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Why American should repent

Why America Should Repent

                                                                                                      

 

     Because America was founded on Christian principles (see https://bsssb-llc.com/blog19-is-america-a-christian-nation/), it has become the greatest nation on Earth. The American government, private Christians and groups (like World Vision) are the first people to aid countries hurt by national disasters and famines. We were the bulwark against fascism in WWII and against Communism in the Cold War. Back then, we were more biblically based than we are now. We have sent more christian missionairies around the world than any other nation in history. These missionaries have brought physical & spiritual health to people that the world had forgotten.

     And we expressed it publicly in our Declaration of Independence.  But we have forgotten God. Many people are convinced that America always was a secular nation. There’s an old saying that says, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must like man, undergo the fatigue of supporting it”. The British statesman, Sir Edmund Burke, said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.

     Yes, America was and is a great nation. But America has never been perfect. It took a Civil War to get rid of slavery. Even then, Jim Crow laws ruled in the southern states until 1965. In the 19th century, we treated the Indians very unfairly. But lately, its gotten even worse. We’ve accepted abortion and over 60 million human beings have lost their life to it. Some states just put laws on the books that call for the killing of newborn babies if the abortion went wrong. We are celebrating men who identify and dress up as women and vice versa. Some of us accept the homosexual lifestyle even though the bible calls it sin. Many people marry, knowing that if it doesn’t work out well, they can get a divorce. Over 50% of men struggle with a pornography addiction. We are in the process of sliding down a moral slippery slope. We have forgotten how to repent as a nation even though we have many such examples in the bible. Read Jonah 3:1-10  Jeremiah 15:19-21  Ezekiel 18:30-32  Acts 17:30 & 26:19-20.

     The Scottish historian and University of Edinburgh Professor Alexander Tytler wrote (in 1787 A.D.) that “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote largess out of the public treasury”. This is exactly what’s happening in America right now.  The average democracy lifespan is about 200-250 years before it falls apart. Our democracy is about 230 years old. The cycles of a democracy are;
– from bondage to spiritual freedom
– from spiritual freedom to great courage
– from great courage to liberty
– from liberty to abundance
– from abundance to selfishness
– from selfishness to apathy
– from apathy to dependence
– from dependence to bondage again

     America is NOT a democracy (we’re a constitutional republic), yet the people act as if we are. Just one of our problems is our national debt.
Our debt, as a nation, is;
– 1994  4.5 trillion$                                                                                                 
– 2001  5.7 trillions$
– 2007  9.06 trillion$
– 2008  10.3 trillion$
– 2009  10.6 trillion$
– 2016  20 trillion$
– 2019  22 trillion$
Our debt-to-GDP ratio is at 
worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt

     While there are many nations that have worse debt-to-GDP ratios, America is still in a bad place. We cannot keep spending more money than we take in.

     What is the answer? Of course, its to put new limits on spending, to rearrange our priorities and to hold people & nations accountable for their actions. But how do we get there? By not putting the cart before the horse. As a nation, we need to repent of our sinful actions. Daniel 9 is a great example of this. In Dan 9:5-11, Daniel uses the word “we” when referring to how his nation had sinned. Even though Daniel didn’t do many of these things, he identified with his nation. Only then, with God’s guidance, will we be able to construct positives alternatives to those things that got us into trouble in the first place. As we seek God, He will give us specific answers. We Christians are the ones who need to repent. As we pray and seek His face, God will reveal these practical things to us. Then we need to make sure these things are carried out.

  

     2nd Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. If God’s people, living in America, will turn from our wicked ways, then He will heal our land.

     Are you willing to pray for our nation, to repent of her sins and to vote for people who will stop the terrible scourge of abortion, who will lend a helping hand to those less fortunate, who will uphold God’s definition of marriage and morality, who will reach out to a hurting world with the gospel, who will sacrifice their time, talents and money to enlarge the Kingdom of God? How is God speaking to you today? How is God leading you today to spread His Kingdom?

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com

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Are Christians 'dumber' than most?

“Evangelicals are largely poor, uneducated and easy to command”—Michael Weisskopf, Washington Post reporter says.  WOW!  If this statement had been made about any other group, it would immediately been labeled as bigoted and racist. This statement also makes 2 huge assumptions:

  • That poor, uneducated people are easier to command (I’ve never seen any proof of this)
  • That the more education you have, the wiser you will be (Are you kidding me? Please show the correlation between level of education and wisdom)

This statement by Mr. Weisskopf reeks of an academic elitist attitude.

It’s funny, especially since Christianity has been known as the thinking man’s religion.

Read apologetics-notes.comereason.org/2014/11/Christianity-is-thinking-mans-faith.html.

It was Christianity that first taught that all people, rich & poor, men & women, should be entitled to an education. Before the rise of Christianity, education was only for the rich males. Christians figured that without knowing how to read, people couldn’t read the Bible. The ability to read the Bible made knowing about Jesus so much easier. And since Jesus considered all people as equals before God (Galatians 3:28), these early Christians taught everyone to read. Even today, the first thing missionaries do is teach people to read.

Are Christians 'dumber' than most

After the fall of the western Roman Empire, it was Christian monks that preserved the knowledge of the Greeks & Romans. They advanced it greatly, making it available to anyone. Especially after the Protestant Reformation, people needed to be able to read if they were to read the Bible and be properly discipled. So Christians pushed universal childhood education, a first in the history of the world. Almost all of the early colleges & universities were started by Christians. In his 1932 book, “The Founding of American Colleges and Universities before the Civil War”, David Tewksbury states that 168 (92%) of the 182 colleges and universities were founded by Christian denominations.  Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, etc. all started out as Christian colleges. Harvard’s motto was “Truth for Christ and the Church”. The declared purpose of it was “To train a literate clergy”. One of the Rules & Precepts of Harvard was, “Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning”. WOW! You’ve come a long way, Baby!

 

Modern science could only be birthed in a Christian environment. Since the Christian concept of God is of a rational creator, it would make sense that He would create a physical universe based on rational physical laws. As the scientist Kepler said, “I want to think God’s thoughts after Him”. The ancient gods, whether Greek or Roman, were part of the creation. These gods were very capricious in their behavior, so it didn’t occur to ancient man that they would create rational laws. Hence, a study of the physical universe was never considered worthwhile. Read www.ldolphin.org/bumbulis/#anchor5345780.  Also read the following chapters in these 3 great books that should be a part of every Christian’s library:

-“How Christianity Changed the World” by Dr. Alvin Schmidt, chapters 7 on education & 9 on the origin of modern science.

-“What’s So Great about Christianity” by Dinesh D’Sousa, chapters 8-10 on the origin of modern science.

-“Christianity on Trial” by Vincent Carroll & David Shiflett, chapter 3 on the origin of modern science.

When many of the Christian colleges became secularized, believers started up a whole slew of colleges again. Here in Michigan, you have Hillsdale, Hope, Albion, Spring Arbor, Alma, Cornerstone, Adrian, Calvin, Concordia, Olivet and many, many more. Christianity has always been heavily into the propagation of education for all peoples. Is this new information to you? Were you aware of this?  Write and let me know what you think.

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard

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Does God love everyone, even LGBT people?

 

Does God love everyone, even LGBT people?

 

     God hates fags! This is the sign that the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) members hold up as they protest at armed forces service members funerals. How distasteful! No matter what your beliefs, its wrong to protest at a funeral. The WBC is not affiliated with any Baptist organization. In fact, they are routinely condemned by pastors and all denominations, especially Baptists ones, across America.

Jesus-came-to-do-this-333x400.jpghttps://res.cloudinary.com/bsssb/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1615832059/Jesus-came-to-do-this/Jesus-came-to-do-this.jpg 563w" alt="" width="333" height="400" />​

     Let me answer this question in two parts:
1st…does God love everyone?
2nd…does God approve of everything people do?

     To the 1st question…anyone who reads the bible can answer this question easily. Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinning, Jesus died for us. In essence, it says that while we didn’t believe in Him, He believed in us.
John 3:16 says that God loved the world (that’s us) so much, that for all who will eventually believe in Him, He gives them eternal life in heaven. Incredible!
John 1: 12 says that everyone that received Jesus, He gave them the right to be children of God. What is noticeably missing from these verses is anything about LGBT people. God loves everyone (John 3:16) and wants everyone to be in a relationship with Him, no matter what you’ve done or who you are.

        The answer to the 2nd question is also easy to answer. Of course, God doesn’t approve of everything that people do. He doesn’t approve of murder (Exodus 20:13), adultery (Exodus 20:14), stealing (Exodus 20:15), etc. God does NOT approve of homosexuality (Romans 1:18-32 & 1st Corinthians 6:9,10). So, what does this mean? To quote an old cliché, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin”.  Read https://bsssb-llc.com/blog43-homosexuality/

     Can we make judgements about certain actions/behaviors? Yes, we can.  And Jesus told us to (John 7:24). One of the marks of maturity is that someone will do the right thing, no matter what he feels like doing. It’s why many Christians can pray for their enemies, in spite of being mistreated by them. https://bsssb-llc.com/blog30-can-our-enemies-find-christ/ 

     Can an LGBT person accept Christ? Yes, they can. But over time, God will convict them that committing homosexual acts is wrong. And with God’s help, they will be able to stop (see below for support ministries). The same goes for a thief or a gossip. You don’t clean up your life and then invite Jesus into it. You invite Him in and together both of you clean it up.

     So yes, God loves LGBT people. Yet, He loves them enough that He doesn’t want them to stay where they’re at. From the moment we become Christians, we and Jesus started on a journey to transform us, to make us look more like Him.

     So, how do we treat LGBT people? Just like anyone else that God brings into our lives. Rosaria Butterfield puts it wonderfully at https://bsssb-llc.com/blog22-lesbian-feminist-professor-meets-jesus/  .

     May God increase your love for all people, including LGBT people, as you journey with Him on the path He has set before you.

 Support ministries:
www.exodusglobalalliance.org
www.narth.org
www.restoredhopenetwork.com
http://ex-gaytruth.com
www.pfox.org

 

For His wonderful Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com

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Is Faith provable?

     It depends on how you define faith. Some people define it as something you believe in but cannot prove. One way Webster’s defines it is as a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion rather than being able to prove it as real.

     If you can’t prove something is true, then it doesn’t correspond to reality. I may have faith that I can fly, but if I can’t prove it, it’s not real. It doesn’t correspond to reality. It may even give me comfort, but I’m believing in someone or something that isn’t true. This is blind faith.

     The bible has a different definition of faith. In the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 1, it says faith is “…the assurance about what we do not see.” The word “assurance” means evidence or trust. Evidence are things that we know to be true, beyond a reasonable doubt. In a courtroom, evidence are facts that point the way to something that we decide is true. Since we cannot see that something, like a murder, the evidence of it will point the way for us to make a decision that’s beyond a reasonable doubt.

     The “…of things not seen” refers to things that we cannot directly observe anymore. What things can we not observe anymore? Hebrews 11:3 says things like the creation of the universe, Abel bringing an offering to God, Enoch being taken up alive to heaven, Noah and the flood, etc. We cannot observe anything in history. We also cannot observe things like love and trust. We can observe their effects but we cannot observe these things. For example, what does love look like, how much does it weigh, what are its dimensions?

     In our present time, we have proof of Jesus being raised from the dead (https://bsssb-llc.com/video-courses-overview/the-real-easter-story/   weeks 2 thru 4) and the accuracy of the bible (https://bsssb-llc.com/video-courses-overview/how-we-got-the-bible/).
We didn’t observe these things but we have proof that they happened. When Jesus says that He will come back again to set up His eternal kingdom, we have proof that He can be trusted based on the evidence of His prior claims. We can trust what the bible says based on it being a trustworthy source.

     So, Christians don’t have blind faith in Jesus. We have evidence that corresponds to reality. That is real faith.

Faithfully Yours,
Dave Maynard

 

    

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When Will The Wrath Of God Come To The Nations?

In Revelation 11, the twenty-four elders fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. They were praising Him for both His rewards and His wrath. In eternity everyone will experience either one or the other. Click on the link below to read the post.

https://ramckinley.com/enraged/

flood.jpg

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Many successful business people import Christmas products from China every year. More than 60% Christmas decorations of the world are produced from Yiwu. Today we are going to introducing Yiwu Christmas market and help you figure it out how to import wholesale Christmas products in Yiwu Market just like an experienced person.
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Space Age Quotes

See if you can guess who said the following:

“In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible – this grandiose, stirring history of the gradual revelation and unfolding of the moral law – remains in every way an up-to-date book.
Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil.
The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God. It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God’s side.”

A few years later, he wrote:

“One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all…The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based…
To be forced to believe only one conclusion – that everything in the universe happened by chance – would violate the very objectivity itself…What random process could produce the brains of a man or the system of the human eye?…
They (evolutionists) challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?…They say they cannot visualize a Designer. Well, can a physicist visual an electron?…What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him?…
It is scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.”

You probably think these were made by a preacher or a theologian. If you think this, you’d be wrong. The above 2 quotes were made by the “Father of the American Space Program”, the director of NASA and the U.S. guided missile program, Dr. Werner von Braun (1912-1977), one of the top space scientists in the world.

What do you think of his statement that we should present other scientific theories on the origin of the universe in our classrooms?

werner-von-braun

For his Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com

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Barach

One of the stories of the Bible that I find most intriguing, is the story of Deborah (D’vorah). Deborah was a judge and prophetess, one of only three prophetesses listed in the Old Testament, along with Miryam, the sister of Moses, and Huldah who lived during the time of King Josiah. Deborah lived between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Efrayim and would sit under a tree called “D’vorah’s Palm”, and the people would come to her for judgement. She was a woman surrounded by lightning. Her husband’s name was Lapidot, which torch, and by extension lightning-flashes. She would send for another man whose name would mean lightning, a warrior by the name of Barak.

Deborah said to Barak that God was ordering him to march to Mount Tavor with 10,000 men from the tribes of Naftali and Z’vulun, and that He would cause Sisra the commander of King Yavin’s army to encounter Barak with his chariots and troops, but that God would hand Sisra over to him.  Barak’s answer was one that would cost him personal glory. He told Deborah that if she went with him that he would go. She agreed to go but told him that Sisra would be handed over to a woman.

There was a man by the name of Hever, a descendant of Moses’ father-in-law, who informed Sisra that Barak had gone to Mount Tavor, so Sisra gathered 900 iron chariots and all the troops he had with him.

Debora said to Barak, “Get going! This is the day when Adonai will hand Sisra over to you! Adonai has gone out ahead of you!” I want to pause for a moment in the story to point out that Adonai is still in the business of saying “Get going! I have gone out ahead of you!” Whatever battle you are facing, always remember, the battle belongs to the Lord. (Psalm 121) Unbeknownst to Barak, Adonai prepared a torrential storm to hit at the time of this battle. It was unexpected because it was an unseasonable thunderstorm that caused the valley soil to soften, causing Sisra’s chariots to become stuck, causing fear and panic within his army. One by one they fell to Barak and his 10,000. Sisra however, fled on foot and escaped. Or so he thought.

Sisra ran to the tent of Ya’el (Jael) the wife of Hever, the very one who informed to Sisra about Barak, and she offered him shelter inside her tent. He no doubt thought he would be safe there as her husband was an ally. This is something that in normal circumstances he would have never done. She was a woman, and a married one at that. For a man to enter to tent of a woman in this culture was a death sentence. It was forbidden, yet he took her up on the offer because of this very reason. Who would think to look for him in the tent of a woman? He asked her for a drink of water, instead she gave him a goatskin of milk to drink from. One commentary says that the milk was sour milk, meaning it was fermented. As he lay on the floor of her tent, he told her to stand at the entrance and if someone should ask if anyone were there, she was to reply “no”. When she saw that he was deeply asleep, she took a tent peg and a hammer and crept into where he was sleeping and drove the tent peg into his temple, fastening him to the ground. He died without ever waking up. This fulfilled the prophecy which Deborah had spoken to Barak that Sisra would be handed over to a woman. When Barak, in pursuit of Sisra, came upon the tent of Jael, she stepped out to meet him and told him, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” There he found Sisra, lying dead with a tent peg through his temple. The final two verses of Judges chapter 4 reads, [23] Thus God on that day defeated Yavin the king of Kena’an in the presence of the people of Israel. [24] The hand of the people of Isra’el came down more and more heavily against Yavin the king of Kena’an, until they had completely destroyed Yavin the king of Kena’an.

God created a mighty victory from which a song was birthed, much like the song that was sung at the time of the Exodus after Adonai defeated the Egyptians. Sung by Deborah and Barak, the first line of the song, in Judges 5:2 is, When leaders in Isra’el dedicate themselves, and the people volunteer, you should all bless Adonai. The KJV reads a bit differently, “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.” Praise or bless in the Hebrew is the word, barach. The literal translation of barach is to kneel or to bless God, adore with bended knees. This is the praise we offer on our knees in worship, in prayer, in communion with Adonai. When leaders dedicate themselves to Adonai, and when people volunteer under their leadership, mighty things happen in the kingdom of God.

