Commentary

WHAT YOU LOOK AT YOU BECOME

People, for the most part and I am talking about believers as well as unbelievers, don’t understand how
important it is to choose not only what they watch, listen to and read, but who they associate with. For,
what you look at you become.
That is right! You can try to deny it, but, it is the truth! When I was young my mother didn’t allow me to
watch the Three Stooges on TV because she thought that I and my friends would try some of their
antics. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, unbeknownst to her my friends did watch it and they taught me all
the moves including the eye gouging and forehead slapping!
Let me ask you, and be honest, how many of you have watched TV or a movie and then tried to act the
way the actors on screen did. Come on, let’s see a show of hands. That’s what I thought. All of us have
done this at one time or another.
You see our minds are designed to learn by seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. Those are
the only inlets, the only avenues, of learning we have unless we are born again of God’s spirit (Romans
10:9,10) and I am not talking about learning by the spirit of God for two reasons. First, 99% of the
people on Earth don’t know how to hear from God and second, God gave you the five senses so you can
learn. What you can know by your five senses God expects you to know.
Our minds are more powerful, hold more memory than any computer as well as have the ability to
learn, feel emotions such as love, happiness and joy as well as a myriad of other emotions. The thing
that is all the rage right now is AI (artificial intelligence) big deal! We are still so far ahead of computers
that is not funny. Why then don’t we as individuals take charge of our lives and control our destinies,
here on Earth, by controlling the input to our brains?
I will, also, tell you that who you hang around with will determine how far you go in life. If you hang
around people that are motivated and are striving to be good at something you’ll end up getting good
too. This works in all avenues of life whether it be sports, business or learning to walk with and for God.
Unfortunately, it works on the negative side as well. If you hang around people that steal, cheat, lie do
drugs etc. you will end up doing the same. So, why doesn’t someone teach us this stuff?
1 Corinthians 15:33 (KJV)
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
There is One, God, that teaches us these things via His Word! The problem is that the leadership of the
so called Christian Churches today would rather teach current events or what they think rather than the
beauty and accuracy of God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible isn’t outdated it is as alive and vibrant and
pertinent today as it was when it was first written down! Look at Hebrews chapter four.
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.It is a medical impossibility to separate the bones from the marrow and it is an impossibility to separate
the soul life from the spirit, whether holy or not. BUT, God’s Word can!
I want to share with you some of Psalm one and Proverbs one. These are only a tidbit on the buffet table
of God’s Word
Psalm 1:1-3 (KJV)
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Blessed means happy! Happy is the man (or woman, it is an inclusive noun) that doesn’t hang
around the ungodly or sinners or those that mock God and His Word.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Meditate does mean sitting in a lotus position chanting! It means you study God’s Word and you
endeavor to apply it in every aspect of your life. Because of this…
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
You will be like a tree that is not only big and strong and healthy, BUT, you will be successful
even in the hard times whether economic or other. You will not be a bush, but a tree, that gives
shade to others.
Proverbs 1:1-33 (KJV)
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto
wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
The presumption here is that they are teaching their children the Word of God.
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Not chains of bondage, but, chains of adornment, jewelry, BLING.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without
cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
This sounds like Psalm One doesn’t it?
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners
thereof.
20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth
her words, saying,
God doesn’t hide His Word. There may be secret orders of this or that that supposedly has
knowledge and wisdom, but, it is all so secondary. There is none wiser than God and God is not
secretive. What He does he does for everyone to see.
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my
words unto you.
The words “pour out” means to utter. This is Old Testament the outpouring of holy spirit wasn’t
available. What this is saying is similar to when someone is trying to communicate something so
earnestly, so intently we say that person is “pouring out his soul.”
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof:
Again, who’s reproof? Wisdom’s! The kind you can only find in the Bible.
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
This is still “wisdom” talking. God set His Word for us to learn and the scorners, fools and
ignorant ones have turned their backs to wisdom, to God’s Word.
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when
distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me (wisdom), but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me:
Why can’t they find wisdom? Wisdom is knowledge applied. It’s a way of life! You don’t learn
it in a day.29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear (reverence and respect) of the
LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
They wouldn’t feast at the table of knowledge and wisdom. They wouldn’t change their ways
even when they heard the Word of God.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me (the wisdom of God’s Word) shall dwell safely, and shall be
quiet from fear of evil.
Your friends, your favorite TV shows, the news, your favorite music, art and literature are all leading you
in a direct. They are all teaching you something. BUT, is it where YOU want to go? Are they teaching you
to be the person you know you can be? Or, is it time to change your life by changing what you are
allowing to program your mind.
The wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word are calling. Answer the call and be the best you can be.

