presents several problems for Romanists. First, while prayers for the dead is mentioned, no mention is made that these souls were suffering in Purgatory. Second, the slain men were guilty of idolatry, a mortal sin according to Romanist teaching. So these souls shouldn't have been in Purgatory at all, they should have been in Hell (again, according to Romanist doctrine).

Labels: Romanism

Lack of blogging...

Sorry...

Well, it's been a pretty poor week of blogging, and I do apologize for that. Alot is going on.

There isn't any "Friday Night Notes" since I was unable to make it for street preaching yesterday... my in-laws (from out of town), dropped by for a surprise visit, so we are having some quality family time.

I hope to be back at it in full form next week, so stay tuned, dear readers,


Rand

Terrible News

absolutely heartbroken...

Some of you may remember me posting, last May, about our missionary and brother in the Lord, Yangmi. This post was followed up by this this update, this one, and finally, what I believed was the resolution.

A summary: our missionary, Yangmi, currently in Manipur, India, became the proud father of a lovely baby boy. Problem is, the child was born with a serious heart condition which needed an operation; the operation cost 5,000$ to 10,000$ US. Yangmi could work at the sweat of his brow for three lifetimes and never come close to earning that kind of money, so we (our church and other concerned Saints in North America) went to work. In a few weeks, the money was raised (my pastor absorbed much of the cost through his own savings) and sent.

At this point, the child was critically ill, so not one moment was wasted and the operation went ahead. The operation had appeared to be successful. The child gained strength, and after 1-2 weeks in the hospitals care, Yangmi, his wife and his baby boy returned home. It was our little miracle and we were all so happy.

Then... just last night... I received this e-mail from Yangmi's brother (please excuse the poor English, it is probably his third or fourth language):

Dear Brother Tim,

It's a sad news for all of you from Pastor Yangmi family from back home. It's really very sad to inform you about the untimely dead of my brother Yangmi son(Mayoshang) who has brought back to Imphal a couple of months back after heart operation in Bangalore.

At around 1:pm on 4th of September 2005, the baby (Mayoshang) started feeling sick, it's all started very sudden, within an hour the baby died. It's confirm that the baby died because of heart stroke. Nobody expected that thing will happen like this. It's too much sudden for everyone to believed.

It's just like a dream.

I cannot imagine the suffered that my brother (Yangmi) and Philawon(Sister-in-law) must be having at this moment. Since this is the second time trouble that happened to my brother familys, we cannot control to keep silent. Our familys/relative and friends are all stand beside him, praying very hard for my brother and Philawon to able to overcome from all this hardship life.

I really don't understand why God has taken back the little baby at this time, it's too early. What God really wanted from us? It's raise lots of question. But we really believed that God has a better plan for Brother Yangmi and his wife in a days to come. We learn lots of lesson when this kind of trouble happened to family. It's a challenged to all us to strengthen our faith to God and live much closer to him.

I request all of you to remember for our families, especially for my brother and sister in law. Sometime we feel ashamed of asking too much request to all of you whenever we have problem over here. But what to do, we are helpless without your prayer support.

Hope that Yangmi and Philawon will surely call you sometime laters, right now I think they are not in good health, and also may be too sad to talk with everyone. They need complete rest for fews day with my parents at home.

Please inform to all the members and friends of Yangmi and Philawon. I will write you soon. Please keep in touch always. Thanking you all.

Redeemson.

I don't have to tell you that we are all pretty heartbroken here, but our thoughts and prayers are with Yangmi and his wife, who most definitely are the souls who are suffering the most over this tragedy.

God sure is hard to figure out sometimes, but in the end, what else can we say other than what father Abraham said:

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25b)

Dear saints of God, please remember your brother in Christ, Yangmi, through this ordeal, that the Lord would both comfort him and strengthen him for life and for ministry.

Later,


Rand

Saturday Afternoon Notes

a little bit more of Sodom...

Another "gay pride" event. "Another?" you ask. Yes, another.

You see, an event was planned for a smaller city just south of where we live; this city is where our "home church" is (for the church I fellowship in is a church-planting endeavour). Anyway, our "head pastor" wanted to present to Gospel to the participants of the Pride-abomination, but he had no one to go with him. Every man that could have gone were either away, ill or had other important engagements. So, my pastor and I, unwilling to let our brother stand alone, took a one-hour car trip to help him out.

"And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two..." (Mark 6:7a)

All and all, this Sodomite event was a cinch. It was kind of sad and pathetic to watch actually (I guess they all are, but this one in particular). There were barely 30 people there, and half of them were from out of town. On several occasions, speakers took a microphone to rally the small crowd, but the result was, well, to put it mildly, kind of flat.

