The Great Separation

Quote for Today: We are commanded...

Living for Christ. - I have to apologize for the lack of postings and for not answering several eMails. I'm swamped right now with some extra work I've taken on during the Christmas season. So postings will probably be lighter than normal for a couple of weeks.

Here's a quote from my father. He said this yesterday in his sermon when speaking about how we are to share Christ with the world.

"We are commanded to go and be witnesses not authorities."

Do You Ever Feel Like Asking...

Rewrite! - Do you ever feel like asking, "Just who's scripting my life?"

I know there are days I feel that way.

And some times for polar opposite reasons.

Today's Cracked Fortune Cookie Wisdom.

Eat this! - Well now, I love Asian cuisine. I even love getting the fortune cookie at the end of the meal because it typically makes me smile and sometimes even laugh. Where else can you find an oddity prepackaged in a cookie?

I've a small collection of some that where just too good. Here's one:

A smile is your personal welcome mat.

I don't know whether to say, "Don't tread on me," to that or, "Please wash your feet first."

These Shoes are Made for Sneaking into America.

We are our own worst enemy. - Sometimes I'm just stunned by the whole illegal immigrant issues.

Today this story from the AP on WFTV.com is one of those times.

A designer in San Diego makes a pair of high top sneakers and charges $215 to legal residents of the U.S. but gives them away to illegal immigrants before they cross the boarder.

A compass and flashlight dangle from one shoelace. The pocket in the tongue is for money or pain relievers. A rough map of the border region is printed on a removable insole.

They are red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag. On the back ankle, a drawing of Mexico's patron saint of migrants.

Yeah, sure it's probably just some publicity stunt to garner attention by this designer, but hey, whatever happened to patriotism?

This Week's Scripture: 1 John 4:15-19.

Stand in it. - What is love?

Love is exemplified in the example Christ gave us. He lived a sinless life, became our propitiation, and suffered that we might live while we were still His enemies.

Here is this week's scripture:

“Whoever owns that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in union with him and he in union with God. So we know by experience and trust the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever continues to love continues in union with God and God in union with him. Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did.

There is no fear in love, and perfect love drives out fear, because fear pertains to punishment, and no one who is subject to fear has attained perfection in love. We love, because He loved us first.” (1Jo 4:15-19 Williams)

Naked Women on the IPod and Cell Phone Next 2 U.

The Decomposition of America - What with all the portable computer devices now available from IPod to Sony Playstation Portable to Cell Phones, all of which are equipped to play video, it shouldn't come as any surprise that pornography purveyors are now scrambling to make use of them.

And don't expect the companies who make these devices to do much to discourage that particular use. It means money to them. Big money. Breitbart.com has a report with this headline: "Porn industry gears up for mobile phones, iPods."

I've said it before and I will say it again, pornography is one of the great sins in America which is rotting us from the inside out. In fact I will go one step further, as I have in the past, and say it is one of the single biggest problems facing the Church in America, and likely Europe, today.

Sometimes I think that the acceptance or overlooking of sins like homosexuality, adultery, and pre-marital sex exist in many "church" bodies today because so many who should take a stand against those sins are themselves trapped in the private sin of pornography.

It's certainly easy to get hooked because of the Internet and the push that skin peddlers undertake to get it to our email boxes and web browsers. The television and movie industry does it's part as well by greasing the tracks toward this terrible addiction which destroys families.

So now, you can expect pornography to become more ubiquitous in our society as portable devices make it easier to take anywhere for any time.

Who hasn't already heard a story about or experienced someone driving down the highway only to see some van sporting a DVD player showing porn?

Expect in the near future to read a news item about kids busted in school for showing porn movies on their IPods or how teachers are now having to confiscate cell phones from students because they are watching some "naughty" movie during class instead of doing their math.

How much worse will be the news items of pastors or priests caught with IPods filled with child pornography?

These are all terrible sins - pornography, adultery, pre-marital sex, homosexuality - but there is a Savior who can cleanse us from these sins via His shed blood. That blood unchains us, setting us free from death. Setting us free from the bondage we know in those sins, a bondage that creates depression and self loathing. That blood gives us life in Christ and communion with the Father. That blood creates a new man or a new woman in Christ.

Take hold of Christ and accept that gift of freedom and redemption He alone can offer through His sacrifice. Find new power in living for Christ and breaking the holds of sin upon your life. Ask Him for forgiveness of your sins and ask Him to come into your heart today!

He can accomplish this in you. Give yourself to Him today and find pleasure greater and everlasting unlike that pleasure which sin can only grant for a brief moment and for which you are later ashamed.

Is the Bird Flu Leading to Bigger Sauerkraut Sales?

Cha-Ching! - Who knew that wonderful fermented cabbage was a cure for the bird flu?

Well, not I.

Apparently the South Koreans did because they fed kimchi - similar to sauerkraut but spicy (mmm-mmm good!) - to thirteen chickens infected with the bird flu. Eleven of the KFC contestants survived and now scientists think that the bacteria which forms when the cabbage is fermented may have something to do with it.

Jasper Copping reports for the Telegraph:

Prof Kang's team claims that lactobacillus, the lactic acid bacteria created during the fermenting process, is the active ingredient that could combat bird flu.

Health experts have already agreed that there may be some truth to kimchi's curative properties, prompting an increase in the consumption of the dish in South Korea.

Sales of sauerkraut in the United States have also soared as a result of the research, and now Britain is starting to catch on. Last night, importers of the dish to Britain said that sales were rising and they were increasing stocks in the expectation that demand could escalate.

Some of the other great benefits of sauerkraut include helping against cancer, fighting infections, and giving you some much needed vitamins.

And let's not forget that it adds that extra shazam to a great chili and cheese dog.

Christians in Pakistan Want 7 Days of Mourning and a 1 Day Strike.

They hate you because of me - On the twelfth of this month I posted about the mob that set fire to churches and homes in Pakistan because of the rumor that a Christian man set fire to a library containing copies of the Koran.

Michael Ireland of ASSIST News Service reports more information on the events in the following report:

$1,500 for Land One Inch Square.

You must be joking? - Just how am I supposed to get sewage and water for land one inch square. Heck, a person can't even plant a flower on that $1,500.00 parcel. BREITBART.COM Reports:

A tiny parcel of land in southwest Indiana is some of the priciest real estate in the world. Owen County officials are trying to sell a 1-square-inch plot of land for $1,500. At that rate, an acre of land would cost nearly $7 billion.

Sure qualifies as an oddity.

Churches, Schools, Homes, Burned in Pakistan over a Rumor?

They hate you because of me - Another example of the peaceful religion of Islam just showed up in a short report from the BBC reporting on the reaction of peaceful Islamists to an alleged rumor:

Police officials say the unrest began after rumours spread that a Christian man had set fire to a library containing copies of the Koran.

The crowd set fire to two churches, two school buildings and some houses.

"Two churches, two school buildings, and some houses," all because of a rumor that a Christian set fire to a library where making ash out of copies of the Koran. Now that's a peaceful reaction.

Some ninety people are reported to have been arrested over the incident. No word on injuries.

My hope is that the light of Christ will shine brightly in this country and the perpetrators and everyone else will come to know the forgiveness and love of Christ.

The Great Separation continues.