Five Minutes From Eternity - Dr. Harold Sala

For years I have been reading Dr. Sala's commentaries and have seen him speak many times.  God has truly given him the gift of sharing a message of eternal importance, in just 5 minutes.  The commentary I received today via e-mail struck a chord - for many of us who have flown have, at one time or another, had a similar experience.  

I recall once flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles when the plane suddenly dropped, seeming to be flying vertically, instead of horizontally.  It only dropped for a few seconds - but it seemed like an hour to we passengers.  So, I can somewhat relate to the story this man has shared in Dr. Sala's commentary.

Keep up to date with Dr. Sala's commentaries and activities by visiting:

https://www.guidelines.org/

https://www.facebook.com/guidelinesministries/

 
Or sending an e-mail to: info@guidelines.org requesting to be added to his Guidelines Daily Commentary e-mail list.
 

September 29, 2016

FIVE MINUTES FROM ETERNITY

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.  Psalm 91:16

                   

"Our 747 was traveling between the Philippines and Hawaii," wrote John N. Powell, "and we had just passed the point of no return.  It was a cold, stormy night and the plane reciprocated with creaks and groans as it lurched up and down in the wintry storm.  Half the passengers were asleep and the other half, like me, were watching the movie with one eye half open.

               

"Suddenly, the voice of the movie was interrupted by, 'Prepare for emergency landing!  Plan to evacuate!  All passengers prepare for emergency landing and evacuation!'  Time seemed to stop.  Soon the cabin came alive with people trying to get out their life jackets, attaching their seat belts, etc.  The cabin was still dark and the movie ground on. What do you try to save and what do you forget?  How could 340 people pile out of a plane in the middle of the ocean and expect to be saved?  I decided they couldn't.  This was it!

               

"All of a sudden," says Mr. Powell as he wrote of his harrowing experience, "the lady across the aisle from me threw her hands up and shouted, 'Oh my God, we're going down!'  She had a drink in her hand at the time, and its contents came raining down on me.  I thought, 'This plane surely went down in a hurry.  We're in the ocean and the water is coming in already.'"

               

"Suddenly thereafter the movie stopped and the lights came on.  An apologetic captain spoke out over the loud speaker, 'Sorry folks, we have had a malfunction on our emergency recorder.  No reason for alarm.  Everything is all right.'"

               

Just like that you've gone from five minutes from eternity to the inane plot of a second-class movie.  You see the screen but the characters aren't important.  What is important is that life will go on and the old grim reaper has been cheated one more time- or is it?

               

Most of us live much, much closer to eternity than we have any idea of.  In essence you are just one heartbeat away from the same fate that the passengers aboard that Boeing 747 thought awaited them.

               

Recently, I spent long hours at the bedside of a friend, who had been felled by a heart attack, and watched the rhythm of his heart ripple across the screen of the cardiac monitor; and I thought, "How fragile, this thing called life!  The only thing that sustains it apart from the direct will of God is the beating of a muscle the size of your fist which we call a heart."  Incidentally, the friend made a good recovery, but if he hadn't, there would have been no question in our minds where he would have been had the line gone flat on that heart monitor.

               

Long ago, Jesus Christ faced the issue of life and death.  Roman soldiers nailed Him to the old rugged tree, and life left Him.  They put the body in a cold tomb, and most thought it was all over!  But three days later, just as He said, He rose from the grave.  Death could not keep Him, so Paul, the theologian of the New Testament, could say, "For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."

               

That assurance, though, isn't a carte blanche endorsement for everybody who is aboard a 747 that seems only minutes away from crashing.  It is a promise to those who have accepted the gift of life which God offers in Jesus Christ.  This is why John wrote, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).  It's that simple. 

 

Resource reading: Psalm 91

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But, the really important message is what we have read in those last two paragraphs:

Long ago, Jesus Christ faced the issue of life and death.  Roman soldiers nailed Him to the old rugged tree, and life left Him.  They put the body in a cold tomb, and most thought it was all over!  But three days later, just as He said, He rose from the grave.  Death could not keep Him, so Paul, the theologian of the New Testament, could say, "For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."

