Lemonade & Liberty

What happens when you can’t even sell lemonade?

- Ms. Moriah Renata

The Homosexual Dilemma

Our most recent update for the weekly video segment TheBabylonEffect.

Visit the Site: www.thebabyloneffect.com

- Ms. Moriah Renata

Elightened Citizens

Article 1, Sect. 1: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Hmm… So the FDA and EPA can’t make laws regarding our crops and food sources, without passing Congress?

Nope.

But, evidently they are… so… what happened?

Constitutional Law by Mike Farris, points out.. Constitutional Law! He shows us how it is not being followed in today’s society, and Enlightens Citizens about what the Constitution is, and what’s in it.

I’m not yet finished with Chap. 1,  and it has enlightened me.

Does anyone know about the “Glancing Goose Law?” Well, apparently if a goose flying over the land sees its reflection in the water, then this land is federal wetland. The theory is that this land is part of the “”navigable waters”… of the United States” and thus subject to federal regulation.

Mr. Farris addresses this -

“These EPA rules must be obeyed. Rules issued by the government that must be obeyed are laws-no matter what label anyone puts on them. All legislative power in the United States was supposed to be exercised by Congress. If we are to follow the Constitution, no regulations of this type may be directly issued by the EPA.” – Mike Farris, Constitutional Law

If we were to follow the Constitution in Law- making, it would look something like this:

~ The EPA drafts the regulation it desires.

~ The regulation is submitted to both the House and the Senate for approval (both branches of Congress).

~ If both houses approve, then it is sent to the President for signature.

~ If the President signs it, then it is law.

At times, we have heard of certain people taking certain agencies to court for certain laws that were not submitted to Congress.

But why doesn’t the Supreme Court rule such laws enacted by the EPA to be unconstitutional?

“The Supreme Court has undermined the meaning of Article 1, Sect. 1, and allowed federal agencies to make laws. In so doing, the Supreme Court has also legislated-it has amended the Constitution, not by the formal amendment process, but by the effect of its decision. The example above contains two violations of the moral principle that only legislators can make law- first by the EPA (defining wetlands) and second by the Supreme Court (permitting administrative agencies to make law).” – Mike Farris, Constitutional Law

“All power exercised over a Nation must have some beginning. It must either be delegated or assumed. There are no other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.” – Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man

Are we following the Constitution in allowing the EPA and FDA to enact laws that have not passed Congress, and not questioning the Supreme Court in ruling them as unconstitutional?

There, my friends is a small snippet from my study of Constitutional Law.

May it enlighten you.

- Moriah Renata

The Difference Between an Oscar and a Jubilee Award

By Geoffrey Botkin

It was my first Oscar Night, and the first thing that surprised me was how early in the afternoon it started. Shortly after lunch, in fact. The reason, I was told, was, “Eastern Standard, man. So that little guys can get their little Oscars early, making time for the pretty people to get theirs live. Prime time on the East Coast.” Little Oscars were for stuff like droid noises and storm trooper costume design. The big Oscars, of course, were Best Picture and Best Director.

But there was another reason for the early start. Hollywood is a celebrity culture, a ruling class culture, and the nobility have certain obligations to the public (or so they must believe). There was only one red-carpet entrance to the auditorium, and the arriving limos were careful not to pull up too fast or too early. There appeared to be etiquette, timing, and style to driving a limo to the Oscars. A limo wouldn’t deposit a passenger until the previous limo passenger had minced her way slowly and deliberately up the red carpet.

The California sun was hot and high when the first celebrants arrived. These were not the A-List stars of the evening, but attendees who had to get in the building somehow, and there was only one way in physically, and one way in socially.

Here is the conventional method for entering buildings in Hollywood: like royalty. I was surprised that so many of the women, both very young and very old, arrived alone. I also found it curious that either they, or their fashion designers, had all conformed to the politically-correct or socially-correct style of the hour. Evening gowns were near identical, and not becoming. Also similar was the way the ladies related so intimately with the press cameras. They were sophisticated. All the ladies understood how slowly one walks on the red carpet, playing to the cameras on one side, then playing to cameras on the other. All of them had a polished ability to communicate dozens of subtle messages to the camera. “I’m not posing,” they sparkled, “I’m simply walking into a building.”

