A rant about myself

This is not only a rant about myself but about Christians in general. But when I say Christians I also include myself. I know I am guilty of everything below if not more.

First: Just need to get one fact strait....

Christ is perfect and no immorality no matter how minor is acceptable.

If we agree on that then the rest should make sense. If not.. Please read the Bible

Christians are some of the most shallow, fake, insincere people that exist today. It is completely disappointing and there remains no expectation of morality. They have became so close to resembling and acting like and embracing the secular world that it is hard to tell the difference.

Fake -  Christian are incredibly good at lying and making excuses for everything that we find pleasure in. We are masters at justifying and condoning the support of evil without acknowledging that we helped create it and that we make it thrive.

Shallow We are scared to get any deeper than "God is love and forgiveness". And yes that is important but God is MUCH more than that. He is perfect and if he lived among us today I think we would find that he would disapprove of a lot of the way that our time is spent.

Insincere Every Christian would say that they try their hardest to be like Christ.
 Really? Think of a movie that you watched in the past week. Would Christ sit there and watch it with you? Would he simply sit through the sexial innuendoes, swearing and taking Gods name in vain, and the dirty pathetic humor? Would He aprove of the music that you're listening to? What about what you are wearing?  I think that he would disapprove of most of our actions and appearances. We go to church on Sunday and Wednesday and pretend that we love and respect him but is that possible when we are living the way we are? We don't just allow ourselves to be exposed to things that he has called evil but purposefully watch and listen to it! Why???? Because we are lazy and comfortable.

This is a call to Christians to not just accept the worlds idea of what Christ would think and do but act upon what HE really would do! It is so easy to brush it off and say that we will do it later or we don't know what he would do but that is just another lame excuse. Christ is perfect and since we aren't capable of being perfect we must get as close as we possibly can instead of settling for some pathetic half hearted attempt.

 Christ wants us to live for Him and like Him NOW because we can and it is easy if we truly love Him.

We must live like there wont be a tomorrow because that fact becomes more and more possible each second. THERE REALLY MIGHT NOT BE A TOMORROW!

Voting is worse than futile; it's immoral....

So I'm thinking about keeping this blogspot alive... what do you think??? Should I?

Here's some thoughts on voting that are from a former presidential candidate. Not my thoughts but I agree with a lot of it!

How To Vote For Liberty

by Joe Sobran

October 26, 2004

It's going down to the wire, I'm trailing in the polls, and if you listen to conventional wisdom, it's time for me to go all-out to mobilize my base in my write-in campaign for the presidency of the United States. Instead, I'm adopting a new strategy that can't lose.I am withdrawing from the race. 

I thank my followers for their backing and encouragement, and I'm not going to try to throw their support to another candidate. I'm asking them not to vote at all. I want to immobilize my base. 

I don't want to be the most powerful man on earth. There is no such thing as being "worthy" of the office, an office that now includes the power to murder countless people. The American political system is far beyond repair. 

Abstaining from voting is an honorable way of refusing to participate in the organized coercion that is government. The 2004 election is said to be about "turnout." Exactly. In the few days that remain, I will try to depress turnout. 

I will consider every vote that isn't cast as a vote of support for me -- or rather, for the liberty I want for all of us. Voting for the establishment candidates is notoriously a choice of evils. Refusing to vote is a positive statement that you choose not to endorse any evil. 

Voting is worse than futile; it's immoral. A single vote can't make any difference, except, rarely, in a local election; it's like a grain of sand in the Sahara. But elections serve to strengthen, by seeming to legitimize, a bad system. They make people feel emotionally committed to that system, with all its aggression against justice and individual rights.Winners of presidential elections like to claim a "mandate" when they defeat their opponents decisively -- that is, with 55 per cent or so of the votes cast. But when half the eligible voters abstain, it suggests a quiet but decisive mandate against the whole political system. Some may be contented, feeling that they can bear any outcome. But many are simply cynical about all politicians and government itself. They don't want any part of it. Seeing the people who rise to the top, they have no hope it can be reformed. 

