Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Christian Quarterbacks in the NFL


Christian NFL Quarterbacks:

Josh Freeman - (Tampa Bay) Homeschooled in a devout Christian home.

Robert Griffin III - (Washington Redskins)  graduated in three years with a3.67 GPA at Baylor, "I was heavily influenced by my parents to learn discipline but my relationship with God was my most important influence."

Russell Wilson - (Seattle Seahawks)  Grandfather was president of Norfolk University, openly declares his faith.  After a recent loss he  tweeted, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6)

Cam Newton - (Carolina Panthers)  Pentecostal.  Father is a bishop in Georgia overseeing five churches.  "I thank God every single day.  I'm just his instrument and He's using me on a consistent, daily basis."

Colin Kaepernick - (San Francisco Giants)  Mother refused abortion and put him up for adoption in 1987.  Teresa and Rick adopted Colin, a bi-racial baby.  "I think it's something where god has really led me to where I'm at today.  He put me in a position to be successful throughout my life."

Other Christian Quarterbacks:

Tim Tebow - (New York Jets).  Always very open about his relationship with God.

Peyton (Denver Broncos) and Eli (New York Giants) Manning.  "I always felt it was very important to have a good relationship with the Lord.  He always has to be your number one priority.  

Aaron Rogers (Green Bay Packers) - "I like the saying from St. Francis of Assisi, 'Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.'  I grew up knowing what a stable relationship was by my parents' example and how it centered on Christ.

Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) - "I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart on my 17th birthday.  I remember my pastor talking about God 'looking for a few good men.'  All of a sudden the light bulb went (on) in my head and I was like, 'Hey, that's me;  I can be one of those few good men!"

Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers)- after a serious moral setback, Roethlisberger married and attributes his recent success to his coming back to Christianity.

Michael Vick (Philadelphia Eagles) - After serving time in prison, Vick returned to the NFL:  "I was so self-centered, I forgot about the Lord.  Pre-incarceration it was all about me.  When I go to prison, I realized I couldn't do it anymore.  The one thing I could rely on was my faith in God."  

Tony Dungy (Former Coach of the Indianapolis Colts - was instrumental in helping Vick return to Christianity.


Saturday, September 22, 2012

USA Capitol Tour with David Barton,Amerca's Forgotten History - In God W...



David Barton has become a controversial figure. I don't see anything in this tour that would indicate that he is distorting history. Perhaps he has stirred up controversy because that is simply what speaking truth does...always!

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Monday, September 17, 2012

"Men Have Forgotten God."

Alexander Solzehnitsyn



In The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn parallels the disappointment God felt toward the rebellious nation of Israel and their eventual fall into judgment with God’s disappointment in America and its impending judgment.  Critics disapprove by saying you can’t take Bible verses that were specifically meant for God’s chosen people and apply them to other nations.  I don’t agree.  I think there are certain principles that apply to ALL nations as well as to Israel.

Do not certain principles apply to all individuals, not just a chosen few?  Specifically among them is the biblical teach that if one disobeys God there will be severe consequences.  If one worships another god there will come a severe judgment.  If a person ignores God or claims he doesn’t exist, in a very literal way, there will be hell to pay.

The Bible teaches that these certain principles that apply to all individuals also apply to all nations. This is expressed clearly in Psalm 9:17 “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”  If one rises early in the morning before the light of day and casts his gaze toward the eastern horizon he will see something that all men of all generations have seen for thousands of years.  He will see the sun rise.  That is really a misnomer, the sun doesn’t actually rise.  When we see the sun appear we can rest assured that the earth is still spinning on its axis.

Just as surely as that natural law plays itself out every 24 hours, there are certain spiritual laws that cannot be compromised or altered.  Among them is one very important to Americans:  A nation that forgets God cannot and will not escape the judgment of God.  We have pushed God aside. We have chosen to worship our own idols.  We are obsessed with our own position, possessions and pleasure.  Multitudes claim to be a part of the Christian family but only for their own expediency, not because they have actually made any sacrifices for or developed any relationship with Him.

We tend to think that nations rise and fall based on the type of governments they form and the value of the policies they adopt.  This is humanism:  giving man more credit than he deserves for the rise and fall of nations.  It is a sovereign God who determines life or death for the nations of the earth.  He explains in his word over and over again the reasons for the rise and fall of nations:  “Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a shame to the people” (Prov. 14:34).  The same laws that apply to individuals apply to nations. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)  If pride comes before the fall of the individual, pride also precedes the fall of a nation.

When nations turn away from God, acting as if He does not exist, sinfulness festers within the soul of that nation like an abscess in a boil.  The nation become infected with political corruption, dishonesty, slander, public displays of sexual perversions, rape,  violent crimes, , theft, , adultery, abortion, pornography,  drunkenness, drug abuse, gluttony, graft, greed and gambling of all kinds. 

God’s anger is revealed as his hammer is applied to the pillars of society.  Economic woes surface as taxes increase and government borrows more and more money to pay for the public demand for entitlements.  Government always fails in its attempt to satisfy the needs of all the people because their resources are limited.  Our God “owns the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10).  He is unlimited in his ability to provide and care for his own.  He entitles his follows to a fountain of grace and mercy that can never run dry. 