But were they? The sound of a hundred shutters and motor drives is the sound of fame. It drew the celebrity-class toward the cameras like a magnet. The sound seemed to excite that amazing aptitude that allows a subject to make friendly contact with every single lens, including mine. I had press credentials for the big occasion, and good cameras, and I was free to go into any area I could penetrate (or so I believed). The red carpet was soon a snarl of competing smiles. I slipped backstage.

The Door of Fame

I wanted to know what the Hollywood elite are like when out of the limelight, and I can tell you in two words: uncomfortably self-conscious. The most fascinating show of the evening was the unscripted, backstage conduct of stars, their agents, the handlers, the paparazzi, the winners, the groupies, the bankers and, of course, the losers.

It was a busy night. There were two backstage areas because there were two stages. One connected to the ceremony out front, and the other connected to a swirling shark-pool of press photographers in the back. After receiving their Oscars, all the winners were led through a small door, which I called “The Door of Fame,” which opened onto what the press called the “white” stage. At the other end of the stage was a door leading them back to their seats in the auditorium. The winner had the white stage all to herself or himself for almost as long as she or he wanted to walk back and forth with Mr. Oscar, displaying that remarkable talent of connecting his or her personality with camera lenses.

It was a big night. Lots of press had showed up for the 50th Anniversary Academy Awards. Yes, that was way back in the day when celebrity security was not as tight as Queen Elizabeth’s, when George Lucas was a relative unknown, Kodak was not bankrupt, and cameras still shot 35mm film. In front of that white stage, the sound of fame was a mighty mechanical roar of shutters, flashes, and film zipping through cameras.

Among the more bizarre occurrences of the evening were the sudden and unexpected appearances of has-been celebrities who couldn’t stay away from the sound of fame. They found the Door of Fame quite by accident, and hurried through (in graceful, extra-slow-motion). “Oops,” they sparkled, “Wrong door. Silly me. I’m not posing, of course, I’m just trying to get to my seat.” One aging male actor made the mistake four times, each time with a different aspiring starlet on his arm. But for his effort, he heard the exhilarating sound of fame four times, and he introduced four young disciples to its intoxicating powers. “Let me show you, darling, how to pretend to shield your eyes from the intrusive brilliance of the camera flash. Alas, it’s just one more painful inconvenience of being part of the celebrity elite.”

The shark-pool of photographers shot close-up photos of all this, snickering scornfully. As a group, they were generally cynical, bored, disgusted, impatient, rude, scruffy, pessimistic, derisive and, above all, professionally intrusive. And the stars absolutely loved them. It was photographers, after all, who generated a sound more powerful than the sound of applause. Photographers also generated the images that would freeze fame in history forever. But to what end? Is it really fame if no one remembers it?

The Heart, Soul, and Doctrine of Hollywood

Was this to be an historic night? Some had predicted it to be Star Wars night. Threepio was a presenter. The main host, Bob Hope, had first hosted the awards in 1940, the year Gone With the Wind took eight Oscars. Bob seemed to know everyone and everything about Hollywood personalities, politics, and political correctness. That night was dominated by a new Hollywood culture, but some of the old blood was there on stage with Bob: Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Greer Garson, and Gregory Peck. Nominees included Soviet sympathizers Jane Fonda and Shirley MacLaine, and a defector who knew Soviet ways from the inside, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Spielberg was there, and was snubbed, as usual, but Lucas took home several technical awards for Star Wars . Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave gave a short, confused sermon about “Zionist hoodlums,” and someone told me later the predominant Jewish contingent in the audience gasped and booed. Later, a presenter reminded Redgrave that winning her Oscar was “not a pivotal moment in history.”

And yet every movie and movie event is important to history because of what it teaches an attentive public. That particular evening was the 50th Anniversary of an event that defined merit and excellence. It could have been a special year, a Jubilee year, set apart to truly honor great national achievements in the motion picture arts and sciences. The eyes of the nation were on the event, and especially on the award for The Big Oscars, those for Best Picture and Best Director. With these awards, the Academy sends a loud trumpet-blast of a signal. Filmmakers and film-goers alike learn what the Academy considers good, important, meritorious, and worthy of honor by the motion picture industry.

