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."

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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! :)

Should Christ really be in Christmas?

Alright...... so I decided the other day that I wasn't going to do a Christmas post... buuuut the more I thought about it and after watching this video that is embedded later in the this post. I decided I had to.  And I don't mean to offend anyone here because I know Christmas is very special to a lot people but I think this is an issue that really needs to be thought about. These are my thoughts over the last few weeks :)

Most Christians either are ignorant of these facts or they know them and don't want to think about it or they simply justify it in one way or another. The fact is... if Christ were here on earth, would he really take part in all these Christmas celebrations.... or would he even want his name put to holiday that today is mostly about greed and commercialism? I honestly don't think that he'd want anything to do with ANY of it.

Greed and commercialism are just some of the basics that we all know about and some of us take part in them and some don't. But what about December 25th...? the day that Christmas is celebrated on....... I'm going to make this date the focus of this post. It is the winter solstice and also was the biggest holiday of the year in pagan Rome and much of the traditions they practiced back then are still practiced now but in the name of Christ.. gift giving, tree, etc? How can our holy Saviour be honored by these traditions and how can he NOT be offended by the fact that we celebrate his birth on a day first dedicated to other heathen gods when in fact Dec 25th is not even the day of his birth.  Do you really believe that Christ would be okay with that? Christmas was even outlawed by our forefathers .  This short video talks some about that and Dec 25th. Its only a little over 3 min long and is definitely worth watching!

There are some other great short videos by the same guy!

So why do you celebrate Christmas? I know a lot of you will say that its all about Christ for you.. but really... is it?  When you look forward to Christmas do you look forward to celebrating our Saviors birth or do you look forward to the gifts, festivities, food? I think if most of you were honest with yourself, it wouldn't be about Christ!  But wait.... should it be? The Bible doesn't mention it or command us to celebrate it.... we actually know very little about His birth. So... you celebrate it to honor Him? Do you think that celebrating our holy, spotless, and perfect Saviors birth on a corrupted day could possibly be honoring to Him?  

Why December 25th?  I say if you want to celebrate a holiday on December 25.... being the day that the Romans dedicated to their god.. Leave Christ out of it, it is not in His Character to have ANYTHING to do with the worship and traditions of other gods and neither should it be in ours. Its comparable to taking a buddist holiday that you like celebrating and because you don't want to give it up.. you replace budda with Christ, saying that its all about Christ. I know most Christians don't do that intentionally but its how celebrating Christ birth on Dec 25th most likely started.  Christs birth was an amazing thing and worthy of more honor than that.  We should be celebrating his birth every day and in  a way that doesn't need decorations and festivities but through wholly honoring him with our hearts and in every thought and action.

Christmas is not the kind of holiness that our Saviour deserves... its is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike and that alone should be enough for us to see what it is really about... Soooo, thats all I have to say about it! Thanks so much for reading and please seek God about this and every area in your life because you must know in your heart what He thinks about it.

I'm not trying to condemn anyone for celebrating it at all. That is between you and God. This is simply what I feel like God has shown me and you shouldn't believe it unless YOU know it to be the truth. :)

This post is not up for debate! I'd love to hear any thoughts and comments you might have but I won't be  discussing this online.

Truth ... Worth dying for!

Our Friend, Gods Enemy

I read this a long time ago in an email forward and just recently I heard someone in my family sharing this story out of a 'Home Schcool Digest'. It goes right along with something I've been thinking and wondering about that I think is a huge stumbling block for Christians today.

When Matt was very young, his parent introduced him to a family friend. Matt was excited because he had someone to play with; his parents were pleased because he could entertain Matt when they were busy.

As the years went by, Matt and his friend spent countless hours together playing video games, watching sports, music videos, and reality shows. In time, things changed.... his friend began to used profanity and was disrespectful toward his family. Although his mother and father disapproved, what could they do?  His friend was like a family member now. He taught Matt how to dress, how to act, and even how to treat others. Although his parents wouldn't admit it, he tough them a thing or two as well.

Once Matt reached his teen years, his friends influence was obvious. Matt spent more time with him than with his family. Matt's dad a mom were always gone, so his friend taught him about life. He introduced Matt to alcohol, drugs, and pornography. He explained that sex before marriage wasn't a bad thing; everybody was doing it. Surprisingly, Matt's parents allowed his friend to continue to live in their home. After all, they enjoyed his company;  he was a great entertainer. 

When Matt grew older, he realized that the friendship should never have continued. He believe that his friend's influence encouraged his dad's affair, his mom's problem with alcohol, and eventually, their divorce; the impact of Matt's friend on him was just as devastating.

Today, with full knowledge of the damage done, Matt still allows his friend to live with him, and amazingly, he still listens to his advice. 

So if you don't know Matt's friend, you are probably thinking right now... why would Matt or his parents tolerate such evil and let it into their home to the point where it tears them down and effects them that way?

I'm going to say that most of us have a friend like that and allow ourselves the pleasure of being friends even when this  'friend' is the enemy of God and in opposition to His word and law. Matt's friends name was television. 


Okay, so I know what you are thinking. "Not all movies are bad". I agree and I think some can even be edifying and beneficial. But I'm gonna talk a little bit about the other side... the kind of movies that are filled with and make humor of lies, sexual immorality, blasphemy, filthiness  and things that are opposed to God... things that should not be once named among us. Yet we make them our friend.

 Ephesians5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be NOT ye therefore partakers with them

Movies today are literally filled with blasphemy. Mocking God, taking the Lords Name in vain and making humor of immorality... and yet... we still watch them... for fun, entertainment, to get away? Would you expose yourself to these things if it was in real life? Would you tolerate someone in your house blaspheming the name of God by using his name in vain, people committing fornication in front of you or talking about it even in a humorous way? I would hope not... but is watching it in a movie any different?  Think about it.

Its just a movie and its not real so its okay to watch... You're wrong! Evil is evil and God is not tolerant of it.

The Bible has stories in it just as bad as anything we see on tv...  1. You aren't watching it. I think it would be inappropriate to make a movie of some of the stories in the Bible and 2. Evil in the Bible is always portrayed in the appropriate light and not as humorous or unimportant but as what it is. Evil  


We as humans, we are very visual and everything we see, read or hear finds a place in our mind and whether we realize it or not, it affects our thinking.  Ya know.. When I'm tired I like to relax my brain and watch a movie... its nice to turn your brain off, yeah? When you are watching a movie is when your brain should be more alert and ready to defend yourself than any other time. Movies are filled with hidden ideas and thoughts that sometimes we don't even see but they are the enemy's arrows and the they come from a master archer. Guard your heart!

Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!