The Test

The following is a kind of test I made a long time ago. It is a test to use before you choose a movie to watch, a book to read, or a game to play. I can't honestly say that I have always followed it and heeded the scriptures it cites, but I have tried.

The Test

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I Corinthians 10:31

How can you know what a good or bad entertainment choice is? First, read these verses:

"Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Romans 12:9

"...hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." I Thessalonians 5:21-22

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness..." Isaiah 5:20

Remind yourself that,

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes..." Psalm 101:3

Alright, now go through these two simple steps:

- Think on These Things -

The Bible tells us exactly the types of things we should dwell on as Christians:

"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

Ask yourself if what you are considering is:

True
Honest
Just
Pure
Lovely
Of Good Report (Admirable)
Virtuous
Praise (to God or Praiseworthy)

- The Fruits of the Spirit -

Look at the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are the things that those who have been born again will display in every aspect of their life. Memorize them, mark them in your Bible, or write them down: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22, 23).

Does what your considering reflect any of these? Are you displaying them when taking part in this activity?

Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering (Patience)
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance (Self-Control)

If you are honest with yourself, and God, it should not take long to know if whether the things you are dwelling upon are of the Lord, or of the Adversary.

God bless!

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Think of America While You Read This

¹The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

²God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

³The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

⁴He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

⁵The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

⁶Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

⁷The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

⁸But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

⁹What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

¹⁰For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

¹¹There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.

¹²Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

¹³For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

¹⁴And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

¹⁵Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. (Nahum 1, King James Version)

*Image Credit

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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