The award ceremony is even designed to build dramatic anticipation for the announcement of the Academy’s decision. Who would be most esteemed on the 50th Anniversary of the Oscars? Behind the scenes that night, there were sweaty palms, nervous glances, and fidgeting.

How Oscars Are Won

Oscars are awards of merit given by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There is a hierarchy at the Academy. A board of governors and associates nominate the movies they like with purpose. They judge these films carefully. Then the thousands of the tightly-controlled membership of the Academy — the Hollywood elite — vote for the nominated films they like best. They vote for what they value. They vote for what they love. They vote for what they believe best represents the worldview of the Hollywood ruling class.

For the 50th celebration, Star Wars came out on top for some awards in Motion Picture Sciences: set decoration, sound, editing, visual effects. But Motion Picture Arts are a special matter to the Academy. Art is an interpretation of culture. Culture is the external religion, the preferred external religion of a people, revealed in their values, seen in popular fashion, music, literature, ethical belief, standards of right and wrong, conversation, education, cases of law and the stories in feature films. For the Academy, the winning film must be good art: a good representation of the preferred beliefs of a culture. The Academy holds strong opinions about the preferred beliefs and reinforces a consistent opinion through the films they nominate. The Academy members vote for the cultural content they have learned to value and to love. They vote for the movies that reinforce everything about their way of faith and life.

So to whom did the Academy award the Big Oscars on their 50th Anniversary? The winner that year, for Best Picture, was — get ready to celebrate — a twisted little film about relationships and the pseudoscience of psychotherapy, by Woody Allen. The co-stars were neurotic serial fornicators who played neurotic serial fornicators in the movie. The story attempted to explain why real relationships are impossible and don’t really matter anyway. The director of that largely forgotten film received double honor that night: He was given the Oscar for Best Director. He is not a good director. The film was not a good film. But it was “Best Picture” according to the preferred theology of The Academy. The Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was sending out a very clear trumpet-blast to every filmmaker: This is what we esteem and value above every other professional effort. This is what we believe our worldwide audience needs to be learning.

After the secret was out of the envelope, the Hollywood elite relaxed a little, and their interactions were not unlike those of the winner’s co-stars: selfishly neurotic. Many of the attendees had spent the year competing viciously with one another for places on the lists of players. The forced cordiality ended, and the rest of the evening consisted not in celebration, but in desperate renewed efforts to be like the people in the winning film — to act like them, think like them, quarrel like them, and believe the same meaningless beliefs. This was the faith of Hollywood culture that year, and all who wanted to share in movie-making history, or movie-making fame, worked very hard to learn this faith and live by it.

Hollywood Disciples

When I use the term theology, I mean a systematic set of beliefs based on the will of a god. There is true theology, and a corrupt, deformed version that is the precise opposite. True theology is nothing less than the word of Almighty God. His will and His righteousness are perfectly consistent and unchanging. Hollywood theology, on the other hand, is the word of man, who is elevated to the position of highest authority, and always changing. One main message of Hollywood theology is that man can be and must be his own god, deciding for himself what is right and wrong, building his own theology on his own terms. This is why filmmakers who break away from true theology and exalt Hollywood theology are treated as gods in Hollywood. This is especially true of directors, but it is also true of others in the elite. It is considered an achievement worthy of honor and recognition to turn biblical theology on its head. In Hollywood, Woody Allen is a god. He knows Hollywood Theology, and he honors it with style.

Heaven and Hell Cannot Be Defined by Hollywood

Some filmmakers want Oscars more than they want character, integrity, and truth. Others want fame. They know the rules: conform theologically or forget being included as one of the glitterati. The rules are little different from those of the early Soviet film industry: conform to Soviet theology and the party line and help us mould the ideal unthinking Soviet man, or your film is not good art, and it will never see an audience. Many talented Soviet filmmakers took the easy road and betrayed reality, integrity, and truth in order to be part of the Soviet propaganda unit Goskino. They received rubles, honors, and awards for erasing Christian traditions all across the empire. They were treated as gods, like the filmmakers who will join Hollywood’s firmament of deities at the next Academy Awards ceremony on February 26th. On that Sunday night, Oscar Night, a fawning public will tune in again to get a glimpse into Hollywood Heaven.

