The Sin of Facebook or is it Your sin?

If ur gay, it's a sin. If ur bisexual, ur confused. If ur skinny, ur on drugs. If ur fat, ur a slob. If ur dressed up, ur conceited. If u speak ur mind, ur a bitch. If u don't say anything, u must be miserable. If u cry, ur a drama queen. If u have male friends, ur a whore. If u defend urself, ur a troublemaker. U can't do anything without being criticized. If ur proud of who u are copy and paste this. Love me or hate me, but u will never change me!

And the above comments are seen all over the place on Facebook by people who profess to be Christians. They make comments for the whole world to see and yet they mock the very words of God by the way they live their lives.

You will find pictures posted for the world to see by people who claim to be Christians. And what are they doing in those pictures? They are pictures of girls laying in bed with a guy that is not their husband. Showing them kissing and making comments about how they like to cuddle together. Showing off pictures of their latest tattoo's and talking about their latest experience with prophets at their church. Watch the following clip about one such prophet and you will begin to see how dangerous Facebook can be in bringing other people into a false knowledge of Christ.



Now let's take it a step further.
Many people on Facebook have over 500 friends listed. What does that have to do with anything? Take the start of this post as an example. You have 500 people who are your "friends" and they are all reading what you, a supposed Christian are posting. They are seeing that you, that supposed Christian, are saying it is okay to be gay, or bi, or on drugs, or anything at all. Why? Because all you have to do is be proud of who you are.

The Bible speaks of someone in the Bible that had over 700 wives and concubines. Solomon. The son of David. So what is the danger here? Besides the very obvious, the danger comes from trying to please each one. Solomon tried to please his wives to the point that he fell away from God. He erected tall places in honor of the gods of the women he was married to. He place a one such piece in Moab in honor of their god that they worshipped.

So what we have here on Facebook is the desire to please the friends. It no longer is about standing up for God and His HOLY WORD, no, it is all about saying things that will be popular to the masses. Show pictures of how you love to live in your sin with a man or a woman. Post comments about false prophecies because it makes you look spiritual to the world. Post pictures of a false document that says you are ordained of God by of all places, a universalist site ( for those of you that don't know, a universalist is a person that believes ALL people go to heaven. There is no hell. That means that an atheist, a mormon, an agnostic, a satan worshipper, a witch, call all get ordained to preach whatever they want to preach).

Facebook is also a place where you can see indecent, immoral pictures of people who name the name of Christ. Pictures of skimpy outfits that come within a half inch of showing something that ought not to be seen publicly. Girls kissing each other and promoting homosexual activities. Guys saying don't judge homosexuals, that is God's place. All the while forgetting that we as Christians are told to judge those within the church.

Facebook has become a place where anything goes, anything can be said, anything can be shown, anything can be presented as truth to the whole world. It is a place where the "world" resides. We as christians are not to be of the world, we are to be separated from the world. We still live in the world, but our lifestyle should exemplify Christ living within us. Sadly, too many professing Christians have failed miserably in their quest to live out a godly life for the world to see. Lord have mercy on them that do such abominable things.

From a pastor who took 6 months to speak to a dying lost man about Christ, to the same man who plays soft music behind his preaching so as to create an "effect" of emotions in the service, to the young person who follows all kinds of false teachings and displays them for the world to see, to the person who gets every kind of tattoo because they want to "glorify" God, to the ones who tell vulgar jokes and use vulgar language for the world to see, to the ones who want you to be like the world by embracing the you that is in you, and not the Christ that should be living within you, to the person who openly mocks God with his satanic worship, to the person who is more worried about having 1000 friends on Facebook that they will do and say anything to get them to be their friends. to the person who denies God, to the people who say in church, "This is not the time nor the place for Scripture," to the person who hates people for standing up for Christ, to the person who takes advantage of little girls and yet calls himself a Christian, to the person who cheats on his wife, to the old man sleeping with a young girl, to the people who support gay rights, abortions and still believes it is okay to claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior, to the person who leads a major denomination and will stand up for hypocrisy instead of God's Word, and to all the people who spend more time on Facebook than they do getting into God's Word...

You have been removed from my friends list on Facebook. I am so sick and tired of supposed Christians behaving in a way that does not glorify God. I want to see people truly desiring to please God. It is my desire to see God glorified in all things. I am hated, despised and ridiculed for being a faithful follower of Christ. Praise God because I know they hated Him first, even though they claim to know Jesus. A day will come when He will say to them, Depart from Me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.

