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Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
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Friday, November 14, 2014
Comet landings … what does that mean? Looks like
pictures of a dirty rock …how can they show pictures of a lander on TV when they don’t even know where it is?
…is it really happening? ~comments overheard at meeting of Christian pastors
Okay so I picked the controversial
statements!
Others pointed out it was amazing that we could have a spacecraft rendezvous with such a small object with such irregular features moving so quickly.
Journalists report “The £1bn ($1.58bn) Rosetta mission aims to unlock the mysteries of comets, made from ancient
material that predates the birth of the solar system”
Of course, I have an
issue with this being a valid statement.
Why?
I
think the mission will provide information that will give us more confidence in theories regarding the birth
of the solar system. Unlocking mysteries suggests we go from unknown to known in one short step. I think we know a lot and
this will help provide more information, not unlock much at all.
Let’s be honest, unless we could prove this comet had been around from before
the birth of the solar system(the statement “made from ancient material that predates
the birth of the solar system”). We cannot yet make the statements the journalist is suggesting that we
may be able to suggest. That proof may be difficult to get as 4.5 to 4.7 billion years is a long time. Finding proof is really
difficult.
Despite this
I believe we can be hopefully that this mission provides us more information on what was and is around us in space. As a Christian,
I am hoping it sheds light upon the bible writings…
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth
was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1
Maybe the comet will help us understand more on how the Earth
can be formless and empty, and what the deep was made up of.
How did all the water around us onto God’s Earth?
We living in exciting times. It saddens me when
people who should know better make depreciating comments of the great missions of discover of our times.
I heard these types of negative comments when
CERN was looking ofr the Higgs boson (God particle). People with little scientific knowledge judging things they are not qualified
to start to judge.
It’s
sad!
Yesterday I hear
a professor from a seminary say that we should not speak in public about things we have not studied and about which we do
not know much.
I
agree!How about we try to find
out what we can about this comet educating ourselves before we as Christians speak out?Have a great day!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Are we meant to be thinking and questioning people as Christians?  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant
talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves~1
Peter 2:15-16 NIV
It is often said that Christians are narrow minded, limited in their thinking,
unable to face the realities of life.
The people who say this, are often not far from the truth for a select group of Christians,
but this is not true of all Christians, nor is the objective of God’s direction for our lives.
The quote above clearly
says it is God’s will (not man’s) that we should do good.
How do we do good?
Well we need to educate ourselves as regards what is good and what is not. To do that means investigating
and understanding the workings, morals and ethics of the world. Do animals do good?
No! Not really…they react to their environments.
Man does good and evil.
It takes knowledge and work at
educating ourselves to understand truth and good and separate it from untruths and evil.
Notice we do good to silence the “ignorant” talk or
“foolish” people. We are to be “wise” not ignorant or foolish.
Where does wisdom come from?
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his
mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6
This needs to be understood in the context of John 1 which describes Jesus as … “Through him
all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Jesus has established everything. We are to understand Jesus better
and part of that is understanding what is going on around us in this world.
As Christians we should be inquisitive, searching for truth and questioning
everything. When we discover truth and good, we need to implement it as quickly and effectively as we can.
This is the way we resonate with those who do
not know Jesus. When we can talk of what is happening right now with interest and authority.
This is how we stifle those who are ignorant and foolish. It is
a loving way of stopping the nonsense. We love those who don’t understand yet we are to hold our course and do good.
Doing good with the respect for those around us.
That’s the second part of that verse quoted. We should not arrogantly do the wrong thing because
it ultimately achieves the “good” purpose. We should have compassion love and humility as we strive to do good.
We need to love God and
others as ourselves.
How
about we do that today?
Thu, November 13, 2014 | link
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Those ancient Jewish Kings had problems didn’t they? Those ancient Jewish Kings had problems didn’t they?