The spring of blessing from which the church has drawn its life begins to dry up.  The family rambles toward wreckage.  Education crumbles under the strain of trying to maintain a justification for eliminating truth from its curriculum.  Entertainment mollifies the masses and the press prostitutes its integrity.  The pillars weaken as God seeks to remind us of our failure to acknowledge him.

May God have mercy on America!

My father had four sons.  I was the youngest of the pack.  There are many disadvantages to being the youngest.  I didn’t get away with much because by the time I made my appearance my father had a pretty good grip on how to do the father-thing.  But there is one outstanding advantage that I didn’t always take advantage of.  The youngest can always learn from the mistakes made by his older siblings. 

Why is America not learning from the mistakes made by older nations?  The Israel of the Old Testament lost its identity because they disobeyed God.  Judah was taken into captivity because of their rebellion against the Almighty.  In the modern age, Germany was defeated and destroyed because the German people chose to follow Hitler instead of Christ.  On Christmas Day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union and a great nation fell without a shot being fired, one of the most amazing historical events of our time.  How could this happen? 

We who live in the west would do well to consider the words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the great writer and historian of Russian society.  When attempting to answer the question as to why a horrible revolution took place in his country that killed 60 million people, Solzhenitsyn said, “More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.” 

The truth is never complicated, it is always so simple.  We could fill libraries with the books men have written about the causes of WWI, WWII, The Cold War and the present unrest in the Middle East.  Don’t bother spending too much time perusing through those sources.  The answer is simple:  Men have forgotten God.

Dark clouds are gathering on the horizon of America’s future.  Those clouds indicate the judgment of God upon a nation that has disobeyed, a nation that has abandoned the intent of its founding fathers.  We have become softened and weakened by our wealth and abundance.  We have chosen to place our trust in other things rather than in God.  He has allowed us to do this just as he allowed a multitude of nations that preceded us to do the same.  What are the consequences of forgetting God?   I believe the answer is found in Psalm 106:15 “And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” 

It is not too late to return to the temple.  Let us repent of our sin of self-sufficiency.  Let us seek forgiveness for our callousness and forgetfulness and let us sincerely and desperately seek to restore what we once had; the blessings and approving smile of God upon us.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

"Hallowed be thy name"

"If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” - Joshua, as he was nearing death, warned his people not to turn from their God. The lives of the Israelites were permeated by the presence of God. God was in everything they did and he blessed them wonderfully. It seems God has now become a by-product in American society. We pull his name off the shelf and try to plug it in here and there when it is politically or socially expedient. We conduct shallow votes and entertain shallow arguments about where it might be most advantageous to use the name of God. We throw his name about as a filler word in our language when we want to express strong emotion. 
Jesus' mother, Mary, recognized his holy nature and the holiness attached to the name of Jesus, "for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name." - Luke 1:49 We have no understanding what "hallowed by thy name" means anymore. God help us!




Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Truth About America: Has The Glory Departed?




The Bible teaches Christians to be aware of falling into deception.  The Great Deceiver tempted Adam and Eve in the garden.  When he was told that God had forbid them eat of the fruit, Satan asked, “Did God really say that?”  The message of Christ is no different today than it was 2,000 years ago.  “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the father except by me.” – (John 14:6)  The Great Deceiver still asks the same question;  “Did Jesus really say that?”  The truth about America is that millions have embraced the deception that there are many paths to God.

Our lust for power and our lean toward pride prevent us from understanding the truth.  History’s wisest man wrote these words to describe the dilemma of man:  “There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but he end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) The truth about America is that there are many false prophets portraying themselves as angels of light when actually they are devils of darkness.  The Apostle Paul was compelled to leave the Church at Ephesus and go to Jerusalem and this was his warning before he left.  “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.” (Acts 20:29)

Why are there so many false prophets?  Why do so many embrace lies rather than truth?  Why is the modern American church becoming so powerless?  I must ask a dreadful question.  Has the glory departed?  Truth and deception are like water and oil.  They cannot coexist.  Is the Spirit of God fleeing our culture because of the prevalence of deception and evil that exists, not only in our culture but also in our church?

Good beginnings are meaningless when followed by bad endings.  This story repeats itself thousands of times all across this nation.  A young man, Spirit-filled and enthusiastic, feels called of God to minister to others.  He invites several couples into his home and shares the gospel.  God blesses his efforts and his small gathering grows into a small church.  He is gung-ho for God and the gospel and his church experiences tremendous growth, from twenty to two hundred to two thousand and before you know it the pastor has grown a mega-church.

He realizes he can no longer shepherd the flock, he must now drive the herd.  He can’t manage the herd any longer without turning the church into a corporation.  He hires others to do the counseling and to develop policies and programs.  The people he has hired yearn to climb the corporate church ladder.  They become competitive and loyal to their superiors and the institution becomes man-centered as they slowly and progressively forget God.  Unwelcome and forgotten, the Spirit of God departs.

Will you consider 1 Samuel chapter 4 with me for a moment?  May I paraphrase to save time?  The Israelites and the Philistines battle one another and the Philistines win the contest.  It was a day of great mourning for many mothers and wives and daughters.   4,000 Israelites are killed.

The leaders of Israel pondered this horrible defeat and decided they needed to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to protect them.  They were ready to battle again under the deception that simply carrying the ark with them would assure defeat of the Philistines.  So many today fail to experience outward victory because they’ve never realized inward change.  They were smashed again by their enemy and lost 30,000 men.