               

That assurance, though, isn't a carte blanche endorsement for everybody who is aboard a 747 that seems only minutes away from crashing.  It is a promise to those who have accepted the gift of life which God offers in Jesus Christ.  This is why John wrote, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).  It's that simple. 

 
Do you have FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) who need to hear that message of eternal life?  Please feel free to share this e-mail with them.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

What Do Young People Really Want In A Church Fellowship?

Over the past couple of months, you have read my blogs and posts praising God for the new home church which Dory and I have found, International Bible Baptist Church of Riverside, California (IBBC-Riverside).   The reason this church fellowship has won our hearts is three-fold: 

First, immediately upon walking into their church, we were embraced with the over-flowing love of God from all the people.  That kind of Godly love is what led me to eternal life in Christ 29 years ago, when Dory and I walked into the Filipino-American Church of Irvine, California (FACI) led by Pastor Sam Lacanienta.  

Second, is the total involvement of the Youth and Young Adults in this congregation.  They are intimately involved in all aspects of our church - music, teaching, prayer, evangelism, etc..

Third, this Christian fellowship really puts its whole heart into Worship In Music, with virtually every Youth and Young Adult involved.  Over the years, in various church fellowships, I have been told over and over, "We must make our music relevant to the young people, so they will want to come to church." Consequently, I have seen worship services that remind me more of the bars and nightclubs I left behind when I became a believer - than worship services glorifying our Lord. 

Some years ago, Dory and I went to a Friday night Bible study at a large church in Orange County, because they were showing a film about End Times Prophecy.  The film drew me there - but, the worship music that night almost drove me away before seeing the film.  Sitting in the sanctuary that evening, hearing that loud secular-sounding music - I felt like I was back in the night clubs of my earlier years.  Finally, I had to get up and walk out until the music was over.  Then I watched the film.  But, I have never been back to that church again.

At IBBC-Riverside, the worship music, the young people leading and participating in it, and the overall feeling of worship we feel in our music -  often has Dory and me both getting very emotional. 

"So, Bill, what kind of music does your church have in your worship services?"   Glad you asked.   So far, I have heard hymns, I have heard contemporary Christian music, I have heard Gospel songs, I have heard Christian chorale music, and I have participated in singing Scripture passages.  In other words, I have heard a wide variety of Christian music in our worship services and in our Bible Study/Prayer Meetings. 

The things I have not heard - are the seriously repetitive chorus songs where one five-word sentence is repeated over and over, twenty-five times.  Nor have I heard loud banging instruments which overpower any voices trying to compete with them.

About twelve years ago, the church we were attending, with our host church, was having a Halloween Alternative Party.  Musical teams from both churches took turns playing.  In one number, two young girls from the host church were singing - but the instruments behind them were so loud that the only way you could tell they were singing is that we could see their lips moving.  I turned to my pastor and told him, "That is what I have been talking about - loud music that drowns out any and all voices.  The human voice is supposed to be the main instrument in worship music, accompanied by musical instruments.  Not totally drowned out by the instruments."   He nodded - but, I never saw any changes.

So, today when I read the article "Research Says: Young People Don't Want Hip Pastors" posted on Christianity Today - I felt like I was reading an article about my church, IBBC-Riverside.  In this article, all the positive things I read which draws young people into a church fellowship family - I find in our congregation.  

Reading this article, I knew that I have to share it with all my Friends.  Below are excepts from the article and, at the bottom, I give a URL link you can visit to read the full article, which I strongly suggest:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Research Says: Young People Don't Want Hip Pastors
by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin
Christianity Today, August 22, 2016

A study of 250 congregations suggests that youth and young adults want substance rather than style.

A few decades ago, Immanuel reflected these broader trends.  Its membership shrank so drastically that the remnant considered closing the church.  Now, young people sit front-and-center in Immanuel’s Sunday morning worship every week.  Embedded both in a community where churches are struggling to retain young people and in a denomination that is not growing in the United States, Immanuel has more than doubled in size over the past decade.  Young people - who make up one third of the congregation - are commonly referred to as the church’s “headlights.”   We heard high school students assert, “Every day, every week, I feel like I’m supposed to be here.”  .  .  .  .

