It's Crazy...

Wow, the past few months have been amazingly crazy. I also feel pretty bad about not updating my blog like i wanted to. Pray for me, I am still working through that stupid procrastinating issue. I keep starting new messages, but not finishing them. I have like 10-12 that are about 1/4 of the way done, but then I get an idea for something else as I study and bam, I jump to the next thing. So please forgive me for not updating like I ought to. Add to that the fact that my daughter has left for the ARMY and the issues I have been dealing with at Church and work and well...there goes the day. It amazes me that men like Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote and preached messages daily, tended to their families and (at least for him) tended to both church issues and magazine editing. Again, all I can say is pray for me...I will get everything worked out and I will contribute more here and elsewhere. God Bless!!

BLEEDING OUT FOR A DEAF DUMB AND BLIND GOD

And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention. (1 Kings 18:28-29)

How often do people in society cry out for their gods with no return? Just as in the days of old, it happens today, history often repeating itself. The priests of Baal did whatever they could to hear a word, a response, anything to prove that their god was real. They yelled and they hurt themselves all to prove that their deaf, dumb and blind idol was god. Children of the world today do the same thing. The difference between then and now is the god they are claiming. Most of the time nowadays people don’t even realize they are worshipping false gods and idols. Look at Christmas for example. When some folk set out to minister the good news of Christ’s birth for His death and resurrection, others are being trampled to death in Wal-mart just to purchase a toy (for an often ungrateful child no less)! The world doesn’t stop there. When it comes to sex and pleasing the flesh, people will commit adulteries and fornications and then run to the abortion clinic to rip an unborn child out of the uterus. Is there not a heinous spilling of blood there? Or what about the thugs on the street or racists around the block who would fight to kill the innocent so that their egos can be inflated and they can claim their cause as just? The Spirit speaking through the Apostle John said, “For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Does any of this seem familiar? The world thrives on sin, always hoping that it will answer them, but in the end, it only leads to death.

The sinner believes in his or her ways so much that it even seems right to them when they are not answered. Prov. 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.” The unsaved can often be so determined to prove their “way” that they will risk eternity for it on a daily basis. All this for a god who can never tell them how much he loves them or how much they disappoint him. Yet, the only true God is the one who answered Elijah on that day. He is the same one who answered Jesus when He was baptized and when He was on the cross. And He is the same one who will answer our needs according to His riches in glory.

As Christians, we can rely on the truth of God’s Word written down in the scriptures. We can be sure that as He has spoken it, He will bring it pass. We have no need to flog ourselves or go wailing about as if He needs us to bleed for each and every little desire we have. Our God is truly the Great God and there is no one else beside Him. The ancient Israelites discovered that time and again and on the day Elijah challenged the priests, those pagans found out as well.

The truth of the matter is that there are no other gods besides the one true and living, Alpha and Omega. There was no answer for the priests of Baal because there was (and is) no god who could ever have spoken to them. Idols are and always will be deaf, dumb and blind. They cannot answer a prayer, they cannot deliver from trouble and they can never show compassion- or wrath. Yet the God of the Hebrews- the God of the Christians- is and will always be in existence. He has given His word and all we need to do is come to it joyfully. The question now is whether you will take Him at His Word or will you cut yourselves to get your god to answer you?

Lecrae's Song to Benefit Haiti

I haven't written in a bit because of everything that has taken place the past month and a half. Base Inspection, studying for my next stripe and trying to maintain a decent family life (although all of it was very hard on them). Now that both the test and the inspection are overwith, I get to start settling down from the 16 hour stretches. I do have some more of the top 10 pulpit moves coming so stand by, there should be a new one out shortly.

In the meantime, a rapper whom I have a great deal of respect for has written a song to benefit the suffering in Haiti. I would encourage you if you have not done something to help our brothers and sisters in Christ, that you take the time. Take the time to donate through your local church or through the RED Cross or some other Christian organization that can help. I am not telling you what to give, that is between you and God. The main thing is that you remember the scriptures that guide us in helping those who need it and right now, Haiti needs help. God bless!