During this tragic time, Israel is ruled by a great priest and judge, Eli.  Eli waits to hear of the outcome of the battle.  He sees a weary and dusty messenger in the distance approaching.  Eli is 98 years old and he lifts his weakened voice to the runner.  “What has happened, my son?”  (1 Sam. 4:16)  “Thousands are dead, your two sons have perished and the Ark of the Covenant is in the hands of the enemy.”  The news was so shocking and overwhelming to Eli he passed out, fell backwards off his chair, broke his neck and died on the spot. 

Eli’s daughter-in-law, wife of one of his sons, was pregnant at the time.  When she heard her husband and her brother-in-law and her father-in-law were all dead she went into labor.  The midwife was able to deliver a son before the mother died in labor.  The midwife named the boy, Ichabod, which means, “The glory is departed.”  The ark of God is captured, the Spirit of the Lord has departed, the presence of God no longer abides.

The truth about America is that we have done much to offend the living God.  Our national sins are many.  We have put out a “Do Not Disturb” and made clear that we don’t want to be bothered.  We have clearly indicated we want our sin more than we want His grace.  We no longer fear the Mighty God.  We question his word and ask, “Did God really say that?”  We question the existence of heaven and hell, his virgin birth, his death and resurrection.  We question the very existence of God himself.  We are driving him from our schools.  We no longer welcome him in our courts and halls of government.  There is no longer a hallowed place provided for God in our midst.  Without the protective presence of God we have become dangerously vulnerable.

The truth about America is that we need desperately to repent of our sins and humbly seek the one and living God in all his grace and mercy.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

“Beware Lest You Forget”





My wife labored long and hard in the kitchen after putting in a 10 hour day as a teacher and cheerleading coach on her first day of school.  She prepared a delicious meal with chicken, rice and lots of other ingredients I am unaware of.  After studying the recipe and investing over an hour in actual preparation, she sat three steaming plates on the supper table and my family gathered for our evening meal.  Kameron, my seven-year old tasted of his meal and crinkled his nose and said, “I don’t like this.”  I saw the hurt on his mother’s face and tried to intercede to lessen the pain she felt from his unappreciative spirit. It was painful for me to remember how many times I had said similar things after my mother, who has passed, saw her labors of love go unappreciated. 
                                       
The failure to show or feel gratitude seems to plague our modern society.  A progressive callousness has infected our hearts.  A large number of Americans are more interested in acquiring entitlements they haven’t earned rather than invest a fair day’s labor in exchange for a fair day’s wage.

We now live in cities we did not build.  We occupy homes filled with things we did not put there.  We draw water from wells we did not dig and we eat the fruit that falls from trees we did not plant.

When I was a child I used to sit quietly and listen to my father and my uncles talk of their experiences fighting in the Second World War.  That war changed them forever.  They crossed the ocean as young, reckless, daring men who felt the invulnerability common to all youth.  They returned with a humility acquired from watching their colleagues demonstrate superhuman courage in desperate moments.  I listened as they pondered why they had survived and others had not.  They had a deep appreciation and patriotic love for the country their comrades had shed blood for.

Now I sit quietly and listen to my grown sons and their friends discuss politics and talk about their country.  The conversation of the generation to follow mine is much different than the conversation of the generation that preceded mine.

Very few Americans favor the politicians that fill the halls of Congress and they wonder what is happening to the country.  There is a self-consuming selfishness and egotism that infects modern day ‘statesmen’.  Why do they not appreciate and deeply love the country their fathers founded?  Is it not because one tends to remember his own sacrifices but he forgets the sacrifices of others?  If you’ve not sacrificed anything for the purchase of freedom and liberty you assign less value to those virtues than those who paid dearly.

The Lord God cautioned the Israelites as they were about to enter the land that flowed with milk and honey.  God was going to give them “large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill.”  They were about to inherit “hewn-out wells they did not dig” and fruit from “trees they did not plant”.  (Deuteronomy 6:10-11)

When I was a youth I asked my father to buy me a bike because all the kids in the neighborhood were riding really cool bikes their father’s had bought them.  He taught me a lesson I’ll never forget and I hope my own sons learn well.  “I won’t buy you a bike, but I’ll help you get a job so you can buy your own bike,” he told me.  He purchased a paper route from my friend Bruce and I rose every morning at 4:30 AM so I could cover the three-mile route before catching the bus to school at 7:00 AM.  After a couple months of collecting fees, I had earned enough money to buy the best bike in the neighborhood… banana seat, sissy bar, streamers…the whole nine yards.  I was so proud of my ‘wheels’. 

The lesson:  my dad knew I would cherish and care for a bike I had earned with my own labor much more than I would had it simply been given me.  The investment of blood, sweat and tears makes the object obtained precious to the owner.

I fear for my country because I believe the truths taught in the Word of God.  My father served his country well in WWII.  I never served in the military.  I’ve not had to make any real sacrifices to preserve freedom for my sons and grandchildren.  Neither of my two grown sons chose to serve in the military.  My family may very well live through three generations without having to fight to preserve the precious purchase of those who gave their limbs and lives in previous wars.

