Darker?

I had planned on doing a post on my spiritual birthday (which is today-31 years!), but then I saw something that grabbed my interest....it was an article on AOL that asked the question: ""What's Hollywood Trying to Tell Us?" about the summer movies now becoming "darker"....and it got me to thinking....maybe it's not the movies that have gotten "darker", but the people behind the movies that have become that way...and that the movies are just a reflection of their darker attitude....

You see...the darker attitude that I talk about comes about with the rejection of the Truth, which brings true satisfaction and peace into people's lives...and when that happens; people look for something to fill the void...such as sex, alcohol, drugs, etc....and the problem is that usually those things both don't fill the void and end up destroying the person.....and in those cases where the person is not destroyed; they still feel empty no matter how "happy" they feel and look on the outside. So what happens then? They then try go "harder" and "darker" in order to fill that need, the problem...the further away you get from the Truth the emptier you become and those "harder" and "darker" things don't satisfy and the vicious cycle begins again....The other thing that happens is that a "callous" starts to form, keeping  them from the Truth and rejecting it in every form.....

The cycle continues until one of two things happen, total destruction that is beyond repair or the callous gets ripped off and the person comes to the truth.....But what is true of a person who goes through this cycle is true of a nation...If you notice in the 1960's we decided to reject the Truth in many different ways....and decided to "experiment" with many different things to try to give us a feeling of euphoria and feeling of peace....However if you look at the results of said "experiments", they have failed and we are reaping the results of those failures....So what did we do? We fulfilled a saying that I grew up with: "What one generation allows in moderation, the next excuses in excess"....

The things that "satisfied" in the 1960's didn't "satisfy" the people of the 80's, so they decided to go further in their "experimentation"....and now we are reaping the results of those failures, and the "callous" started to form against the Word, Truth, etc...(of course, we [believers & the church] didn't help when our focus started going toward being entertained, our leaders got involved in financial and sexual scandals, etc....) And now the cycle continues here in the early 21st century...the things that "satisfied" in the 80's, don't do the "job" now and the time that was before the rejection of God has been ridiculed and thought of as being from "another world".....And the callous has gotten harder...anytime one tries to bring up the Truth (or "truth-lite" that is taught in a lot of churches today), they are ridiculed, called names, their intelligence is questioned, etc....(and we don't help things when we compromise with the world, teach doctrine that has nothing to do with the Word [thinking of a congregation in Kansas], etc...)

So there is going to come a time soon where one of two things are going to happen....either this country (secular and spiritual) is going to have to rip the callous off....or we are going to face total destruction....the choice is ours, which one are we going to choose?

A solid thought

Yesterday was the reunion of all of the people from the old San Antonio Bible Center (later Church) and in the midst of all the fun, revelry, and catching up, came something that was best said by Lee Patton, and that was it is getting rarer that we are having solid Biblical teaching being brought from the pulpit...and now that I look back over the past 30 years of my Christian walk, I find that in all the churches that I have been a member of, there has been one constant, and that is solid Biblical teaching being brought from the pulpit...

I don't remember any "entertainment" or "things that please itching ears" ever being brought by Richard Haynes at San Antonio Bible Church, by Pastor Diaz at Theo Avenue Baptist Church, or by Randy Shapiro at Beth Simcha....all that was brought was solid teaching brought from the Word of God. Now there may have been a difference in style of bringing the Word, but never a difference in the fact that it WAS the Word of God being taught....

And you know, thinking about it, maybe it was because of these influences, that whenever I am privileged to bring the Word, that it is solid teaching that I choose to do....like I said, it may be in a different style than the men I mentioned, but when it comes down to it, what is most important is that it is the WORD that is brought forth; not my opinion or what I think people want to hear, but what the WORD says that people need to hear.

And also, had I been "entertained" or catered to, I don't really believe I would have survived 2008...I probably would have been angry at God, maybe suicidal...who knows, but because I was on a firm foundation of teaching....the winds may have blown, but I was not blown over....so thank you all who remained faithful to solid teaching!

And my advice is that if you are reading this and are not getting solid Biblical teaching....get to a place that does....so that your faith will become firm and be able to stand against the winds of change, doubt and crisis.....

Reunions

In the next two weeks or so I will be attending two reunions...on the 16th I will be attending a gathering of old friends from San Antonio Bible Church (the first church that I ever attended....has it really been 30 years????) and then on the 30th I will be attending the 20th anniversary of CBS, my current home congregation...in which we should have some of the old CBS people stopping by.....

But this is just a warm-up for the ultimate reunion, when all of us gather before the throne of Jesus and have a celebration such as never having been seen....just think of all the people that will be there and stories that we will be listening to.....from those who everyone will want to hear from, Peter, Paul, John and the other disciples, to people that we knew-in my case men like Richard Haynes (my first pastor),  Doug Kuehn, Michael Adler (who just went to be home with the Lord last week), Billy Ray Thomas, etc...

And the great thing is that unlike those other reunions, I won't have to wear a name tag so that people would remember me....we all will be known as we are known....and the other thing is that we won't have to worry about pains, bad eyesight, memory loss etc....because as it says in Revelation: "the former things (all of the stuff that we are going through now) have passed away....What joy is that!

and to get you ready for it....here is "Family Reunion" by DeGarmo and Key....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrLhgBPxSg