Trip to China

Diane and I left home yesterday afternoon late for Jackson airport, and made it all the way to Carthage, Ms before stopping at a Walmart. 

We stayed at the Ramada in Pearl, Ms Sunday Night.  I learned something on this trip which I should have learned long ago, that is that you can stay at a motel and have them keep your vehicle for $10.00.  That amount plus the room cost is less than parking your vehicle in long term parking, and they will deliver you to the door of the terminal and pick you up from same.  Wow!  Where has that been my whole life?

After taking the motel shuttle to the airport, we had the exciting experience of dealing with the technology challenged, yet highly advanced check in at the United counter in Jackson.   Not sure why counter attendants are needed anymore, except that one continually needs the counter attendant to come swipe a card, apparently having a valid passport and paid up electronic ticket is not enough. :-)

Learned that we could have packed more, but would have needed another day of preparation to determine which twelve additional pounds should have been added.  Diane's profound relief  at discovering our baggage was not over weight was promptly allayed, as she thought of everything she had regrettably left behind, especially her boots when she discovered it is currently snowing in Yanji.

The security check in went well.  However, I must remember in the future to avoid bringing a pocket full of change.  I learned long ago to wear shoes with velcro rather than boots.

We have met an interesting mix of folks in this trip already.  An oil company employee who lives in Vietnam, but works in Russia from Mississippi. The eleventh grade daughter of a pilot trying to get back home without missing another day of school. She is flying standby and oil company employee flies first class.

Arrived in Houston on time and had a filling breakfast, then learned that the flight from Houston to San Francisco had been delayed beyond the time for the departure from San Francisco. Oh well, we might get to go to "Fisherman's Wharf." There is only one flight from San Francisco to Beijing daily apparently. 

I had planned to make a couple of extra stops on this trip, but time and finances prevented that, so perhaps we'll have an extra stop there in the city by the bay.

We arrived in San Francisco at 2:40 PM. Our flight to China was scheduled to leave at 2:50. The flight attendants could not help us get the gate assignment for our trip, but told us a United Airlines Customer Service rep would meet us at the counter when we disembarked from the aircraft. No one was there to assist us and consequently we were unable to locate our gate before the plane left the gate. It could have been frustrating, but we know that God always has a plan in what He does, and while we might not see it for a while we can be confident that we will eventually understand.

We still feel that United's negligence is responsible for the miscue, and we're going to press the issue with them to see if they'll reimburse the cost of the room. They did give us meal vouchers and we purchased some great sandwiches with the vouchers.

Later this evening we traveled to Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed taking in some of the sights until the rain sent us scurrying back to the motel.

I would be remiss should I neglect to regale you with the exploits of our taxi driver. A baseball enthusiast, and exuberant fan of the San Francisco Giants, he attempted to educate us on

The trip back to the motel was also quite an adventure. The cable cars are not very well marked and one must know where he is going in order to use them. The driver kept saying that he would announce when we arrived at Union Station but none of us could understand what he was saying. He seemed somewhat exasperated by the passengers' continual inquiries. Several of us decided that colleges should teach a course in San Franciscese, since what he was speaking bore little resemblance to English.

At Union Station we boarded the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and returned to the airport where we caught the shuttle back to the motel.

The BART is basically a subway, but again one could ride for ever without help because the stops are poorly marked & the drivers do not speak clearly. But the trains are clean and fairly comfortable.

Resting in the knowledge that our Father is orchestrating events for His glory, we anxiously await the purpose behind this diversion, and are carefully alert lest me miss a great opportunity.

Jesus Is My Hero

Since the advent of Facebook, and other social media, has spawned a proliferation of pithy sayings about life, it was inevitable that more and more such would be posted to give Believers that feel good experience upon which the world thrives.

I’m thankful when I see such posts that folks are thinking about God and His work in their lives and the world at large.  However, one must be careful lest Lordship be replaced with hero worship.

Hero worship is defined as the over adulation of an individual because of his/her position, accomplishments, or talents.  Heroes are people whose lives the worshipers attempt to emulate, or follow based upon external suppositions, and this is where the rub occurs with regard to Jesus as a hero.

Jesus never aspires to hero worship.  Jesus demands that He be Lord of one’s life.  Now “Lordship” in Biblical terms means that He have total control of one’s life.  The true follower of Jesus Christ is not limited to what he/she sees on a movie screen, or hears over a CD.  The true follower of Jesus Christ has a personal intimate witness of who He is living in him.

Throughout time men have attempted to live lives patterned after heroic figures.  Such attempts are doomed from the outset because each individual is intrinsically different physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Jesus does not want those who follow Him to look at His life and attempt to emulate it because He knows the impossibility of such a task.  Rather, He makes a new creation of those who become His and writes on their minds and hearts His plan for their lives.  He has provided Scripture as instruction, and His indwelling Holy Spirit as validation.

Lest you take me wrongly, let me hasten to add that it is proper and right to exalt and praise Jesus.  Social media gives us ample opportunity to do so, but we need be careful that we not denigrate His Lordship while settling for a less than satisfying hero worship.

©           2012           Mike Rasberry

Why I'm NOT Worried About The Election

I honestly hope President Obama is retired next month.  I believe him to be a liar, manipulator, sluggard, socialist, and a money-grubbing anti-Christian spawn of Satan, who is also an instrument of Holy God.  Now, lest you experience apoplexy, please understand that the President’s opponent is really not much better, he simply has financial and social policies more likely to propel America financially and morally to the high ground.

I believe this president to be the most dangerous person ever to occupy the White House.  The failure of his policies should be the primary concern of every right thinking citizen; on top of which he is even money to return for another four years.  Yet, none of that worries me.  

I’m concerned that my grandchildren might not enjoy the freedom I enjoyed as a child and young adult as more and more policies are implemented to control every aspect of citizenry life.  I’m concerned that those grandchildren might not have the opportunity to develop their talents to the capacity they’re willing to work to attain.   I’m concerned that worship of God will become inhibited to the extent that political correctness police carefully guard against children being “indoctrinated” with God’s Holy Word.  Yet, none of that worries me.

You see, I believe that just as God sent oppressive regimes to bring Israel to her knees, He continues that work even in this age.   We’re told in Scripture that God has the hearts of kings in His hands turning them which ever way He wants, in the same way He changes the course of the meandering river.  I further believe that God continues to raise up peoples to do His bidding, and when those peoples become so full of themselves that even the genuinely true Believers are weak and ineffectual in their lifestyles, He sends oppression upon them in order to drive them to their knees.  Should those Believers not repent and call upon the Lord for deliverance, I believe He will turn them over to their unbelief and raise up another people to do His bidding.

You see, God’s purpose for those He raises up has always been the same.  For Israel, the twofold purpose was to prepare the world for the coming Messiah, and when He arrived to recognize Him as God and King.  Since Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension the twofold purpose of those He has raised up has been to make Him Lord, and prepare the world for His soon return.  Israel failed.  Each succeeding group has also failed.

Romanism became corrupt and split into two corrupt groups.  Following the Reformation, several European nations were raised up as His instrument, but liberal theology and humanistic philosophy destroyed their motivation.  America has continued to take the Good News effectively around the world because, I believe, a remnant remains faithful to Christ even during these heady days of self-indulgence.

However, that group is growing smaller almost daily and faithful saints leave this terrestrial ball to enter eternity with Jesus.  Those remaining seem less and less willing to suffer in order to affect genuine revival and spiritual awakening; thereby turning the American church into a smorgasbord of lite and fluffy whimsy rather than the disciplined, dedicated, and principled power of the past.

Should God bring the ever increasing oppressiveness of governmental intrusion upon the land by retaining President Obama, we can know that America is genuinely at a crossroads between being a useful instrument of His grace, and a castoff stubbornly refusing repentance by those who claim His name.   Should total oppression be necessary, I shall, like Jeremiah of old, continue to cry out for God’s people to repent and turn to God.  This is not a popular position, but I believe, it the prudent position.

