Real Worship?

The heathen worship their gods in stadiums all over America every weekend.  A man or woman always "glories" in their god.  To glory means to rejoice in, to devote yourself, get excited about, or go all out for something. Your god is what you get excited about, what you devote your energy, time and money to.  Your god is what you don't mind throwing money at.  Now understand - There is no expense too big for a man's god.  The heathen worship their gods with all their heart, soul, strength and mind.  A man will easily give his worship to what or who he thinks is worthy of his devotion.  They brag about their gods all through the week and cheer earnestly on the weekend.  Their rallying points are stadiums and bars.

In the South, people REALLY worship at football stadiums more than they ever do at churches.  The stadiums are their Meccas; they worship fervently in them or toward them on their day of worship.  Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa is one of the Meccas in Alabama.  Church on Sunday morning is something folks in the South endure, but football games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are something they enjoy and long for.  They will yell like a Comanche Indian for their football team on Saturday, and then they will sit like a wooden Indian on the pew on Sunday morning, and you don't hear a peep out of them.  You have to hand it to the heathen, they ardently, sacrificially, and diligently worship their gods.

But God forbid that I should GLORY, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We should glory in JESUS, and be determined to know Him, and make Him known, and none but Him. When it comes to Salvation, we should glory in JESUS as our Crucified Creator, and in His finished cross-work; not in the wood of the cross, but in the results of His crucifixion, that is; the finished, full Atonement for human sin; we should rejoice in the peace, pardon, righteousness, life, salvation, and eternal glory, which comes through Christ Jesus' bloody death on Calvary's Cross.  We should always be glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  And where will ye leave your glory?  Answer:  Let the Lamb of God be magnified!

Thanksgiving Day Facts

Each Thanksgiving Americans eat approximately 45 million turkeys, spend the afternoon watching football, and blame their drowsiness on the tryptophan from the turkey instead of that third slice of pumpkin pie. Let's take a moment to give thanks for Thanksgiving; and to remember our troops in prayer who are overseas spending Thanksgiving separated from their family and friends.

In 1620, the ship "Mayflower" brought the Pilgrims from Plymouth, England to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was a 4-masted ship. It was 25 feet wide, and 100 feet long, and weighed around 180 tons. It had three main decks: upper, lower, and cargo.  Steering was done from below deck in the Steering Room.

The passengers lived in the lower deck and rarely went topside.  The "Mayflower"' was built to transport cargo and supplies, not people.  But on September 6, 1620, 102 passengers and 26 crew members left Plymouth, England bound for America.  There were 51 men, 21 boys, 20 women, and 10 girls onboard.  The average age onboard was 32 years old.  The oldest passenger was 64 years old, and the youngest passenger was a baby boy who was born onboard the ship during its voyage; they named the little boy Oceanus.

The Pilgrims were originally headed for the Hudson River in New York, but they were blown off course by storms.  On November 11, the ship dropped anchor.   It took 66 days to complete their 2,750 mile journey to Cape Cod, MA.  Their average speed during the trip was less than 2 mph.  They spent their first winter onboard "Mayflower" while they built their homes. The Pilgrims later settled near Plymouth Harbor.

Only 53 passengers and half the crew survived the first winter. When the weather improved, they established Plymouth. On April 5, 1621, the Mayflower sailed back to England. The colony grew from less than 100 to over 3,000 people over the next 70 years. John Adams, FDR, and Clint Eastwood are all direct descendants of the Mayflower passengers.

To most Americans, the Pilgrims of Plymouth, MA, are the inspiration for today's Thanksgiving feast. After the winter of 1620 killed almost half of their people, the colonists formed a relationship with the neighboring Wappanog tribe who taught them about fishing, planting, and hunting. By autumn of 1621, the colonists had collected enough food to feed the community for the coming winter. The Wappanog tribe joined the colonists for a three-day feast in honor of their bounty. The feast probably did not include our traditional turkey, more than likely the colonists and Wappanogs dined on roast goose and venison, along with corn, squash, pumpkin, nuts, carrots, codfish, clams and lobster. The Indians killed five deer as gifts for the colonists, so venison was on menu as well.

The first Thanksgiving dinner took place in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in October (not November) of 1621.  Fifty English colonists and 90 Wappanog Indian men attended the dinner.  Very few women, if any, were present.  The meeting lasted for three days. It was the harvest season in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Puritans threw a harvest festival to celebrate.  The men went ‘fowling,’ that is, hunting wild birds. A large group of Wappanogs brought five deer to the feast. They ate and shot guns.

This 1621 harvest meal is now commonly thought of as the first Thanksgiving. The colonists did not repeat this festival every November.  George Washington advocated for Thanksgiving to be an official holiday on October 3, 1789, and the first National Thanksgiving holiday took place on Thursday, November 26, 1789.  Thanksgiving did not become an annual tradition nationwide until the 19th century.

Yet for later generations of colonists, New England days of Thanksgiving had little to do with the 1621 harvest festival. Theirs was a religious holiday descending from Puritan days of fasting, prayer, and giving thanks to God. Every autumn, the governor of each colony would declare days of Thanksgiving for bountiful harvests, victorious battles, or drought ending rains.

In 1777, the Continental Congress decreed that all thirteen of America's colonies celebrate a national day of thanksgiving that year in celebration of their victory over the British at Saratoga. By the mid-nineteenth century, many states celebrated the holiday; however, the date could vary by weeks or even months. The modern Thanksgiving holiday would not exist if it were not for a young lady name Sarah Josepha Hale.  She was a determined magazine editor who set about establishing the national Thanksgiving Day where all Americans could collectively give thanks to God.  She was inspired to do so after reading a diary of early Pilgrim life and wanted to recreate that first Thanksgiving feast.

