F is for Freedom

Here are some quotes I found while looking online under "freedom". As I read these quotes and others, I realized that I take my freedom for granted so much.I hope these tidbits (and those you can find at the links on the bottom of this post) remind you too of our precious freedom, given to us by our forefathers,and put into our trust to keep passing down. "It's not about us..."-- Herman Cain.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

~Ronald Reagan

The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world.~George H.W. Bush

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.
~Thomas Campbell

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.~Author unknown

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
~Franklin D.Roosevelt

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.
~Moshe Dayan

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.
~Charles Kingsley

Freedom is never free.
~Author Unknown

These quotes were taken from these three websites:

www.notable-quotes.com
www.brainyquote.com
www.quotegarden.com

Easy Believism Is Wrong

I thought I would take a break from my A-Z blog challenge to talk about something that my Dad and I have been reading in our weekly Bible/ book study.  Easy believism says that if one accepts Christ as Savior, it's not necessary to embrace Him as Lord. Simply put, this is heresy!  Scripture says in Romans 10:9a, " that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. " Scripture doesn't lie folks! Jesus is Lord! Now that we've established this, we can look at Romans 10:13 which says, "...whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  This easy believism also encourages being a "carnal" Christian.  More heresy!!  Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we were DEAD in our sins, but Christ made us ALIVE.  In verses 8-9 the Bible tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast."  WITHOUT JESUS AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, WE WILL DO NOTHING BUT SIN!  In verse 10 it says that, "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  The reality is that if we don't embrace Christ as Lord and choose to be a "carnal" Christian, we aren't taking up our crosses (like Luke 9:23 instructs us), we aren't following Christ, and we aren't saved!

E is for Evidence Against Evolution

Where do I begin! There is so much I could write! Let's start out simple. I'm going to share two reasons why evolution can't be true and at the same time give evidence for the God of the Bible creating everything by His powerful word.

1.     Venus' (the planet) rotation.
    

If the "Big Bang" theory was true, everything would be propelled into the same direction in their rotation, but Venus and a few other planets rotate the wrong way! They rotate the opposite way than every other planet because that's the way GOD made it.

2.     Earth's magnetic field.

The earth's magnetic field continually protects us from solar and stellar radiation that would continually cause damage to life.  Thus, it's presence is essential to life.  Studies have been done that show since 1835 the magnetive force of the earth has decreased by 7% giving it a half life of 1,400 years meaning that "in 1,400 years it will be one-half as strong, in 2,800 years it will be one-fourth as strong, and so on.  There will be a time not many thousands of years distant when the field will be too small to perform as a viable shield for the earth.  Calculating back into the past, the present measurements indicate that 1,400 years ago the field was twice as strong. It continues doubling each 1,400 years back, until about 10,000 years ago it would've been so strong the planet would've disintegrated.........The inescapable conclusion we can draw is that the earth must be fewer than 10,000 years old."*  There are countless more facts that can be used to prove the falseness of evoluton, and even though evolutionists will try to make us believe otherwise, we know that our all-powerful God created these facts, and others, to show just a teeny-tiny bit of His power and glory.     Our God is amazing!!!

**

*Taken from Dr. John Morris' column in the magazine: Acts & Facts 

**Picture taken from Eddie Eddings' blog: Calvinistic Cartoons -- www.calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com 

D is for Dog, Of Which I Have Two

For a long time I had wanted a good-sized, strong and playful dog. Especially one that could play tug-of-war.

Now I own two very big Saint Bernard/ Australian Shepherd dogs. Even though they're not yet one year old, they're too big to be called puppies. One is a female and her name is Mello, and the other is a male named Yello. You guessed it, we named them after the soda: Mello Yello.

When we bought our dogs, they were little fluff balls and I thought they were cute..........I was deceived! Now our dogs are bigger than I am if they stand on their hind legs. They knock down fences, eat palm trees, grass, and water bottles ( the plastic ), and produce the grossest slobber/slime. On top of all of that, they go through a huge dog food bag in about two weeks!

In the morning we water our grass in the back yard. As soon as we turn on the water, Mello and Yello leap into the air, land right next to a sprinkler, and give themselves a shower. That's not so bad you might say and I would agree. It's what they do afterwards that I can't stand. They go and play in the dirt as a special gift to the unlucky kid who must turn off the water. (We tried putting up a chicken wire fence around our small used-to-be garden, but they just step over it. Mind you it's not a little fence! Now it's just dirt.....and their supply of ammo).  As soon as one of us opens the door they run over to us, wipe their faces on our pants, and give us a mud bath.