©                    2012            Mike Rasberry

FOOL'S PARADISE

The meaning of “Fool’s Paradise” is said to be “a false state of happiness based on false hopes.” That dear friends, is an apt description of those who rely upon this world system for their fulfillment in life.  The emphasis upon obtaining an education, attaining a position of prominence, acquiring possessions, and enjoying leisure seems promise happiness and joy to the one who has them.

One needs only look at the lives of prominent to see the utter fallacy of that premise.  Broken marriages, estranged children, lost fortunes, and destructive addictions attest that something more must be added to the equation in order to experience lasting happiness and joy.

One might deduce the opposite of those lofty ideals is the answer, and he too would find the road littered with the human debris of failed hopes and dreams.  What then, one asks, is the answer to avoiding living in this “Fool’s Paradise?”

The answer lies in death, not the death of the physical body, but the death of the nature inherited at birth.  It is a nature which inherently strives against what is best and seeks after those things perceived as giving immediate pleasure and satisfaction.  A nature which drives one to indulge in that which appeals to the eye, or the touch, or to self-esteem.   A nature whose goal is to bask in the fleeting happiness of a “Fool’s Paradise.”

The next logical question of course is, “How does one’s nature die without the death of the physical body?”  That, my friends, is a great mystery.  The answer has been sought throughout the ages by philosophers, educators, and religious leaders of every stripe.  However, the mystery has been revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. 

The Holy God of the universe, who created all things, and by whom all things consist, has provided a way for each of us to experience both a death of the old nature and a new birth with a new nature without experiencing physical death.  How is such possible?  With God all things are possible.  Is anything too hard for the One who created and sustains the universe?

This death involves a voluntary recognition of one’s need brought about by a working of God in the heart of understanding.  Next a realization of the utter futility of his current course as it takes him farther and farther from God’s ideal while immersing him in the “Fool’s Paradise.”  A shocking understanding of complete helplessness to affect a change in his own life, elicits a cry to God for deliverance from his predicament.  At which time God does a work in the heart of the individual so that he is no longer focused on living in a “Fool’s Paradise,” but rather on knowing and doing the will of God for his life.

If you remain living in a fool’s paradise until this day, you are in danger of dying a physical death without ever experiencing the mysterious new birth God affects in the life of one who comes to Him by faith.  My prayer for you today is that you, too, will turn to Christ and allow Him to give you new citizenship where your name is written down in the Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity.

Jesus said in John chapter three, “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”


From "A Word For Living"
©                 2012            Mike Rasberry

MAKING A MESS IN THE KITCHEN

I've always known, I can't cook.  During the winter of 1964, I worked as a deck hand on a crew boat for Kerr McGee in the Gulf.  My duties included cooking for the captain and myself.  The captain weighed close to three hundred pounds and loved food.  I think he lost about thirty pounds during the couple months I worked with him.  I had no trouble tying the boat, navigating up river with radar, loading and offloading, or handling the locks.  All that was simple.  But cooking, now that was a challenge.  

After I returned from Vietnam, Diane and I lived in Yuma, Arizona.  I sometimes tried to prepare meals to surprise her, man was she ever surprised. :-)   My very best meal was serving a can of stewed tomatoes.  I could salt and pepper them with the best of folk.  But everything I tried to cook was either too hard, too soft, or just plain bad.  

My mother taught me how to wash dishes and insured that I could set the table, and put the dishes away, but even though my dad was a very good cook, I never achieved proficiency at it.

While living in Texas, I began smoking briskets, and I can really do a good job of that, if all one wants is meat, I'm your man.   Both my sons can cook and produce some extremely tasty dishes, but I simply cannot.

About two years ago, I started out to boil some eggs-- do you realize that eggs will explode if you leave them boiling for twenty minutes or so?  Well, they will. Phew! What a stinky mess!

I've learned how to heat up Diane's wonder goulash and other fine dishes, but I still seem to find some fine narrow crack through which I can really mess up.  Today, I heated some pasta in the microwave, then prepared to add Picante Sauce to it.  Grabbing the bottle by the handle, we use those large plastic bottles of picante, I commenced to shaking vigorously only to see foreign matter flying across the kitchen as well as landing on my person.  The lid was not screwed on the bottle--probably my own oversight from a previous time I used it.

