Please, Just Consider The Possibility, I BEG YOU!

Father, why do we let pride and arrogance keep us from you and your son? The love, the peace, the joy, the happiness He offers us is better than all the trash, filth, and evil that satan offers. Why must it be so hard for our eyes to be opened to this? My heart aches and my eyes weep and my body shudders underneath the load of burden for the lost...what can I do, oh Father. How can I be used to open their eyes? How can I make them see that they are condemned already apart from You and it is Your mercy, Your grace, and Your love that will free them! Father, please open the eyes of the blind today.

Please, just entertain the possibility that there is a God who loves you. He only tells you of your sin to warn you of the consequence to come. It isn't because He hates you, it's because He hates the sin and what it is doing and will do to you. Please, hate me if you must, but hear what I am saying! Jesus Christ LOVES you with an everlasting love and He weeps because You spurn His love. What those people at the church said or did to hurt you years ago, what your mother or father did or said to make you feel unloved, what those cruel friends or boys or girls did to you in school, He saw it! He hated it! It wasn't HIM that did it. He longs to wound up the brokenhearted. Please, please, please let go of your pride for just a few moments. Entertain the possibilty that what I am saying is true and ask Him with an honest heart to heal you and to reveal Himself to you. He longs to do so, but because He cannot and will not force Himself on any person, He will never make you believe. But, what more could He do to draw you to Himself?

I do not know who this is for or why the Spirit has burdened me to write this, but I pray that whoever you are that you know that Jesus Christ loves you so much that He would burden a complete stranger with agony over your soul. If I could write the name of every lost person in the lamb's book of life myself, I would!

If you are Muslim or Budhist or Hindu or anything other than born again of the Spirit of the One and only true and living God; Jesus Christ, please know that the enemy of all souls and the arch enemy of God hates you and has you blinded for his own purposes. Those rules and that bondage are not of God! He is not in the business of bondage, but of FREEDOM! Please, when all the fronts are removed, when no one is looking or listening and you are alone in your thoughts ask yourself this question.

Am I really ready to die today and face eternity with the current beliefs that I hold? Is that aisle I walked in Bible school and that paper I signed really proof that I have been born again? Or is the Spirit within me testifying that I am a child of God? Are all these prayers, rituals, good works really going to atone for the evil in my heart when I stand before a Holy and Righteous God? Have I done ENOUGH to save myself?

God has placed eternity in every heart and if you will just be honest with yourself, you will have to admit that you are not sure! Just read the Bible ONE MORE TIME with a heart that wants the TRUTH! That is all I am asking. He will not deny you the TRUTH if you HONESTLY SEEK AFTER IT! What more can I say? If I could do it it for you, I would! It is the single most important decision of your life and you will NEVER REGRET IT! I promise and I love you!

You fellow human begging you to repent and seek this Jesus of whom you have heard!

Merry Christmas!

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I do feel it is important to SPEAK NOW!

My name is AMANDA BOWERS and I am a REAL PERSON! I am a mom, wife, pharmacist, daughter, sister, and friend. I am an AMERICAN! I am not PAID TO WRITE THIS! I do it to honor my Lord, my family, and all the men and women in this nation who have shed their blood and sacrificed their lives for the innocent and helpless! It is now MY TIME to stand for freedom and LIFE! Will you join me?




Thus says the LORD: “ For three transgressions of the people of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead, That they might enlarge their territory. Amos 1:13



Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received over $350 million in taxpayer funding last year and ended the year with a $112 million surplus. Washington has already mandated that taxpayers fund billions of dollars in bailouts and stimulus packages.



Right now Planned Parenthood is fighting tooth and nail to "enlarge their territory" by ensuring that the current health care reform bill exclude ALL LANGUAGE that would prohibit federal funding of abortions. They want to "rip open the women with child" in order to line their pocketbooks!! http://stoptheabortionmandate.com/prep/get-the-facts/responding-to-healthcare-myths/



Please call, email, write your senators during this Christmas season. As of right now the amendment to prevent tax-payer funding of abortion has been removed. Please let your senators know that if they vote for the health care bill as written at this time that they are going on record as a pro-choice supporter. Please ask them not to vote yes as it is currently written. Here are links to help you with what to say.



Take these 10 steps to save lives:

1. PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

2. Forward this email to your entire CONTACT LIST!

3. Email or Fax your Senators

4. CALL your representatives and senators. Also call democrats who are pro-life and encourage them not to go back on their convictions!! http://www.democratsforlife.org/

5.Go here:http://stoptheabortionmandate.com/take-action/contact-your-elected-officials/

6. Tell people to go to this link and listen to this web cast. Tell them to call.

7. Send it to your email list, twitter it, ...facebook.

8. Call EVERYDAY! They need to expect your call every day. (I haven't done this before, but I will start!)

9. Write letters to your newspaper

10.PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!



http://stoptheabortionmandate.com/take-action/contact-your-elected-officials/



http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm





In fact, the stop the abortion mandate site already has a letter written for you. It takes less than 2 minutes to make the call. Just be friendly, tell them your name, and that you ask that they vote no on the health care bill as it stands without an amendment to stop federal funding of abortion. They are counting on the fact that you are busy with your families during Christmas and not paying attention.