The danger is that we will forget the price paid and having invested so little we may fail to understand the value of our blessings.  God foretold and warned the Israelites what would happen when they drank from wells they did not dig:  “Beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (Deut. 6:12) 

Alexander Solzhenitsyn sought an answer as to why the Soviet Union had deteriorated so quickly and totally.  He listened to the older ones speaking about the disasters that had plagued the Russians.  He heard them say, “Men have forgotten God: That’s why this all happened.” (1)

We have reached the point where we eat the meal provided and we push back from the table without even a thought as to the amount of effort and preparation that was invested to provide it for us.  We have forgotten God.


1.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, as quoted by Tom Pauken in “Bringing Home America,” p. 101.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

A New World Coming



I was in my early 20's working my way through college in a local hospital.  I was the only orderly on the evening shift.  I floated from floor to floor and for the most part I enjoyed my work.  One task I didn't enjoy was doing 'post-mortems'.  It was my job to arrange the body of the deceased so he would be symmetrical before rigor mortis set in.  I was to assure proper identification by tying a name tag to the big toe and then remove false teeth, jewelry, etc.  The first post-mortem I performed I was so overwhelmed by the reality of it I nearly passed out.  But then, after several more experiences, I adapted to the emotional stress of performing such an unpleasant task and before long it became 'old hat'. 

            Then one day I was called to pediatrics.  A young child had passed away.  Decades later it's hard to find words to describe the feelings that surged through my heart.  I was overwhelmed with sadness.  It is one thing to prepare a man who has lived his three score and ten for the morgue.  It is quiet another to prepare a five year old child who has been deprived of a life lived.  Sadness turned to confusion.  Why?  Why would a loving and gracious God in heaven allow something like this to happen?  When I failed to find an answer my confusion turned to anger and anger to bitterness.  For a period of time, I, like so many others, questioned the very existence of God and if he did indeed exist then I questioned the nature of a God who would permit such a tragedy?

            We experienced a horrible moment in our community last May when a mother driving with three small children in her car crossed the center line of the highway and caused a head-on collision with a car driven by a young, female college student driving in the opposite lane.  The mother survived the accident but her two pre-school children and the driver of the other car perished.  If there is a God and he really is good, why does he allow such tragedy?  Why do babies die?  Why does evil sometimes prevail?  Why does a just God allow so much injustice to exist in the world he created?

            With a little more maturity I was finally able to answer my questions about what seemed to me to be inconsistencies in the nature of God.   God is not the cause of tragedy.  Sin is what has caused this world to spin into a state of corruption and suffering.  Mankind has lived in a corrupt and depraved world since the Adam and Eve chose their way over God's way.  Since their indiscretion, our world has been plagued by disease, death and destruction.  These things are not what God wants for his creation.  They are a consequence of the sinfulness of his creatures.

            Hear the good news!  This world is not always going to stay this way.  God has promised to restore the hearts of those who are willing to repent.  He was so earnest about his desire to save us that he sent his only son to die on a cross to make salvation a possibility to all and a reality to many.  Not only has he determined to salvage the souls of the penitent, he also is determined to restore the earth and deliver his creation from the cancerous corruption she is plagued with.

            If you want to know how the story ends, go to the end of the book.  Revelation 20 describes the events that will lead up to the one thousand year reign of Christ.  (Rev. 20:4)   When we visualize the great contest between good and evil we tend to equate the opponents and wonder how the contest will end.  Satan is no equal to an all powerful God.  God doesn't sully his hands with the filthy stench of the evil one.  He sends an angel (Rev. 20:1), just one angel, to seize that "dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." (Rev. 20:2) God doesn't need an army, he doesn't even need a group of Navy Seals, he simply called on one of his angels to bind the enemy and drop him into a pit with no bottom, lock the gate and lose the key for 1,000 years.

            In the millennial reign of Christ the earth will be healed and restored.  It will be the time when God remembers his throne promise to David and Jesus Christ, descendent of David, will reign for one thousand years from his capital in Jerusalem.  God will also remember his land promise to Abraham and the land of Israel will be restored to those to whom it was promised.

            This millennial reign was prophesied thousands of years ago by the prophet Isaiah:  "I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.  Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;  he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed."  (Isaiah 65:19-21) 

            Isaiah speaks of a time when infant mortality will be non-existent.  Has there ever been a time like that since the fall of man?  So, the time he speaks of cannot be referring to time past.  Some would say, "He must then be speaking of heaven."  Isaiah says that it will be considered a tragic thing when men don't live well past one hundred.  It will be quite normal for men to die after having lived hundreds of years.  He cannot be referring to heaven because there is no death in heaven.  The only period of history Isaiah could be speaking of is the millennium, the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ.

            God will soon embark on a new building project, a new construction project that will bring radical reform to the entire creation.  It would pay well to invest in that project now while there is yet time.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Sermon: What's Wrong With America

The Truth About America - Why are so many in America feeling like something is just not right.  There seems to be a troubling spirit hovering over us.  It is a feeling of fear and of uncertainty.  69% of Americans believe the country is in decline.  83% are worried about America's future.  What is happening and what can Christian Americans do about it?

http://landmarknazarene.org/media.php?pageID=36

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Defending the Cross - Heath Park, Columbus, Georgia. July 2012

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Politics in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies





Putting the politics aside, the opening ceremony of the London Olympics was a phenomenal production. If we don't put the politics aside then we must admit it was quite a plug for the liberal, even socialist agenda. Consider:


1. the glorification of the proletariat - the working lower class


2. the prolonged 'hospital bed' scene celebrating Britain's nationalized health service (NHS)


3. A quick insertion of Britain's first broadcast of a lesbian kiss from a 1993 soap opera, Brookside.


4. The formation dancers made of the symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. 


5. The drama presentation of the struggle of the trade union movements.

The deceptive message was that socialism is alive and well and is a smashing success. We aren't fooled. Social liberalism is founded upon a faulty philosophical construct. It has never been successful in any society at any point of history and it never will.
But......I thought Mr. Bean was great!!!