It is one thing to sin. We all do that.
It is quite another thing to sin and post it for the whole world to see.
It is quite another thing to embrace the sin and be proud of it.
It is quite another thing to share your sin with others in hopes of influencing them to follow the same god you do (not the God of the bible).

Which preacher would you rather listen to?
Joel Osteen or Paul Washer?







Now the question is this...
Who do you listen to? Jesus or man? Facebook or the Bible?
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

Has Facebook distracted you from what is really important? How many hours a day do you spend on Facebook? How many minutes a day do you spend in God's Word? Anything that takes you away from God is an idol. The sin of Facebook is the fact that it breaks the first and the second commandments!

And when you top it off by promoting things of the devil, you expose yourself for whose you really are. You are either a child of God or a child of the devil.
Everything has its place. But how you use those things will determine where your heart lies. Repent of your Facebook sins and clean up your life and walk in obedience to the One who laid down His life for you. God is not to be mocked and millions of people EVERYDAY mock Him by the way they parade themselves around as Christians all the while, living for the devil.

I pray that God will open your eyes today and that you will live a life pleasing to the Lord of Hosts and King of Kings. Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and He is also Judge. Who will you face when you die?

Way of the Master FAQ's

1.) I have just read The Way of the Master -- and I am scared that I'm not saved.

It is healthy to examine yourself and see if you are in the faith. Once you have repented of all sin (see Psalm 51, 1John 1:9), don't doubt God's promises. Doubt produces fear. It is also a great insult to God--if I don't trust you, it means I think you are a liar.Here's a recipe for success:
Read your Bible every day . . . without fail. Every day.

Value the Word more important than your food (see Psalm One).
Obey what you read.
Develop a tender conscience.
Never doubt any of God's promises.
Obey the Great Commission by sharing your faith (see John 14:21).

2.) Why not tell a sinner of God's love rather than of His Judgment?

Here's a question: How do we know of God's love for the sinner? Only through the Cross. If you study the NT you will see that God's love is almost always in direct connection to the Cross. Herein is love, For God so loved, God commended His love, etc. Prosperity, blessings, etc., are not a sign of His love. If that is so, He loves the rich far more than He loves the poor. So, the Cross is what we should point to to express God's love to a sinner. How can we point to the Cross without making reference to sin? How can we refer to sin, without the Law?

The correct/biblical way to express God's love to a sinner, is to show him how much he has sinned, how wretched he is (to see himself in truth so he or she understands their desperate need of God’s forgiveness) . . . (the Law/God’s wrath/God’s judgment) . . . then give the grace of God. That will reveal the depth of God’s love for the sinner.

Second. When a criminal stands guilty--on trial--it would be a mistake to speak to him of how the judge loves him and how compassionate the judge is. Better for a criminal to see the frown of the judge, so that he will see the seriousness of his crime, and find a place of true sorrow and grief for what he has done. It is then that the mercy of the judge should be revealed, no sooner. This is very important/biblical and we hope this makes sense.

3.) I am struggling with feelings of being unsaved.

There is a wonderful little verse in First John. It says "Hereby we know that we know Him . . . if we keep His commandments." I don't "feel" God's presence. If I lived by feelings, I would conclude that God wasn't with me. This, then is how I know that I know Him--because there is something in me that wants to keep His Commandments. I have a new heart with new desires. Before I was saved, I couldn't care less about loving and obeying God.Do you believe that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved? Do you believe that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness? Do you believe that you are a saint (by the grace of God)?

If you don't believe His promises, then you are calling God a liar . . . and there is no greater insult to God than not to believe His promises. See First John.

4.) I have a lust problem.

The Bible says to "guard your heart with all diligence . . . " That means the area of your thought life. If we have a problem with lust, we should be quick to remember that we share that thought with God. That's scary. He is perfect, pure, holy . . . and just. If He considers lust to be adultery of the heart, we are in BIG trouble. That knowledge should send us back to the Cross, where we should confess and forsake our sins.We all have similar battles with unclean thoughts. Be careful what you look at, and what you think about. If you begin to lose the battle in your mind, go somewhere and pray. Confess your sins the moment you become aware of them, and don't let the enemy get a double victory by not sharing your faith or by allowing sin to keep you out of fellowship. Make sure you read the Word every day without fail. That old saying is true: "This Book will keep me from sin (and Hell), and sin will keep me from this Book." Also, be very careful of idolatry. It is easy to change our concept of God so that He conforms to our sins (a god who doesn't mind lust).

