Weblog
Wednesday, 08 July 2009
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Currently
The Flame in All of Us
By Thousand Foot Krutch
What Do We Know
see relatedIndescribable
I saw some amazing artwork by the Master Artist on my way to work this morning. These don't even compare to seeing the real thing, but I hope you enjoy them anyway...
I'd like to point out a rarity to you...
on the bottom right corner you will see our local
drive-in theater. They actually have two screens,
and they show a double feature (all new releases),
for $7.50 a person, every night of the week through
the spring, summer and early fall. I've been there three
times in the past month! They're always packed out!
If you look closely in this photo and the two below it,
you can actually make out a fainter second rainbow
above the brighter one.
Have blessed day everyone!
Saturday, 04 July 2009
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Independence
Declaration of Independence
The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America
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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
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 dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
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 endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
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 kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.
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 quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
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.
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776
******************************************************
The Believer’s Declaration of Independence
I am free from failure for "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Phil. 4:13
I am free from want for "my God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" Phil. 4:19
I am free from fear for "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2Tim 1:7
I am free from doubt for "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. 12:3
I am free from weakness, "the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Ps. 27:1
I am free from the power of Satan "because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." 1Jn. 4:4
I am free from defeat "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 2Cor. 2:14
I am free from ignorance, "for Christ Jesus is made unto me wisdom from God." 1Cor. 1:30
I am free from sin "for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth me from all sin." 1Jn. 1:7
I am free from worry "for I am to cast all my cares upon Him." 1Pet. 5:7
I am free from bondage "for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2Cor. 3:17
I am free from condemnation, "for there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1
I AM FREE, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36ROMANS 6:1-14
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.******************************************************
Ok, and just for fun...
Keep it safe everyone. And never forget what it is we're celebrating!
God bless!
Monday, 29 June 2009
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Enlarge Your Borders
A friend e-mailed this to me. It's an e-devotional she receives from Fire Carrier Ministries:
Enlarge Your Border
by Steven Bliss
Jun 28, 2009"The sons of the prophets said to Elisha,
'Please notice that the place where we live under your supervisionis too small for us. Please let us go to the Jordan where we caneach get a log and can build ourselves a place to live there.''Go,' he said."2 Kings 6:1-2 (HCSB)
"The Holy Spirit is encouraging many of you to expand your thoughts and ways of God; you are to enlarge your borders. You've come through a distinct period of training, and now it's time to be sent out. Go forth and practice which has been deposited within you.
"There is no failure for those who believe and trust in the Father. You are not alone. He will not forsake you, but is constantly watching over you, offering direction. Examine your ways so you might leave behind those things which hinder you drawing closer.
"There is a place for you. It is yet beyond the safety net you've established. You are being called to move into the deeper waters of the Holy Spirit. It is there you belong. Build for yourself a home which is on a firm foundation."
Friday, 26 June 2009
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Currently
The Screwtape Letters
By C. S. Lewis
see related15 High Impact Books
I got this from a friend who got this from Facebook. Thought you all might enjoy it, too.
Directions: don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
These are in no particular order:- The Bible This book has everything I'll ever need.
- Little Women - Louisa May Alcott I will never forget the day my mom handed me her tattered copy of this book, and said "You'll love this." I can picture it in my mind. For fear of ruining her copy (I loved it so much), I saved up and bought my own, and have since had to replace that worn edition out.
- Frankenstein - Mary Shelly My first real attempt at classic literature. I was terrified and enthralled at once. Still one of my all time favorites.
- Battle Cry for My Generation - Ron Luce This book changed the way I thought about how the human mind (specifically that of teens) works.
- God's Favorite House - Tommy Tenney I adored the book God Chasers, so my mom got me this. Hands down the best book about worship I have ever encoutered. Besides the Bible, of course.
- Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back - Shel Silverstein This is the book that introduced me to the brilliance of Shel Silverstein. It doesn't even matter that it's a kid's book.
- Lest Innocent Blood be Shed - Philip Hallie If you are interested at all in the history of World War II and the holocaust, you need to read this book.
- Number the Stars - Lois Lowry I read this even before I read Anne Frank. Though fiction, it's poignant.
- Night - Elie Wiesel I didn't know this book exsisted until my senior year of college. I read it for a Gen Ed. class. My entire view of the holocaust changed becuase of this book. I had nightmares for weeks because of Mr. Wiesel's descriptions.
- The Screwtape Letters - C. S. Lewis I see myself in "the patient" sometimes, and it sickens me.
- The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis I have to lump them all together, otherwise they would take up seven entries. Besides, I have an edition with all seven in one anthology, so it counts as one. I don't know if I can pick a favorite. I wept openly the first time I read the Magician's Nephew, when Diggory encountered Aslan. I remember vividly my mom reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my sister and me as small children. I remember thinking The Silver Chair was the most laborious reading I had ever done, until I finished it and realized Lewis intended it that way. I could go on about each one, but we would be here for a while...
- The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer I hated every minute of it. Seriously.
- Oh the Thinks You Can Think - Dr. Seuss I remember the day I realized Dr. Seuss' books were about far more than Whos and clever (albeit made up) rhymes.
- Jesus Freaks - dc Talk & The Voice of the Martyrs My first look into the study of martyrdom. Simplistic, meant for the masses, but still very effectively eye opening.
- Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare The first time I truly had fun reading Shakespeare.