Thoughts About Thanksgiving

It is almost Thanksgiving Day and I got to thinking about Thankfulness and so I thought I would share
with you a little about being thankful.
My wife was teaching children’s fellowship the other day and she read the story about the first
Thanksgiving to the children and it really struck a chord with me. A small group of people persecuted for
the way they worshipped God and what they believed, so, they hire a ship and head off to the new
world in search of religious freedom. When they get there they didn’t have adequate food or shelter and
a lot of them died that first winter. Fortunately, the Indians were friendly and taught the pilgrims how to
hunt, farm and fish. By the end of summer, the harvest was good and the people invited their Indian
friends to a feast. The Indians brought deer and turkey and a lot of other food for the banquet.
So, yes, they had food to eat, but, really what were these people thankful for? Think about it! They had
been persecuted, chased out of their homes, they took a small ship, by the way, have you seen the
replica of the Mayflower, the ship they sailed on? I would hardly call it a ship. There are personal water
craft that are twice the size of the Mayflower. They were stuck down below deck for about 90 days,
many got sick, some died. Many of their friends and family members were dead from the boat ride or
the first winter. So, why were they giving thanks? Oh, and to whom were they giving thanks?
Maybe, the answer is in Psalm 103.
Psalm 103:1-2 (KJV)
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
After the harrowing experiences to get to the New World and after that horrid winter they still
remember some of God’s benefits. You see, it is a matter of perspective. Are you going to look
back at the past or are you going to keep looking forward. They saw something more in the
future. Paul was like that.
Philippians 3:13-14 (KJV)
13 Brethren, I (Paul) count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If you know anything about Paul you know he had it made. He was highly educated, had a wife
and at least one child. He had status in the community and in his religion and was on the fast
track to the top. Yet, he gave it all up so that he could worship God and heed the calling of God.
He saw something beyond this World and strove for that prize.It is an easy thing for me to point out verses in the Bible that tells us to be thankful, BUT, it is
another thing for you to see what Paul, the Pilgrims and many others saw and were committed to
rather than the world in which they lived. When you have the perspective of the Pilgrims thanks
wells up from deep inside!
In Hebrews chapter eleven God gives a list of Old Testament believers that stood through some
of the worst of conditions and it says of them…
Hebrews 11:13-16 (KJV)
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
These were servants of God, we are sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ! The Bible says
that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the eternal weight of glory
that awaits us. (II Corinthians 4:17) They, in Hebrews chapter eleven, looked forward to the New
Jerusalem. Christians look forward to going to Heaven!
It is impossible to keep standing for God and moving forward in the things of God unless you
know, unless you are convinced, unless you are committed to the truth of God’s Word telling
you that you are a son of God and that you are going to heaven where you will be in the presence
of God, His son Jesus Christ and with all of those who were born again of God’s spirit. Where
you will be rewarded for your stand here on Earth.
1 Corinthians 15:51-58 (KJV)
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.With that in mind it made it easy for the Pilgrims to thank God for all that they had here on Earth
and what they will receive at the return of Christ for his Church. What a joyous occasion that
first Thanksgiving was. Most people think it was just for the food, for the friends and family still
alive with them, but, it was much much more.
So, when you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner where will your commitment lie and what will
you be thanking your God and Father for?
Psalm 100:1-5 (KJV)
1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his
people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him,
and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Happy Thanksgiving!

What is True Leadership?

I wish to share with you my experience as to leadership and what it should be. To do that I am going to
tell you two stories from my past. Both of these stories happened when I was a new believer. I was
different back then. I was raised different and in a hard life style AND I wasn’t very sure about how to
act around people that loved me. Oh, yes I had a loving Mom and Dad and sisters, but, we were a
secular family and I was never around Christians that walked the walk.
Well the first story happened at a picnic. As I said I, was a new believer and not only that, I had never
been around kids/babies and didn’t want to be. Didn’t like ‘em, didn’t understand them and didn’t want
to be around them. At the picnic was an ordained minister who’s name was Ed. He and his wife Barb had
a new baby boy.
I was sitting at a table when Ed came over to me and struck up a conversation. As the conversation went
on the subject of kids came up and I told him my opinion. He asked me if I wanted to hold his son, “No” I
said, but in my mind I was thinking “not just no, but hell no!” At that point he took his son, with one
hand, that’s how small his son was, and thrust him out to me. I ended up taking the child like I had held
a bull frog as a kid, a hand under each are and my arms were straight out hoping the thing didn’t pee on
me. There we were his son and I staring at each other for I don’t know how long. Never did bring him
any closer. I must have looked absolutely silly. Ed finally came over and took his son back, thankfully.
But, you know there was a change in my heart. Not a big one at first, but, a change. I didn’t mind
children after that and I grew to really like children.
Looking back there are so many lessons to be learned about leadership from this one experience I can’t
put them all in this article. However, the first is, men of God have to walk with God and listen to God to
effect change in the hearts and lives of believers. Ed, although he loved his son dearly, let me hold the
poor child like a frog just to help me grow. I don’ think I would have done it if I were him, but, he did.
Another lesson is that men of God are not weak mamby-pambys. Is that a word that is still used today?
You probably know the type, the type that when they shake your hand you feel like you just grabbed a
dead fish. If Ed was any less than what he was I would never have taken that child, never changed.
My other story happened when I went to a minister’s house for dinner. I was thinking about going into
the ministry and this man was the leader of the state. His name was Luke and his wife was Shelly. They
invited me over for dinner. When we sat down to dinner their dining room table and chairs were just
beautiful. They were French provincial, made from cherry wood. The seats of the chairs were a cream colored fabric that had some sort of silk embroidery in them.
For dinner, we had pot roast. Oh, it was grand. The conversation was good, the food was good
everything was going great when the unthinkable happened. A big juicy piece of pot roast jumped
off my fork. You may laugh, but, I swear the thing had legs and use the fork to do a swan dive that went
in between my legs and landed CURSPLAT right on that beautiful embroidered seat. The seat would
never be the same! It would be forever stained. All of my past experiences told me that I would be in for
a storm of anger and condemnation, but, there was none. The chair was cleaned and they did the
strangest thing, they comforted me and loved me. NO condemnation, NO anger, just tenderness and love. Oh, how I loved those people for that! If you only knew what that meant to me at that time! This
gave me a deeper understanding of God’s and Jesus Christ’s love for me.
God says that we are ambassadors in Christ’s stead (II Cor. 5:20.) We have to show forth that light of
God’s Word, the light of grace, the light of peace, the light of mercy the light of love. This is true
leadership.
It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance (Rom. 2:4.) You can read the Bible a life time
and, yet, miss the greatness of the stand the men and women took throughout history to be examples
for others to follow.
SERMONS WE SEE
I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I’d rather one would walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear:
And the best of all the preachers are the men live their creeds,
For to see good out in action is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn how to do it if you’ll let me see it done;
I can see your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do.
For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give,
But there’s no misunderstanding how act and how you live.
– Edgar A. Guest
THE BRIDGE BUILDER
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting time by building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day:You never again will pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wideWhy build you the bridge at your eventide?”
The builder lifted his old grey head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim,
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”
-Will Allen Dromgoole