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Should Ron Be On The Rock?

Do you think President Ronald Reagan deserves a place  on Mount Rushmore?



Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Ten Questions for Barack Obama


Does Barack Obama look more like Frank Marshall  Davis (Upper Right) or  Barack Obama, Sr. (Lower  Right)?



Why are the world’s most radical leaders so comfortable with Obama and why is he so comfortable with them?

 Was Obama’s real father Barack Obama, Sr. or was it communist Frank Marshall Davis?

Why does Obama bend over backwards to apologize for America’s ‘arrogance’?

Would Obama deny that his dream of ‘hope and change’ is to replace American capitalism with Marxist socialism?

When Obama stated, “We are the ones WE have been waiting for”, who was he referring to when he used that second ‘we’?

Why does Obama refuse to release his medical, academic and financial records but insists that Romney open all his books?

Why does Obama bow and show humility to foreign Islamic leaders but displays a prideful spirit otherwise?

Would Obama deny that his election as president was a result of a plan fostered by a socialist movement that silently infiltrated the press, the universities and the economy?

Would Obama deny that Marxist Frank Marshall Davis was his ideological father?

                  What was Obama thinking when he chose Joseph Robinette Biden as his Vice President? 


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Tempest by Jennifer Thomas




Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Comfort of His Coming



 Many in the present age would like to deny the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ.  The Old Testament is filled with hundreds of verses that predicted Christ’s birth.  He would be born to a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14)  He would be born in Bethlehem.  (Micah 5:2)  He would be born of the House of David.  (Isaiah 16:5)  His coming was prophesied hundreds of years in advance in great detail. 

The Bible also predicts in great detail the second coming of Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul mentions the Second Coming fifty times in his writings.  James and John spend a good deal of time writing of it.  The angels taught it.  (Acts 1:10-11) Jesus himself taught that he would one day return.  He clearly stated that “I will come back.”  (John 14:1-4)

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” – 1 John 3:2 

This doctrine of his second coming has been the hope of the saints, it has been the delight of men, the glory of the ages, it has been the last word on many dying lips.

Jesus prayed his precious prayer in John chapter 17:  “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me” (John 17:24)  Was Jesus not saying to his Father;  “I know it will be hard for them to watch the whip open my back but I want them to see me clothed in the purple robe of royalty.  I know it will be hard for them to watch as they crushed a crown of thorns on my head, drive the spikes in my hands and drive the spear in my side but Father, I want them to see me as more than the humble lamb taken to the slaughter….I want them to behold my glory, the glory you have given me.”

“And for that reason, I go to prepare a place for them.  I love them.  I have kept them.  They are mine and I will cherish them throughout all of eternity.  I will surely come again to receive them unto myself.”

Jesus taught this concept of his Second Coming with clarity and conviction.  He instructs us to “occupy until he comes” (Luke 19:13) and to always be on the alert and ready for his unexpected return.  (Matthew 25:7)

Paul instructed the Thessalonians to encourage one another with words about the return of Christ.  (1 Thessalonians 4:18)  We as Christians living in the latter days should take his admonition to heart.  We should be constantly encouraging each other with thoughts of Christ’s soon return.

How many of the desperate have been comforted by the fact that Jesus has not forgotten them?  That man whose poverty has caused him to seek the cover of a bridge.  That mother who grieves the loss of her children and feels the pain and weight of a hopeless heart.  The millions who look daily upon the world in which they live and they sense the despair, they sense the aimlessness and they wonder what in the world is going to happen…are they not comforted by the knowledge that we are never forsaken.  He has promised to come again that “where I am you may be also.”  (John 17:21)

To the elderly whose body is now racked by weakness and pain, he has promised to come for you and take you to a place where there is no longer any sickness, no pain, no suffering…a place where there is no longer any shedding of tears.  (Revelation 21:4)

To that older person whose loved ones and family members have already gone on to glory and they now find themselves lonely on this earth.  You have not yet been taken because your mansion is not yet finished.  He has gone to prepare a place for you and when he is ready, and when you are ready, he will come to take you to a place where solitude and loneliness have been banished forever and ever.  You will be met on that other shore by loved ones with whom you will celebrate a family reunion that will last for all of eternity.

The crippled body will be made perfect.  Those who have been born with infirmities and have struggled through unknown valleys that the rest of us have never experienced will be made whole and they will finally be freed from the shackles of their earthly existence.

This second coming of Jesus has been the blessed hope of the ages.  It is the inspiration that keeps many moving forward. 

Isaiah Martin wrote a song in 1905:

I will meet you in the morning,
Just inside the Eastern Gate.
Then be ready, faithful pilgrim,
Lest with you it be too late.

Keep your lamps all trimmed and burning;
For the Bridegroom watch and wait.
He’ll be with us at the meeting
Just inside the Eastern Gate.

O the joys of that glad meeting
With the saints who for us wait!
What a blessèd, happy meeting
Just inside the Eastern Gate!