Nonvoters are often described as lazy, apathetic, lacking in civic spirit. Voting is touted among us as a moral imperative. If you don't vote, we are told, you have no right to complain. Voting, in fact, is the way we are =encouraged= to complain!It's hard to know where to start refuting such imbecility. The act of making an "X" in a box, or its high-tech equivalent, is close to worthless as a means of either self-expression or imparting information. When masses of votes can be won by wearing silly hats and repeating silly slogans, it's pretty hard to maintain the belief that election results reflect an aggregate wisdom in the electorate. I marvel that faith in democracy has survived the advent of C-SPAN. 

Just for example, if voters could be disqualified for not knowing the difference between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, John Kerry would defeat George W. Bush in a landslide. This doesn't prove that Kerry is the better candidate, but it does show that sheer ignorance can be a decisive factor in democracy. 

A libertarian writer named Carl Watner offers six reasons why libertarians shouldn't vote. Five are pragmatic -- one vote doesn't matter, libertarians can't hope to win, there is no way elections can produce good results, et cetera -- but a chief one is moral: Voting means involving yourself in the system of coercion and aggression. When you vote, you give that system your blessing. History and reason alike seem to back Watner up. 

So next week I'll feel I've achieved, or at least taken part in, a moral victory if my people, the nonvoters, outnumber the voters. But we can't leave it at that. We have to stop acting as if abstaining were a furtive dereliction of duty and start proclaiming it as a point of pride and honor -- a kind of boycott of the government's chief idolatrous ritual. 

It can force us to pay taxes, to support its wars, to observe its myriad petty rules, but it can't (yet) force us to vote. We don't (yet) have to pretend that it's our benefactor or that our rulers are our servants. There are some truths we're still free to speak. We can speak one of them very clearly by refusing to vote in government elections. 

Thank you for not voting.

So what do you think? I think there is a lot of truth to it and it should be considered.
More coming soon!

-Jeremy

Participation is support

"If you participate in a corrupted system you are enabling it to continue on and become even more corrupt. If you choose to leave and refuse all benifits from it then that system has no more power over you and will eventually crumble.

This can only work if your heart can fully trust in THE greater power that is above all and that has and will  overcome all evil. If you are truly Yahwehs servant then no power on earth can touch you unless He allows it."

---

Our tax dollars at work...

Here is a little of what our tax dollars go toward.... Giving these guys jobs.

This is so sad and yet its getting to this point everywhere!

"Give unto Caesar"

Wow.. its been a while... it's a cold/cloudy/windy day here and I guess I'm a little bored and my brain starts working when that happens :)  Anyway... here's what's on my mind.....

I've talked with a lot of people about our responsibility to worldly authority and how we should behave toward them. I think everyone I've talked to about this has brought up the passage "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's;" - Matt 22:17 um... but thats actually only half of a verse... .or maybe less. The full passage in context reads like so: 

15  Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.  16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.  17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?  19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.  20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?  21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's.  22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. KJV

Whether you read that or not ... you know the story. I believe this is very important. And I really don't think this is going to win an argument or anything, but this verse has been taken WAY out of context today and it needs to be corrected which is what I am attempting to do here.

Most people will use this verse to say that Christ commands us to pay our taxes/give tribute.... and I don't think Christ was saying that at all in this "encounter". I'll call it that because he seemed to have quite a few "encounters" with the Pharisees.  


So how does this encounter start out? 

 15  Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.  16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

So what do we know from that? We do know that the Pharasees wanted to kill Christ and right here.. they were trying to "entangle Him in his talk". And they even tried to butter Him up a bit.

17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

They wanted Him to say something that would get Him in trouble with the "authorities". Pretty clever really.... but Christ knows all things!

18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.  20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?  21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

This the WHOLE answer.... not just the part that says "Give unto Caesar".  So lets try to get a glimps into the all knowing mind of Christ. Personally I think this is one of the most completely brilliant answers  ever.  I spent a while studying this verse and I came to conclusion that it doesn't really answer their question at all. Instead it gives them a decision to make..... I'll try to explain here...

He started His answer by asking them a question about the tribute money "Whose is this image and superscription?" They answered...  "Caesars".... In making THEM answer this questions he remained completely neutral. Finally.. His answer  "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's"  Again.... he has remained completely neutral. I really don't think there is any way you can interpret this to say that Christ commands us to pay taxes. Instead he asks us... What is Caesars and what is Gods? 


