The Mouse and the Poison

Once upon a time, there was a mouse king. One day, the mouse king gathered all his mouse subjects together. He showed them a pile of delicious, beautiful, food and said, “My children, eat this food. It is healthy and good for you. See that food over there? It’s made by the enemy. It’s called poison, and it can kill you if you eat enough of it.”

Well not long after this, some of his subjects were walking down a hallway. When they came upon an open closet door, they noticed a curious box with strange pellets inside. One of the mice noticed the skull and crossbones on part of the packaging. “Gasp! That’s the poison that the king told us about,” said one. Another, bold, mouse looked on the back of the box at the ingredients. “Hey look here! 99% good food, and 1% poison! That’s not so bad!” So the mouse started eating. The others reminded him of the king’s warning. He didn’t care. “Well, it doesn’t feel bad to me, so it must be alright.” He reasoned that if he just ignored the poison, it would be OK. But it was still there.

Christians do this same thing on a daily basis. Our King tells us “…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8) But sometimes in our Christian walk, we come across a shiny box. We look at the ingredients. “Rated R for mild language and brief nudity.” “Hey, that’s not too bad,” we think. Maybe it’s PG-13. Maybe it’s an M rated video game, maybe it’s Satanic music, maybe it’s dirty magazines or books. No matter what packaging it comes in, it’s poisoned.

Think about that mouse for a second. He can ignore that poison all he wants, but it’s still there, working its way into his system and doing its damage. He can even try to eat around it, and pick the poison out. But will he really get it all? If he has to do that, why not just eat the good food? Besides, his king told him not to eat it. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that perish; it shall not cling to me. “ Ask yourself, do you set wicked things before your eyes? Do you hate the works (of art, of music, movies) of those who perish (sinners)? Do these things cling to you?

Habakkuk 1:13 says of God “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…” God is too holy to look upon iniquity. The Bible tells us to not let Satan get a foothold. When we set wicked things before our eyes, and think on things that are not lovely, not pure, not virtuous, there is a good chance God is turning His holy eyes from us at these times, and we are most definitely giving the devil a foothold. I don’t know about you, but I do not want the wicked works of perishing sinners to cling to me, causing God to look the other way while I give the devil a foothold.

Someone once told me, “Yeah well the Bible has some violent and explicit things in it.” Would you really bring the Bible to the level of an R rated movie? Of course not. The Bible is the Word of God, and is historical fact. It is not made solely for our entertainment. Movies and video games and such are. I do not sit down and read about people having tent stakes driven into their temples for entertainment. I do not entertain myself with the telling of the defiling of Dina. That is history (from the Word of God). Have you ever thought about that? When someone sits down to watch an R or PG-13 rated movie they are entertaining themselves with violence, or sexual immorality, or foul language, or whatever else.

I have had people tell me that "God wants us to have fun in life too, you know!" With what? People being blown up, or using foul language, or being generally immoral? I don’t think so! God wants us to think about things that “are true…honest… just…pure… lovely…of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise.” If that sounds drab to you, and you would rather watch someone get blown up or cussed out, then maybe it’s time to examine your thinking.

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that perish; it shall not cling to me.” Psalm 101:3

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

God bless!

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God Loves You

"If we are the sons of God, we are dearly beloved of God. Did you ever try to get that thought into your mind, that God loves you? I can understand that God pities me; that is a feeling which so vastly superior a being might well feel to so inferior an existence; but that he loves me is scarcely conceivable, although it is most sure and certain. Who can drink this well dry? Who can bear home this fruitful sheaf of delights, this purple cluster of Eshcol? Sons of God are loved of their Father with a love surpassing thought.

"They are, indeed, intimately related as well as dearly loved. There is a union between God and his sons. There is the same nature in the son as there is in the father, for we become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” These are no words of mine, but of the Holy Spirit; one would not have dared to have uttered them if inspiration had not made them ready to our hand. We are most near and dear to the blessed God who filleth all in all."

~ Charles H. Spurgeon

From a sermon entitled "Open Heart For The Great Savior," delivered December 17, 1865.

Weather

55 degrees yesterday...whiteout blizzard today. I love Indiana weather.

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O Death

"One day we shall slip away from these scenes of earth. Our eyes shall be closed on all familiar things. Next moment--O rapture! they will be opened on the unveiled face of Jesus Christ! That is what 'death' will be to you--if you are God's child. You may now dread death--but it is only going to look at your Redeemer's face!"

~ J. R. Miller

Of Goats, Azazel, and Things That Annoy Me!

This post I am going to address something that has bothered me for quite some time. I mean really bothers me. Lots!! It is about “Azazel.” Who or what is “Azazel”, you ask? Azazel is a Hebrew word that is used for “scapegoat.” However, looking this up online may lead to different results. You see, Azazel is also the name of a demon in the apocryphal Book of Enoch (apocryphal means it is not considered to be inspired by God, and is thus not included in the Bible).

In the Book of Enoch, Azazel was the leader of the angels that voluntarily fell from Heaven to have intercourse with women (Genesis 6) and created the giants of the Old Testament, also referred to as Nephilim, Rephaim, Giborrim, and other terms. Now I have read the Book of Enoch, and my concern is not whether the events did or did not happen; my concern is with people that cannot seem to make the distinction between goats and demons.

On Wikipedia, when looking up the demon Azazel, we read “The word's first appearance is in Leviticus 16, where a goat is designated "for Azazel" and outcast in the desert as part of Yom Kippur.” “For Azazel.” As though it was sacrificed to a demon. Ridiculous. This sentiment is carried throughout the Internet and beyond (I was just on IMDB and someone referenced similar misinformation). Here’s what the Bible actually says:

Leviticus 16:8-10

“And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.”

The lot is not designating a goat to be sacrificed to the demon Azazel. It is designating it to be an “azazel,” or “goat of departure” (Young’s Literal Translation). A scapegoat. The goat was to carry the people’s sins of into the wilderness, and was symbolic of Jesus having the iniquity of mankind laid upon Him; that’s one reason this misinformation ticks me off, and the other is just because misinformation ticks me off in general.

I don’t really have much more to say, but I saw something that renewed this feeling of annoyingyness and just had to say something. So…God bless!

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The Book of Eli and the Legion (of Lucifer)

"The Book of Eli" is the newest Hollywood film to delve into the apocalypse--or more accurately the supposed aftermath (post-apocalyptic). The concept, and I am attempting to recite this from memory, is that a man named Eli (Denzel Washington) has the last Bible, a book that can "redeem" mankind with its "good moral teachings" or something equally ridiculous, and an "opportunistic [and I might add psychopathic] preacher" who wants it for himself.

Eli is far from a peaceful Christian man, given that the trailer showcases his impressive arsenal and his use of it on his fellow men. The man who plays Eli is also far from a peaceful Christian man. Denzel Washington, when talking about one of his movie roles, talked about letting the "spirits" possess him to help him act better. He said something along the lines of that he couldn’t have done it without them if I remember correctly. Oprah, who has people summon "clusters of highly evolved beings" (aka legions of demons) on her radio shows, also has stated that she "empties" herself to let "the spirits" possess her for her shows and movies. Gary Oldman, the “opportunistic preacher” has played a role I’d rather not mention committing unspeakable acts of evil in one of his movies (You’ll regret it if you try to find out what. You’ve been warned).

This movie, and the actors in said movie, are devoid of morality and are evil. But I doubt any of it holds a candle to the next movie I’ll mention: Legion. I’ll let the below video [just click the link] from Good Fight Ministries speak for itself.

*VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED* [some blood and demonic imagery]

http://www.themovielegion.com/

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More Precious Than Gold

¹To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

⁹What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

¹⁰I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

¹¹He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

¹²I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

¹³And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

¹⁵That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

¹⁶And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

¹⁷I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

¹⁸I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

¹⁹For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

²⁰All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

²¹Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

²²Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? (Ecclesiastes 3, King James Version)