It was a mock trial. No one stood in total defense of the innocent or even stood with him. It was a confused mess. The moment the lips of the defector parted from the cheek of the betrayed, the horrible parade was in motion. Moving through the streets and up to Pilates hall. He stood there, in the face of questions, and watched as each question failed. Each witness was powerless to prove the guilt of this innocent man. All the accusations were failing and finally, the High Priest spoke out above the noise and said, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” The rumble in the crowd died down and all awaited to see if he would break his silence. When Jesus spoke it was crystal clear coherence, “I am: and you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

The cry from the High Priest was with excited anger, “What need we any further witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy: What think you? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.”

(more…)

12 Comments
Religion

Last Sunday at Church we sang two of my favorite hymns: “ How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” and “Before The Throne of God Above“. There is just something about the melody and most importantly the lyrics which touch my soul. It’s all I can to keep myself from whelling up when we sing these songs. Just scroll down and read the lyrics and you will see what I mean.

(Here is a alternative contemporary version by Skillet… it’s the only one I could find)

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

How deep the Father’s love for us, How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocing voice, Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

(more…)

10 Comments
Religion

Today in Yahoo News - Singapore, the title breaths red hot flames that should help wake the US up. “Top Chinese diplomat tells US to ’shut up’ on arms spending”. In my oppinion Iran is only a smoke screen at the moment for a much larger problem. Check these brief quotes out:

Interviewed for a BBC radio programme on the topic Thursday, Sha Zukang also said China would “do the business” and sacrifice its own people’s lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan.

Sha was equally explicit on Taiwan declaring independence with US backing — a prospect that the BBC programme, by former Beijing correspondent Carrie Gracie, called the motivating factor behind Chinese military spending. “The moment Taiwan declares independence, supported by whoever, China will have no choice,” he said. “We will do the business through whatever means available to my government. Nobody should have any illusions on that. We will do the business at any cost.” He added: “It’s not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one inch of the territory is more valuable than the life of our people. We will never concede on that.” China’s rising military spending, which has grown by double digits for much of the last 15 years, has caused concern in the United States and amongst China’s neighbors in Asia.

China is the largest threat to international peace the world has ever seen. I think our government isn’t being responsible when we are so focused on terror instead of a threat to the very existence of the US and Taiwan. I do believe we should be doing nuclear fallout survival training. Call me crazy but I believe China’s rhetoric.

48 Comments
General

I took a audio tape of my dad preaching (one of the only things I have left of his) and had it digitally converted and put on a CD. On the tape I found a recording of me when I was 4 years old preachin it up.

My father was a traveling evangelist in the 80’s. He taught the Word to small town country churches and big city mega-churches. Every once in awhile he would have me stand up and do a little preachin’. Give it a listen.

Not bad for a 4 year old… Don’t ask me about the whole wizard thing. I haven’t a clue.

Update: 

This is a snippet of a sermon my father did in 1983.  It means a lot to me.

9 Comments
Word of God

An evil laugh and the haunting phrase, “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” It invokes early childhood movies for most of us. It was spoken out of evil lips and with those words a seed was planted in every young heart. The seed of self reflection and of comparison. “Am I as good as he is? Do I look as good as they do? My car isn’t as nice and if it wasn’t for my face I’d look better than they.” Sounds funny I know but we’ve all looked at ourselves and allowed the lie of what we see determine who we are or what we do. Does a talking mirror of truth exist? I think it does. (more…)

8 Comments
Word of God