Sarah Hale passionately believed that such a day would help unite a nation headed towards civil war. Hale began a one-woman letter writing campaign urging politicians to establish an annual day of thanksgiving. Beginning in 1827, Hale waged a nearly 30-year campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.  She also published recipes for pumpkin pie, turkey, and stuffing. These are now main parts of today's Thanksgiving Day meals.

The holiday didn’t become official until Abraham Lincoln declared it so in 1863. He might have been inspired to do so by magazine editor Sarah Josephna Hale, who suggested that Thanksgiving become a holiday.  Sarah Hale's efforts were finally rewarded by Abraham Lincoln who saw the unifying potential of the holiday. In 1863, four months after the victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be "Thanksgiving Day".  By the way, Sarah Hale was America's first female magazine editor, and she also authored of the famous poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

By the 20th century, Thanksgiving was a welcome day of leisure from a six-day work week. In the 1920's, the National Football League was formed. In an effort to boost attendance, the fledgling Detroit Lions devised the concept of a Thanksgiving Day game and the rest as they say is history.

Parades also became a Turkey Day tradition and department stores quickly saw their value as a kickoff to Christmas shopping season. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade began in 1924 and year after year millions of New Yorkers brave the cold to watch the festivities.  Thanksgiving Day is now the traditional start to the Christmas shopping season.  This month-long shopping spree is crucial to American businesses.  So crucial that in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday up a week to increase the shopping season and boost the economy.  The people did not like this, so in 1941, Congress declared the official Thanksgiving holiday to be the fourth Thursday of November.

One of the strangest traditions of Thanksgiving began in 1989 when President George H.W. Bush granted the first official pardon to a turkey. So every November since then, the President has granted a pardon to one or two turkeys sending them into a safe retirement at Mount Vernon.

In case you were wondering, an average of 650 million pounds of turkey is eaten in the U.S. during Thanksgiving. Minnesota leads turkey production, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Indiana.  The Detroit Lions have been playing football on Thanksgiving since 1934, and the Dallas Cowboys since 1966.  The total average caloric intake on Thanksgiving Day including snacking, main event, dessert and drinks — is about 4,500. For a 180-pound man to burn off the roughly 2,000 extra calories consumed, he would need to walk for five hours, so you better get moving on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Most of all, Thanksgiving is about God and family. With modern life moving faster than ever, Thanksgiving gives us a day to take a well-deserved break to reconnect with loved ones, and remember just how much we have to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving!  God's so good!

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the 

Lord Jesus Christ, 

and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High.

God Feeds the Sparrows

The Bible says, Remember the poor, but not the deadbeats and layabouts. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand.  God feeds the sparrows every day, but the sparrows are always "on the move" looking for their food. God doesn't just drop food in the sparrow's nest. The hungry sparrow has to take the initiative and be diligent to look for his food, and then the Creator faithfully guides and provides for the sparrow. The next time you see a sparrow, notice that he or she is always "on the move", because they want to feed themselves and their babies. Sparrows have more sense, diligence, determination and natural affection than a large number of Americans today.

Faith should never be used as an excuse for idleness.  If you just set back, cross your arms, think others owe you a living, and say, "The Lord will provide"; with that attitude, the Lord will probably provide you with bankruptcy, foreclosure, and repossessions.  Never think that the LORD is ever going to bless laziness and loafing.  God never promised in the Bible to provide for idle slackers or lazy, presumptuous loafers.  Sluggards, shirkers, and good-for-nothing do-nothings will inevitably be in trouble financially.  The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.  Be not slothful in your daily business; Let not thy hands be slack. 

Jesus said, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. *Luke 12:6-7*

Wounded for Me

Wounded for me, wounded for me,
There on the cross He was wounded for me;
Gone my transgressions, and now I am free,
All because Jesus was wounded for me.

The Lord Jesus Christ was despised and rejected of men; He was not honored among the men of this world.  Jesus was harmless, sinless, innocent, meek and lowly in heart. His apostles, disciples and audience were fishermen, beggars, publicans and harlots.  Jesus was despised because of His birth, parents, education and outward appearance.  Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  His entire life was one long continual string of sorrows.  He faced the hardness and unbelief of men's hearts daily.  He was exceeding sorrowful in the garden of Gethsemane, and on the Cross of Calvary He endured the wrath and justice of God the Father, and endure the pains and agonies of a shameful and accursed bloody death for His enemies' sins.

Jesus bore my sins in His own body on the tree and made satisfaction for them to divine justice.  God the Father collected all of my sins into one bundle and laid them on the Son of God.  The just judgment of God fell upon the Lamb of God - Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.  Chris Jesus was wounded for my transgressions, not for any sins of His own, but for all my sins; for my rebellions against God, my transgressions of the divine law.  Our evil sin nature leads us to go the way of our own choosing and approving, into crooked paths which lead to destruction. We have turned away from God, sinned against Him, become alienated from the life of God, and His justice must now be satisfied, or we must pay for our sins.  Jesus made Atonement and Satisfaction for my sins with His own blood.

My sins were the causes of His sufferings and bloody death.  My sins were taken upon Jesus by Himself to answer for them to divine justice on my behalf.  He loved me and gave Himself for my sins.  The Blood of God manifest in the flesh has freed me from the punishment due to my sins against God.  Christ Jesus was bruised for my iniquities.  He was crushed under the weight of my sin, and the punishment due to it.