5.) What is the place of good works?

Remember that Jesus said that there was no one born of women greater than John the Baptist . . . "But he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." In Christ, your works are pleasing to God. They can't and don't justify you, but you can now make God smile when you do good works, evangelize, love your husband/wife, etc . . . because you are in Christ. The motive for what you do as a Christian isn't tainted by guilt. Love and gratitude motivate your life of godliness. It's like a criminal trying to do something good for the judge before sentence is given. That's an attempt to bribe the judge and pervert justice. But if the judge pays the criminal's fine himself out of his own hard-earned money and the criminal is released on the basis of his fine being paid, he is free to show the judge how much he appreciates kindness. One is an attempt to pervert justice, the other is gratitude in action. One makes the judge frown with displeasure, the other makes him smile.

6.) I love your teaching about sin and repentance, but doesn’t this fail to exalt the cross?

A man committed what he believed was a petty crime. He didn’t have any money to pay his fine, so the judge kindly paid it for him. Another man committed what he understood to be a very serious crime and didn’t have any money to pay his fine, so the judge kindly paid it for him. Which criminal do you suppose was more grateful to the judge--the one who thought that his crime was no big deal, or the one that saw how serious his crime was? It was more than likely the latter. So it is that those who think lightly of sin, think lightly of the Savior. That’s why it is most important to show sin in its true light—that it is “exceedingly sinful.” When a sinner understands that his sin is a very serious crime against God, His mercy in Christ is seen as an unspeakable act of kindness. The more he understands his sin, the more he appreciates the cross, and the way to make a sinner understand how sinful sin is, is to take him through the Moral Law (the Ten Commandments) because it’s the Law that makes the offence abound. That’s the meaning of Romans 5:10:20: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound . . . ”Every preacher should have one resolute eye on Calvary as he speaks of the serious nature of sin. He is the kindly doctor, talking with the patient about the seriousness of his disease. He must convince him of the terminal nature of the disease, so that he will appreciate and appropriate the cure. So he thoroughly speaks of the disease, with one eye on the cure he is about to reveal. The cure of the cross is the centrality of the preacher's message. He must exalt the love of God in Christ, and the way to do that is to do what Jesus did, to do what Paul did, what Spurgeon, Wesley and Whitefield did. He must thoroughly expose the blackness of sin so that the light of the glorious Gospel will shine in all its splendor. To fail to speak about sin in depth, is to demean the grace of God in Christ. It is to fail to exalt the cross.

7.) How can I witness to the unsaved when I am depressed?

I would witness anyway. Think of it this way. I have a cure to cancer. How can I give the cure to dying people, when I am feeling down myself? The answer is -- my feelings are secondary. If you have that attitude, I am sure your joy (the "joy of the Lord") will flood back. That joy will then be your strength and sustain you in your trials.

8.) Do you sin as a Christian?

I have sinned since I became a Christian -- but it is against my will. I may take the largest piece of chocolate cake, or let a impure thought enter my mind, but I hate it. However, if I sin willfully, then I am a hypocrite and not a Christian at all. The first Epistle of John makes that very clear. When I am aware that I have done something wrong, I ask for God's forgiveness, and immediately turn from that behavior.

9.) What about those who haven't heard the gospel?

Those who have never heard the gospel will be given justice. People don't go to hell primarily "because they don't believe in Jesus" but rather because they have sinned against God. If they have lied, stolen, murdered, committed adultery, etc., God will punish them -- not because of their ignorance, but because they have sinned despite the light God gave them via their conscience. If you really care about those who haven’t heard about Jesus, take the Gospel to them and tell them how they may be forgiven and be saved from Hell.

10) I have my own thoughts on what god is like.

This is transgression of the First and Second of the Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before Me . . . You shall not make to yourself a graven image of any likeness." You are creating a god in your mind that you are more comfortable with—a god to suit your sins. Man has always made gods to suit himself. My opinion doesn't matter when it comes to God's character. What matters is the truth--and He has revealed what He is like through the Bible.

11) I am afraid of witnessing because I have a fear of not being able to answer questions.