But this doesn’t have to be the case.  Whether it was Trinity Church in Miami or Upper Room Community in Minneapolis, we noticed a common pattern in the statistics and in interviews with pastors, volunteers, parents, and congregation members.  Churches that help young people grow seem to experience missional, spiritual, relational, and often numerical growth across the board.  There’s a strong connection between churches that engage young people well and churches that are positioned to engage all generations well.

As Volga Christian Reformed Church in South Dakota prioritized teenagers and young adults, members saw how young people fuel their church’s growth through their bold and passionate invitations to friends as well as friends’ families.  .  .  .

8 Things Your Church Doesn’t Need

A long list of qualities had less predictive value in the 250 exemplary congregations than we expected.  Here are qualities that did not end up mattering as much as churches often assume among churches effectively engaging youth and young adults:

• A trendy location or region of the country.
• A specific denomination.
• A “culturally relevant” pastoral teaching style, including pastors’ attire.

A precise size:  We found no evidence of a Goldilocks effect, with some churches being “just right” in size.  We saw no statistical relationship between church size and ability to draw young people.  Our study respondents were drawn to a 100-member African American church in downtown Chicago just as powerfully as to a 10,000-member megachurch in Georgia.

An exact age:  We learned just as much, and saw just as much evidence of life change, in churches that were over a century old - as we did in churches that were barely five years old.  When it comes to churches that “grow young,” there is no age discrimination.  St. John the Evangelist, a Catholic parish in Indianapolis, is one example: the church is more than 140 years old but has undergone a dramatic revitalization over the past two decades.  Today, more than two-thirds of its parishioners are youth or young adults.

A big budget:   It’s a bit of a tautology (repetition), but churches that grow young intentionally invest in young people, and most often that includes a financial investment.  But not always.  Less-resourced congregations creatively support young people in other ways.  In one congregation that is unable to pay staff members besides the senior pastor, we heard this kind of statement over and over:  “It’s like family here.  I can be myself with these people - they accept me for who I am.”   Relational warmth is often more powerful than big-budget programming.

Contemporary worship:   It’s not that worship style is unimportant; it’s just that there is no one “right”  worship style for attracting teenagers and emerging adults.  Our research indicates that while many young people are drawn to casual, contemporary worship, others are drawn to high-church liturgy.  While the churches we visited were likely to prefer modern worship in some or all of their worship services, they didn’t depend on that alone as a magnet.  A United Methodist church in our study offered three unique styles of worship on the same Sunday morning, with teenagers and young adults attending each of the services about equally.  Several of the young people told our team that the worship style isn’t as much of a reason they love the church as the relationships and community formed among the people attending the service.

A big, modern building:   Some of the congregations that are most effective with young people have state-of-the-art facilities.  But not most.  The majority of the effective churches gather in decent, but not spectacular, spaces.  Some don’t own their facilities and are creatively meeting in local schools, like District Church in Washington, DC, and Flood Church in San Diego.  A majority-Asian American church on the East Coast worships in a school now, but plans to build soon.  Their dream doesn’t involve a fancy worship center, though.  They hope to build a community center in which the church will rent space while the building houses various neighborhood nonprofits throughout the week.  Other congregations gathered in living rooms.  For teenagers and young adults, feeling at home in a congregation transcends size or architectural style.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/september/meet-churches-engaging-and-keeping-young-people.html?start=1

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I pray that you have found this blog helpful.  If so, and if you are in the Southern California area, especially in the Riverside/Corona area, we invite you to visit us at the International Bible Baptist Church of Riverside (IBBC-Riverside). 

Our address is:  10094 Cypress Ave, Riverside, CA  92503.  We are located on Cypress Avenue, between Van Buren and Tyler.   The sign in front says Sierra Vista Church and they graciously allow us to use their facilities for our services.

Our Sunday School starts at 1:30 PM.   Our worship service starts at 3:00 PM. 

I really hope you can join us for Sunday School and worship - for I know you will enjoy the warm and loving people in our Filipino-American fellowship.  We are a church which is Pinoy at heart - but which welcomes all people - for all believers are God's children.  And, all people need to hear His Word.  At IBBC-Riverside, you will hear the Word of God taught from His Bible.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

WARNING To All My Christian Friends!

WARNING TO ALL MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS ~ And even to those who have not quite decided:  There is a new Facebook group page posted by an Atheist titled: "10 Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief."  He is on Facebook, and that page points you toward his web site, for one purpose - to sell his new book by the same name.

Upon first seeing this on Facebook I thought it might be a new Christian Facebook group.  However, immediately upon opening his page, and before I even had a chance to look at his About page, I got a funny feeling - for one of the very first post uses vulgar language. Whoa!  Would a Christian do that?

My Friends, this is why I ALWAYS strongly suggest to all my Christian Friends - when you encounter a new, supposedly, Christian page or web site - the VERY FIRST thing you should look for is that person or ministry's Statement of Faith.  And, I suppose my immediately finding vulgar language on his Facebook page told me his Statement of Faith - the world, or none!

I have posted his book cover - but with a slight modification.  I added the "I Am God" overlay just to give the cover a better flavor.  Although you can still see all the pertinent details and know why YOU should avoid him and his books.
 
The tag line at the bottom of the book cover reads:  "A bold, refreshing take on Christianity.  H. L. Mencken would be proud." - Hector Avalos

"Who is Hector Avalos?"  Glad you asked!

Hector Avalos (born October 8, 1958) is a professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University and the author of several books about religion.  He is a former Pentecostal preacher and child evangelist. ~ Avalos is an atheist activist and advocate of secular humanist ethics.  ("Hector Avalos" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Avalos)

"And, pray tell, who is H. L. Mencken?"  Once again, glad you asked! 

(H. L.) Mencken (journalist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar - and avid atheist) looked forward to his Dayton (Tennessee) assignment (the Scopes Monkey Trial) as a chance to bash some of the things he hated most - the South, religion, and stupidity.  According to historian Paul Boyer, "Beneath Mencken's ridicule of the ignorant hayseeds of America was a very profound suspicion of Democracy itself.  Mencken really believed that there was a small elite of educated and cultivated and intelligent human beings, and then there were the masses who were really ignorant and capable of nothing but being led and bamboozled."  ("American Experience | Monkey Trial | People & Events - PBS" - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/p_mencken.html)

In a strong sense, it seems that H. L. Mencken's beliefs about we Americans across this beautiful nation - is a perfect fit for the way Obama, Hillary, and all the Liberal Socialists look at us.   

Are YOU part of "the masses who were really ignorant and capable of nothing but being led and bamboozled"  - as viewed by Mencken, Obama, Hillary, and the Liberal Socialist Gang? 
 
Or, are YOU going to stand up and VOTE for America and all Americans in November?
 
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
 
Bill 

The Bible And The Constitution - Immutable Or Evolving?

If there is any one absolutely erroneous teaching in America - it is the teaching from Liberals, religious and secular, who adamantly declare that the Bible and the Constitution are documents which should evolve, i.e., adapt, change - to whatever secular society declares is now the best solution for America and the world.   Why do I say this? 

First, let's look at the Liberal's view of the Bible.  The Liberal Christian and religious folks will adamantly declare that the Bible is not the inspired, inerrant, literal Written Word of God - that it is not the full authority for Christian salvation, morals, and living.  They view the Bible as a good guideline for Christian living, but not the actual Written Word of God.

And, the secular Liberals agree with them - for it helps them make any desired lifestyle, aberrant or otherwise, a legal and accepted norm in America and the world. In the same way, both groups typically view the Constitution as an evolving rule of law - to be modified and adapted to support Liberal society's desired lifestyles.

Yet, God tells us, regarding His Bible, His Word,  "All Scripture - is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"  (2 Timothy 3:16, kjv, nkjv).

