No Man Can Know

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the rapture happening on Saturday. Ummm, sorry to tell you, and by you I mean people that believe this, that's not going to happen. Now don't get me wrong, it will happen one day, but according to the Bible no man can know the day or the hour of the Lords return, Matthew 25:13
It's been a lot of talk on the radio station that I listen to during the day, and while I don't believe this rhetoric, it's still very waring on the mind when I know the truth. Below is the letter that I wrote to the radio station that I listen to during the day. They newver read it on the air, but it felt good to get it off of my chest.

Dear Dave & Luke,

I am a Christian and believe in the rapture. I’ve taken a bit of time to compose this email so I hope that you will take just a bit of time to read it. After listening to on air conversation the other day, and with all this fear mongering about the end of the world that has been going on over the past few weeks I feel compelled to over up a much more logical counter argument and to point out one simple Bible verse that completely negates this man’s prediction, Matthew 25:13 - Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Simply put anyone who says that they can predict the return of the Lord, or that they know for a fact when this event will happen is lying, because Jesus himself said no one could know when that time would be. Only God himself knows when that time will be.

I heard the interview that you and Luke had with this man, and if he was so confident why did he not give his method for figuring this date out and the verses that would back this date up? Not an unreasonable question, and IF he had the answer there should be nothing for his to with hold. God has given us everything that we need to know in the Bible that pertains unto life, 1 Peter 1:3 - According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue; and if God thought it was really important for us to know the exact date of his return, I have no doubt that he would have made sure that the writers & translators or the Bible made sure to put that exact date in there. However, since it’s not in there I highly doubt that this man knows what he’s really talking about.

He was also predicting an earthquake, which is easy to do since there has been a lot of movement in the earth with those lately and very easy to scare mass amounts of people with, but 1 Thessalonians 5:2 says, For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. I don’t know about you, but when I picture a thief in the night I picture a couple things. First, I don’t picture him making to much noise, unlike an earthquake, but rather coming in silently, which brings me to point #2 and back to the fact that this man can’t know the date of the Lords return, and that is that no one knows when a thief in the night is going to come, just that he will at some point and so the best they can do is prepare for that thief. And for that reason people should make sure that their relationship with God rests solely on their standing with Jesus Christ for when he does return as that thief to rapture up those that have put their faith and trust in him by repenting of their sins and seeking the Lords forgiveness.

Don’t get me wrong, as a Christian I look forward to this day with great anticipation. I just want people to know that based on what the Bible says about NO man being able to predict God’s return that this man, however well intentioned, is wrong and by his own admittance from the interview was wrong with a previous date as well, something else to take into account about this man and his credibility.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. Please feel free to share as you so desire.

My former Pastor preached a message this past Sunday on the topic and WOW, what a difference to listen to something that actually makes sense in accordance with scripture. Click on the link to listen for yourself, Why the Rapture will not happen on May 21st, 2011. He's also having a "We're Still Here" BBQ at his church, Silvercrest Bapstist Church in Waterford, MI, in case anyone readingthis is able to go.

For those that believe like me you'll find it a blessing, for those who don't know what to believe it may give you some perspective and call to your attention maybe your own relationship with him that you need to take care of, and for those that actually believe that you can know the day and the hour you will probably find it irritating at first and then alarming that you may have allowed yourself to be taken in by a charlatan. His followers have cashed in their retirement savings & stopped paying their mortgages & other bills that affect their earthly tenure. This behavior does not bode well for them come Sunday morning.

I'm so thankful that God is faithful and true. That he left us his word, the King James Bible, with full completeness that we can have the confidence that everything that is in there is what we need to live a life that is honoring and glorifying to him. Granted, I'm far from perfect, but his word gives me the knowledge on how I can live a life that he is pleased with. Which will include my life on Sunday morning. After all I have a Sunday School lesson that I'm preparing for:) Until the next post...

What are you listening to?

I've been absent for quite a bit now. I just haven't been feeling the desire to blog. Until today as a friend sent me a link to read that brought some thoughts to my mind.

Let me begin by stating, just in case you all haven't figured it out yet, that I'm extremely blessed to be in a church that wants to do things the Bible way and not mans way. That the leadership of our church desires to please God rather than man. Yes, in times past that may have cost us potential members or even chastisement from the community, but in the end it's all served as a purpose for growing and maturing the saints here at Bible Baptist.