If you learn to use the Moral Law (Ten Commandments) in evangelism, you will find that there won't be too many questions because you will be dealing with the conscience, rather than the intellect. By that I mean, if you get a man to admit that he is a liar, a thief, a blasphemer and an adulterer at heart, "hypocrites in the church," Darwin's theory-tale, etc., become non-issues. Study how Jesus dealt with questions in Luke 13. He didn't spend much time at all on them, but took the sinner back to the fact that he has to face God on Judgment Day. To learn how to use the Law in Evangelism, go to our free audio lessons page, where you can listen online to several of the messages out of the 16 message audio set (available on CDs). We have created The Evidence Bible specifically to answer this fear. The Evidence Bible has answers to over 100 of the most common questions and objections about Christianity. You can see these answers in our free online resource called "Answers to 100 Questions from the Evidence Bible” To build up your courage, you may also want to consider reading God Doesn't Believe in Atheists.

12) Do you believe in "Once saved always saved?

"Unfortuantely, when commenting on the subject of eternal security, many books and sermons from respectable men and women of God, seem to be evidently silent on the subject of true and false conversion. This is in spite the fact that it is incredibly relevant to the topic of eternal security. The New Testament deals with this in great depth. It tells of Judas' profession of faith (he was in truth a thief, and was referred to by Jesus as a "devil"), and relates the parables of Jesus about the true and false "believers" sitting alongside one another. It speaks of Demas, who forsook Paul because he "loved this present world." As such, he revealed himself to be an enemy of God--"Whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God.”In one book, the author referred to a pastor/friend who was found to be "romantically" involved with another woman. The pastor had made his mind up to divorce his wife and marry the woman. I presume he means that he had been committing adultery. Instead of challenging the man as to the validity of his faith, and therefore warning him that "adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God," he spoke of the man's "loss of rewards." We do believe in eternal security for a true convert. He puts his hand to the plow and doesn't look back, because he is "fit" for the kingdom (Luke 9:62).Those who are fit for the Kingdom are not hypocrites as was Judas. The true convert is eternally secure in his faith, because his faith in Jesus is genuine rather than false.However, if a man steals, lies, kills, rapes, hates, lusts, covets, commits adultery, etc., and calls himself a Christian, he would be very wise to examine himself and see if he is "in the faith." The Bible makes it very clear that hypocrites will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. If a man has no understanding of true and false conversion (in his ignorance), he may make a calculated decision to forsake a few future eternal rewards and trade them for the immediate and temporary pleasures of sin. His confidence is in an interpretation of scripture that may have eternally tragic repercussions. We think that teaching on true and false conversion would clear the air when it comes to the contentions between two opinions that so often divide the Church. It would bring closer together those who say you can lose your salvation at the drop of a sinful hat, and others who think that Christians can get away with murder and still be assured that they are saved, because they once professed faith in the Savior. For more information, freely listen online to "True and False Conversion" from the 16 message audio set (available on CDs).

13) I was just wondering what the best way to witness to someone is who doesn't believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

It really doesn't matter if someone says that he doesn't believe that the Bible is the Word of God (or that they don't believe in Hell or Judgment Day). If we have rightly used the Law (the Ten Commandments -- to bring "the knowledge of sin"), we merely say, "It doesn't matter that you don't believe the Bible. You still have to face God on Judgment Day, and you've admitted that you are a liar, a thief and that you have committed adultery in your heart." His conscience will afirm the truth of the Commandments, and the Word of God (regardless of his or her lack of belief in it) is faithful to bring conviction throught the power of the Holy Spirit.We then, gently (in love), explain to him that if he walked on a freeway, saying that he didn't believe in trucks, his unbelief wouldn't change reality.
© 2006 The Way of the Master. A Ministry of Living Waters Publications
Design by Snow Media Inc.

Non-Christians -- you are falling!

One minute for Christ!

LOCKED DOORS
OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
Non-believers
Chapter 19

