Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>

    Jonah slipped outta God’s directive and wound up jailed, in a fish; cried out for God’s help, became fish-disgorge,  bleached and beached, opted to go preach, saved the Ninevites nation. What can we learn? Folks squirm outta life daily only to enter self-incarceration; self-reproach, fright, despondency. These we try to lighten with encouragement; sometimes these hide away, we lose touch with them. Through probation, prison, parole, or local jail,  6.7 million Americans wear the dregs of cement and bars — 2.7% of adult population or 1 out of every 37 Americans have been sent “up the river,” (as of 2015). What’s up with these?  — Scott Rasmussen reports. Some questions crop up: did not God throw a mighty tempest toward Jonah’s run-away boat and sailor friends? Did the bloody blokes not become suspicious of Jonah? Did they not, in turn,  throw the fugitive overboard? Let’s review: So far,…

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation  enter into  the kingdom of God.  The “kingdom of God” refers to personal governmental authority, the operational will of God. Personal authority, to be lasting, must be of the same order of Jesus Christ. not the authority of autocracy or coercion, not a superstitious nature. Autocratic authority is to rule by right of insistence and not by right of personal integrity. Chambers Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to act in an involuntary manner by use of intimidation or threats or some other form of pressure or force. Wikipedia Another kind of authoritative practice is Sophistry which is self-government- self realization Superstition is any belief or practice that is irrational – i.e., it arises from ignorance, a misunderstanding of science or causality, a positive belief in fate or magic,…

      Courage, The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery. Strength in the face of pain or grief.   https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ “Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty” Merriam-Webster “Any fool can be fearless. Courage, true courage, derives from that sense of who we are…” Barak Obama “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. ”  Maya Angelou, as quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988) “Be strong and of a good courage.” Joshua 1:6 Courage deflects fear, gives consistency, withstands danger, endures pain. Nevertheless, Courage, God’s way… fills the gap (tiny passageway) where truth oversees and refuses the broad-way compromise.     A teen  courageously defies his parents; it took courage to smoke my first cigarette, then my first joint.   It takes guts to steal a car, drink a shot of tequila, stay out past curfew, shoot something in my vein. Intestinal fortitude does jail time…

      Courage, The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery. Strength in the face of pain or grief.   https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ “Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty” Merriam-Webster “Any fool can be fearless. Courage, true courage, derives from that sense of who we are…” Barak Obama “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. ”  Maya Angelou, as quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988) “Be strong and of a good courage.” Joshua 1:6 Courage deflects fear, gives consistency, withstands danger, endures pain. Nevertheless, Courage, God’s way… fills the gap (tiny passageway) where truth oversees and refuses the broad-way compromise.     A teen  courageously defies his parents; it took courage to smoke my first cigarette, then my first joint.   It takes guts to steal a car, drink a shot of tequila, stay out past curfew, shoot something in my vein. Intestinal fortitude does jail time…

“You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony…” Exodus 25:21-22 “My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.” Psalm 26:12 “…And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1John 2:1-2 The mercy-seat of God, the even place, and the propitiation speak of a one-and-the-same place. Here, all that hinders a face to face with God flies away. Things remaining, join us to Him. Sin and sin’s…

  “Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay.” “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9 “When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? 2 Corinthians 1:17 What is lightness? (Hebrews. to stagger.) Websters defines “fickle” with “Wavering; inconstant; unstable; of a changeable mind; irresolute; not firm in opinion or purpose; capricious.” “Not fixed or firm; liable to change …” Matthew 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Paul had conceded that he would die in verse 9 above. Indeed, there had been a self-verdict which conformed him to Christ’s death already.…

  I spoke to young folks recently, high-schoolers. They cherish “friends,” popularity, and “feel good” relationships. In Prov 8:31 Wisdom’s “delight” centers on the sons of men. Logic concludes: “young people and wisdom connect.” Both want relationships. Youth need “cool” to hold friends. So, young vie for acceptance. Cool people have life by the tail, they build social skills. They can handle most any situation, but the problem nags; Where get we the love? Enter Wisdom’s plan: Tear down — Walls erected social-skill-wise, They are phony. Masks must melt off. Catchy phrases explode in face. All veneer goes ca-phooey. How done? God commences work, He specializes here. First, He teaches suffering’s true meanings. Christ became poor, that we, through His poverty might become rich. He became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He purchased salvation with His blood. Our suffering enables understanding of His suffering. Ours promotes meaningful relationships and identification…

  I watched two moms, one my own, the other my wife. A third would be my wife’s mom. All these have a common thing – close ties with their offspring. The children love mom not because she is perfect or even for her giving, but this – she is always in their corner, no matter what. Moms forgive their children — at least the ones I have known. They so never lose hope that their son or daughter will be great or at least be OK. They pray for the kids and worry. Most worry is sin, but not for moms; it becomes sanctified worry. The kids know about this worry and it guides, even restrains them away from certain paths of sure destruction. In order for a kid to go wild he has to find a way around his mom. He has to disregard her. No matter, mom will visit sons in county jail, or…

Subjectivity is the lack of objectivity. Objectivity is the assertion that a thing IS that thing regardless of how it is perceived. Subjectivity is the assertion that what the thing IS is dependent on how it is perceived. The Objective view is that this is an elephant regardless how it is seen. The Subjective view is that each person is right. Melissa-Faith Webster, BA from CSUSB. Focused on Philosophy of Science and Epistemology. First the bad news: Subjectivity establishes: a mindset that is a direct result of Adam’s Fall. a preoccupation with self, evaluation of people, and situations evaluation of the Word of God according to relative righteousness  The Subjective are: arrogant, which masks a poor self-image, often suspicious of people’s motives and even paranoid. Subjective people: are occupied with themselves, hide themselves from church, often become sarcastic in relationships with others, eventually, they  want counseling, Subjective folks: are offended…

    “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3 “But we often make choices that reveal what we really believe: that God cannot take care of what is unknown to us. We are not in control, and that breeds feelings of anxiety.” Dr.Carl Stevens “They believe in God, and they love Him with all their hearts, but they take on the identity of the tests they are going through rather than the purpose. They may take on the name of “pain” or “sickness” instead of “peace” or “long suffering.” And when they put a name to their pain, that is how the demons perceive the Christian. People take on all kinds of names in tests.”  Dr.Carl Stevens “Deep anxiety comes from having put our trust in something that is ultimately untrustworthy. It comes from living a life for something which ultimately will not sustain life. —placing ultimate reliance on the conscious level,…