Yeah, I could totally go on from here, but I will spare you... Lol.
- The Bible This book has everything I'll ever need.
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Currently
Over and Underneath
By Tenth Avenue North
You Are
see relatedThe World is a Different Place this Morning...
...A common sentiment it seems.
As shocked as I was to hear about Michael Jackson's passing yesterday (when a friend told me, I actually laughed - I honestly thought she was joking at first), and as heartbreaking as the images of Ryan O'Neal leaving the hospital after Farrah Fawcett's passing were, we can't lose sight of what's really going on in the world.
Amid the headlines and photo essays dedicated to the "King of Pop," hidden in small print, I found this article...
Ahmadinejad calls Obama meddler, likens him to Bush
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. president inexperienced, compared him unfavorably to President George W. Bush and suggested he apologize for "interfering in Iran's affairs."
"Do you think that this kind of behavior is going to solve any of your problems? It will only make people think you are someone like Bush," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
"You are at the beginning of your way and you are gaining experience, and we do not wish the scandals of the Bush era to be repeated during your term of office," the Iranian leader said.
President Obama, who has been in office for five months, has been treading a careful line on Iran, which has seen two weeks of street demonstrations following a disputed presidential election there.
Pro-government security forces have cracked down on the protests, with officials saying 17 people have died. Unofficial reports suggest the number is much higher.
Official results gave Ahmadinejad a 2-to-1 victory over his nearest rival, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Moussavi. Moussavi says the results were rigged.
Obama has said Iranians must be free to demonstrate peacefully, and his administration Wednesday withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats around the world to attend U.S. embassy Fourth of July parties.
The extension of invitations last month was seen as a cautious outreach to Iran, which has not had diplomatic relations with Washington for 30 years.
Obama wrote secretly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before the election, Iranian sources confirmed Wednesday.
Obama said Tuesday that Iran's government must justify itself not in the eyes of the United States, but in the opinion of its own people.
"A sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves ... consider this election illegitimate," he said at a White House news conference.
"It is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and prosperity," he said. "We hope they take it."
Ahmadinejad said Thursday that even 5- and 6-year-olds would not allow insults to the Iranian nation, telling Obama: "We hope that you will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and somehow express your regret so that the Iranian nation can become aware of your regret. If there is real change, the Iranian nation will welcome it."
I know that I just posted my "Declaration of Independence" from things worldly that would try to bind and torment me. But, even so, it is necessary to remain vigilant. Even the Bible tells to watch and pray, so that we are not caught unaware.
So, aware I will be.
And that article's last paragraph sounds like a threat to me.
So yes, the world is a different place today. Not because of the high profile deaths of yesterday, for as callous as this sounds, people die every day. No, the world is a different place than it was yesterday, because we are that many hours closer to time drawing to a close.
The stage is being set, both spiritually and politically for the end of the ages, beneath our very noses, and we are allowing ourselves to be distracted by the blinding flash and glitter that is icon worship.
Luke 21:8-36:
8And He said, Be on your guard and be careful that you are not led astray; for many will come in My name [appropriating to themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me], saying, I am He! and, The time is at hand! Do not go out after them.9And when you hear of wars and insurrections (disturbances, disorder, and confusion), do not become alarmed and panic-stricken and terrified; for all this must take place first, but the end will not [come] immediately.
10Then He told them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. [II Chron. 15:6; Isa. 19:2.]
11There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven.
12But previous to all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be led away before kings and governors for My name's sake.
13This will be a time (an opportunity) for you to bear testimony.
14Resolve and settle it in your minds not to meditate and prepare beforehand how you are to make your defense and how you will answer.
15For I [Myself] will give you a mouth and such utterance and wisdom that all of your foes combined will be unable to stand against or refute.
16You will be delivered up and betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and [some] of you they will put to death.
17And you will be hated (despised) by everyone because [you bear] My name and for its sake.
18But not a hair of your head shall perish. [I Sam. 14:45.]
19By your steadfastness and patient endurance you shall win the true life of your souls.
20But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know and understand that its desolation has come near.
21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside [the city] get out of it, and let not those who are out in the country come into it;
22For those are days of vengeance [of rendering full justice or satisfaction], that all things that are written may be fulfilled.
23Alas for those who are pregnant and for those who have babies which they are nursing in those days! For great misery and anguish and distress shall be upon the land and indignation and punishment and retribution upon this people.
24They will fall by the mouth and the edge of the sword and will be led away as captives to and among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (completed).
25And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth [there will be] distress (trouble and anguish) of nations in bewilderment and perplexity [without resources, left wanting, embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn] at the roaring (the echo) of the tossing of the sea,
26Men swooning away or expiring with fear and dread and apprehension and expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken and caused to totter.
27And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great (transcendent and overwhelming) power and [all His kingly] glory (majesty and splendor).
28Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near.
29And He told them a parable: Look at the fig tree and all the trees;
30When they put forth their buds and come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and perceive and know that summer is already near.
31Even so, when you see these things taking place, understand and know that the kingdom of God is at hand.
32Truly I tell you, this generation (those living at that definite period of time) will not perish and pass away until all has taken place.
33The sky and the earth (the universe, the world) will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
34But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed (weighed down) with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to [the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose;
35For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth.
36Keep awake then and watch at all times [be discreet, attentive, and ready], praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things [taken together] that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
True