This book is for the person who does not believe in Jesus or has never been told about Him. I must apologize to you for our (Christians) lack of interest in saving you. As you can see from reading this book, we are all guilty of not doing a good job of sharing Christ with you. You are right when you say that “if we truly loved God” why are we not out in the streets proclaiming Him to everyone? To be honest with you, I am not sure I can answer that question. As Christians we feel compelled to pray for you and to be there if you need us. But for some reason we just do not get out of our churches to meet you. It is as though the doors are locked “after” we get “in” the church. Our Christianity is locked inside the church. We know that we are supposed to get out and make disciples for Christ but we always assume that someone else will do it for us (or for Christ!).
While we Christians shamefully keep our faith to ourselves: while the only place we truly serve Christ is within the doors of the church: we are losing ground. There are thousands upon thousands of “Christians” who have not repented of their sins. The Bible clearly states that no liar, adulterer, murderer, whoremonger, effeminate, fornicator will ever inherit the kingdom of God.
Does that mean that if you are guilty of one or more of these sins; you will go to Hell? Many people want to hear an answer of “no” of course not. They say that my God is a loving God and He would never send me to Hell because I believe in Him. He will forgive me of all my sins. Will He? What if you continue in the same sin day in and day out? What if you never repent of your sins and never try to change your ways?
If that is the case then you do not truly love God. The answer to the Hell question is – Yes. You will go to Hell. Because God is a just and loving God, He will and must judge each person. If you repent and confess your sins to God then you will be saved. It is when we put off the old self and put on the new self that God will change our hearts and our ultimate destiny.
Have you repented of your sins? Are you humble and truly sorry for not following Christ? There are people out there right now as you read this book that are doing a job that every Christian should be doing. They go out knocking on doors and talk to people about Jesus. Unfortunately, they are leading people to Hell because they are proclaiming a false gospel. They use Christian words and they read the Bible but Satan has confused their mind. They do not seek the truth and when it is spoken to them, they ignore the Truth. Earlier in the book I showed you what they believe about God and the Bible. The longer it takes you to get out of the church and out into the streets where the sinners/lost souls are, then the more people will be deceived and ultimately headed for Hell.
Dan Arnold said, “the gospel has not been clearly preached if the hearer doesn’t know that not to make a decision is a decision.”
What decision have you made? Take a look at the Ten Commandments again and see if you are guilty before God.





Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no God before me.
2. You shall not make any graven image.
3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day Holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill. (Hatred for brother)
7. You shall not commit adultery (lust)
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not lie.
10. You shall not covet.

Go back to the beginning of the book. Look at each one of these Commandments in depth. If God were to judge you for breaking His Commands, would you be innocent or guilty? Would you go to Heaven or Hell?
Are you willing to go to Hell just so you don’t have to give up your sinful ways? You know what sin is now so you have no excuse when you face God. (The same is true for all believers!)
Imagine if you will, you are on top of a tall mountain covered with snow (not you, the mountain!). You are going to attempt to ski down the mountain. You start out well enough but you gradually pick up speed and it is going too fast for you. You try to stop but you can’t. All of a sudden you lose your balance and you start to tumble down the mountain. You can’t keep yourself from doing somersaults and flipping over and over. You crash into some rocks and bang your head a few times. You break your leg and then your arm. The pain doesn’t hit you yet. It won’t really hit you until you hit the bottom of the mountain and come to a crashing stop. Death is certain and it will not be a painless death. Those that loved you will have the memory of watching you fall down that mountain and there was nothing they could do to save you. You do not die right away, you wish you could but the pain just stays and gets worse and worse through time.
Now suppose you are at the top of the snow covered mountain and you are going to attempt to go it alone. You begin downward and the speed starts to go faster and faster. It is faster than you can handle. You try to stop but you can’t. You lose your balance and start to tumble. You do several flips and are about to crash into the rocks, which will certainly break at least one of your arms. Right as you are about to hit the rocks an arm reaches out and is able to pull you to safety. It pulls you to a tightrope that leads back to the top of the mountain. You grab hold of the rope and hold on with all your strength. The person who saved you is right behind you to make sure you make it up the mountain safely. You are relieved that someone cared enough to reach out to save you. You are on your way to a safe haven. As you go back up the mountain you look out onto the mountain and see a loved one trying to go down the mountain alone. They run into the same problem you had and are starting to tumble.
What would you do? Would you ignore them? Or would you reach out your hand and bring them to safety too?
As a non-Christian, you are attempting to go down the mountain by yourself. You are confident in your own abilities but whether you feel the pain now or not does not matter. When life comes to an end you will feel pain. Not just a temporary pain: but an everlasting tormented pain!
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
If you are tumbling down the mountain right now and don’t know how to stop it, the thing to do is to acknowledge your sins to God and repent of them. Do it right now! As you do, you will receive the hand that will save you from your fall. Look up to God and give Him thanks. Praise His name over any other name on earth. Jesus died on the cross so that you will not have to suffer the pain of death (eternity in Hell). He loves you so much that He is not willing that any should perish. Won’t you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today? Confess your sins and truly repent of those sins. No longer be a slave to your sins but take charge over your life with Jesus as your pilot (or the lifeguard on slopes of life)

Remember my chains!