“For surely a king is first a man. And so
it must follow that a king does as all men do: the best he can.”~ Cameron Dokey, The Storyteller's Daughter
Pictures of regal processions and crowds waiting
for the appearance of a royal person often gives us a small glimpse of ancient power relationships that controlled kingdoms.
Today,
these occurrences are more about pomp and splendour than about kingdoms with the teeth and power like once was
used to grab and control power in this world. Today we see this type of power struggle in the governmental controls of countries
(which are perhaps more democratic, and perhaps also more fair to those living under these controls).
Yet, when we look at ancient biblical
times we see a picture of despicable and often very evil kings.
From the start of kings with Saul,
the need for prophets to come and speak to people to counter the kings failures became quite evident. Saul, David and Solomon
had prophets Samuel and Nathan. Thereafter the prophets seemed to have increased in number and somehow also decreased in the
power they needed to sway their kings towards good.
How many kings of Israel and Judah (because after Solomon the biblical world divided) were good from the time they became king to
the time they died?
We can discount Saul, and even perhaps Solomon. David was a good king (but had his problems). Then there was Asa (911-870B.C.),
Jehoshaphat(870-848B.C.) who followed him. Then we have to wait a long time until Josiah to get to the next good king(640-608B.C)
This gives us a total of perhaps four kings that stayed focussed on God all
their lives.
Now let’s
look at the numbers that didn’t. We start with Saul and Solomon, that’s 2. The Judah (who had the rest of the
good kings) had 14 Kings that were evil by the time they died. Israel had 19 Kings, all evil.
That means we have 4 good kings
and 35 evil Kings in biblical times.
Not a great proportion is it?
Isn’t it amazing how God protects his truth
through bad times? Despite people who didn’t
do what God wanted and openly rebelled, God kept his word strong and a remnant that always maintain the purity of His purpose.
I think this is a lesson
for us today. We also often think the world is evil and as I have sometimes indicated, spiralling downwards out of control.
Despite this God has
his remnant. A group devoted to His purity and truth. Man cannot stop God’s power and purpose.
We need to remember that God controls everything
including his purpose and word and this is as it as certain as the world we live in.
Let’s remember that today!
<Chart of kings and prophets-click here>
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Is there a sinister plan to take over the world? Government’s
ruling the world?
Don’t make me laugh! They will never rule, it is that which is behind the governments
that ultimately rules.
Most of us think it’s people, and of course we are wrong!
Have you noticed that as
soon as humans get into control of something, we screw it up?
Physicists would say this is evidence from the second law of thermodynamics, that…
“systems move towards a state of maximum chaos”.
Yet somehow that seems unlikely to be true of humans inside
a system doesn’t it? … or does it?
What is “politics” other than groups of people combining minds towards goals chosen by themselves,
for doing what they claim is for the greater good.
Perhaps that is what Obama, the American persistent thinks he is doing as he directs the engines of war
in the Middle East, or the FCC to control the internet.
Somehow I think that he has other things on the agenda. Things like grabbing resources
and controlling public opinion and dare I say it controlling the flow of money.
Yet he is not alone!
Across our world there is more and more influences
that make less and less sense, that are controlling our lives.
Just this week in Canada as a women was organising teens and youth to help those
in need by setting up a baking group to make Christmas cookies and desserts for shut ins, needy and those in financial difficulty,
we found out that the local government has banned food banks from using home cooked food.
Really!
They have basically labelled everyone in the country as potential criminals with
evil intent and to “protect” people have now stopped food flowing to those who need it. Seems logical right? Not
really! I happen to know every one of the people involved. They are doing things for people all the time out of the kindness
of their hearts. The government is meddling in the wrong areas. Instead of stopping those who do the evil, they make rules
that treat the innocent as if they are criminals.
That is a local example, but what about globally.
We see overreach of governmental power everywhere.
Then, when we should see the power exerted for good, like with
NATO, the power is directionless and incapable of achieving. NATO is more a toothless, voiceless, watchdog
that an effective entity. It sees, nudges world leaders to do things but enforces nothing.