The English phrase "is given by inspiration of God" comes from the Greek word "theopneustos" and according to Strong's Concordance means, "God-breathed, inspired by God, due to the inspiration of God.  Referring to the divine inspiration (inbreathing) of Scripture.  Inbreathing relates directly to God's Spirit (Greek pneuma) which can also be translated "breath."

In other words, God, the Holy Spirit, "breathed" His teachings, thoughts, messages which He intends for all mankind - into the hearts and minds of those 40 specially chosen men who actually put "pen to papyrus (their paper)" and wrote the 66 inspired, inerrant, literal books of our Bible.

Second Peter 1:21 (nkjv) tells us, "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved (inspired) by the Holy Spirit."  But, I am often told by Liberal naysayers - how can you believe the Bible is the inerrant Written Word of God - without falling into circular reasoning?  In other words, my stance is: the Bible tells me it is the Word of God - therefore, it is the Word of God.  Actually, I do believe that.  But, how do you and I avoid this pitfall when sharing with secular and religious Liberals?

Easy, 2 Peter 1:21 gives us the answer:  Prophecy! -  an absolute validation of the Bible as the true Written Word of God.  In the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, there are 1817 prophecies.  The only prophecies left to be fulfilled are those concerning the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  To date, Biblical prophecy has been 100% accurate, proven by both secular and religious writings.   

No other sacred book, of any of the world religions, contains prophecy.   Biblical Prophecy, 100% accurate, is absolute proof that the Bible is the Written Word of God.  For only God could give perfect and infallible prophecy.  God does not change; therefore His Written Word does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17).

That covers, and in my mind, validates the Bible as the inspired, inerrant, literal Written Word of God.  

Now, let's take a look at what the Liberals want to do with our Constitution.   Almost since the birth of America, Liberals have wanted to push all Christian faith out of the halls of American government.  In an attempt to do that, they laid claim to a letter written by Thomas Jefferson as their support for the teaching of an "evolving Constitutional" - through which they claim support for their favorite doctrine:  Separation of Church and State.

In English, the exact term (Separation of Church and State) is an offshoot of the phrase, "wall of separation between church and state," as written in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.  In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship - that the legitimate powers of government reach, actions only and not opinions - I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' - thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Jefferson was describing to the Baptists that the United States Bill of Rights (Bill Gray Note:  The first 10 amendments to the Constitution) prevents the establishment of a national church, and in so doing they did not have to fear government interference in their right to expressions of religious conscience.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state)

Separation of Church and State is a fallacy created by the Liberal Left (secular and religious) in an attempt to keep all Christian influence out of government.  And, believe me, my Friends - especially today, our government really needs a lively injection of Christian influence and Christian morals throughout the halls of government.  The current presidential election should be proof of how badly, how desperately, America needs that strong shot of Christian influence - from the highest halls of government, into the homes of we common men and women of America.

However, let me state a firm position on my part, which the secular and Liberal religious folks cannot seem to understand:  When I say Christian influence in our government - that is exactly what I mean ~ influence - not control.  To have Christian, or religious (any religion), control of a nation is a theocracy.   And, throughout history, there has never been a successful theocracy.  Why?  Because, even though it may wear a "religious" hat - it is still a government controlled by men.

There is only one theocracy I look forward to experiencing.  That is the true One World Government, i.e., theocracy, which will be established by Jesus Christ after His Glorious Second Coming - when He will establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom of earth, from the throne of David in Jerusalem.

Now that I have given you my thoughts on the immutability of our Bible and our United States Constitution, let me share my inspiration for writing those thoughts.

This week I read the following article in one of my favorite Christian creation apologetic magazines, Acts & Facts, from the Institute for Creation Research - and felt a need to share this article, and my thoughts, with you, my Friends.   You can get a FREE subscription to this excellent magazine at:    http://www.icr.org/subscriptions/ 

Balancing Church and State, Part 2: Evolutionary Law

by James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D. *

Evidence for Creation

http://www.icr.org/article/9527

What is law and the rule of law?  Is law objective and stable, like a wooden ruler, or is it stretchy and unstable, like a rubber band?  Many citizens expect government officials to obey the law - yet many officials, due to their positions of power, act as if they are the law, as if might makes right.