"Remember my chains" is one line of Scripture that has always intrigued me. There is something so simple and yet so powerful in that one line that has a way of challenging me and encouraging me at the same time. It is part of a personal plea from Paul in the final part of his letter to the Colossians.

When you go through difficult times...

Remember my chains.

When life seems to be bringing you down...

Remember my chains.

When you are not sure what the future holds...

Remember my chains!

Check this out ~~

I grew up as a church-going young child (I used to call myself a Christian but until recently, I have changed my thoughts on that!). When I was 14 years old, my parents gave me the option of going to church or staying home. I decided to stay home! I went the next 14 years, not going to church, but always feeling like I was going to heaven based on the fact that I "believed" in Jesus. When I was about 25 years old, I was working at Hardee's Restaurant as a manager. I was not making much money so I decided to take the exam to get hired by the US Postal Service as a mailman. I went to take the test and prior to the actual exam they let you take a practice exam. I took that exam and completely bombed on it. I didn't get any of the answers right! They then took that exam away from us and gave us two more minutes to study and practice. When it came time for the actual exam, I was able to go through the whole thing and I scored a 100% on it! I was the only one to get a perfect score. I was at the top of the list to be hired. I waited and waited and nothing was happening. After about a year I decided to go back to school. I went over to Bradley University to see about getting into mechanical engineering. I was accepted to attend there. I was supposed to put my deposit down for my dorm on August 31, 1985. On Aug 30th, I received a phone call from the Post Office saying I had been hired. I had to make a decision. Do I take the government job with the good pay or do I go to school for four years and make even more money down the road. I took the security of the Post Office job! After spending a year as a part-time carrier I decided to transfer to Arizona for an opportunity to work full-time. I went to work in South Phoenix and was living in Tempe, Az. I didn't know anyone out there so I got involved in coaching little league baseball. My second year out there, I met Cole (an 11 year old boy). He asked me if I could take him, his older sister and his little brother to church because his parents were going to be out of town. I said I would. When I went to church, everyone treated me so nice and I decided to join the church. It was a Mormon Church. I knew nothing about that religion. They said words that seemed to be Christian. I had heard about salvation, Jesus, God, the Trinity, Holy Spirit. My knowledge was only that of a 14 yr old. I got completely involved in the church. I ended up being the Youth secretary in charge of finances for youth camps. I read my Book of Mormon faithfully every day. I abstained from drinking Pepsi (I cheated some times!!) I was in the church for three years. I started having some questions about what they were teaching. Some things did not make sense. How could God discriminate against people with dark skin? That didn't sound like the God I grew up with. Common sense told me that man did not live on the moon and on the sun (even though that is what was taught by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young). I did not believe that I could be a god myself. I was single and was made to feel like I was less of a person because I was not married and would not be able to have spirit children when I die. (I will say that Cole and his family always loved me even though I was not a whole-hearted mormon). On my third year in Mormonism, me and Cole and his family all went to the Temple in Mesa to watch an Easter pageant. There was a group of concerned-christians there handing out gospel tracts on mormonism. As soon as it hit my hand, Cole's mom grabbed it from me and said, "don't look at that, it is from the devil." I never saw what it said. Later that year, around the end of the first week of October 1990, my heart rate went down to 26 beats per minute. It stayed that way for six weeks! I went to the hospital and to doctors and specialists and none of them could tell me what was happening to me. They all said I was the healthiest dying person they had ever seen. I was sleeping 17 hours everyday! Six weeks of sleeping 17 hours each and every day! My heart, my lungs, my brain (debatable!), my blood were all excellent. They could find nothing wrong with me. The mormon elders would come over every night and lay hands on me and pray ~~ "in the name of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, we heal you." They would repeat that every single night. Nothing worked! I felt like I was going to die. It finally got to the point where I got so scared and frustrated that I threw my Book of Mormon down on the floor and cried out to Jesus to save me. The very next day, I woke up completely healed. That was on Thanksgiving Day of 1990! My heart has been normal ever since that time. Doctor's never did figure out what was wrong with me. So the next day, I went to a Christian bookstore. It was the first time I had been in one, and what did I see under the heading of "Cults"? Mormonism!! I bought every book I could lay my hands on. For the first time since joining the Mormon church, I was able to read Scripture and it all came alive to me. I could see where Joseph Smith had twisted the truths of the Bible. I decided to go to a United Methodist Church (I grew up in the UMC). I finally was in a service that I remembered from my childhood. As the next baseball season started, I met a boy on my team and I ended up dating his mom. We were engaged to be married in November of 1991 (I know, kind of quick, but I had been single so long!). In October of 1991, I receive a phone call from Rey (the boy on the team) and he said to me -- "he's back!" It seems her exboyfriend had moved back in with her and they were sleeping together. I asked her about it and she said she didn't think it was any of my business. I kind of disagreed with her! I called the wedding off. I was mad at her and at women in