One standard that can be a point of contention, besides dress, is music. Christian music is designed to be just that, Christian. Not worldly, or having the "right Bible words" while sharing a rhythm with a electric guitar. If that sounds weird to some of you might I remind you that God has called Christians a peculiar people. 1 Peter 2:9 exhorts us to be so "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" and we are also exhorted to not be a part of this world and it's snares as well, Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Part of that perfect will involves listening to music that edifies the spirit. In my experience the CCM movement has not achieved that separation from the world, nor does it edify my spirit.

In the email that I eluded to earlier Alyssa sent me an article written by Bro. David Cloud, a man who does his research supporting Bible doctrines, like the one that I read today on music and the direction that a well known Bible college seems to be going with their music. Here is the article for your own perusal. Mark 3:25 says "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand". A "house" like West Coast has already set itself up for failure since it's not doing what the Bible says to like in Ephesians 5:19, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" and Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord., yet it tries to promote Biblical values. At this point and time there are songs that I enjoy from the WCBC choir that do not fall into this category, but sad to say that usually where there is smoke, there is also fire. SO it might not be very long before I stop listening to their music.

SO if not this music that what? Well...it just so happens that I know a man who has put together a terrific series on messages on this topic, and taught it to our church back ion 2009. There's a series of 5 messages, which are all listed below, or you can also access them from Sermon Audio, along with a few other messages that I enjoy.

God's Music #1
God's Music #2
God's Music #3
God's Music #4
God's Music #5

My life today

I know it took a while for me to post on my days spent in LTIA thanks for hanging in there. I also know that my stories and life has been kind of quiet up to this point for other things that have been going on. So let me see if I can play catch up.

I decided to get involved in the campaigns for this years mid term elections in my county. I pretty much support most of the conservative candidates, except for two running for local offices. In those cases the best qualified candidates really are from the opposite party. The one candidate that I'm actively involved with is Kelly Emerson, running for Island County Commissioner. Our current leadership within those offices needs to be reigned in, and Kelly's just the person to hold Island County accountable for how it spends it's money. For more information click on her link on my sidebar, or check out her blog at our news papers website. In conjunction with this endeavor I'm also working with the local women's republican group. I've stepped up to be the secretary for the club and besides promoting our political candidates we also have a program call pieces of home, which I love! Basically we get together and fill boxes of goodies to send to the troops that are stationed overseas. Naturally having served in the military this is a cause near and dear to my heart.

After the primary's on Tuesday Kelly is also ahead of the incumbent John Dean, in the polls 59% to 40%, and that was just for her district, which is a pretty Democratic one at that. Now that the primary's are over her race opens up to all of Island County. GO KELLY!!!

I'm also in the process of taking photos for some friends and their business so that they can create new brochures. If you haven't found the link yet, in my favorite tabs, check out their website here at A Knot in Thyme. This also opened up a new opportunity for me to take pictures of the Vertical Garden for Alyssa for a great opportunity that came her way to have the wall show up in book on vertical gardening! I took those pics last weekend and it was a lot of fun, even if it was HOT outside! I'll post some of them later for you to take a look.

This weekend I'll be walking with Kelly in the local Island County Fair Parade, while my friends are away on the HWY 20 camp out. It's weird not being able to go this year, but in choosing to take my vacation to DC earlier in the summer that also left me with not enough time to take off for a little while. Actually there are quite a few of the SPG's that fell into this category. I've made it a point to try and go to each one since the inception of the HWY 20 project, but if I were to leave here on Friday afternoon, by the time I got to the camp ground it would be time for me to leave again, and I don't know about all of you, but if I have to drive 4 hours to get somewhere I might as well get to stay for a spell.

I think that's about it for now, not a whole lot to say, just enough to keep the update real rather than focusing on the past.

Oh and if you're in the mood for a good sermon on what God says about changing click here "Change, but never change". This sermon comes from a previous Pastor of mine. Here is his synopsis of the message: Heb 6:1-20 God never changes because He is perfect, so to change would be to leave perfection. We are to strive for perfection. Hence, we ought always to be "changing" to be better, but NEVER "changing" in a backsliding direction. How many of God's people have surrendered precious ground to the devil? Allow this sermon to, at minimum, bring you back to where you once were in your Christian walk.