John Ziegler vs. Contessa Brewer msnbc

Rush Limbaugh's take on Obama and God

RUSH: What do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate. How do they differ? God does not think he's Obama. And there's another difference between God and Obama, and that is that liberals love Obama.

RUSH: We have some more differences for you here between President Obama and God. God asks for only 10% of your money. God gives you freedom to live your life as you choose. God's plan to save us is actually written down for people to read.

How far is the East from the West?

How Far is the East from the West?

The dictionary defines "to blot out" as to "destroy utterly, to annihilate". The picture I get when I think of blotting is taking a chemically treated rag and removing a stain.It is soaking up or absorbing a spill. Can you picture God taking the rag of his righteousness, soaked thoroughly with the atoning blood of Christ, and reaching into your heart to "blot out" the sin you've confessed to him? 51:1 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.”

Not only does God faithfully blot out our sin, he conceals it from his own face. Psalm 51:9 “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities” I sometimes hide away any extra cash that may come my way to save for a birthday or Christmas gifts for my family. I recently went to one of my favorite places to conceal extra cash and discovered it wasn't there. I knew I had hidden it away but I forgot where I had put it. God conceals our sin. It puts it away and promptly forgets where he put it. Jeremiah speaks of the sins of Judah, and declares "they shall not be found..." (Jeremiah 50:20)

While on a cruise a few years ago I leaned over the side of the ship and looked down into the deep green sea. I placed the strap of my camera over my neck realizing that it would be gone forever if I dropped it into such a vast body of water. It would not be possible to ever find it. When Christ forgives us of our sins he puts them where he can never find them again. I know that this is an anthropomorphism. This is God speaking after the manner of men. But, he condescends with language we can understand. Micah 7:19 "he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

I'm so relieved to know that God does nothing in a half-way manner. He goes all out in all he does. If two angels separated somewhere out there in the universe and one flew westward and another to the east...how far would they fly in opposite directions? Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us”

Spurgeon said of this verse: "....it (our sin) is moved so far that the distance is incalculable... If sin can be removed so far then we can be sure that the scent, the trace, the very memory of it must be entirely gone.”Isaiah 1:18 "...though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

How can one experience such cleansing? 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

The Half Has Not Been Told

"The Half Has Not Been Told"

Can you guess who said the following?

"You might say that America is a Muslim nation." - recent trip to Egypt, 2009

"We're no longer a Christian nation." - June, 2007

"America has been Arrogant"

"After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals."

If you've guessed President Barak Obama, you are correct. I never thought in my life time I"d hear a president of the United States put down his own country. I remember as a student sitting in Ms. Paulo's American Lit class reading a story about a "Man without a Country". His name was Philip Nolan and he was a follower of traitor Aaron Burr. He was tried for treason in a military court precided over by a crusty Colonel Morgan. He made this statement to the judge, "D_____ the United States! I wish I might never hear of the United States again." “Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court! The Court decides, subject to the approval of the President, that you never hear the name of the United States again.”

Nolan laughed it off but no one else in the court was laughing. They sensed the seriousness in the voice and eyes of Colonel Morgan, a man who loved his country dearly.On May 11th, 1863, Nolan died aboard the U.S. Corvette. He had lived at sea without a country for nearly 50 years. Strange how fiction can sometimes mirror reality.Is President Obama a man without a country? He certainly doesn't talk about the same America I live in. When he declares we are no longer a Christian nation does he not consider that over 70% of Americans claim some type of Christianity. I would say that makes us pretty Christian.

Not even our Muslim neighbors would believe a poliitical stretch like, "...America is a Muslim nation." The Muslim population in the United States is less than .5%. There are far more Catholics, Chinese and homosexuals who live in America. Could he not also claim that we are a Chinese nation or a Catholic nation or even a homosexual nation?

How do you explain such absurd statements from the most powerful man on the globe? Well, Obama is a trained lawyer. He reasons like a lawyer. He sees everything through the eyes of an attorney. Terrorism is not to be opposed by war, it is to be addressed as a legal issue through the courts. As Lawyer in Chief, the first thing to die is the truth. Truth becomes something relevent. Truth is not based on biblical principles or morals, truth is the winner in a world court.

Lord Acton wrote in his letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." That is the common part of the quote. The remainder of the quote is little known, "Great men are almost always bad men."

We are just seeing the very beginnings of the corruption of power in the Obama administration. He has power grabbed the banks. (with our money) He has power grabbed the auto industry. (with our money) and he will also power grab the health care system. (with our money). Remember the Queen of Sheba's reply when asked about the wisdom of Solomon. The same can be applied to the foolishness of the present administration: "The half has not been told."

Man Without a Country

What Did Christ Die For?

John Owen was a brilliant Puritan theologian. Tragically, he and his wife had 11 children. Ten died in infancy and one daughter lived to adulthood. She was unhappily married, returned home and died shortly thereafter of consumption. (Tuberculosis).

John Owen presented this theological dilemma for which I am looking for a good Arminian answer: "Christ underwent punishment for either:

1. All the sins of all men - If this were true what of all the people in hell? If Christ died for all the sins of all men then no man would be accountable for his sin and no man would be deserving of hell because the penalty for his sin had been paid for. Would Christ pay for the sins of those he knew would never repent? Would he pay if he knew his payment would be ineffectual? Why are not all men free from the punishment of their sin if Christ did die and purchased their freedom? Christ died for no one's sins in vain!