I have a message for the American TV audience. You’ll not only get a glimpse; Oscar Night will showcase the entire scope of Hollywood Heaven. You’ll see all there is to see. There is nothing transcendent in the pageant or the people or the films. There’s an ordinary stage, a glitzy pulpit, bright lights, and the self-appointed gods and goddesses of a make-believe world. You’ll see self-aggrandizement, self-congratulation, and self-deception. Hollywood Heaven is a fraudulent alternative to reality. It is held together by morally timid professionals who might love to be free from it but are afraid to break out. They continue to go along with a game many of them know is corrupt.

A few years ago, a young man came to me for help with a script he was submitting to the Hollywood elite. He wanted in. He wanted to be a recognized, well-funded, history-changing filmmaker. But he was a professing Christian, and told me his biggest goal was not to win an Oscar but rather to “send Hollywood a message.” He believed that Hollywood was moving the nation and the world in a negative direction, and he thought his film’s Christian message would show Hollywood a thing or two about writing and producing movies.

I started to read his script, and here’s what I discovered.

He had chosen a great and truly biblical theme for his film: “Forcing oneself into worldly conformity will not bring happiness.” Then he padded it out with a number of other ideas he thought were necessary to make his film a Hollywood film. He added Hollywood theology:

• Businessmen are evil.
• Small country towns are depraved because they are so traditional.
• Work is to be avoided.
• Sex makes the world go ‘round.
• Men are stupid.
• Dads are dopey.
• Fornication is inevitable after the “Hollywood kiss.”
• License (libertinism) is virtuous. Man can be his own god unless he’s a clergyman.
• Rebellion is inherently cool.
• Selfish hedonism is a path to fulfillment and happiness.
• Sin is an outdated concept.
• Homosexuality is genetic.
• “Gays” should be celebrated fixtures of society.
• The State has a duty to provide a risk-free existence to its people.
• Characters who curse are necessary as a mark of honest reality in a script.

All these theological elements were added before the end of Act II, where I stopped reading. To be yet more graphic, the script included specific jokes that seemed to go out of their way to prove the writer’s familiarity with Hollywood’s idea of aesthetic humor, including potty jokes, the newest sex slang, comparisons of Reagan to Hitler, racial minorities dealing out violent arrogance to white Anglo-Saxon males, and the mocking of a famous Christian businessman.

Here is an interesting point about theology. The writer was a graduate of Bible school. The theme of this film is Biblical. Yet every doctrinal element in the film is faithful to a rival theology of a rival god. The Christian writer was glorifying man and honoring Hollywood theology. He did not realize this theology is antithetical to Christian culture. It is the key to building and sustaining an anti-Christian culture.

So what message was this writer sending Hollywood? I want to be as cool as you are and be a part of your world. Please call me a filmmaker and don’t count it against me if I pretend to be a Christian. See what great, cool Hollywood movies I can make in the name of Hollywood? Please give me a seat at your table.

This is a treasonous message of surrender. If I had to summarize Hollywood theology in a phrase, I would say it is a very attractive lie. It glorifies man as the highest moral agent, with all authority to be his own god, determining for himself any ethical rules he wants. He can call ugliness beauty, evil good, or falsehood truth. It teaches that irresponsible filmmaking is no big deal — certainly not a theological thing — it’s just entertainment.

So many filmmakers have grown up with this theology they don’t realize it is theology. They think it is simply the way the world is. Well, it is the way the world is now, thanks to the influence of movies, but this is not the culture that anyone should reinforce through cinematic example. This theology is deformed, twisted, and corrupt, but there is a cinematic alternative.

A Prelude to Greatness

About the Hollywood elite, Director Frank Capra once observed, “We learn about life from each other’s pictures.” It has been a long time since the movies have shown us a picture of true heroism. Movies have taught us it is normal to be moral cowards. Movies have discipled us into a common faith. A great library of darkness has despoiled a once-great people, starting with the Hollywood elite. Americans now find the murky world of cinema to be more real than God.