THE LAST STEP INTO SLAVERY

Over the past 30 years Americans have been duped into a false sense of achievement and personal advancement, freedoms and empowerment when in reality they have become enslaved to the government and corporate America. We have stopped watching our elected officials and allowed them to steal our freedom, our wealth, our morality, our security and our sovereignty. The last step in this long slow march into slavery will be the destruction of our gun rights.

Continue reading

WAKE UP AMERICA

America is missing the point! We are going down the toilet as a nation, that is true, but everybody is saying that it is President Bushes stupidity or Congress’s blindness or stupidity or ignorance. America’s focus has been too narrow. We have been thinking that it is because of ignorance but nobody has commented about the possibility that all this destruction has been planned over several administrations. Is this another conspiracy theory OR is this a fair appraisal of the actions of our present and past leaders? It is time you expanded your view.
There is a trend. I don’t know for sure if it started back when the Federal Reserve System was started or when FDR uncoupled the dollar from the gold standard or when Nixon uncoupled the dollar from the silver standard but over the past twenty five or so years there has been a literal flood of acts and laws that have taken the U.S. completely away from what it was and what it stood for into something ominous and threatening. Perhaps I am wrong and all of this is a result of very educated men and women not knowing economics 101 or ethics or biblical principles or constitutional law. Maybe they are ignorant of the facts concerning our perilous and tenuous oil supply. Maybe?

Continue reading

Back to the Basics

Our country is sick and we as individuals are the only ones that can change it and heal it and the only way to do that is for us to change and heal as individuals. One of the best things we can do is to “LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS.”

Continue reading

WHY WAR?

here are many superficial reasons given for a country to go to war. Some are to get more land, to advance democracy, to free an enslaved people, etc.. I will tell you there are only two reasons that nations go to war. One reason is to protect their way of life and the other is to advance their way of life. Greed and the lust for power drive the aggressor nations sense of duty drives the others. Both are proud of their countries. Both have to have a unified populace. Without the traits that prevail in both neither type of nation would survive.

Continue reading

STOP FIDDLING!

As I read about current events and watch the news on TV I get the distinct feeling that America is tearing itself apart needlessly.
What I mean by this is that the camps of Democrats, Liberals. Republicans, Noecons, atheists, Christians (of all flavors) are verbally attacking each other, blaming each other for the ills of the nation while the politicians fiddle

Continue reading

Olympics, Here We Come, Maybe

As I looked through the headlines on World Net Daily my attention has been arrested by the Headline “China sweeping Christians out”. It seems that the Chinese government has decided that Christian missionaries aren’t worthy to stay in China before or during the Olympics so the Chinese government is expelling them.
So, let me see if I have this right, the whole Christian world is invited to China for the Olympics. But, to have the games all missionaries have to get out. Have I got that right? Now I have a problem with that and EVERY CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD, should have the same problem

Continue reading

A TIME TO UNITE

The Pope just signed a document that says “ non-Catholic Christian communities are either defective or not true churches”. The Pope goes on to say that “ other Christian communities such as Protestants ‘cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense since they don’t have what’s known as apostolic succession- that is, the ability to trace bishops back to the original apostles of Jesus’” WORLDNETDAILY. This statement needs to be addressed but not the way most in other Christian communities will. They will bluster and harrumph but they won’t get to the truth of the matter. Well, that’s where I guess I come in.

Continue reading