So we stood before them with our Gospel signs as they raised their abominable flag, and as they had "dignitaries" give speeches. The usual homosexual groups like EGALE spoke along with left-wing political parties and then, my favorite, a United "Church" of Canada "minister" (a woman no less... because, if you're going to make a mockery of the Bible, might as well go all the way!) lead the Sodomites in "a word of prayer".

Now I can handle a WHOLE LOT of nonsense, but LET ME TELL YOU, this "prayer" tested my limits. A couple of times, I was unable to keep my composure, though I did keep my mouth shut. In her first prayer, she quoted Isaiah 11:6:

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Now according to the priestess of Baal, this prophecy has been fulfilled by the social acceptance of homosexuality. Her words: "we can now all "lie down" together in love and understanding...". I rolled my eyes.

In her second "prayer", she mentioned that Jesus got angry in the Bible (and the truth came to end here). Her words: "He got angry because Gentiles were kept out of the Temple of God. Jesus desired to bring inclusiveness and love between Jews and Gentiles." Hmmm... let's see now:

"And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves." (Mark 11:15-17)

I don't know about you, but it seems quite clear to me that the reason Christ got angry, was because wicked men were using the Temple of God for monetary profit, selling animals for sacrifices and setting up money exchanges for Jews who travelled to Jerusalem from far. The spiritual whore stood up there, microphone in hand and SHAMELESSLY LIED. Regardless, the people mumbled an "amen", and the festivaties began.

At this point, we figured we had made our statement, so my pastor and I packed up and left, while our "head pastor" went to the downtown area of the city to distribute Gospel literature.

Please pray that someone in that crowd will be affected by our work today... our hope truly is that the grace of God will effect salvation in some of the people who have read our signs. Pray that the people of my country would see through the lies, and "come to the come to the knowledge of the Truth" (1 Timothy 2:4b).

Good night, dear readers, and have a blessed Lord's Day,


Rand

Friday Night Notes

suppressing the Truth in unrighteousness...

Another Friday night in the books. Three hours of street preaching, Gospel literature distribution and Gospel sign carrying. Much like last week, it was a quiet, somewhat uneventful night. There were the usual mockers and scoffers, but nothing we couldn't handle.

The bad:

-A biker (as in, a motorcycle owner dressed completely in leather) came up to us to "straighten us out". You see, apparently, God doesn't judge anyone... He just wants us all to have a good time. The Fall of Man? Oh! that wasn't judgement, it was just God's way of giving Adam and Eve an opportunity to learn how to build shelters, hunt and gather food, have a family life... etc. "God is so loving," he said, "He'll receive everyone." Cute imagination, wouldn't you say?

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

-Oh yeah! and I'm an idiot. You see, another man, very very high on drugs (he couldn't even stand straight) told me that if I had any intelligence at all, I'd realize that religion is just a "crutch" that some people need to get through life. So I guess that makes me a complete idiot. Well, at least I'm not using drugs to do the job.

The Good:

-Brother Laz was preaching on one side of the street and I was distributing (or trying to distribute) Gospel literature on the other side. A young man came along, stopped and watched/listened to Brother Laz's preaching. He then caught a glimpse of me and asked: "so why are you guys doing this tonight?" I explained to him how the Bible instructed all saints to go out and preach to Gospel to all of creation, and through that the Lord would save His people. My answer seemed to make sense to him since he nodded in agreement. He accepted a Gospel tract and shook my hand, thanking me for my time.

-On our way back home, I was stopped at a traffic light. Seeing me standing with my Gospel sign, the man next to me said:

"How are you doing tonight?"

"Fine," I replied.

"So are you presenting this just to make people fell bad?" he inquired.

"I'm presenting this because I want people to repent and believe on the Gospel, so that they can have peace with God and eternal life," I responded.

We then had a civil conversation about the Faith, what it was, and what it wasn't. Overhearing my answers, another man joined in the conversation to show his approval with some of my positions. You see, I mentioned that most religion is nothing more then vain, ritualistic, dead traditionalism and as Romanists, both men acknowledged that that was true of their own religion.

Sadly though, both men were fixated on the idea that they wanted to have "a good time" for awhile, and later, they would think about God and repentance. I warned them of the foolishness of such a philosophy, but to no avail. I made sure to impress on them that I too, once enjoyed the things they were doing, but that the Lord had since changed me, He had SAVED me.

Anyway, please pray for the two men, Justin and Al, that the Lord would use the Gospel tract I gave Justin, and that He would cause both of them to remember our conversation and put more thought into the matter.


That's it for tonight, it's late and I have another big day of street evangelism tomorrow... another "gay pride" even... ugh... (I'll let you know how that happened later)

Good night dear readers,


Rand