Top Ten Things That Make Someone a Pulpit-Pimp

Every week I am going to write a short article on “The Top Ten Things that Make Someone a Pulpit-Pimp.” They are in no particular order, so feel free to jump back and forth as necessary. What I do think you should keep in mind though is the fact that everything that comes out of any preacher’s mouth, must be weighted against the Word of God. But how are you - the average church-goer - going to know? You will know what is right from studying the scriptures, praying and listening to sound men of the Gospel. Jesus said in John 10John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…” His voice is in the Holy Scriptures. So read the articles, watch the clips and go to the Word of God itself and see if what is being said by the thieves and heretics is truth or not!

Up 1st: Disrespecting the Men Chosen to Write the Holy Scriptures




It is a shame that people would knowingly come against the Word of God and those chosen to bring forth that word. Yet this is what the church needs to understand- it is not done by accident. Paula White and the other fake preachers/teachers purposefully throw little things out there in an attempt to get you to look upon the writers with distrust- much like she does in this video. Beginning at around the 1:30 mark, she starts out by getting the congregation on her side, saying little “you go girl” catch phrases and whatnots.

She then says a couple of nice words concerning the Apostle to make her seem respectful before she berates him. She infers that Paul was boring and didn’t know how to preach to a crowd. Seemingly, it does not take long for her to start elevating herself as she casts him down. She brags about how people don’t die when she is preaching. She also flat-out lies when she says Paul did not know hermeneutics (the study of interpreting the scriptures) or homiletics (the art of preaching)- remember Paul was a Pharisee as a Jew and he also spent 17 years studying the scriptures after his conversion before he ever went out to preach. Yet the biggest atrocity committed by Paula was when she said that the church did not need “more preaching,” but power. This shows the lack of understanding that this woman has. What she forgets are the words written by the very same fellow she exalted herself against. Rom. 10:14-15Romans 10:14-15, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?...” The power is in the preaching because the strength of it comes from the scriptures. No one can ever be converted without the Gospel of Christ that comes from the scriptures. Anybody can go out and be a great motivational speaker. Folk do it all the time and never once mention The Father, Christ or the Holy Spirit. Yet true power- power that comes from above- comes only from the Word of God. It is accessed through His Spirit to give us understanding. Yet Paula would pervert that holy, life changing power to make you believe that the only power worth having is the one that gives “gain,” because in Paula’s eyes, gain is godliness. (1 Tim 6:5)

You see, what pulpit-pimp Paula (and the others) really wants is power over the lives of people. If she has power over their lives (your lives), then she can have power over your finances. All of these wolves want nothing more than what the world wants: money, power and fame (you can throw sex in there as well for most of the others). Paula is no different in that she tears down the Apostle little by little so that she can validate what scriptures she thinks you need to believe in. Scriptures like “…men shall give into your bosom…” or “you are the head and not the tail.” Why? Because they benefit her. Why have you study verses like 1 Timothy 6:6-71 Tim 6:6-7 that talk about godliness and leaving things of this world behind? She wouldn't have you too because she knows the power of the Word and doesn't want to take the chance in losing you to it.

As I close, I want to leave you with this particular scripture, 2 Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.” This scripture is specifically set up by God to refute those who would try to subvert His Word by attacking the writers. We know that every last writer was a sinner and deserved hell just as much as we do. However, it was God who called them out and it was God who gave them the words to write- including Paul. God- through His Spirit- instructed these men to write what He dictated and they did it. Do not be hoodwinked by the foolish wisdom of this world. Those that are of the world only desire to fill their appetites with the things of this world. They will even go so far as to verbally rape the church to get it. Lastly, the Word of God is our plumb line. We must compare what every person is speaking from the Bible to it. That is why we all must study to show ourselves approved unto God. You never know when you may be called upon to give an answer for your faith, one that could be used by God to witness the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!