If you truly believe that Our God Yahweh is infinite, all knowing, the creator of heaven and earth and protector and provider for us all .. you will know that EVERYTHING is Yahweh's by right of creation.

Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

To deny that....  is to deny God.  I believe something that Christ  is asking the Pharisees is .....  who are you worshiping? 


Christ is also drawing a line between Caesar and God that cannot be crossed. What is God's cannot be Caesar's and what is Caesar's cannot be God's. And again....Everything is Gods by right of creation.... if you believe that Ps 24:1 is truth then Caesar is nothing and owns nothing.


I'm not condemning anyone at all for  paying taxes... but I do think you are on dangerous ground if you're telling someone they are wrong if they prefer not to.

Thats all for now... Peace :)

Lord of the Rings - The comparison

Okay, so I just watched "Lord of the Rings"(the first one) for the first time the other day.....  I've heard people talking about it and I know it super popular with home schoolers and some people might not like me very much for this post.. . but a few friends recommended it to me and so I had to watch it.  :)

First off... I do not recommend hardly any movies and this is just another one that I will NOT recommend... especially for someone that is struggling or weak in their faith. I also think that children shouldn't watch it as it could plant ideas in their head that shouldn't be there.
Moving on.... While I enjoyed watching it and thought it was well done.... I think it could be a stumbling block for myself and most Christians if watched enough. After sitting for 3 hrs watching this movie I started thinking about the deeper message that is in-meshed within the whole thing. And while I see how some people can relate it to their Christian walk... I don't think it can or should be. What I began to see was a message that creates a stark contrast between good and evil but at the same time.... the very best of the good is based on the same power as the worst of the evil. The whole movie is about sorcery, witchcraft, magic.... All of which is diametrically opposed to our holy God... Yahweh, who calls those things an abomination and those that practice them were cut off from among His people.

The comparison in the movie is like going from a clear stary night(good) to the pitch black inside of a cave(evil) while God and his ways are a cloudless sunshine. I see no comparison for my spiritual walk in this movie. It portrays a battle between evil and more evil ...... both sides are fighting using the same power.... sorcery. The end result of this kind of battle is the victory of evil.

In Christ we fight with a power that is far above and overcomes and is completely opposite of  all others. The powers of darkness shrinks in fear from it. It cannot be overcome or exhausted. The adversary fights with a complete different set of rules and techniques than we do. His way is laborious and exhausting, it requires our own power, will and endurance... Christs way is triumphant and victorious and requires faith, trust, hope, and prayer.

I think movies like this and a lot of movies these days are a type of brainwashing. They take evil and turn it into good.  I think that it is very important to be on our guard and not accept the filmmakers definition of good  but  see it for what it is and hold ourselves accountable to the highest form of good!

Thanks for reading! Thoughts?

 Its snowing here!.....  If you haven't seen them http://clearangle.blogspot.com/2011/02/snow-flakes.html check out my latest photo blog update on snow! :)

"My yoke is easy...."

Christ said: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:29-30

So why is life so hard? Sometimes it seems like our burden is heavier than we can bear and like we are holding up the weight of the world. I think everyone has felt a little like this at one time or another.

I've been thinking a lot about this passage and and I've come to realize how absolutely  true and amazing it really is! Christ yoke IS easy and His Burden IS light..... but only if we carry it alone.  He simply asks us to trust and wait. And yes those things can seem very hard but they are only hard if you are trying to bear it yourself and if you don't believe that you can fully trust Christ to provide and you aren't willing to wait for Him to do so.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt  2 Chr 16:9

There are so many scriptures in the Bible about men that waited.... God blessed king Asa with peace and prosperity until he asked the Syria to come help him. God simply asks us to trust in Him and not in man. Asa took the burden of protection upon himself instead of giving to to God.

There are so many story's of men in the Bible that waited for God and were rewarded and also of men that didn't wait and had to bear a heavier burden for it... .but I'm out of time here so I better run.

My goal is to drop all other burdens and to care only for the burden that the Bible has given us because if we can take up Christs yoke with a perfect heart and trust in Him he will provide all our needs.

Thanks for reading! :)