2. All the sins of some men - If this be true then Christ did die for all the sins only of those he did know would repent and submit in obedience to him.

3. Some of the sins of all men - If this is true then all men have some sins to answer for and none can be saved.

Christ accomplished what he set out to do. Not a single person for whom he died has experienced eternal death. If this is not true then his sacrifice is at least partially ineffectual and this would compromise the very character of Christ's perfection.

Christ declared that some are saved because of their unbelief. If Christ died for the sins of all people then why would this particular sin of unbelief prevent them from salvation? Yet, if they are prevented by their sin of unbelief Christ must not have died for the sins of all people?

John 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Death to a Christian differs from the death of a non-Christian. A Christian's death is the candle being snuffed out at the dawning of an eternal day. A non-Christian's death is the continuation of eternal darkness.

Jack O’dell, “Salvation is moving from living death to deathless life.”

Christ declares that the penalty of sin is death. If, by his death, he paid the penalty for sin then a second penalty imposed would be double jeopardy. It would be unrighteous and injust for God to demand another payment after payment had already been received. Therefore, Christ would not have died and paid for everyone's sins, rather, he died only for those for whom his death was effectual. He died for those he knew would repent and submit to him.

It sounds pretty Calvinist but it also sounds pretty reasonable and logical.www.nazareneblogs.org/ kpprobst

http://www.kpprobst.blogspot.com/

"Who Do You Say That I Am?"

It was Jesus' question to the disciples for which Peter had the correct answer. "You are the Christ of God." It is the most important question in life. If we answer this question wrong it could have eternal consequences for us. The world is not run by men, its run by ideas and ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have bad consequences.

When the disciples were powerless to heal the sick, preach and cast out demons they asked Christ the reason for their impotence. He answered them directly, "It is because of your unbelief". Belief enables, unbelief disables. A proper perspective of God gives us a proper perspective of the value of human life. 40 million unborn infants have been massacred in this country in the last 35 years because we haven't answered the question correctly, "Who do you say that I am?"

When we fail to understand the truth about who Jesus is, we begin to distort truth about all other things. Sin becomes a disease instead of a trangression against God. Death is a transition from one incarnation to another even though Jesus said, "It is appointed unto man once to die..." Salvation is achieved by looking inward and tuning into our higher self. No need for a Savior, we can save ourselves.

This deception that has wormed its way into our culture is like rat poison. It still looks good, it still tastes good but it is deadly. A little heresy added to a whole lot of truth can bring eternal death.

The greatest deception is how our culture answers the greatest question. A deadly poison is added to the truth when we believe Jesus is just another prophet. or just another great man. Modern movies and books portray Jesus as having been married, having fathered children or having had a lover. Wrong answer the to most important question!!

C.S. Lewis said you can't possibly say Jesus is just "a great moral teacher. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic...or he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice, either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse..."

"Who do you say that I am?" To the hungry, he is the bread of life. To those living in darkness he is the light of the world. To those who have lost their way and are tired of the cultural lies he is the way the truth and the life.

Hitler answered the greatest question wrongly and killed 6 million Jews. Mussolini answered the question wrongly and it led to fascism. Stalin answered the question wrongly and millions died as a result of communism, a bad idea with deadly consequences. If there was one question I'd like to ask President Obama it would surely be this one, "Who Do You Say Jesus Is?"

It's a question we can't ignor...we must answer. We can choose wrongly in a lot of areas of life and still recover, but if we choose wrongly in answering this question it could determine where we spend the next hundred million years.

A Costly Love

A Costly Love

A Costly LoveShannon and I adopted our son in November of 2005. The process of adopting was pretty overwhelming. The red tape and paper work and home studies were all time consuming and trying. Our adoption included a trip to Ohio that ended in disappointment and frustration as the birthmother changed her mind after our arrival. There followed 4 months of anxiety and waiting. Finally, on October 31, 2005 our phone rang again and a case worker for the adoption agency informed us that the birthmother from Ohio had changed her mind.

The adoption laws of Utah suited our situation so we moved the process to that state. The birthmother apologized for what happened four months previous. Four difficult months convinced here that she was incapable of rearing this child and providing properly for him.

We have a marvelous story of successive miracles. Money miraculously provided. An angel at work for us in Virginia. A praying cowboy at the airport. It was amazing to watch God at work in the whole adoption experience.

I gained a whole new perspective of what it means to be adopted into the family of God. “God chose us in him before the foundation of the world…” Eph. 1:4. Adoption legally changes our status. We have all the privileges of a natural son. We are joint heirs with Jesus. The judge in Utah asked us if anyone was coercing us to adopt Kameron. We answered, “No one is forcing us. We are adopting out of love and love alone.”

God the Father adopted me into His family when I was poor and destitute. Christ purchased my adoption willingly on a cross two thousand years ago. He wasn’t coerced, he sacrificed himself willingly because he loved. I was sickly and putrid in my sin yet he loved me when I was most unlovable. When no one seemed to care and all I could see were the backs of others, he embraced me and brought me into the family. I discovered that God adopts the unlovely.

We paid a very steep price to complete the adoption of the son we love so dearly. We wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again because he has brought so much joy into our family. Christ paid a very steep price to make our adoption possible. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” We love our son so much. The difficulty and cost of the adoption process only makes him more special to us. God’s love for us is a costly love. The glory in it is that it was costly! Adoption says that there is a great love in God for you and I!