Don't get the wrong impression though, I love having two big dogs. I just don't like cleaning them (We really end up cleaning ourselves!), feeding them, or waking up to their whimpering and barking at 5:00 in the morning. But hey, who am I to complain? At least they play tug-of-war!

C is for Crazy

As most of you already know, our Govorner Jerry Brown has signed SB 48. This bill "[prohibits] discriminatory instruction and materials against certain categories of people from being adopted by the State Board of Education." These "certain peoples" are gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders. In other words, these legislators are going to make up history, and include these materials in non-opt out history classes! Such lies would include that George Washington, a devout Christian and a founding father of this country, actually had a gay side to him! This is lunchmeat!!! There is no possible evidence to support this idea! In order to postpone the action of this bill until another vote is taken, we must collect 550,000 petition signatures. PLEASE go to http://www.stopsb48.com/, and print out the petition or just sign it right there on the webpage.

B is for Banned Belief

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that America has been taken over by Communists. The Communist leader has banned anything to do with Christianity.  Believers that still meet for church services must come together in secret places like underground tunnels. You are attending one of these church services when all of a sudden, Communist soldiers rush in and order everyone to get on the ground. One by one they execute those who won't denounce the Christ's name. You watch men, women, and children bravely face their death, while others cower away after rejecting their faith to keep their life. Now a soldier walks up to you, puts a gun on your head, and says, "Are you a Christian?"

        

Now stop imagining. Would you associate yourself with those people under the ban, or would you deny your faith?  It's a hard question about which I often find myself thinking. Would I die for Christ?  While some have a definite answer to this question, others question themselves. Christ gave His life in the worst death one could have, which is crucifixion, so that we, the sinners, could live forever with Him, the God of all creation, forever in paradise!  How could we do less than give our fleeting vapor of a life for Christ's sake?

A is for Albania



This is Albania's flag

Albania is a small country that borders Greece, Macedona, Serbia, and Montenegro.  It has coasts on the Ionian and Adriatic Seas.  It is less than 45 miles from Italy. 

This country is very poor and one out of every three children dies of hunger.  Hospitals have very little equipment and medicine.  And the orphanages are over-flowing because parents can't even afford to feed their own children! 

The transportation consists of bicycles or wooden carts attached to either a horse or a donkey.   Every once and a while there will be a motored vehicle going down the street, but those belong to the very wealthy. 

Albania's history is very fascinating and consists of a dictator, Communism rule, and persecution of Christians and Muslims. In 1944 the country was taken over by Communists and was ruled by Enver Hoxha who banned anything to do with Christianity or the Muslim religion.  He outlawed the teaching of Jesus and God, prayer, and even banned the use of Christian or Muslim first names for the people's children! What a wicked ruler! 

In 1991 the Communists lost control of the country and the people established a new government, but their troubles didn't end there. In fact, in parts of Albania the struggle for life still continues to this day. Despite their hard times, the people are happy because they are now free to worship as they please and to tell others about their faith.  Please keep these people in your prayers.

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                     

Generation Joshua

"The Vision of Generation Joshua is to assist parents to raise up the next generation of Christian leaders and citizens, equipped to positively influence the political processes of today and tomorrow."

Generation Joshua is a program that is put on by HSLDA [Home School Legal Defense Association] to teach teenagers about the importance of standing up for what is right to make a difference in local and national government. They teach about the values of leadership and being good stewards with what God has given us to do. 

It's a very neat program that I plan to be involved in soon. Visit their website at: http://www.generationjoshua.org/ .

HUMILIATION

This was taken out of a book called Valley of Vision , a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions compiled by Arthur Bennett.

SOVEREIGN LORD,

When clouds of darkness, atheism, and unbelief come to me,

   I see thy purpose of love

   in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize him more,

   in chastening for my confidence in past successes,

   that my wound of secret godlessness might be cured.

Help me to humble myself before thee

   by seeing the vanity of honour as a conceit of men’s minds,

        as standing between me and thee;

   by seeing that thy will must alone be done

       as much in denying as giving spiritual enjoyments;

   by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil,

       mind, mouth, life void of thee;

   by that sin and Satan are allowed power in me

       that I might know my sin, be humbled, and gain strength thereby;

   by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me,

       so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy, or love.

Then possess me, for thou art only good and worthy.

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin,

Satan did not play in tempting me into it,

I do not play when I sink in deep mire,

    for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble;

Let me never forget the heinousness of sin

      lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed,

           as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me, by showing me

      that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,

           but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied;

      that I am feeble and unable to do any good,

           but that in him I can do all things;

      that what I now have in Christ is mine in part,

           but shortly I shall have it perfectly in heaven.