Yet, the world is spiralling
out of control. We cannot even deal with one important issue, the “greenhouse
gas” issue, because greed keeps oil flowing and if the price goes down (heaven forbid) our government complain!
Why don’t they change to
“green” energy? It can be done! Germany proved that!
Why?
Greed, grabbing resources, acting like bully’s in a schoolyard called Earth.
Yet, let us ask ourselves if the people
and governments doing this are working together?
We find the answer is no, they each have their own selfish agendas that differ greatly.
This is the truth.
The world is moving towards
greed, self-pleasuring, grabbing resources for themselves in a coordinated manner, but without any
human coordination driving this.
I argue this is the case that proves Satanic forces exist. There is evil in this world. It is the true
force that drives people making them selfish, nasty and as a minimum, ignorant of what their actions lead to.
Evil is directing the world where
people fail to acknowledge its existence.
We need to understand as Christians that Jesus wants us to do something about this. We are not to stand
idly by.
We are to take
on the enemy every day. Standing up and fighting evil.
Today is Remembrance Day. Let’s remember it is not governments that
were being fought those many years ago. It was evil! It is
not governments and political groups that we are fighting today, it is still evil. Prayer is a weapon of more power than nuclear
bombs. Love counters evil and moves us to good.
Tolerance and compassion overcome hatred.
Jesus overcomes Satan.
To win, Jesus needs our hearts and minds aligned with his will for our world.
Let’s remember that
today!
Monday, November 10, 2014
Are we blameless and righteous, and do we speak truth?
Are we blameless and righteous, and do we speak truth?
“How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d”
~ Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
In ancient Rome, the vestal’s were a group of virgins who looked after and kept
burning a “sacred” fire.
They agreed never to marry or have sex, and devoted themselves to the study and performing of rituals that were apparently not allowed
to be performed by males.
This was somewhere around 717–673 BC.
These bunch of women became extremely powerful as they
influenced Caesars. Tarpeia one of them is rumoured to have been quite traitorous.
Their power came to an end in 394 AD when the college of the Vestals
was disbanded and the sacred fire extinguished by the Christian emperor Theodosius.
Alexander Pope has a disquieting belief these women
had a perfect life.
Manipulating powerful men’s wishes could have been far from “happy” or “blameless”
particularly as their very existence depended on keeping these super powerful men satisfied.
The torture of life’s selfish, nasty and ignorant
influences gets into anyone's existence since there is no way to avoid the encroachment of selfish, ignorant and nasty side
of our lives(Sin). Secluding ourselves does not remove it, because we are there. Where we are is subject to it’s
influence.
In
our world there is only one way to deal with sin. We have to face it, admit it, and hand it to the only person who has taken
it on and won.
God himself understood the power of sin. He knew that we were in the place where our need to experience what it does
also damaged our ability to overcome it. Yet to have free will meant we had to know sin and live in it’s presence. There
was only one real way this could be dealt with, and that is by God himself.
Yet it was a responsibility of
man to overcome sin as God had made it that way.
Father God sent Jesus his son as a man to be the man who overcomes.
Old Testament people write…
Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your
holy mountain? 2 The
one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks
the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no
wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile
person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and
does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
who
does not accept a bribe against the innocent.Whoever does these things
will never be shaken Psalm 15 NIV
Only Jesus managed that! No man was able to do that
before Jesus.
If we think we can do this, we find we cannot. We have not got the power or strength in ourselves to meet this deep
requirement.
Yet, Jesus freely gives us a way out. He stands in for our failures and gives us God within us to help us move forward.
Holy Spirit, God himself is willing to live within and guide us minute by minute, day by day.
All it takes is acknowledging Jesus is the Son of
God, God in human form, that he died, rose again and that he sent Holy Spirit to empower and guide us so we can live victorious,
blameless, righteous and truthful lives.
Now isn’t that a wonderful thought for today?
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
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on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
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| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
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