As noted in a previous article, the phrase “separation of church and state” has often been used to force-fit an unbalanced understanding of the First Amendment. (1)  How did this happen?  In short, the interpretation of law became “evolutionized” during the late 1800s, so the objective and stable meaning of the First Amendment was replaced by “evolving” interpretations, selected by whoever sat on the judicial bench.

Constitutional law professor John Eidsmoe writes:

Twentieth-century jurisprudence is based on a Darwinian world view.  Life [supposedly] evolves… and therefore laws and constitutions [supposedly] evolve.  According to the Darwinian principle, the Constitution’s meaning evolves and changes with time.…  This is not the way the founding fathers viewed constitutional interpretation.  They saw the Constitution as the supreme law, and also as a covenant or contract.

The Constitution, like all legal documents, was viewed as a fixed document, to be interpreted according to its plain meaning.  And if its meaning was ambiguous as applied to a specific situation, it was to be interpreted according to the intent of those who wrote it, signed it, and ratified it.  James Madison expressed this view when he wrote, “(If) the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the Nation… be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a faithful exercise of its powers.”  (2)

This anti-objective approach to defining or redefining laws, as if law somehow has an animistic life of its own and evolves, is misleadingly called "legal positivism."

Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell of Harvard Law School pioneered this approach in 1870.  It consists of five assumptions:

1. There are no divine absolutes in law, or if there are they are irrelevant to the modern legal system.
2. Law is simply man-made - whatever the state says is law.
3. Law evolves as man evolves.
4. Judges guide the evolution of the law by writing decisions.
5. To study law the “scientific way,” [we must use] the decisions of judges (case-law method of legal study).  (3)
   

But regardless of how popular evolutionary theory, thought, and jargon may be in the academy or in the courthouse - judicial might does not create right.  Truth is not a man-made construct, nor can truth change!  The true meaning of the First Amendment does not “evolve."  (2,3)

The authors of the First Amendment had a creationist worldview.  They treated law (like truth) as firm and foundational, not stretchy and shapeable. (4)  Accordingly, the evolutionary approach to interpreting law should be exposed as the lie it is.  The roots of legal positivism did not come from the authors of our Constitution; they came from unfounded evolutionary ideas a century later.  Legal positivists impose an evolutionary arbitrariness to constitutional law, but the founding fathers intended our Constitution to be an objective standard, like a ruler, for defining the rule of law.

References

1. Johnson, J. J. S. 2016. Balancing Church and State. Acts & Facts. 45 (7): 21. A full treatment of the First Amendment’s purpose is provided in Rector, etc., of Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511 (1892), by Justice David Josiah Brewer, a Smyrna native. See also Romans 13:1-4.
2. Eidsmoe, J. 1987. Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of our Founding Fathers. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 391-392.
3. Eidsmoe, J. 1995. Institute on the Constitution. Bridgewater, VA: American Foundation Publications, 76.
4. George Mason’s religious liberty tenet, which he had drafted 12 years earlier for the Virginia Declaration of Rights, became the precursor for Virginia’s proposal to Congress to approve a religious freedom amendment for the new Constitution: “That Religion or the Duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Conviction, not by Force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural, and unalienable Right to the free Exercise of Religion according to the Dictates of Conscience, and that no particular religious Sect or Society of Christians ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others.”
   

* Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D. 2016. Balancing Church and State, Part 2: Evolutionary Law. Acts & Facts. 45 (9).

 

My Friends, I pray this blog gives you a better understanding of why we Conservative Christians and Americans view our Bible and our Constitution as immutable, unchanging.  The Bible was given to teach us how to gain and how to live the Christian life.  The Constitution was given to us to guide us in our legal, moral, and judicial walk with our neighbors.  Neither was created to limit our Christian life - but to assure that we can live it to the fullest. 