I took three words from this verse in the CJSB translation. Barach, of course being one as it is our key word. The other two were leaders and volunteer. Leader(s) in Hebrew is para while it does mean leader, it also means “to let go, let loose”. We have all heard the saying, “let go and let God”, and I think that applies to the first part of this verse; When the leaders let go and dedicate themselves. Para is made up of the letters Pey (פ), Reysh (ר), and Ayin (ע). When looking at Chiam Bentorah’s descriptions of each of these letters we see that Pey means “A point where something significant is about to happen”, Reysh means “Leadership”, and Ayin means “perception and insight”. While these are just one of the possible meanings for each of these letters, it shows that the leaders used perception and insight (discernment) and was shown that something significant was going to happen, but they had to let God go before them into the battle. We see that He did just that, causing an out of season thunderstorm, securing the victory for Israel.

The second word, volunteer, is the word nadab and in this context of scripture means to volunteer for war or as a solider. I am the wife and mother of veterans. I could not be more proud of both my husband and my son for their service to our country. They were not forced to enlist, they volunteered, giving their hearts to the nation in which we live. Nadab is spelled Nun (נ), Dalet (ד), and Bet (ב). Again, using descriptions from Chiam Bentorah, Nun means faithfulness, Dalet means humility, and Bet means God’s presence. I could not help but think of my son during his time of service when I looked at this. He is faithful, he is humble, and he served with that type of heart, but he also walked with God and spent time with the Chaplain and would tell us of those moments when he would call home. He summed up the Hebrew word for volunteer without even knowing it.

This brings us back to barach. Bet (ב), Reysh (ר), Kaf (כ), and Vav (ו). Bet meaning love, Reysh meaning repentance, Kaf meaning an empty vessel, and Vav meaning a uniqueness in our experience with God. Love brings us to repentance. When we kneel and repent, we are forgiven and cleansed, we become an empty vessel open to a unique experience with God.

Psalm 95:6 says, Come, let’s bow down and worship; let’s kneel before Adonai who made us. We see this type of worship in Revelation where after the Cherubim say “Holy, holy, holy is Adonai, God of heaven’s armies, the One who was, who is and who is coming!”, the twenty-four elders “fall down before the One sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, and worship him. They throw their crowns in front of the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, Adonai Eloheinu, to have glory, honor and power, because you created all things – yes, because of your will they were created and came into being!’” One of my favorite praise and worship songs was inspired by this heavenly worship in the song, We Fall Down.  While I always loved this song, having a deeper understanding of barach makes it even more powerful.

When Solomon completed the temple, it says in 2 Chronicles 6:13-14 [13]  for Shlomo had made a bronze platform eight-and-three quarters feet long, eight-and-three quarters feet wide and five-and-a-quarter feet high and had set it up in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, then got down on his knees before the whole community, spread out his hands toward heaven, [14] and said, “Adonai, God of Isra’el, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep covenant with your servants and show them grace, provided they live in your presence with all their heart.” What a humble and beautiful way to start a prayer that by its conclusion, fire would come down from the heavens, consume the burnt offering and sacrifices, and the glory of Adonai filled the house where the priests could not even enter. Upon seeing this, all the people bowed down, with their faces to the ground, giving thanks to Adonai saying, “for he is good, for his grace continues forever.”

When was the last time that we have seen such a presence of the Almighty? When was the last time that we have collectively felt that type of connection with our Creator? When was the last time we have each individually felt that unique experience with God? It comes when we barach, when we volunteer our lives in humility, when we fight on our knees, when we praise Him and seek His face, and we make this the new normal. This type of praise, coupled with humility is powerful. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Like Deborah and Barak, we have a battle that we are in, but in this battle, we aren’t fighting a general with iron chariots. However, just like Deborah and Barak, Adonai has gone before us. Instead of a torrential thunderstorm, the victory was won on the cross. Our best fighting comes when we are in our prayer closet on our knees. Kneeling is a position of vulnerability, and when we kneel, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice of praise.  

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