Here are some important questions Americans should be asking during Oscar weekend in 2012: What might happen if a group of heroic filmmakers resolved to break away from bankrupt Hollywood theology to build a library of films that could inspire a nation to honesty, virtue, courage, humility, and the honor of God instead the honor of men?

What if a new library of films began to repair America’s broken understanding of true theology? What if honest filmmakers began learning about real life from each others’ creative endeavors? What if their films replaced pop doctrine with the genuine article?

Answer: The spell of Hollywood Theology would be broken, and cinema could go back to artistic honesty and creativity. Cinema could be brought back under the legitimate authority of the true Sovereign of the universe, Jesus Christ. And there would be something to celebrate in cinema.

The Night Before the Oscars: A Jubilee Celebration

On the night of February 25th — the night before Oscar Night — a revolutionary group of filmmakers will be gathering 1,300 miles from Hollywood to celebrate a reality that is the opposite of Hollywood’s carnival of deception. These filmmakers will be celebrating the courage of their professional peers in creating a library of independent films that frame the direct antithesis to dishonest filmmaking.

Visionary Doug Phillips has organized a professional Film Festival that has thrown open the door to a new era of cinematic history. The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is pointing the way to cinematic reformation by being bluntly honest about the arts and sciences of filmmaking. From the beginning of its history, the SAICFF was boldly truthful about the messages that should be communicated in cinema, as well as in cinematic awards of merit.

The SAICFF rests its policies on the one fixed standard of merit which is based squarely on the unchanging systematic theology of the Bible. Many filmmakers see this standard and say, “Why did no one ever show us this before?” Filmmakers know, deep down, that every film teaches theology, and now they know how important it is to get one’s theology right. Now they know which system of theology can give their films a foundation of honesty, integrity, and real freedom of creativity. It is the SAICFF that has set filmmakers free from the straightjacket of Hollywood Theology and introduces them to real creative freedom. It is fitting that Doug Phillips calls the highest award for merit “The Jubilee Award.” Every acknowledgment of a winner is a trumpet-blast, proclaiming liberty to an industry long held hostage by moral confusion.

The SAICFF receives hundreds of film submissions to each year’s festival. Most of the works demonstrate the long-misplaced reality that there is a transcendent theology of right and wrong, courage and cowardice, pride and humility. Filmmakers are learning, little-by-little, that there is a stark distinction between the pop doctrines of Hollywood theology and the freedom-giving standard represented clearly in the Bible. It is for this reason that winners of Jubilee Awards are as different as their films. They are not trying to be gods, and they are not expecting to be treated as gods. They are honored to be recognized as responsible communicators and cultural ambassadors of the great Creator Himself.

http://westernconservatory.org/article/2012/02/difference-between-oscar-and-jubilee-award

Where have all the REAL men gone?

“The Story is about the son of King Louis XVI of
France. King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned.
His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king.
They thought that inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the
throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize
the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him.
They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the
lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. They
exposed him to foods the richness of which would quickly make him a
slave to appetite. They used vile language around him constantly.
They exposed him to lewd and lusting women. They exposed him to
dishonor and distrust. He was surrounded 24 hours a day by
everything that could drag the soul of a man as low as one could
slip.
For over six months he had this treatment—but not once did the
young lad buckle under pressure. Finally, after intensive
temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to
these things—why had he not partaken? These things would provide
pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his.
The boy only replied, “I cannot do what you ask for I was born to be a king.”

This story is so rare, and rich, that I am hyperventilating. Where have all the REAL men gone? A man like this cannot be bought for all the world has to offer.  – M. Renata

If I wanted America to Fail

Amen. ~Nechet

What is the object of your love?

“The most ravishing pleasures, the most solid and substantial delights that human nature is capable of, are those which arise from the endearments of a well-placed and successful affection.

And when the pleasures of a “well-placed” affection are unsurpassed, it’s excellency is revealed. For the excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.

Without doubt, for human beings the affection of love is “well-placed” when placed in God.”

- John Piper (ThePleasuresOfGod)

- Moriah Renata

What Will They Say To Say To Shadrach, Meshach, And Abednego?

By Chuck Baldwin

May 10, 2012

Archived column:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/archives/4823

Let me start with a story. A man who had survived the great Johnstown
flood died and went to Heaven. And not long after, all of the
inhabitants of Heaven were allowed to take center stage and tell
everyone about the most significant event that had happened to them
while on Earth. The man couldn’t wait to tell everyone about his
surviving the great Johnstown flood. After a long wait in line, it was
finally his turn. The man was so excited to tell everyone his story.
But just as he was climbing the stairs to the platform, an angel
leaned over to him and whispered, “Don’t forget; Noah is in the
audience.”

I am reminded of that story when I read the Scriptural passage in
Hebrews 12: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses.” The witnesses the Apostle speaks of are
the great champions who have gone on before us, which are mentioned in
chapter eleven. Included by implication in the great “Hall of
Faith” of Hebrews 11 are the three young Hebrews: Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego (verse 34, “Quenched the violence of fire.”)

So, what was it that got these three young men included in this list
that along with the likes of Abraham, Moses, and David? You’ll find
their story in Daniel chapter three. In a nutshell, they refused to
bow down to the image of the king. In other words, THEY DISOBEYED A
CIVIL GOVERNMENT THAT HAD BECOME TYRANNICAL. And for refusing to
submit to the king, they were thrown into a burning fiery furnace.

Come to think of it, many of the people named in the Hebrews 11
“Hall of Faith” got there because of civil disobedience. Speaking
of Moses, the Scripture says, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king.” So, when did Moses forsake Egypt?
When he killed the Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Hebrew slave
to death. That’s when!

Rahab is also mentioned in this Biblical “Hall of Faith.” Who was
Rahab, and what did she do? She was a prostitute who lied to
government soldiers and helped the Hebrew spies escape the city of
Jericho. Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthae are also listed. Who are
they, and what did they do? They were men who led armed rebellions
against oppressive governments to which they had been subject.

Daniel is inferred in Hebrews 11 when it says, “Stopped the mouths
of lions.” What did he do? He refused to submit to his civil
government when commanded to not pray aloud (for only thirty days).
And for refusing to submit to his government, he was cast into a den
of hungry lions. Yes, God delivered Daniel from the lions and the
three young Hebrews from the burning furnace of fire. But the point
is, they each DISOBEYED civil government, and God brags on them for it
in Hebrews 11.

So, what are all these “Romans 13-ers” going to say to Daniel,
Moses, and Gideon when they get to Heaven? What are they going to say
to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? What are they going to say to
those men who “overthrew kingdoms” (Heb. 11:33), “waxed valiant
in combat” (vs. 34), and “turned to flight . . . armies”?
(Armies are government-sanctioned, government-supported,
government-ordered entities–vs. 34.)

I cannot count the number of times I have heard some TV or radio
preacher say something to the effect, “Well, I’m glad we were
given freedom here in the United States, but our Founding Fathers were
wrong to rebel against the British Crown. According to Romans 13, they
should have submitted to King George.” Barf! Gag! Spit! What
hypocrisy!

To all of the Romans 13 Pharisees out there, I say, if you are really
going to believe and preach that garbage, at least be honest enough to
stop celebrating Independence Day on July 4. It was the day when men
became traitors to Great Britain and officially declared a
revolutionary war. And stop flying the Stars and Stripes in your
church auditoriums. It was the flag of rebellion. How dare you say
America’s founders violated Romans 13 in one breath and with the
next breath say you thank God for the freedom that was purchased AT
THE SACRIFICE OF THE BLOOD OF THE MEN YOU SAY VIOLATED ROMANS 13!
Pardon me, but I just cannot think of anything that is more
hypocritical than that!

And remember this about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: it was AFTER
they disobeyed their king and were thrown into the furnace of fire
that they met the Son of God. It was King Nebuchadnezzar who said,
“I see four men loose . . . the fourth is like the Son of God.”
(Daniel 3:25)

Think about it: where did Moses meet the Lord? In the wilderness by a
burning bush after he had defied Egyptian tyranny by killing an
Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Hebrew slave to death. Where did
Gideon meet the Lord? In a threshing floor as he willowed his grain in
defiance of evil civil authority. When did Stephen meet the Lord? When
political and religious leaders were stoning him to death for refusing
to submit to their iniquitous injunctions. And think of this, too:
where did the Lord Jesus meet man? On a bloody Roman cross–being
placed there by the civil and religious rulers of His day.

Most Christians today are looking to meet the Lord in a heated or air
conditioned church sanctuary with padded pews and ornate windows, with
an orchestra playing and a choir singing, and fried chicken waiting
for them after the service. But that’s not where you’re going to
find the Fourth Man.

When you resist the religious Pharisees who are trying to intimidate
and coerce you into submitting to their legalism and tyranny, then you
will see the Fourth Man. When you resist the power establishment that
demands that you accept their politically correct philosophies and
ideologies, then you will see the Fourth Man. When you refuse to be
bought, bribed, or bullied by the “good old boy” network that
seeks to control you, then you will see the Fourth Man. When you
resist your family and friends who try to shame you into abandoning
the principles of liberty and freedom that God, Himself, has planted
in your heart, then you will see the Fourth Man. When you are
threatened and persecuted and you say, “I must obey God rather than
men,” then you will see the Fourth Man.

Do you really think you’re going to find the One who went to a
bloody cross in a meadow of roses? The only roses He knew were the
ones whose thorns were smashed on his skull. You won’t find him in a
garden, unless it’s the Garden of Gethsemane. You’ll find the One
who went to the Cross in the same place that Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego found Him: in the Burning Fiery Furnace.

God said told us that when we pass through the floodwaters, and when
we walk through the fire, we would find Him to be with us. (Isaiah
43:2)

Of course, let me be careful to say that real Christians are
peacemakers. They desire to live a quiet and peaceable life with their
neighbors, their civil authorities, and even with other nations. They
readily recognize and respect lawful, God-ordained authority. But, at
the same time, they will not surrender that which is holy and give it
to swine! They absolutely will not become toadies for unlawful
government that attempts to usurp the God-given authority and
jurisdiction to which it has been divinely assigned!

I am often reminded of this quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “There are,
I am sorry to say, many Temples in our midst in this country which are
no better than brothels.”

Gandhi’s quote could be said of many so-called churches in America
today, for they, too, have become little more than glorified brothels
that pimp for the government. “Submit! Obey! Don’t resist!” they
constantly preach. I wonder what they will say one day to Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego?

 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” ~Matythew 5:10-12

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” ~James 1:2-4

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” ~James 1:12

 

~Nechet

Be inspired

A few days ago my dad received an email from some friends at our other church informing us that their daughter had won an essay contest. But not just any essay contest. It was a national essay contest with nearly 4,000 entries. It was with Fox Business News’ John Stossel and Stossel in the Classroom and was entitled “Politicians’ Top 10 Promises Gone Wrong”. She one first place, received the $1,500 prize, a check signed by Stossel, a book autographed by Stossel, a press release, and won an all-expense paid, three-day trip to New York City for three. The other top four winners were all homeschooled. Here is the link to her essay and the other four: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/essaycontest.php?

This girl is only thirteen.

She has always been in classes. From writing to painting, she was the homeschooler that aced everything. From what I know, she has been in writing contests for a while. I don’t believe she has ever won anything like this before. It goes to support the ‘if at first you don’t succeed’ saying.

“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” ~Proverbs 22:29

This girl inspires me to excel. We should give our all to Christ, our very best. We as Christians should be the best at everything, because Christ deserves our best. We should write better, speak with clarity, and have better quality films (a pet peev of mine), not to name a few.

And it should not be about us, or what we can do. It is about Christ and what He can do through us. 1 Corinthians 1:27 “Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Related articles

• John Stossel on the Myth That Government Creates Jobs (reason.com)

xoxoxo

My baby……(brother) Now if this doesn’t just sum up what cute is, I don’t know what does.

- Moriah Renata