Taking our lead from the old Mission Impossible television series, "Good morning, Christians, Your mission, should you choose to accept it.  .  .  ."  ~  is to ignore all the Liberal Left's attempts to put our Christian faith in handcuffs - and make all effort to take the Living Word of God to all the world, starting in your Jerusalem, i.e., your family, your local fellowship, your community, your nation.  Make America great again!

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

 

 

Happy Anniversary To My Bride Of 39 Years ~ And Counting!

ONE YEAR AGO TOMORROW, I posted the Love Note below to remind my beautiful bride that I have truly enjoyed the 39 years we have been together.  The Note below is the same as last year, except that now it says 39 Years Of Wedded Bliss.  God has truly blessed me:  with a wonderful wife, with loving children, and with five of the most beautiful and wonderful Pinoy grandchildren God ever created.  And, I am not the least bit biased!  Well, maybe a wee bit.

So, HAPPY 39TH TO MY BRIDE!  And, to all my Friends, please keep my family in prayer that our Lord will continue to bless, watch over, and protect all of them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
THIRTY NINE YEARS AGO TODAY, September 2, 1977 - My bride, Dory, made me a very happy man!   That is the day we were first wed.   I say "First Wed" because on our 3rd Anniversary we went to Hawaii and had a second wedding.  Yes, a true second wedding -  a church wedding where we did it all over again - marriage license in Hawaii, wedding flowers, wedding photographer, and we were married in a church in Honolulu.  Complete redo!

We tried to do the same thing on our 6th Anniversary.  But, in Puerto Vallarta the only Protestant church we could find had been burned down years before.  My new company even got into the act.  I had recently become a Regional Sales Manager with a computer graphics company based in Lafayette, Louisiana, and part of my employment terms was that I would have a one week vacation in September to get married again.  

The president of the company, a retired lawyer who, with his white hair and refined looks, could have been the poster-boy for the kind Southern judge - put in their employment offer letter to me:  "And, we will allow you a one week vacation in September to legitimize your already legitimate marriage."   I love it when a plan comes together!

My mom asked Dory, "Why does Bill like to get married again every three years?"  And, Dory told her, "That way, no matter how many years we have been married - he only feels like he has been married three years!"   Dory had it right.  We had plans to become perpetual newlyweds!  But, when we could not find a Protestant church in Puerto Vallarta to marry us - that sort of broke the chain.  But, it did not break the spirit of being perpetual newlyweds.

Today, in making a collage to commemorate this wonderful day, I searched for photos which would tie in with our early romance.   What are those places?

We met on a Wednesday evening at the Saddleback Inn Hotel in Santa Ana where Dory was attending a weekly Red Carpet Real Estate sales meeting.  The Saddleback Inn Hotel is no longer there.

A week later, on Saturday evening, we had our first date.   We first went to Bobby McGee's Restaurant and Night Club in Newport Beach.  We stayed at Bobby McGee's just long enough to have a drink with my friend, Jay Kear.  That Bobby McGee's is no longer there.

Then, Dory and I went to the Newporter Inn on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach to dance.  The Newporter Inn is no longer there.

While walking by the swimming pool at the Newporter Inn that evening, we had our very first kiss.  The kiss is still there!

The next day, Sunday, we had our second date.  We went to church at the Garden Grove Community Church (precursor to the Crystal Cathedral).  Then, we went to a movie in Fashion Island at Newport Beach.  And then we had an early dinner at the Quiet Cannon Restaurant in Dana Point.  The restaurant is still there but is now named Cannon's.

So, the place we first met is no longer there, the places we went on our first date and where we had our first kiss are no longer there.  The restaurant where we had our first dinner date is still there, but is no longer the Quiet Cannon.  It is now called the Cannon's Seafood Restaurant.

So much has changed over the 39 years since we fell in love and married.  But, the love which was spawned on those first dates is stronger than ever, 39 years later.

So, I am sending this to all my Friends to ask that you say a prayer of thanksgiving to our Lord for giving Dory and me 39 wonderful years together - and counting.

And, this is sent to my lovely young bride to tell her,  "Happy 39th Wedding Anniversary!"   I love you more every day.  Thank you for tolerating me for 39 years.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill