A Pilgrim's Progress

God is perfectly Good and Holy.

Why did He create mosquitos and the Hebrew language?

I bet you anything that if we had a small enough microphone to actually hear what mosquitos are saying, they'd be speaking in Hebrew. Tiny, high frequency Hebrew.

Hebrew is just a bunch of dots and squiggly lines. Of course, I've heard that, and very much believe that english is the most difficult language to learn. Very few solid rules with many exeptions.

So, I remain thankful for Hebrew.

I came across this devotional today and it really touched me. I thought you (yes you, you know who you are) would enjoy it. Is this a copyright infringement. Can I go to jail or get sued for blogging someone's published material?

Morning and Evening Daily Readings By Charles H. Spurgeon

Believer, look back through all thine experience, and think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the wilderness, and how he hath fed and clothed thee every day-how he hath borne with thine ill manners-how he hath put up with all thy murmurings, and all thy longings after the flesh-pots of Egypt-how he has opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how his grace has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles-how his blood has been a pardon to thee in all thy sins-how his rod and his staff have comforted thee. When thou hast thus looked back upon the love of the Lord, then let faith survey his love in the future, for remember that Christ’s covenant and blood have something more in them than the past. He who has loved thee and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon. He is Alpha, and he shall be Omega also: he is first, and he shall be last. Therefore, bethink thee, when thou shalt pass through the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no evil, for he is with thee. When thou shalt stand in the cold floods of Jordan, thou needest not fear, for death cannot separate thee from his love; and when thou shalt come into the mysteries of eternity thou needest not tremble, “For I am persuaded, that neither death; nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now, soul, is not thy love refreshed? Does not this make thee love Jesus? Doth not a flight through illimitable plains of the ether of love inflame thy heart and compel thee to delight thyself in the Lord thy God? Surely as we meditate on “the love of the Lord,” our hearts burn within us, and we long to love him more.

Here are some excerpts from 2 Timothy. Take some time today to read 2 Timothy, its a short book! May God bless you.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

No on serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument fro noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

. . . I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.

hallelujah Brothers and Sisters!

Yes, well, I'm back. I was ambushed by Greek tests, mid-terms, and my Theology term paper. They all ganged up against me and held me down over my books.

I've decided that I need to quit writing my own opinion on the things of God, and instead simply copy scripture passages. As I've discovered during my term paper on Karl Barth, God is only known through his Spirit-revealed-Word; God's salvation cannot be found through the study of nature, philosophy, history, science, or any other form of man's discernment. Much of our apologetic efforts presuppose that man can know God through man's own thinking processes. Barth says NO! Knowledge of the True God is only revealed in Jesus Christ by Him through His Holy Scriptures. Any attempt to find God outside of the scriptures will be a manmade, stripped-down, idolatrous god. It will be a reduced image of god that man has created with his infantile understanding.

I'm sure that I'll keep on writing my garble; but, at least for now, here's some God Breathed Scripture . . .

Epesians 2:1-10
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Hallelujah Brothers and Sisters!

Today, I'm back on the topic of sin. What a tantilizing topic!

Thanks for your comments on my last blog, Nick. I agree with you and yet I feel like such a schizophrenic(sp?) when it comes to sin. Jesus' Grace is sufficient, he died on the cross, he said forgive 70 x 7 times, Jesus forgave sinner after sinner, Paul says that we are no longer under the law; yet Jesus also said he's going to separate the sheep from the goats, Jesus says sin against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, good seed scattered on bad soil will die, when weeds grow up in a field the farmer has his workers cut them out, Paul says to kick continually-sinful people out of the church, God brought his wrath on sinful cities and people, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, the flood . . .

Karl Barth wrote that man's participation in the being of God has been accomplished in God's particicpation in the being of man.

Is Judas Iscariot in Heaven?

In many ways I think that God is the God of a "good heart" or "good intentions". Jesus says that it is your heart, thoughts, and intentions that matter even more than your actions: hatetred is worse than murder, lust is worse than adultary. Peter followed the Lord with his whole heart but his actions couldn't follow through. King David was a man after God's heart but his actions fell short. Loving your neighbor is an act that flows from inside your soul. To truly have love for someone cannot be faked on the inside. You may have polite outward actions but God knows your heart, doesn't he.

Please comment your thoughts.

I write a lot of jibberdy-jabber on my Blogg that is just plain ole' jibberdy-jabber. I get these notions about the world, economy, sin, God, humankind, and the like and I sort of just spew forth some deep thought garble that may or may not be good for anyone else to read. My mind is so spongy and mushy from the shear number of new ideas that have been forced upon it lately that I sometimes don't know if I'm standing up or lying down. How is a man who doesn't know if he's up or down supposed to coherently write about faith?

I have been thinking much lately about sin and God's dealing with sin, specifically in respect to God's gracious gift to mankind, Jesus Christ. Sin in the post-cross universe. Karl Barth, in regard to Paul's letters, says that Christians cannot sin. Is this true? To be in Christ is to no longer be bound by sin? Is sin still there but is now simply inconsequential? Or did sin dissapear? I don't think sin is gone because I'm still full of it! Yet God's grace in Christ is sufficient and covers my transgressions. The Lord came to save sinners. What would happen to the woman (who was going to be stoned for adultary) if she went back to sleep with the same man that very night? Does God love us not only through his grace, but also through his wrath?

What is your view of sin? How do you think God will deal with your sin? Or, what is God's response to your sin? Please comment.

"I would rather have blood on my hands than water (like Pontius Pilate)"
- Brittish author whom I can't specifically recall.


Is it worse to be the one consumed with a treacherous evil, or to be the one standing by with indifference? Are American Christians indifferent to evil in the world? Have we become the modern day Pilate and simply wash our hands of the evil we see around us?