general. I was a new christian and this was not supposed to happen to me. I held on to this pain for over a month and a half. Finally in January of 1992, I gave all of my pain over to God and asked him to bring someone else into my life. In October of 1992, he did. I met my son. He was on my mail route as I was delivering mail. He had just turned 9 years old. It is a long story but a wonderful story. Around this time, I had an exposed nerve on my wisdom tooth. The pain was more than you can even imagine. I was bouncing off of the walls. I got in my car at 4am and started driving. Not knowing where I was going, I was screaming at God asking him to stop the pain. I was yelling at Him for not helping me. I finally pulled over at a phone booth and looked up dentists in the phone book. I found one that was just one mile down the road. I sat in the car still screaming at God because it seemed as though the pain was getting worse. When I was finally able to open my eyes enough to see, I drove to the dentist office. I pulled into the empty parking lot of the dentist office. There was one light on in the building. I walked up to the building and was able to walk inside. I found the doctor's name on the board and saw he was up on the second floor. I took the elevator up and as it opened up, it opened up to the room with the light on. The dentist was sitting in his chair drinking coffee and reading the newspaper at 4:30am in the morning! I banged on the door and he let me in. He took care of me and as I was leaving, i asked him why he was there so early in the morning. He said his wife's car broke down the night before and she had to take his car out of town so she dropped him off four hours early so she could leave. Here just one mile earlier, I was screaming at God and complaining that He wasn't helping me and yet, the night before, he had already put into motion events that would take care of my need at the time I needed it most! Remember my chains! As for the boy on my route -- I ended up adopting him as a single man and we moved from Arizona to Illinois. I am white and he is Hispanic and I love him with all my heart. He is now 24 years old and has two little boys (3 yrs and a 5 month old). I love them and his wife, Sarah. They are such a blessing to me. After moving back to Illinois, I got into the ministry. I felt God was calling me. I went back as a student pastor. I had to finish my associates degree while working at a church. I met a girl who was just out of high school. She was very depressed and almost suicidal. We became friends. After lots of phone conversations she finally got her life back on track. One month before I started in the ministry, my dad died suddenly. He was my very first funeral that I ever did. As a pastor, I told a lot of jokes. Let me rephrase that, I told way too many jokes behind the pulpit followed by way too many stories. I had a lady come up to me and ask me if I was going to talk about homosexuality. I said I wasn't. She asked me not to because her son was visiting at our church that day and she did not want to offend him. I didn't say a word about it in the service. I never saw the young man again. I lost my chance to witness properly to him about the need to repent of his sins. I never felt right about that. Remember my chains. After a couple of years, we moved to a larger church. Again, I was telling my jokes (just had to be funny!). During this whole time of my ministry, I was an unrepentant sinner. I was living a lie. I did not tell people about God's Law and the need to repent of their sins. I only gave the "feel good" messages. I can honestly tell you that I was not saved as a pastor. I was the equivalent of an emergent pastor, of a Rick Warren or Bill Hybel type of pastor. I had to entertain the masses! Look at how popular I can be!!!! I was about to serve a new church in Iowa when my son and I decided to move back to Galesburg, IL to visit my mom. She was not doing well. The car was not running, the yard had not been mowed for over 7 weeks, and her plumbing was messed up. I called the church and told them that I was going to take care of my mom. I still was not saved but was still calling myself a solid christian because I believed in Jesus (this time around, now that I was not a mormon!). My first day on the job at a local grocery store was 9/11/01. The tragic events of that day will be remembered forever. When I went to work, everyone was in a state of shock. I was able to minister to people about God's love. I went through some very difficult times in my life during the following years. By living a life that had no repentance, I was destined to fall apart. I must have hit rock bottom. I felt unloved by the world and desperately wanted to get that feeling back. I attended church over the next few years and saw things that bothered me. I could see my "feel good" messages were not working. I didn't feel good. Remember my chains! Finally, after hitting rock bottom, I somehow came across Way of the Master and heard a recording of Hell's Best Kept Secret. That changed my life forever. For the first time in my life, I could see just how exceedingly sinful I really was and that I was headed for hell. I was a pastor that was headed for hell. I was a christian that was headed for hell. I was a very good guy that was headed for hell. God's law was preached. I was a liar, a thief, an adulterer and on top of that, I was also a covetous person, a murderer (hate), a person that dishonored my parents. I had not put God first in my life, I worshiped a god that was not the God of the Bible (I always figured that God would not send me to hell for my sins), I blasphemed the name of the Lord by being a terrible example of a Christian to my family and I never kept the Sabbath Day holy. I broke all ten of the Commandments. There was no way out, I was headed for hell. I cried when I finally "got it" that Jesus completely paid the price by dying on the cross for my sins. I finally repented of my sins. truly repented of my sins. I still sin once in a while, but the change is so drastic from where I used to be it is unreal. I now get out and seek to reach the lost. I have witnessed to over 350 people since the beginning of the year. I plan to more than double that next year. Remember my chains!

