Was blind, but now, I see...

I feel the need to write this post in rebuke to my own actions, for the credit I have taken throughout my life for the things which I have done... These things which I have taken as my own doing have become sinful, not because the acts themself were sinful, but because they were either done for my own glory, or without giving proper credit to the Inspiration. I rebuke myself because I am the only one whom I may rightly judge. I know my own heart, as does God, and I know that it strays from him. 

Also, when I say things which are condemnatory towards others, although I strive not to and have not done so purposefully, this is amongst the greatest of sins, because it presumes that I know their hearts and their intentions, and also that I am to be the judge of sins. God alone is my judge and the judge of all peoples and nations. If I have ever said to any of you that the only way which we can judge men is by the word of the Scripture, that is true, but with a condition or two. Those conditions are that the person is in the process of repentance and reconizes their own sinful nature, and the second is that we ourselves understand the true nature and definition of sin. It is a thing which I struggle with more than any other problem, because I struggle with sin more than any other crisis in my life. In the end of my dwelling in this worldly body, it is not by the actions and pronunciations of others that I will be judged, I will be judged by my own actions, my own intentions, my own heart, and I will be found wanting, away from God by virtue of my sinful ways, but it matters not. I have a Saviour, bearing the marks of my sin for me, in His perfect sacrifice. All my sins are washed away by His blood, and I am free of the wages of sin, now and forever. Thank you for this gift Lord! We are free!

In this, I rejoice, and say to you all, hallelujah! All praise be to the Lord, for we are free, and we wll dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. To those who have seen oppression by those who claimed to follow God with their mouths even as they slaughtered His people with their hands and trampled them with their feet, I say to you that I am truly sorry. These people whom you have witnessed never knew my God, my God was distant from them as they did this, my God could not even look at those who killed others this way. The Crusades, fought in the name of our Father and the Son, were never meant to be. The Inquisitions were carried out by men who forgot His divine words. It matters not if a man can quote scripture left and right, all hours of the day. Watch his actions, and you will know truly what he believes, those who practice aggression certainly have never seen my God, or have turned away from him. 

In the same vain, those who condemn with their tongues also have never heard my God. My God said do not judge, lest by the same standard you will be judged. To those who stand on the Oval and yell condemnations and damnations at "freaks," "sinners," and "whores," I say to you that when you search your heart, you will find all the same temptations as they have, but what you will hopefully find, recessed in your soul, is the Word which you knew so long ago, which taught you to love unconditionally and with prior agenda or hope of personal reward. If you are so concerned about their sins, live amongst them always, making sure that the Word never leaves their presence. They wll not give up their sinful ways without being shown God's love first. We are the vessels by which God demonstrates his love to others.

I have a friend, who recently said something which disturbed me, that there were evangelists out there who would only preach the "lovey-dovey stuff," the grace, redemption by faith, love for all part of the message of God. I ask, what other message is there? He tells us to turn from our sinful ways, and we try, but we all fail. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, and without Him, we could continue to do so. I see no message of pain or punishment in the Bible, because he gives us a way out of all of that, by which we may all be saved and never fear anything of this world or punishment again. No one who actually understood the Word could ever turn away from God, it is not possible. I say that if you see a man who is struggling with sin, and does not understand it, take pity on him, and help him understand. We would all say that it is right to take pity on a man and help him physically, but if that man was struggling with the spirit and rebelled against God, it is all too tempting to rebuke him and say that he has made his choice, now let him live with it. I am myself extremely guilty of this, and I would like to ask for the same as I am asking for others. If you see me led astray, would you not do as a good shepherd should and stop me if you can? I do not usually resist or protest when others try to help, only when they scorn, which is generally true among men, and those who do resist when helped are in need of most help, for they are most lost, and need the kindest, calmest, most patient devotion which can be mustered.

I would like to leave you tonight with a message about my language. I put no value in the language that I use. If it inspires anyone to follow God, should they consider some of it beautiful, so be it. God has granted me my language and voice, and I give all credit to him. My words may seem outdated at times, too long at others, still other times my language may seem too simple, or too vulgar for the purpose. I speak in the tongue of those around me in everyday conversation, because it helps noone to speak differently and it makes understanding difficult at times to people of different levels of vocabulary. However, when I talk to God and myself, I use the purest language I can find. It is neither more delicate and elegant, nor more straightforward and simple than it is in my head. You can be assured that I do greatly enjoy using such flowery language, it is enjoyable and beautiful for me. I apologize if it comes off in a different way than it is intended to. 