On Calvary's Cross, divine justice found my sins on Jesus; my sins were laid on Him by imputation; He voluntarily laid down His life for me; divine justice demanded full satisfaction from Him; the sin debt I owed to God was required of Him; the payment for all my sins was called for and Jesus paid the whole thing and cancelled my sin-debt with His own sinless blood.  The punishment of my sins was inflicted upon Jesus, and my peace and reconciliation with God was made by His atoning blood alone.  The vindictive justice and wrath of God took vengeance on my sins in the person of Jesus of Nazareth on Golgotha.  Jesus' suffering has appeased divine wrath, satisfied justice, and made peace with God for me.  For my transgressions was He stricken.

With Jesus' stripes my sin-sick soul has been healed.  He was beaten black and blue for my soul's sake. Sin is an inward spiritual disease which belongs to all men and women; a natural, hereditary, incurable disease which can only be cured by faith in the Precious Blood of Christ.  The healing of this disease is the forgiving of sins, and this healing is to be had in no other way, than through the wounds, stripes, blood and sacrifice of the dear Son of God.  Christ Jesus is the great Physician of the soul; He heals souls by taking our sins upon Himself, by becoming Sin, and being wounded and bruised for those sins, by enduring the blows from the angry hand of Almighty God, and suffering even death itself for those sins.

Never Ever Trust Yourself

Never ever trust yourself.  Believe that Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, has made a full blood atonement for your sins, rest your soul wholly on His blood with all your weight.  Place faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ; exhibit faith in Him from day to day.  Depending only upon my Crucified Creator.  Growing dependence upon the providence of God, having the confidence to trust Him through persecution and difficulties.  Relying merely upon the Blood and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To be nothing and let Jesus be Everything, to be still and let Him save my soul freely.  Cast away all of your own righteousness and every self-dependence.  Resting entirely upon the person, blood, and merits of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you building upon your works at all?  Are you placing your trust upon the words of man?  Depend alone upon the perfect obedience and precious blood of Christ. My Salvation depends entirely upon the mercy and kindness of my God.  A simple faith in the Blood brings the guilty soul nigh to Christ Himself.  Depend upon His strength, ask for more faith, receive the Spirit of God.  You can never think too well of Christ, or boast too highly of Him.  Put faith in Jesus' ability, not yours.  A sinner resting upon the Crucified Creator as his only Hope is truly blessed.  Keep your faith fixed upon the Atoning Sacrifice of Calvary.

Your dirty hands may drop a letter that is stained into the post office box, but the stains on the letter will not hinder the delivery of that letter, for if there is a stamp on the letter, and it will go to its destination.  Likewise, your dirty hands may drop a prayer before Christ's feet, but a dirty hand will not stop that prayer from being heard if there is this stamp upon the prayer - JEHOVAH JESUS' PRECIOUS BLOOD.  God knows His Son's seal and stamp and only that stamp gives worth to your prayers.  It is only the Blood of Jesus that will carry knee-mail to God's throne on high.  

Faith in Christ must stay simple, depending upon Jesus only, a real active living practical faith, a witnessing faith, a purifying faith, a faith which worketh by love for Jesus' sake.  I trust my soul solidly on Jesus.  Trust Jesus as your personal sin-bearer, taking away all your iniquities.  Look to Jesus bleeding as the Substitute for sinful man.  Put all your dependence upon what He did, upon who He is, upon what He does and will do.  Always remember - Never ever trust yourself. 

Have done once and for all with self-righteousness and yourself, and rest with childlike confidence upon the finished work and Righteousness of Christ Jesus the Lord.  Believing is to trust your soul with the Lamb of God.  Faith in the Blood is the way to come to Jesus.  Coming to Jesus means laying hold upon Jesus with the hand of faith, looking only to Him for eternal life, free pardon, immediate salvation, and for everything your soul needs.  Salvation is to be delivered from divine wrath and the power of your natural sinful passions.  Faith in the Blood is the connecting link between the lost soul and the living Christ.  Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ will save your from Hell; to be assured of your Salvation will give you a heaven on Earth.  Shall your will stand, or God's will?  Christ is the Way you must walk, the Truth you must believe, and the Life you must receive.  

Apart from Christ, we will wither spiritually like the branch that is severed from the vine.  Faith in Christ is the sap we draw from the True Vine which gives us His strength, life, and fruit.  Oh God, do your work, for You alone can do so effectively and effectually.  The great magnet of Gospel attraction  is Christ Jesus Himself.  Turn your heart's eyes to the Cross, see your Creator bleeding His life away to pay for your sins' penalty.  Faith is the oil which feeds the burning lamp.  Faith is needed by the Christian like a car needs gasoline; faith gives us the energy to get down the road for our God.  

Hell is sin on fire; if you will not let go of your sins, you will have to burn with them.  Just like a foolish man who is so worried about his temporal belongings that he kills himself by trying to save a few of his favorite trinkets, and winds up dying in a house that is on fire.  Escape from your sins before they burn you forever.

Is your soul resting and depending on the Lord Jesus Christ's Precious Blood with all your heart?  Christianity is being close to Christ, an intimate relationship with His person, a sole dependence upon His merit, studying closely His character, desiring to commune with the Holy Spirit, looking to Jesus with eyes of faith.  Cultivate a dependence upon Jesus' power and presence.  Wait upon Jesus for strength and joy.  Cultivate carefulness in regard to God's will for your life.