If this gets passed, please know that it is ALL ABOUT MONEY! They will target the underprivileged and poor and begin using abortion as a birth control method.





We must take a stand on this now!



This is our generations time to stand up to tyranny! Please, I urge you to look into your child's face and do this for their future. You can remind the politicians that every child aborted is a future taxpayer and US citizen.



Thank you for taking the time to do this. You can also write letters to your newspaper, Facebook this information, twitter it, email it to your friends! Please forward this information to everyone and let the congress know that America is PRO-LIFE! God is watching to see how our generation will stand against this evil. We must stand for the innocent. These women are victims, too!





For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs 1 Timothy 6:10

Amanda Bowers

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Meditations in Ezekiel: If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow what does this mean for American Christians?

Hey gang,

If anyone out there still reads this blog, I thought I'd stop in and give a quick hello.  I know I said I might write about Advent. Obviously, that hasn't happened. I guess I have too much to learn and not enough time to put it on paper, but I do want to tell any of you who are interested that I found a great book at Lifeway this week called, "a family Advent" which leads you through the history and explanation of Advent with devotions, Scriptures, and family activities and discussions. It is quite good. This year I am reading through it as Jacob is still a bit young to hold attention to it, but next year (if the Lord tarries of course), I plan to incorporate it into our family traditions.


Today, I just wanted to share with you some passages from Ezekiel without any elaboration.  I just want to give you time to read them and meditate as I have been doing.  They are overwhelming.  If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow as His Word tells us that He is, then the American Jesus promoted by many today is not the Jesus of the Bible.  You read and decide, examine yourself, and pray to the Father to open your heart, ears, and eyes to receive the truth of God's word.

I encourage you to read it all, but I read chapters 9 through 18 today and the following passages really caused me to ponder and meditate.

⁴ and the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
⁵ To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. ⁶ Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple. (Ezekiel 9:4-6, New King James Version)

⁹ Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!’ (Ezekiel 9:9, New King James Version)

¹⁹ Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20, New King James Version)

² “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.
³ “Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for captivity, and go into captivity by day in their sight. You shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight. It may be that they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:2-3, New King James Version)

²¹ “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²² None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. ²³ Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
(Ezekiel 18:21-23, New King James Version)

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32, New King James Version)

I am offering no commentary on this right now because it is new and fresh and I wish to ponder and study more.  I have not chosen these passages to portray any message other than that we ought to truly study Scripture with a heart to know and understand the God of the Bible, not necessarily the one being proposed by the world.  I am not discounting grace, obviously, but I am calling attention to repentance.  Jesus started showing me this about a year ago, when He pointed out that his first words in ministry were these:

¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15, New King James Version)

Please share your thoughts as I study the Word, Holiness, Repentance, and the Christian life.

Merry Christmas!

Amanda

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Why I Have Asked the Creators of The Manhattan Declaration to Remove My Signature

Good morning all,

Many of you may or may not be aware of a document entitled, The Manhattan Declaration, created and drafted by the following three people:

Drafting Committee
Robert George
Professor, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University

Timothy George
Professor, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

Chuck Colson
Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, VA)

You may click here to read it in its entirety. This statement is to explain why I have asked them to remove my signature. I would normally just have done this privately, but since upon my original decision and signature I encouraged others to sign, I feel I owe it to you to publicly explain my change of mind.

Upon first reading I completely agree with the precepts and objections set forth in the document and I still vow before my Lord to oppose, object, and if necessary defy man's laws with regard to

1. The sanctity of human life
2. The dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. The rights of conscience and religious liberty.

However, it has been brought to my attention and in my conscience I agree that it is irresponsible to make this statement,

"It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty."

and knowingly sign it with men whose organizations do not, in fact, teach "the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness" but rather teach a false gospel of works based religion.

I realize that this may make me seem as to be attacking or opposing these men, and I certainly hope that you understand that is not my intent. In fact, I applaud the effort to try to unite on common ground in order to take a stand against the liberalism and attack on basic and fundamental biblical values. However, as I have studied the Scriptures over these past few years, I cannot in good conscience not confess that I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ to be very narrow and exclusive to the truth that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and not of works, lest any man should boast.

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:7-9

I believe it to be of the utmost importance that we teach this truth to ALL MEN otherwise we deny the faith and our Lord and risk giving men a false gospel and thus bearing their blood on our hands.

I ask forgiveness from anyone who signed the document after my encouragement to do so as well as apologize to those who will think my flip flopping is irresponsible. I agree! The greatest lesson here for me to learn and hopefully you to learn from my mistake is to be less hasty in signing or jumping on the bandwagon of things that at first seem to be "good" without consulting my Lord as to whether they are "right" and "best".

For a few other explanations of those not signing you can read the following articles:

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A390
http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/article/manhattan-declaration/
http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/the-manhattan-declaration.php

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Jesus Paid it ALL!!!

When I was a little girl, I sang this song many times in church as a solo or sometimes a duet/trio with my friends. I certainly had no full understanding of the words (and still really don't).

Sin had left a CRIMSON STAIN, but HE WASHED IT WHITE AS SNOW!! Oh, Praise the ONE who PAID MY DEBT and RAISED THIS LIFE UP FROM THE DEAD!!!! Glory Hellelujah!!

How about you? Dead or alive??

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