Dear God, be with me. Reveal yourself to me in all of your creation, reveal the beauty of everything in your world to me. Let me follow you always, never straying even for a minute, to look back at the life I once lead amongst the things of this world. Let me never question your purpose in me, but rather never stop looking for things to do which glorify your name. Thank you, dear Lord, for everything you have given me. Thank you for hard-learned lessons, thank you for information which you easily revealed. Thank you for sending your Son, and thank you for your Servants who found me and told me how You had set me free. Thank you for all the blessings which your servants bestowed upon me in your name, and thank you that I may take part in your Great Commission. All praise that I have in this world to give is yours, now and forever. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Logic behind Socialism or Social democracy

It occured to me as I was doing a reading today for my Western Civilization course. I am reading about the rise of the National Socialist Workers' Party (for those of you who didn't know that the Nazis were also socialists, please read Mein Kampf. I've never found a reason to read it through myself, but it will make itself apparent...). The obvious had escaped my notice a while, although it took me to little surprise. I was in the part which explains the ideological background of the NSDAP, which was primitive at best. It was, however, based on a more radical form of Marxism which involved controlling people as well as the means of production. As I read about the other socialist and social democratic movements which sprang up at the time, the main point of this blog post occured to me, so, finally, drum roll please... ... ...

The reason why a person becomes a socialist is that they believe that this physical body that they are living in has importance, is good, and should be sustained for as long as possible!

(In the Nazi party, they believed this about the collective State, not the individuals in it...)

I feel the need to cite my sources before I go on too much further, although the Bible is an easy book to cite, I want to do it before I forget. Actually, let me come back to that, seeing as how I have class in 45 minutes. I shall return for scriptural citation, but God says that we should not fear those who can only kill the body, but to fear those who can kill the spirit and the body. The irony in this is that many a Christian focuses on ways to consistently improve the condition of themselves and others, usually unselfishly, but unfortunately many times this comes in vain. God did say to love, and also that he would take care that those who open their hearts would hear His word, that we should not worry about who converts and who does not, for that is a decision between them and God. I cannot help but feel however, that a life of service to others and unselfish love is betrayed if it is not accompanied by the spread of the Word. Without this, men will surely remain dead, and although their bodies will be comfortable, they will never know the glory of God, which is far worse than a miserable earthly life followed by an Eternity with God!

My point is this, continue to love and to work for your fellow man, but make sure that you give credit where it is due, if you work for the Lord, communicate to those for whom you work in whose name you have done these things. Give credit to he who freed you to do such things, even when it is dangerous or unpopular. Let every child, every village, every nation understand who it is who has the power to truly save their souls, as you have saved their bodies. I also understand that it is ironic that I write this, because I am not a works-focused evangelist. I love to do works but I constantly find myself wrapped up in other things, in preparation for years and works to come. My works are works of voice and of writing, of speech and of debate, of compassion and of ministry. In this way I would like to thank those who continue to work hard to benefit the lives of others, they truly are blessed. Please, do not take these words which I have written as rebuke for those who labor for the love of others, but rather words of warning of what can go wrong when you minister through actions. I simply say this, make sure that your words align with your actions, which I know are righteous before the Lord, because he said that when you give to the least of His people, you also give to Him. I mean only to say that those people need the water which gives life far more than they need the water which sustains the body, because the body will die, with or without water, but the soul will surely perish with His living water. Hand them the bread of His body as you dispense the bread of wheat and flour. And, do all this to glorify his name, that his flock may return to him. 

This is my reason for being against socialism, in that it includes those of other faiths and of no faith being forced to do "good works" which do not glorify God's name. Christians are more than willing to give to help others, but I do not believe that the state should force this. This explains my problems with it. If there are out there Christian socialists who propose a Christian socialist voluntary state, which does not force people to do things, but rather helps them on their way to salvation by keeping their bodies fed and comfortable, all the while praising God's name in the process, that is perfectly legitimate philosophy to me. However, I know, personally, no Christian socialists, just socialists who happen to be Christian, or vice versa. This explains my problem with secular socialism. It is secular socialism with which I have many problems and complaints.

Thank you God for everything that you have given to me, and the oppurtunity to live and love amongst others of Your flock, thank you for the knowledge that I have, and I ask for as much as you wish me to have. If I speak against Your word, rebuke me, if I speak Your word truly, make my lungs hearty, Your voice clear, and Your words powerful. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.