If you hasten off to glory,
Linger near the Eastern Gate,
For I’m coming in the morning;
So you’ll not have long to wait.

We will meet those who endured the sword of persecution, we will meet those who refused to betray Christ and it cost them their lives.  We will meet those whose path to glory has been so much more difficult than ours and we will ask ourselves, “How in God’s name do I deserve to gather at this gate with these great saints of God?”
There are two graves in an old country cemetery in a village called Geneva in northwestern Pennsylvania.  Lying there, side by side, are my mother and my father.  We laid my father there nearly 30 years ago and my mother just a few years ago.  My breast is filled with a blessed hope that one day I will see them again because the “dead in Christ shall rise first” and we will meet them in the air.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16)  I will see my mother and father again, I’ll see grandparents, I’ll see siblings and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews I’ve never seen before.

I’ve seen some happy days this year.  On February 3rd by oldest son Matt and his wife, Becky, had a baby (Jacob) and I became a grandfather for the first time. On June 15th I celebrated ten years of marriage to a most wonderful woman, Shannon.  On July 1st my son, Justin, and his wife, Denise, brought my first granddaughter (Mia) into our family.  This year has been chocked full of happy days.

But there is coming a day that will overwhelm all these days in its brightness and glory:
There is coming a day,
When no heart aches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky,
No more tears to dim the eye,
All is peace forever more,
On that happy golden shore,
What a day, glorious day that will be

There'll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no pain,
No more parting over there;
And forever I will be,
With the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be. 

Who is waiting for you inside the eastern gate?  Let us remind each other often of the hope and joy we have in Christ’s return.   


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Forty Days of Prayer Before The Election In November



Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

"If I Were The Devil" By Paul Harvey



I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's
effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of
the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to
leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent
machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that life of animals are
valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was
grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I
would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the
minds of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack then family, the backbone of any nation. I would make
divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so
does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and
movies screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their
lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who
call themselves authorities and refer to their agendas as politically
correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, the
Bible is for the naive:

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is
not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I GUESS I WOULD LEAVE THINGS PRETTY MUCH THE WAY THEY ARE!

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

To Those Who Are Enemies Of The Cross

He doesn't deserve the hatred, we don't deserve the love.




“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” - Philippians 3:18, 19.

          Why do men hate the cross?  Why do so many hate the greatest symbol, the greatest expression of love? The greatest miracle known to man is the fact that a loving and merciful Christ, the very Son of God, descended to this earth to sacrifice himself for those who hate him.  You would think millions of people would be clamoring to adore the Christ who died upon the cross and made salvation and eternal life possible for them, but instead, many hate the cross and the Christ who hung there.

          What is the cross? It is not just two pieces of wood connected.  We see crosses made of stones, of concrete, of gold hung around the necks of millions.  These are but symbols of an actual event.  We certainly don’t worship these symbols.  But they are precious to us.  They are precious because our Christ did literally and humanly die upon a wooden cross, nailed there by Roman soldiers, in our stead, to purchase atonement for our sins.  “…the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)  As it is written, “He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

          Those who would belittle the atonement of the Son of God make themselves to be enemies of the cross.  When we say to Him who laid down his life for the sheep that there are many others ways to achieve this salvation we belittle his sacrifice and become enemies of the cross. 

          Those who love the cross do so because “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) to die upon it “so that whosoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life.”  He who would argue with this message so clearly laid out in God’s love letter to the lost makes himself an enemy of the cross.

          Those who would live for themselves rather than for Christ, they who would dedicate themselves to fulfilling the passions of their own lust and the indulgences of their own appetites become enemies of the cross.  They who would dedicate their lives to the accumulation of wealth, to the acquirement of fame, to the enjoyment of pleasure alone may become enemies of the cross.

          We who are lovers of the cross have a total realization of the sacrifice Christ made, of the totality of our sins forgiven, of the magnificence of eternal life purchased. We cannot be anything but totally and unabashedly committed to Christ.  We dare not make our lives about us, it must be all about Him and in Him and for Him and to Him.  We adore this symbol because of the reality it represents.

          Why are so many intolerant of the Christian religion?  The genuine among us are a harmless and loving and kind people. 

          Why do men hate the cross?  Is it because they think themselves well and in no need of a physician?  Is it because they deny their sin, and the disease of their heart?  What man who is well wants to take medicine?  Who wants open heart surgery when one thinks all is well in his heart?

          Why do we who are Christians get so disturbed when we meet up with enemies of the cross?  Why do we expect all the world should get along with us?  The world despised the holiest man who ever lived and yet we think the world should love us.  Why does the world despise Christ?  The cross leaves no neutral ground, people love it or they hate it.

          Haters despise the cross because it represents the holiest thing this side of heaven?  Because the One to whom the pierced hands belongs, the One to whom the crown of thorns belongs cries out, “Why have you crucified me?  Why have you forsaken me?  Why will you not accept the gift, purchased at such a great price?”  The enemies of this cross hate it because they cannot endure the guilt of rejecting and refusing the expression of such love.

          They express their hatred when they choose sin over righteousness, when they choose the world’s harlot rather than heaven’s Savior.  They willfully and daily choose Barrabas rather than the Christ and in so doing they become enemies of the cross and haters of the Lamb of God. 