I quickly grabbed paper towels and dish rags to begin cleaning everything up, Diane was not yet home from work. I worked feverishly to remove the evidence, but I knew she would soon begin asking questions about pieces of onion, pepper, and other ingredients scattered about.  Therefore, the only course open to me was to "fess up" quickly and try to turn it into a joke on me.  She didn't laugh.  However, she did quickly find everything I missed in my clean up.

I guess some people just can't do some things.  My son-in-law doesn't know the radiator from the crankcase on a vehicle and in fact once filled one of my vehicles with water through the oil filler tube.  Nah,  not so funny, then.  Perhaps one day my wife will laugh at my kitchen peccadilloes the same way I now laugh at David's mechanicing, then again---maybe not.  

2012                  Mike Rasberry

CHRIST IN MAN vs WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME

I'm sure some folk will not be happy with what I'm about to say, but so be it. Every Genuine Believer in Christ needs to really consider his/her vote in the upcoming election. What possible motivation could there be for a genuine Believer to vote for the Democrat ticket when they so clearly are promoting an agenda 180 degrees from what the Bible teaches. Choice is not choice, because the baby has no choice, it is murder of an unborn child.

Gay marriage is not "gay" it is approval of a deviant lifestyle condemned by Scripture. Those two positions alone should be enough to dissuade any genuine Believer from voting for the democrat ticket.

Now many WILL pull the democrat lever because they perceive it is in their own best interest, or simply because President Obama is Black, or they've just always been democrats, or FDR was a democrat, or "my daddy would roll over in his grave if I voted republican."

Christians, it is NOT about us. Get over it! Our pocketbook is the least of our worries!! Perceptions about health care are only peripherally important. Losing the freedom to develop ourselves to our fullest potential by acquiescing to this "nanny state" philosophy will cost us the freedom to worship, or not.

Get over it, Christians!!! The time has come to die to self and live out the "Christ in Man" life in the political realm.

Retire Mr. OBAMA and Mr. Biden.

FAT AND JUICY

This Morning Diane and I went into the woods and picked some blackberries.  We had intended to stay for about an hour and a half, but something happened which caused our expedition to last a little longer.   I kept discovering fat and juicy berries.  Has that ever happened to you?

As I pondered those fat and juicy berries and their call upon me, I realized that there are many fat and juicy things in life which distract us from our purpose and schedule.   I had my day planned, but those fat and juicy berries have put me far behind schedule, and some things simply will not get accomplished.

I’m convinced that God has a plan for us as we live out each day.  A plan designed to grow us into a more Christlike individual, to touch the lives of others in a positive way, and to move toward the ultimate fulfillment of His purpose for our lives.  The fat and juicy blackberries of life tend to distract us from His purpose, thereby causing us to play catchup in our doings.  Additionally, we suffer guilt for having not accomplished what He had for us.

Those fat and juicy blackberries of life can sometimes lead us into some very thorny situations.  I remarked to my wife that the best berries seemed to always be the most inaccessible requiring me to sustain scratches and pricks in order to reach them.

Too often those that appeared fat and juicy were much less so once I reached them.  That, too, is the way of life as we observe the highly desirable object from a distance, only to be disappointed once it has been acquired.

From "A Word For Living" by Mike Rasberry


©                        2012                 Mike Rasberry

EMPATHY or SYMPATHY

According to all I’ve read, “Sympathy” is a feeling of care and understanding for what another is experiencing. “Empathy” is the ability to mutually share emotionally with what another is experiencing.   When one sympathizes with another, he stands outside and observes with concern.  When he empathizes, he gets inside the skin of another and feels from his perspective.

Too much of contemporary Christian witnessing is, I believe, sympathetically shared.  We see the person’s condition, and realizing it is difficult, wish for them the better way of life which Christ alone affords.  It is very easy to forget the doubt, fear, anger, frustration, and general malaise under which we labored before Christ energized us, and gave us a greater purpose in life.  Consequently, we are perplexed by the failure of those to whom we witness to recognize the truth of what we’re saying, and we become resigned to the hopelessness of ever reaching them for.

When we empathize with the unsaved, we recognize their doubts.  We remember the abject hopelessness of trying manipulate circumstances so as to accommodate our desires and personal dreams.  We understand the sense of having tried to live the Christian life, and failing, thereby wondering if is just a pipe dream, all the while, hoping that it is true, and there is hope of real purpose and meaning.

Such empathy leads us to persevere in our attempts to show Christ to them, while praying pointedly for the Holy Spirit’s intervention in their lives. It also leads us to share more effectively God’s Good News, that they need not remain trapped in their hopeless condition, but that Christ has come,  bringing with Him deliverance to those who are captive, and realize there must be more to life than what they’re experiencing.

Lord, help me this day to learn empathy, so that I might more effectively preach Your truth, and more efficiently share with those You lead across my path.

Taken from "A Word For Living" by Mike Rasberry

©               2012                     Mike Rasberry

The Rio Grande

A Word For Living

May 15, 2012

Crossing the Rio Grande between Del Rio, Tx. & Ciudad Acuna.

The Rio Grande River is one of the twenty-five longest rivers in the world, and the fifth longest in North America.  Its headwaters are 12,000 feet above sea level in the San Juan Mountains along the Continental Divide in Colorado.  It cuts through New Mexico and meanders to the Gulf of Mexico forming a natural boundary between Mexico and Texas.  Called Rio Bravo, in Mexico, it is kept alive in Western lore through movies, music, and literature.

The Rio Grande holds a special place in my own heart because it is across that boundary that I’ve traveled many times with groups seeking to share Jesus Christ in a personal way to people long enslaved by a false theology.   To see people who have labored without assurance, always hoping they could somehow placate God enough  to enter His presence, suddenly find peace with Holy God and freedom to live for Him is exhilarating.   I return from such trips exhausted, but somehow refreshed and renewed. 

But more and more I’m coming to realize that there at boundaries here, at home, which separate truth and false theology.  You see, everyone has a theological position.  The atheist, the agnostic, the hedonist, the satanist, and the materialist all act out their belief about God in the philosophy which drives their lives.  It is quite easy for me to look across the river and see the theological error which abounds, but now I must look at friends, associates, and loved ones with the same discernment and understand that they, too, are enslaved.  

Help me, Dear Lord, to exercise the gift of discernment as I go about the doings you have prepared for me.  Help me, to see the need of those You bring across my path, and give me the wisdom to share Your Good News in such a way as to cause them to realize their condition so that they might cry out to You for salvation.   This prayer, O Lord, I give on my behalf and behalf of all who read it, in the name Jesus Christ who purchased me with His blood.

©                       2012                Mike Rasberry

The Power of The Blood

Too many Believers are living beneath their privilege because they are condemning themselves for the sins they have committed.  Romans 8:1 tells us there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ.  However, far too often self-condemnation is robbing individuals of freedom and their lives are ineffective witnesses of God’s grace.

One of the most devastating events in the Believer’s life is the realization that he is still prone to sin, and that his sin brings a tremendous sense of guilt.  Expressions like, “Why do I do this?” and “I just don’t understand,” are common.  Added to this is the fact that Satan, God’s enemy, takes the Believer’s sin as an opportunity to accuse him.  “You must not really be a Christian,” he says.

Satan’s attack is designed to cause the Believer to doubt the power of the blood to forgive and cleanse.  The argument presented is that if the blood is indeed sufficient, then why does one continue to sin, and have these oppressive times of guilt? 

Faith is the primary weapon the Believer has against the self-condemnation resulting from Satan’s attempt to cast doubt on God’s effective work of blood redemption.  One must accept that the blood works in three ways.

First the Believer must faithfully accept that the blood of Christ was completely sufficient to settle his debt toward God.  That is a central theme of Scripture.  Secondly, the Believer must understand that the blood of Christ both covers and cleanses one’s sin.  When the Believer accepts that his sin is covered, he no longer has consciousness of that sin.  It is no longer a weight of guilt about him, preventing him for living the effective life God intends.  Thirdly, since the blood of Christ justifies the Believer before God, God can now stand with the Believer against the common enemy, Satan. 

Don’t try to justify yourself to the Evil One.  It is an exasperating and demoralizing experience.  When you sin, claim the victory of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sin, He is faith and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  By faith believing that the blood of Jesus cleanses and makes you acceptable and usable in His service.

©         2012                        Mike Rasberry

A Word For Living: Attentiveness

One man defined "Attentiveness" as: "Showing the worth of a person by giving undivided concentration to his words."   Do you find yourself in conversation with folk from time to time, who it seems are hardly listening to what is being said, but rather they seem to be concentrating on what they will say next?  Those folk are difficult to enjoy being around because they're totally self-absorbed.

Give that individual a test and you'll find that he's barely cognizant of what you've been saying.  In training horses, it is important to gain the attention of the horse.  You can generally tell by his ears and his eyes if he is being attentive.  When working in the round pen, the trainer must be alert to a lessening of attention by the horse, and act in such a way as to once again have the animal focused upon him.  Should the horse turn his head away for more than a second or two, it is lost until his total attention has been reclaimed.

God is much like that toward us as we're in the round pen of life, and often lose our focus on our Trainer.  Our life round pens are not isolated, and the many disparate distractions to which we're subjected require intense concentration lest we turn our head away from the trainer.  Once the head is turned, our learning is ended until our attention is once again focused upon Him.

©                      2012             Mike Rasberry

Should Fred Luter be the next President of the SBC?

Fred Luter is a very gifted preacher of the Gospel.  He has led Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans to be one of the strongest churches in Louisiana.  He has been a stalwart defender of the faith in the aftermath of the Conservative Resurgance.  He is the first Black person to hold the office of First Vice-President of the SBC.  He has been nominated to be elected President of the SBC at the forthcoming convention in June.  Should we elect him?

Dwight McKissic thinks any gains accomplished by Luter’s election have already been lost by the remarks Richard Land made concerning the Trayvon Martin shooting.  McKissic also believes the SBC was eaiser for Black Baptists to associate with prior to the Conservative Resurgence than now.  His approach and that of most people I’ve had contact with is that the time has come for a Black President of the SBC in order to reach across racial barriers and bring Black Baptists into the SBC fold.

The elephant in the room no one seems willing to talk about is the widely disparate theological divide between traditional Black and White Baptists.  That divide is never more evident than in elections where 96 percent of Blacks voted for the election of President Obama in the 2008 general election.  The vast preponderance of Southern Baptists deplore abortion, and the socialistic agenda of President Obama.  Most of that opposition does not result from racism, but rather from a theological perspective which views those positions as contrary to Biblical teachings.

Black Baptist congregations are generally overtly political with the Pastor playing a much more important role, and with much more influence than the typical Southern Baptist Church.  Prior to the Conservative Resurgence in Southern Baptist life, the moderate leadership seemed to overlook those differences, while seeking to expand the SBC tent to include entire groups of ethnic peoples.  During the latter days of the Conservative Resurgence, the theological was so evident that a break with the churches of Washington DC ensued because of theological positions leading to decisions which were at odds with Southern Baptists.

Now comes another attempt at enlarging the tent.  The time is right many believe for a Black to lead the convention.   I think this is the wrong attitude to have regards to electing a leader.  It was wrong for the nation in 2008, and it is wrong for Southern Baptists in 2012.  Fred Luter is a very good man.  He is a theological conservative who preaches the whole counsel of God’s truth.  However, his recent appearance on PBS demonstrates that even he is misguided by seeing racism in everything.  He made the case that most of the opposition to President Obama is race related, deliberately ignoring the honorable opposition most Southern Baptists feel based upon his policies which Southern Baptist, in large part, believe are contrary to Scriptural teachings.

The tent of Southern Baptists should be enlarged, most definitely.  However, it should be done by individually sharing Christ with people of all races and creeds, no matter their pre-conceived notions.  Constantine declared his army Christian and with a pronouncement the Holy Roman Empire was born politically.  Are we naive enough to believe that all those soldiers were genuinely converted?  Surely, we must guard against bringing en mass into the tent those who have very different views of salvation and Christian living without first ascertaining that they are truly born again.

In the second chapter of John, untold numbers professed belief in Jesus Christ, but He did not accept their profession, because He knew their hearts.   The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of The Lord, and we must guard against accommodating error in order to increase our clout in the world, or our standing in social circles.

Now comes the difficult part of the convention.  How does one oppose a Black candidate without his being labeled a racist.   The charge continually leveled against President Obama’s opposition is that it is racist.  How much more is this likely in the racially charged environment being created in New Orleans at the Southern Baptist Convention?   Already, such whisperings abound that this election should be by acclimation to show the world that we are not racist as a denomination.   Dear friend, until a Black and White can compete on equal footing without either being labeled racist for opposing the other, racism continues to flourish.

If Fred Luter is, indeed, God’s man of the hour, let’s elect and him to that position.  However, let each examine his own heart as to why he is voting for, or against Fred.  Let the opposition treat one another with respect. 


©                 2012                     Mike Rasberry

A Positive Approach to Today’s Societal Ills

My desire for sometime now has been to write a blog which is filled with positive and exciting expectations for the immediate future.  That being said, I’m reminded of the lady who called Dr. Bob Jones, Sr to account for his preaching and admonished him to preach a positive sermon.  He pondered and pondered, and finally began a sermon thusly, “I’ve been challenged to preach a positive message and in light of that this is my message.  I’m positive that all men are naturally the enemies of God.  I’m positive that Jesus Christ is the only way man can reconciled to God.  I’m positive that those who reject Jesus Christ will spend eternity in hell.  I’m further positive that those who are born again will spend eternity in heaven.”

Folks, I just don’t know how one can be any more positive than that.  Which leads me to state that I’m pretty positive about some things, also.   I’m positive that our central government has instituted policies which have resulted in a precipitous decline in personal freedoms following the 9/11 terrorists attacks. 

Many will opine that we must sacrifice freedom for safety.  That is the attitude those pushing for greater centralized control of personal activities had hoped for, and the acquiescence of the citizenry in general has emboldened greater and greater reaches by the central government.  That such a document as the USA Patriot Act could even be considered, much less enacted, is an insult to those who risked, and ofttimes lost, family, property, health, and wealth to bring about personal freedom on this continent.

Michael Whitehead of the Rutherford Insitute wrote recently,

    “The Patriot Act, however, is merely one more link  in a chain of control that has been building for years and is effectively enhancing the power of government. In fact, the government keeps close tabs on nearly everything we do. This ranges from government tracking of everyone who travels on an airplane to FBI agents visiting homes of ordinary citizens who are targeted by local police as free speech protesters to invasive, detailed census forms that demand to know everything about us.”

I’m positive that should we continue on the path we’re now treading, America will soon more closely resemble socialist Europe than the shining light of liberty for so long associated with her.  Mary Jo Anderson of World Net Daily in reporting February 1, 2006 on the European Union’s “Homophobia Resolution”  quoted numerous elected representatives who indicated that should the resolution not result in changed attitudes, sanctions must surely follow. 

Anderson reported, 

    “European Justice Minister Franco Frattini moved to make sanctions against those nations a reality. Frattini replaced Rocco Buttiglione at the Parliament when Buttiglione was rejected for his stand against homosexual marriages. In Strasburg, Frattini announced that nations that did not eliminate all forms of discrimination, including the approval of homosexual "marriages," would be subject to sanctions and eventual expulsion from the European Union.”

One might rightfully ask how such European actions affect our laws.  Steve Crampton of The American Family Association Center for Law & Policy says,

    "Our Supreme Court seems enamored with citing foreign sources of law… what happens in the European Union today is going to become the law and policy of America tomorrow."

I’m positive that abortion is one of the clearest indices of the moral and spiritual decline of the influence of the New Testament Church in America.  Professing Believers continue to justify that cursed and damnable activity when they are confronted with the personal option of seeing one’s own young teen, or pre-teen daughter, saddled with what most consider an almost unbearable burden.  When Jesus said to take up the cross and follow Him, he was speaking of dying to self, and living as a new man in Christ Jesus. 

Believers in America want to believe the rapture will come and deliver them from the time of persecution, and it might, no one knows for sure.  But, friends, if we can’t take the lemons of life and turn them into lemonade by trusting in Christ and living the way He would live, how can we expect that we’ll be able to withstand the worldwide governmental persecution sure to come upon every Genuine Believer.  Peter warns us not to think it strange that we’re hit with fiery trials.

Some of the more agressive liberal activists are continually attempting to intimidate those with traditional values.  A couple years back Elizabeth Hasslebeck, a host on ABC’s “The View,” was derided mercilessly by Whoppi Goldberg for her pro-life position, and singer Barry Manilow refused to appear on the show as long as Hasslebeck was on the set saying he found her views "dangerous" and "offensive."  Dear friends, it is only a short step to prosecution from that position.

I’m positive that America needs a revival of New Testament Christianity.   The answer to America’s dilemma is not to be found in political activism, generous charitable giving, or in acts of kindness and good will.  Those are all commendable and worthwhile activities, but they alone will only speed us on the road to destructive uselessness in Christ’s Kingdom work.

It is important that Genuine Believer demonstrate faithfulness and affect a return to traditional Biblical principles and personal soul-winning.  But those activities without genuine personal revival will be but empty symbols of meaningless oblations to diety.  Genuine personal revival restores the motivation of love toward God through Jesus Christ and makes one’s worship a sweet smelling savor to Holy God, Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. 

When the Genuine Body of Christ is living out His Word through each individual life, the influence of that body will be felt in the policies of even unbelievers, for they will sense a power and an authority which, though they can’t understand, will guide them in their deliberations.

Lord, Send a Great Revival, and let it begin in me!


©                      2012                   Mike Rasberry

Girl Scouts & Abortion & Sexuality

Recently I reposted an article on Facebook stating that the Girl Scouts had become simply another tool for radical feminism to advance their causes. Because several contrary opinions and statements surfaced, I investigated further. Following is some of what I found. Little of what I'm publishing is original with me except for some Pondering at the end. It is all easily located on the web.

• At the 2010 UN Commission on the Status of Women, Girl Scouts from America along with GSUSA spokesperson Joshua Ackley lobbied at the United Nations as a support team for the delegation representing the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).

• At this 2010 United Nations conference, girls on the WAGGGS delegation demanded that governments provide access to abortion.

• After WAGGGS reported on their website that their girls promoted abortion at the UN, Girl Scouts of the USA was confronted by a number of their pro-life members, asking them to disassociate from WAGGGS.

• Subsequently, WAGGGS removed from their report the language that showed that Girl Scouts had been promoting abortion at the UN.
  

• Since GSUSA admits that when a Girl Scouts pays their $12 membership dues, this triggers a payment to WAGGGS from GSUSA, doesn’t this mean that by paying their annual dues a Girl Scout is supporting pro-abortion WAGGGS?

• GSUSA is a member of the National Collaboration for Youth (NCY). NCY's home page connects girls to the pro-abortion Spark Action website? Spark Action promotes pro-abortion activism like the "We Had Abortions" campaign, Medical Students for Choice, and Catholics for a Free Choice.

• Girl Scouts selected as a role model for girls Adrienne Germain by honoring her as “A Woman of Distinction?”

  Ms. Germain, President Emerita of the pro-abortion International Women’s Health Coalition, and co-author of “Expanding Access to Safe Abortion: Strategies for Action” is one of the world’s most prominent abortion rights activists.

• The Girl Scouts’ Journey handbook Mission: Sisterhood promote as a role model for Girl Scouts the feminist icon and abortion activist, Gloria Steinem, who actually launched the “We Had Abortions” campaign?

• The Girl Scout website sent girls to complete activities on Tolerance.org, a website that actively promotes LGBT rights including same-sex marriage as well as the controversial “It Gets Better” campaign that tells youth that living as a homosexual will get better for them as they get older.

I could continue for page upon page, but the fact is the Girl Scouts USA are led by radical feminists who seek to destroy the traditional family and social structure. I would encourage every one who is involved to find another outlet for the girls. Something more local. Your church should be able to combine with other churches to offer an adequate outlet and training opportunity for your daughters and grand daughters.

© 2012 Mike Rasberry