Life is finally good. I did a revival this past October and was totally persecuted by pretty much every church and even within my own church that I was attending. I count it as joy. Satan never had to worry about me when I was a pastor because I was not doing anything to bring people to God. I was creating false converts. Now that Satan is shooting his arrows at me, I can see that he is worried about me now. I count that as a tremendous joy! Remember my chains. Why did I write this long personal story? I want you to look back on your own life. Can you see where God opened and closed doors to you? Can you see any growth in your spiritual life? Can you see Satan actively going after you? Is Satan worried about the works you do for Christ sake? Remember my chains and remember your own chains. God is in control. He will not lose any of his children. He will gather them to himself! Rejoice in the truth of God's Word. Rejoice in His promises. Remember His chains!

Holy Special Edition Batman!

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which has called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16

If you are a baby-boomer, you undoubtedly remember the old (the best) batman shows. They would fight, but you would never actually see them hit someone. The words POW, ZAP, BONK would always show up on the tv screen. They never used bad language, no cussing, no vulgarity. The one thing that is bothersome though, would be their use of the word Holy. Robin would inevitably use the word "holy" every time something exciting happened. Holy Sardines, Batman! Holy Houdini, Batman! Holy showcase, it's bulletproof glass! Holy agility! Holy complications! Holy missing relatives! Holy sudden incapacitation! Holy one-track Bat computer mind! Holy luther burbank! Holy contributing to the deliquencies of minors! Robin: "what's black and white and full of fuzz?" Batman: "zebra?" Robin: "no, a squad car!" Okay, I could go on and on and on with Robin and his use of the word "holy." There is a reason why I went to the extremes with this one. There are too many churches out there that use the word "holy" and it has absolutely no meaning, just as Robin's use of the word. We are called to be holy just as He (GOD) is holy. We are called to be obedient to His Word. We are not to go after our old ways (flipping people off and thinking God is okay with that! Using foul language and thinking God has more important things to worry about than your use of certain words!) In everything we do, in everything we say, in everything we think, we are to be doing that which is "right" in God's sight. We are to be "set apart" from the world. There should be something different about us. We are to be the light in a dark world. We are to display the love that comes from God. We are to put aside pride and humble ourselves before our Lord and Savior. We should have repented of our sins so that we will no longer be slaves to sin. We should be totally putting our trust and faith in Jesus! So the next time you say, "Holy!" It will be in reference to the One that is deserving of it. We should have such reverence for God and we should not take lightly the Word of God. When we are told to obey His commands -- OBEY THEM!! When we are told to love our neighbor as ourselves -- LOVE THEM! When we are told to warn unrepentent people about the wrath of God-- WARN THEM! Go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. THIS IS GOD'S WAY OF TELLING YOU TO GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND START TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost! Won't you start planting some seeds? Won't you get "right" with God right now? Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. Repent of your sins and do them no more. Be obedient to Gods Word. Love Him in a way that shows true love. He has told you to do some things. DO THEM! Be holy as God is holy! Want the world to see that there is something different about you? Start being obedient to God's Word and they will definitely know you are different -- they will hate you, because they first hated God! Rejoice in it! Demand that your church return to biblical preaching and teaching.

What has happened to our churches?

What is wrong with today's contemporary church? Click on the link to hear my sermon that I gave recently at a local park in Galesburg, IL.

I think my look says it all. "What in the world is going on with the churches in America today?" Why have they decided to go after other gods? Because that is what they are doing when they make a decision to promote a Jesus that does not have a problem with sin, does not expect you to repent of your sins, and does not care whether you are obedient to His Word or not!