          We who love the cross must decide how we will react to its enemies.  It is our distinguishing trait as Christians to put away militancy, and anger and hatred.  We are instructed by the One who died on this cross to “overcome evil with good.”  We are to smother the world’s hatred with Christ’s love. 

          Paul said, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears (with weeping), many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”  Why weeping?  Because we want no one to hear the indescribably terrible and awful words of Christ; “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23)  We don’t hate our enemies.  We love them and we pray for them and we desire they would know and experience the love of Christ and taste of his eternal salvation just as we do.

          We want the enemies of the cross of Christ to know the grace of God.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  (Gal. 5:1)  The cross is only a symbol.  You can tear down the symbol but you can never destroy the reality.  The cross is what makes us free.  And we all know that there is a great price that must be paid for freedom.

          This country contains millions of memorials to those who died in foreign lands, who shed their blood to purchase our freedom.  The cross is our memorial to a Savior who purchased our eternal freedom at so great a price.  We will never forget, we will always remember the sacrifice made for our liberties and freedom.  We will love those who are enemies to the cross.  We will weep for those who hate our Savior.  But let it be known far and wide, we will stand firm in our commitment to defend the symbols of our faith.  We will not be passive and apathetic while the rights of our fellow Christians are being trampled under feet.

          We are concerned about the damage the enemies of the cross might do to our children and grandchildren.  We don’t want them to forget.  We have no desire that they worship symbols like idolaters, but we do desire these symbols remain so that our children will always remember the sacrifice made for their freedom, for their salvation.

          There is a vine that grows rampantly here in the south.  It was introduced by the Japanese as far back as 1876 in Philadephia.  But it became prolific when a man named Charles Pleas planted the vine to hide his garbage cans in Chipley, Florida.  Kudzu can grow up to 18 inches a day and it covers millions of acres of ground in the back country of Alabama and Georgia.  We know that when those who would destroy our liberties win one victory, their zeal spreads like kudzu and our liberties will be smothered out quickly and affectively by those who would be enemies of the cross.

          To those who would be enemies of the cross of Christ, think not that we are ashamed of our faith, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Paul said to the Romans. (Romans 1:16( We are determined to live our lives for our faith, to stand firm in our defense of it and to die willingly to preserve it for our children and grandchildren.  

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

My Family Was Raptured




I was 12 years old when I attended children’s church in a small United Brethren in Christ church near Meadville in northwestern Pennsylvania.  I loved children’s church for all the wrong reasons.  Separation from a father who determined to make me toe the line was a relief.  I was the kid every teacher would love to take behind the woodshed.  I was the real deal when it came to causing trouble.

      My teacher’s name was Carolyn, she always smiled and hugged me when I came in the door and I knew she didn’t mean it.  I entered the Sunday School classroom in the basement of our church on one particular Sunday morning in the Spring of the year not knowing that I was about to learn something that would change my life.  She took out the flannel graph and told us of an event that would happen in the future.  I was spell-bound.  I sponged up every word she said about the rapture.  That morning I left that room fearing that I might be left behind because I knew my life was full of sin.

      I went to school the next week and tried to forget about that silly Children’s church lesson but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. 

      On Friday of that week I was meandering on a path through the woods that led from Neason Hill Elementary School to my home.  With my trumpet case in one hand and a load of books in the other, one mile felt like three.  As I approached our white, two-story home on that April afternoon I looked over the hill beyond and saw the darkest cloud approaching I’d ever seen.  I heard distant thunder and saw lighting flashing in the cloud. 

      I picked up the pace and dashed to the house.  What did I find when I got there?  I found nothing.   There was no one there.  This was the first time I’d come home to find it empty.  The silence was deafening.  I called out for my parents and my older brothers. No one replied.  I felt a knot form in my throat.  I knew….oh, I just knew that the rapture had taken place and I had been left behind.  I went out in the yard and called for our dog, Buster.  Buster was always quick to meet me when I arrived from school but there was no sign of him.  Can dogs be raptured also?  I was all alone.

      I began to form a plan for survival.  I was going to have to live alone.  I knew there was food in the refrigerator and the cupboards.  I knew Dad had planted a garden and I knew Mrs. Henry has also planted a garden and she lived up on the hill.  Now, Mrs. Henry was the holy, saintly mother figure in our church.  She was old, very old.  She had already outlived three husbands. 

      The thought of Ms. Henry brought hope to my heart.  I stepped out in the yard and peered toward her house and I thought my heart would explode with joy.  Ms. Henry was out working in her garden.  That could only mean one thing.  I hadn’t been left behind.  God would never, ever rapture his saints and leave Ms. Henry behind. 

      I didn’t know where my family was but there was no possible way any one of them was going to be raptured ahead of a saint like Ms. Henry.

      It seemed Ms. Henry lived to be about 100.  When she died everyone knew she had a special place in heaven.  Two things happened to me on that day:  I wanted to know I was ready for Christ’s return and if I died before he returned I wanted to have lived a saintly life so that I could die in confidence and everyone would know that I had gone to heaven.

      We recently commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Everyone knows about the Titanic but few people know about the Titan.  Morgan Robertson wrote a short novel about an enormous passenger liner called Futility.  The Titan was said to be unsinkable and it carried an insufficient number of lifeboats.  In the month of April, the Titan, on its maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York, hits a mammoth iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic. 

      Morgan Robertson’s novel and the actual event are not exactly the same.  In Futility, the fictional ship, Titan, is 880 feet long.  The actual Titanic was 882 feet long.  The fictional Titan was able to displace 70,000 tons of water. The actual Titanic was able to displace 66,000 tons of water. 

      Why would Morgan Robertson go to the trouble of writing a fictional account of a real event and not take more care in the accuracy of the facts?  It is because he didn’t yet know what the facts were.  The Titanic sunk on April the 19th, 1912.  The book Futility was published in 1898.  Morgan Robertson wrote his book 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic.

      Is it amazing that a book 14 years ahead of its time could predict the events of the Titanic?

      We have a book that tells us the future, not 14 years ahead of time, but thousands of years ahead of time.  The Bible contains 2500 prophecies.  Over 1/3 of it is prophetic.  2,000 of the biblical prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter with no errors.  The remaining 500 prophecies extend into the future and they are being fulfilled rapidly as time progresses. 

      The Bible is 100% accurate in the fulfillment of its prophecies.  One of the most amazing and exciting prophecies yet to be fulfilled is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  It is the one my children’s church teacher, Carolyn, taught me about years ago, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
 
      These words spawn joy and hope in the hearts of true believers throughout the world.  We are to encourage each other with this great hope.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Emancipation Proclamation: Was Lincoln Motivated By Political Expediency or Religious Conviction?


“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”  --January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation

The question for consideration is this:  In what way was Abraham Lincoln driven by his own religious convictions when developing policy regarding the Civil War and the institution of slavery?




The Religious Views of Abraham Lincoln are chronicled in a book by Reverend O. H. Pennell who indicates that there was a strong attempt by various religious groups like Universalists, agnostics and deists to hijack Lincoln for their own cause.   

Lincoln seemed to measure religion by the inevitability of the progress of ideas and society.  I don’t know if Lincoln could have been too familiar with Darwin’s Origin of the Species because it wasn’t published until 1859 but he certainly seemed to entertain a belief in the idea of the evolutionary progress of society and this idea most certainly was shattered by a country divided by war.  He may have embraced the idea that as society matured slavery would eventually fade away but the war brought that hope of peaceful resolution to an end.

Lincoln was a bit of a religious skeptic in his younger years.  He did not attend church and he was very secretive about his religious convictions.   He was much influenced by the deism of the enlightenment.  But he seemed to become a deeply religious man after several political failures, the death of his father and especially the death of his son, Willie.  After church attendance became a priority to him he began to attend the Old School Presbyterian Church in the 1850’s. 



Mathew B. Brady. Willie Lincoln, Third Son of President Lincoln . . . , ca. 1862. Facsimile. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (139)  Digital ID # ppmsca-19390


His friend, Frank Carpenter, recorded that Lincoln shared his conversion experience with an acquaintance and told her that he began to understand the tenants of Christianity when his son, Willie, died.  “I think I can say with sincerity that I hope that I am a Christian.  I had lived until my boy, Willie, had died without fully realizing these things.”  (The Religious Views Of Abraham Lincoln, p. 27)




The words of Lincoln’s widow also lend credibility to his claim to Christianity , “…from the time of the death of our little Edward, I believe my husband's heart was directed towards religion and as time passed on - when Mr. Lincoln became elevated to Office...then indeed to my knowledge - did his great heart go up daily, hourly, in prayer to God - for his sustaining power. When too - the overwhelming sorrow came upon us, our beautiful bright angelic boy, Willie was called away from us, to his Heavenly Home, with God's chastising hand upon us - he turned his heart to Christ.”  - Mary Todd Lincoln to Rev. James Smith, June 8, 1870

Lincoln became very sensitive to the will of a sovereign God.  He was haunted by the idea that Christians from the north and Christians from the south were praying to the same God for favor.  In his commentary The Will of God Prevails he wrote, “God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.”  (Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, The End of Slavery in America.  By Allen Guelzo)

Two preachers and two layman from Chicago met with him carrying a petition for emancipation.  He declared to them his right and intention to declare an Emancipation Proclamation .  But he seemed wearied by such men who often declared their knowledge of God’s will and he testily declared to them that if God had revealed his will to them then surely he would reveal his will to him upon whose shoulders this burden did lay.

Was Lincoln’s motivation for declaring the Emancipation Proclamation a move to satisfy political expediency or was it a personal conviction of his that slavery was immoral?

I think it could be safely argued that in the beginning of the war Lincoln interpreted the conflict as a contest to preserve the union. In his letter to James Conklin Lincoln wrote, “You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union. I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time, then, for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes.”

“If they (slaves) stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive--even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.” – (Letter written to James Conklin.)  Was Lincoln using freedom as a ‘carrot at the end of the stick’ to lure slaves into fighting to preserve a union that had thus far failed to free them or did he genuinely believe slavery was immoral in the eyes of God?




By the end of the war it is reasonable to believe that Lincoln saw himself being used as an instrument of God to emancipate the slaves.  Lincoln’s statement to Salmon Chase, Republican Governor of Ohio from 1856-1860, indicates his reinterpretation of the war, "I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Maryland I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves." (Six Months At The White House, p. 90, Frank Carpenter)

Although Lincoln was conflicted about the fact that good Christians were warring against each other while calling on the same God for favor and grace.  His final conclusion to this dilemma is found in his Second Inaugural Address:

“Both (North and South) read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.