A simple childlike faith which rests entirely upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for sinners.  Confidence in the goodness of God, a believing trustfulness in the good, great God.  Put your own will in subjection to divine grace - the will and desire of God.  More faith in Christ is the grand cure for spiritual weakness and apathy.  Faith is the lily's root, and love is the lily's bloom and fragrance.  Secret faith is the root of public piety and purity.  Faith is the root, prayer is the stem, and love is the bloom.

Turn to Jesus and be joyful; if you will turn away from Jesus, you will be unhappy.  The Holy Spirit makes a Christian in such a way that you cannot sin and be happy.  Sin and sorrow go together.  If you will have sin, you must have sorrow (guilt, emptiness, misery, wretchedness).  Turn from sin to Jesus while you may.  In hell there will be turning from sin, where the die is cast, and the road is chosen.  Sin always leads to misery.  To love God is Heaven, to hate God and love sin (immorality, dishonesty) brings Hell.

Eternal life never depends upon what we do, we need fresh spiritual help from above hourly.  We need to spiritually download more faith from God to give us the strength we need to please God in this life.  Leave the broken cisterns of religion, and come to the Water of Life Himself for a drink.  Utter, absolute dependence upon the presence and blessing of God, and sincere, childlike faith in the risen Savior is key.  Confidently depend the Spirit of God to help you in times of difficulty.

Depend upon the watering of the Spirit of God, the soul needs to be watered continually by the grace of God.  The preaching of the Cross draws and saves the sinner.  Christ's soldiers wear His uniform and crest, His crest is the Cross, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Believing dependence upon Jesus, the living God, and earnest labors in the Gospel are sure to receive God's blessing.  Put down sin, and lift up Christ, and Joy will surely follow.  In all our efforts, always depend upon the Spirit's divine power and influence.

The way of Salvation is just this - resting alone upon Christ Jesus Himself, depending wholly upon His Blood.  Neglecting Christ is the great damning sin of lost mankind.  Have done with trusting and depending upon your own merits.  Take Christ's works and merits.  More confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit, more dependence in the consoling presence of Jesus Christ.  Free pardon for all of your sins, justification faith in His Atoning Sacrifice, irreversible eternal life through trust in His bloody death.  Acceptance with God depends solely upon simple faith in Jesus' Precious Blood.  I am presently depending upon the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ as my only Confidence. Trust in Jesus is the fruit of the fear of God.

Christ-less, self-righteous religion is the most deceptive thing that ever came out of hell.  For the record - I still believe in Christ Jesus and His bleeding love, no matter what this present evil world may say or think about Him.  Trust Christ with your soul's eternal interests.  Simply hang upon Jesus as a coat hangs upon a nail, having no other dependence.  Christianity is to be Christ's servant; to do His bidding; to be His friend; to find your best delight in fellowship with Him.  If you are guilty and defiled within, come now to the Cross by faith and freely receive Christ's Righteousness as your righteousness, and His Precious Blood for your cleansing.

Jesus is the Lord of my heart, the Guide of my actions, and the Delight of my soul.  The Spirit of God is my Life as a believer in Christ here on Earth -- Prize the Holy Spirit beyond all price; look to Him with bowed head and reverent awe; rely upon Him with childlike, loving confidence; obey His faintest promptings; neglect not His still, small voice and inward whispers; seek His instruction and correction in the words of God; be ready to do His bidding; seek to know His will; ask Him questions; let His will be your law, not your own judgment and thoughts.  The Holy Spirit and His fruit is the credentials of the Christian.  Never ever trust yourself.

Hated Without a Cause

The atheist hates Christ intentionally, openly and decidedly.  The atheist opposes Christ for no good reason.  What is there in the person of Christ for you to hate?  Men hated Christ all of His life here on Earth, but yet He died for them.  Can you hate Jesus for that?  He came into world to gain no glory for Himself - He had all the glory of Heaven, but He laid that aside, gave it all upon for the sake of sinful men.  Nothing brought Jesus here to Earth, but pure love, for when He came, He spent His whole life going about doing good.  For which of these things do you hate Him?  The atheist has made up his mind to hate Christ without a cause.  One day you will hate yourself for rejecting Christ's great love.

As long as you avoid Christ and love sin, you are at war with God.  Atheists hate and despise Christ mainly because they love darkness rather than light.  Just why is it that you hate Jesus Christ so?  He is the only man who ever loved you to death.  What has Jesus done to you to make you hate Him so?  Do you hate Christ because He loved you to death?  Is that the reason?  Why are you at enmity with such a loving God?  Is it because He has been so merciful to you all of your days, sparing your life time and time again.  You have been given food, raiment, shelter, health and strength by God.  And on top of that, God sent His own dear Son to be nailed to a tree and die a bloody death for your sins, the Just for the unjust.  Do you hate God for that?  Are you so depraved within that you will return hatred for love?  If a person here on Earth had fed and clothed you all of your life, would you hate and despise him to his face like you do God?  Atheism is a satanic crime.  It is an enormous evil to hate God's love, spurn His mercy, and scorn His kindness.  It is a terrible sin to be at enmity with the good Creator God.

Snippets of Truth 7

We must sow the seed of the words of God, but God must send the rain of His blessing and give the increase.  Study the words of God with care, attention and constancy, and with dependence upon the Spirit's illumination that you may understand the Bible correctly.  Fully trust the Lamb of God now; give up trusting in what you mean to do.  Trust Christ wholly - His wounds, blood, and righteousness; on these rest your soul.  All of your sins can be blotted out, the whole list, down on your face at the Cross.  Most men go to Hell by thinking little things of Christ.  This is Salvation - to have your inward nature changed, to be made a new creature in Christ through faith in Christ's Blood.  Every getting ready for Christ is coming the wrong way.

Whose approval are you trying to gain, God or man?  Whose fellowship do you enjoy the most, the Holy Creator or sinful man?  The Lord Jesus Christ is everything I ever wanted and need.  When I start talking about Him, I just go on and on and on.  He's the answer to my prayer and the song in my heart.  Every day that passes by I only love Him more.  He's the one who laid down His life for me.  Jesus is everything to me.  I have nothing of my own to bring to the Cross but my sins.  I have no other dependence but upon the Blood and Righteousness of God manifest in the flesh.  Utter, entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit for strength to do right is vital.

We can do nothing, absolutely nothing, until the Holy Spirit moves and works.  Simply depend on Jesus by a living faith in His Blood.  Depend simply and wholly upon the naked promises of Scripture; believing that God can do His work and perform His words.  Resting by simple faith upon the providence and goodness of God.  The most healthy state is to always be empty, always depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ for His supplies, to be poor always in self and rich in Jesus, weak personally but mighty through God.  Human nature ignorantly looks to human effort.  Faith and love to Jesus Christ will satisfy your longing heart.  Come to Christ continually as a needy sinner, seek to be pure for Jesus' sake.

Seek the Holy Spirit for every grace and virtue, forsake every false way; Look to Jesus and rest on the Rock of His finished work, having nothing to do with your own righteousness, but only with His.  The faith which saves the soul is believing on a living Person, that is, depending upon Jesus for eternal life.  To trust Christ, to depend upon His Blood, power and faithfulness.  The Spirit of God is always the secret Author of faith; faith is not of ourselves - faith is a gift of God.  Constant enjoyment of communion with Christ Jesus.  Put your soul into Jesus' hands, and your soul is safe forever and ever.

Taste, Chew, Swallow

Scriptural Saving Faith is made up of these three key things:  Knowledge, Belief, and Trust.

*1 - Knowledge - Taste
*2 - Belief - Chew
*3 - Trust - Swallow

Before anyone swallows food, they will taste it, and if it is palatable and edible, they will begin to chew on it, and finally they will swallow the food down, and it becomes part of that man.  Likewise, with the Gospel of Christ, every man must first hear the Gospel for himself, and begin to taste it intellectually.  Some men choose to spit the Gospel out of their mind and memory immediately.  Others by the help of the Holy Ghost, begin to think closely upon the Gospel and chew on it mentally and spiritually.  Finally, the man wills to receive and swallow down the Gospel spiritually into his heart, and then he is born again by the Spirit of God. *James 1:21* The man receives Christ Jesus into his heart *John 1:12*, and the Holy Spirit immediately begins to change the man's inward nature. *I Peter 1:23;   The man begins to experience the side effects of the Gospel he has swallowed - repentance, hatred of his sin, and love for Christ).  He begins to hate the things he used to love, and love the things he once hated.

Knowledge tastes the Gospel (with the mind), Belief chews on the Gospel (with the will) and then decides to either reject or receive the Truth, and then Trust must swallow down the Gospel (into the heart). *Romans 10:10*

First, Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ must come to the human mind. A man must be informed of a fact, before he will ever believe it.  Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The hearing of faith is the work of the Holy Spirit, not human nature.  We must first hear, so that we know what is to be believed. True knowledge is essential to true faith. You must know and understand the Gospel - by searching the Scriptures, and learning what the Holy Ghost teaches concerning Divine Justice, your sinfulness, and The Lord Jesus Christ's Atoning Blood and Free Salvation. The Good News of free forgiveness, change of heart, and adoption into God's family is also understood.  Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, died for the ungodly.  The one Mediator between God and men is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Lamb of God. *II Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 3:13; I Timothy 2:5-6* You must first be taught divine truth and know that Christ Jesus Himself is the only way to life eternal.  *John 14:6; Acts 4:12* If you reject Christ and remain in your sins and unbelief, you face the ever-present risk of dying, being condemned, and losing your soul.

Secondly, with the help of the Holy Ghost, the mind and heart go on to Believe that the Gospel is true. You must believe that God is, and that the Gospel is from God. Free Justification by Faith is the grand truth. Jesus is our God and Savior. *I John 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:9* His Atoning Sacrifice is complete and fully accepted by God, and now whosoever believeth on Jesus is not condemned, but saved from the wrath to come and the love of sin.  Bread is yours by simply chewing and swallowing; Christ Jesus Himself is yours by simply believing and receiving Him into your heart.

Finally, Trust is needed. *Ephesians 1:12-13* Commit your guilty soul to the merciful Savior. Rest all your hope and confidence on the gracious Gospel. Trust your soul entirely on the bleeding, dying and now living Savior. Come now to the Cross, and let Jesus wash away all your sins with His precious, atoning blood. *Matthew 11:28* Receive His perfect Righteousness, and all will be well with your soul. Trusting is the life-blood of Faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To believe is to trust, and whosoever trusts in the atoning blood is saved.  To be saved means to be rescued from the love of sin here in time, and the wrath to come out in Eternity. There is no saving faith without trusting in Jesus' Blood. Lean with all your weight on Jesus. Rest your whole person upon the Rock. Fall flat upon Christ, rest on Him.

Now understand - Faith always begins with knowledge. Then Faith believes Bible scriptural facts concerning God and Christ Jesus of which Faith is sure. Faith believes and trusts; Faith stakes its eternal destiny upon the truths and promises of Scripture. True faith is believing that Christ is what He is said to be in the Bible (God manifest in the flesh atoning for human sin), and that He will do what He has promised to do (save sinners by grace through faith), and then expecting and receiving Eternal Life from Him by faith in His Blood. The Scriptures say that Jesus of Nazareth was God in human flesh. Faith says Amen, and implicitly trusts to Christ alone. Simply trust to God Incarnate's Atoning Blood and your soul is saved on the spot.  *John 1:14; John 8:58; John 14:9; I Timothy 3:16* Jesus was sinless, and was made a sin offering on our behalf, when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

Faith believes that Christ Jesus will do what He has promised. We look only to Him for free pardon, justification, preservation, and eternal glory. We take freely from His hands, according as He has promised. Believe that Jesus is exactly what He is said to be in the Bible, and that He will do what He says He will do. Trust Him, and no one else. I leave my defenseless soul in His hands for safekeeping. I rest only upon His promises, that He will do even as He has said. This is Saving Faith which receives Christ as a free gift from God, not of works, lest any man should boast. *Ephesians 2:8-9*

Knowledge tastes the Gospel (with the mind), Belief chews on the Gospel (with the will), and then decides to either reject or receive the Truth, and then Trust must swallow down the Gospel spiritually (into the heart). *Romans 10:10*

Winter is Approaching

Winter is now approaching us again.  The harvest is past.  The corn and wheat are harvested, the summer heat has declined, the flowers began to fade and died, the leaves start to turn and fall, and then the winter of the year is here. All of the seasons are a picture of what happens to every person in this brief life.  Spring is our childhood, Summer is our 20-30's, Fall is our 40-50s, and then Winter comes in our 60-70-80s.

Creation itself speaks and warns us that there is a harvest and a death for us all, and we all fade and fall as a leaf.  The grass of our physical strength withers, the flower of our natural beauty fades, and then death comes and takes us away.  Nature quietly but clearly preaches to us every year as well as the Scriptures -- Summer is ended, and the harvest is past; be wise and prudent, prepare to meet your God in Eternity!  Life is so short, Eternity is Forever, Plan Ahead.

Death will soon come up into all of our windows. Death will set its axe to every tree. Our strength soon begins to depart, and then we are not. Death honeycombs the earth with graves. Death beds, the grave, and the Judgment throne of God are solemn subjects. We need to become familiar with the world to come before we enter it. We must all take the inevitable journey into Eternity, every one of us. All men are mortal, but we always make an exception for ourselves and put off the evil day. We admit we are mortal, but do not expect to die anytime soon. Even the old man looks forward to a continuance of life.

Men spend thousands of dollars just to extend their earthly life a few months or years. But as surely as you live, you will die one day. You will lie on a death bed before long. There will be very little hope for you to recover. The doctors will begin to whisper in your room and shake their heads. The doctors all know your end is near. Your loved ones begin to weep and pray for you.  People tread softly in the room where there is a dying man. Death is an awesome thing. You must go to your long home. Where will you spend all of Eternity?  No one on earth can delay the departure. All the gold in Fort Knox cannot bribe Death's cruel hand. One day soon, you will not be able to buy yourself another hour of physical life; your time will come, and you must go the way of all the earth.

Your spouse will want you stay, but you will torn from their embrace. No friend can take your place and die for you, there can be no proxies in death. You must do your own dying all alone. It is appointed unto all men once to die, and die you must. The hour will come! Your pulse will begin to slow, your eyes will begin to glaze, and then you will flatline, and your soul will depart your body. Every individual must do his own dying and giving account to his Maker.

Salvation and character become very important as death approaches. Your life is now put into the balance, you begin to look back over all your years. It will be the most important thing in the universe to you. Your sickness is now a small matter compared to Eternity, your soul is your main consideration. Did you live a righteous or wicked life? Were you a fearer of God or a despiser of Christ's grace? The best physician, the softest bed, and finest medical care will not be able to comfort you then. It is the man himself, the man's soul, and the man's personal character that is now seen in its true light; death demands your whole thought.

Whether you be a prince or peasant, a king or pauper, we are all the same at death. You have to face for yourself the great things of Eternity, and you cannot hand these things off to another to handle for you. You used to hear others speak of Eternity, but now you must experience it alone. Into the cold river of death your own feet must step, death bony hand will touch your body, and into the unknown future you must plunge all alone, you must pass through tracks unknown. You must believe in the Risen Savior for yourself, and you must have a good hope through grace in your own soul, or death will be the king of terrors to you. Men never think of these things till it comes time for them to die.

You may have made plenty of money in your life selfishly and sinfully. But all men at death come to a level. In death, finances will mock your lost soul and become contemptible. Moral and spiritual issues are most esteemed at death. How you lived, your thoughts, your heart towards God, repentance of sin, real belief in Jesus, resting upon the finished work of Christ or no - these are the things that will really matter. You must now look to what you did, and what you were, and what you are. Now is reckoning time, and the sum total will be added up. It will matter very little what you were before men, but the solemn question will be, what were you in secret before the all-searching eye of the Almighty? You will have to render an account.

Death tests all things. You will be past the time for pretenses and shams. The salvation you professed must be truthful now, you must be really regenerate, or you must perish forever. You will need the sweet and sure Promises of Scripture at death: "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth me from all sin." God Incarnate's Atoning Blood is your only way of peace with the God you have offended with your sins.  You will need the plain truths of the Gospel to rest your soul upon. You must come face to face with Eternity. Are you ready? You may think yourself to be somebody in the church, but that will be of small account in your last moments. No man can die on stilts.

Death finds out the truth of our condition and blows away all the chaff which we thought to be real wheat. You must look to the mercy of God, trust to the Blood of Calvary's Lamb, the Promises of the Gospel, you must cling as a poor, needy, and guilty sinner to the free and rich and good grace of God, or else your soul will sink into the firepit of Hell. When life is ebbing, nothing will do but the Grace and Blood and Promises of God in your last moments. You will need Christ Himself to get you past death's terrors. You will have to come to God as a needy sinner, and find in Jesus all your hope. Dying men want realities, they need a sinner's Savior, they desire an Atonement for their guilt, so they can pass out of this world with real hope. Dying sinners want a real living Savior, no one else can help you when it comes time for you to die.

You must go the way of all the earth, there is no alternative. You will not be able to resist the power of God's summons for you to depart this world and come before His bar of Judgment. Willing or unwilling, it matters not, you must go and meet your Maker. Be wise - prepare to meet God now. Nevertheless, whether you are ready or not, it makes no difference, you will have to leave all and take your solemn journey and face God. Your family and necessities will not be able to detain you. You may not have a will and your business affairs may all be tangled, but still you must go. The clock will tick next to your bedside in the silence of your last night. The doctors will consult with each other, and they all will have to admit that there is no remedy for you. It is clear that your hour has finally come; you must go. This must happen to you, lay it to heart.

You will breathe your last, and the medical examiner will come and take your body to the morgue. Your loved ones will weep a while, and then they will all come to view your body and gaze once more upon your face, and say their final goodbyes. Your family and friends will all gather at the funeral home, the minister will say a few choice words, and then the cars will proceed to the graveyard. You will take your last ride. All the cars stop and pay respects while your funeral procession passes by. Face it - this funeral will soon be yours.

The obituary will soon have your name there in black and white. Your corpse will be hauled out by the pall bearers and carried to your grave. Within a very short time each one of us must lie within a coffin, and then will come the open grave, the gathering of the mourners, the minister's final words, and then the lowering of your casket. The dirt will begin to fall upon the coffin lid. Earth to earth, dust to dust, and ashes to ashes. A mound of dirt will cover your body, and maybe a flower or two, perhaps a headstone, to this end you must come. Do you realize that this is so near?

Your soul will leave your body at death. You will be stripped of this house of clay, and you will die, but you will live again, live forever. You will be judged, to be justified or condemned by your Maker. You will live forever either in happiness or torment. You will go where you shall not return, there will be either endless bliss and joy, or ceaseless woe and torment for your soul. Your soul's real state immediately after death will be known beyond question. Whether you are accepted before God, or whether you are reprobate, condemned, and beyond all hope, this will be known in a moment. It will be either happiness or misery.

Death is filled with hope for the Christian, but it is a terrible dread for the ungodly. Your soul will never return to this world's cares. You will stand before the Judgment and receive the final divine verdict from the lips of Christ Jesus, the appointed Judge of all mankind. You will either be accepted or condemned based on what you did with the Man Christ Jesus. It will be bliss unspeakable or misery unutterable, you will either be blessed or cursed.

Life is so short. At the commencement of life, it looks like an endless road, but as we advance along the path the end seems very near, and we begin to perceive how very short our time is here on earth. Your age is descending, and your time for lingering here is certainly short. Your lease has almost run out. In a short time, you must set sail for the land which is afar off. Life is so short, that we have scarce begun to live before we are called to die.

Any work to be done for Jesus, let us do it at once, or else it will never get done. If your salvation is to be sought, seek it now, for you shall soon be where salvation is no more preached. If you possess worldly goods, hold them very loosely, for in a short time you must leave them all behind. Give your goods to God's glory, your stewardship will not last for long, and you shall soon give an account. Always be prepared to die.

Who'll be the next? No one knows. The cemetery's gates open every day and the funeral procession passes through. Who'll be the next to go? To be ready to depart this world is wisdom. Look ahead, be not as the fool, be prudent, consider your latter end. It is the mark of the blinded worldling that he confines his thoughts within only a short period of time. Look out into the everlasting future as an immortal being should do. Don't perish with the careless and thoughtless worldlings. To be prepared to die is an immediate duty. Don't neglect your soul's deep need - the Forgiveness of Sins through God's Blood. To be unprepared for death, and to know it may come at any moment, must keep your soul in fear and dread. To be prepared to die is to be prepared to live; to be ready for Eternity is in the best sense to be ready for time.

You need to unload your sins at the Cross today, and find mercy through the Blood of Christ, and be reconciled to God by the bloody death of His Son. See to your soul's needs at once. There is no time to spare, the end is drawing near, every flying moment is hastening on our last hour. It is high time to awake out of your sinful, suicidal slumber and in earnest seek and trust the Savior's Blood.

Your occupation, your home, your family and friends, the pleasures of life, hopes and fears, joys and pains, you shall never return to these after death. To spring's flowers, the summer's sun, the fall's colors, the winter's snows, you shall not return to these. To your brothers, children, spouse, you shall not return. To the preaching of the Gospel, to the Bible, to opportunities to be Born Again, to space for repentance, and to the mercy of God in Christ, you shall not return, you will never hear any more invitations to be saved. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and where the tree falls, there it must lie. Once you pass the threshold of life unsaved, you cannot return to be saved, you die is cast.

If you were at this very instant to leave your body, where would your soul be? You will go and dwell with the people you loved to be with here on earth. Yes, you will keep the same company forever. What you have chosen on earth shall be your portion hereafter. The scoffer, the drunkard, the infidel, the liar, and the unchaste shall be your companions in hell, if they were so here on earth. If you really like the earth, you will get to go live right in the middle of the earth in Hell, where you belong. If you loved sin, you shall be steeped up to your throat in it in Hell's fires. Sin will be everywhere in Hell, Sin will all around you there like liquid fire.

The wages of sin is still eternal death. But if your glory, trust and delight has been in God and His Son, you shall dwell in Heaven. If you have believed and rejoiced in Christ Jesus' blood and righteousness, you shall abide with Him forever. Your disembodied soul shall dwell with Christ and His people, or with Sin and lost sinners forever and ever - Either in paradise with Jesus, or in Hell with Satan. If you die in Satan's family, you have to go and live in Satan's house forever - Hell. If your sin is not put away forever by the Lamb of God Himself, then you can be sure your will find you out at the Judgment. Lay it to heart!

If you are Born Again, seek to mend your matters now, avoid the doing of evil in private and public. Forsake and stop all known sinning. Keep to the truth of Scripture and the good old Gospel. Live surely, honestly, and thoroughly. See to the bringing up of your children in the fear of the Lord, the conversion of your neighbors, give your talents for Christ, be grateful, honor God where you are each day, consecrate all your substance to God. The curfew of life is sounding for you.

Veterans Day Facts

1st Marine Division, Battle of Fallujah - Iraq, 2004

Veterans Day was originally called "Armistice Day" to commemorate the truce signed between the Allies and the Germans in World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.  It all began on a private railroad car in the Forest of Compiegne just outside Picardie, France.  This railroad car belonged to Ferdinand Foch who authored most of the armistice.  This was the secret location where the armistice was signed to end the war to end all wars.  The fighting had ended - all was quiet on the western front.

The first Armistice Day in the U.S. was celebrated on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I.  All business was suspended to observe two minutes of silence beginning at 11am.  Later, America also started honoring its Unknown Soldiers on Armistice Day.  In 1921 on Armistice Day, the first unknown soldier was laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery.  He was a casualty of the Great War, World War I.

It is now tradition for the President or one of his representatives to lay a wreath on the monument every November 11th.  In 1938, Congress made Armistice Day a national holiday giving people the day off work.  At 11am every Veterans Day a color guard ceremony represents all branches of the military at the Tomb of the Unknowns in the Arlington National Cemetery.  In 1954, President Eisenhower changed Armistice Day to Veterans day.  The name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all veterans, not just those that served in World War I.

For seven years, Veterans Day was actually celebrated in October.  In 1968, Congress moved Veterans Day to the 4th Monday in October so that government employees could enjoy a long weekend, but most people rejected this and wanted the holiday to returned to the historical date of November 11th.  So in 1975, President Gerald Ford reversed the law and returned Veterans Day to November 11th  due to the historical significance.   Memorial Day honors the war dead, but Veterans Day honors all American veterans living and dead.  The U.S Census Bureau estimates that there are over 21 million living military veterans in the U.S.: more than 16 million of these served during times of war while 5.5 million served during peace time only.

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) Underway - 
Fort Story, Virginia

The brave men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from all walks of life; they are parents, children and grandparents. They are friends, neighbors and coworkers, and an important part of their communities.  Here are some facts about the current veteran population of the United States.

• 9.2 million veterans are over the age of 65.
• 1.9 million veterans are under the age of 35.
• 1.8 million veterans are women.
• 7.8 million veterans served during the Vietnam War era (1964-1975), which represents 33% of all living veterans.
• 5.2 million veterans served during the Gulf War (representing service from Aug. 2, 1990, to present).
• 2.6 million veterans served during World War II (1941-1945).
• 2.8 million veterans served during the Korean War (1950-1953).
• 6 million veterans served in peacetime.

As of 2008, 2.9 million veterans received compensation for service-connected disabilities. Five states have more than 1 million veterans in among their population: California (2.1 million), Florida (1.7 million), Texas (1.7 million), New York (1 million) and Pennsylvania (1 million).  The VA health care system had 54 hospitals in 1930, since then it has expanded to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 live-in care facilities for injured or disabled vets.

VETERANS DAY SPEECH BY PRESIDENT REAGAN ON NOVEMBER 11, 1988:  Those who live today remember those who do not. Those who know freedom remember today those who gave up life for freedom.

Today, in honor of the dead, we conduct ceremonies. We lay wreaths. We speak words of tribute. And in our memories, in our hearts, we hold them close to us still. Yet we also know, even as their families knew when they last looked upon them, that they can never be fully ours again, that they belong now to God and to that for which they so selflessly made a final and eternal act of devotion.

We could not forget them. Even if they were not our own, we could not forget them. For all time, they are what we can only aspire to be: giving, unselfish, the epitome of human love -- to lay down one's life so that others might live.  We think on their lives. We think on their final moments. In our mind's eye, we see young Americans in a European forest or on an Asian island or at sea or in aerial combat.

And as life expired, we know that those who could had last thoughts of us and of their love for us. As they thought of us then, so, too, we think of them now, with love, with devotion, and with faith: the certainty that what they died for was worthy of their sacrifice -- faith, too, in God and in the Nation that has pledged itself to His work and to the dream of human freedom, and a nation, too, that today and always pledges itself to their eternal memory.  Thank you. God bless you.

This Veterans Day don't forget to call a veteran and tell them "Thank You" for their service to our free country.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  *John 15:13*