Santa Fe, New Mexico (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
Category Archives: community
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (New Mexico)
Filed under America, Apologetics, community, Culture Wars, Faith, God, politics, The Magnificent Fifty
The Magnificen Fifty: Foundations of Faith (New Hampshire)
Concord, New Hampshire (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
New Hampshire Constitution, Bill of Rights, Article 5 (1784)
Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God…and no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained…for worshipping God.
To read the introduction to and purpose of this series, CLICK HERE.
Filed under America, Apologetics, community, Culture Wars, God, politics, The Magnificent Fifty, worship
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (Nevada)
Carson City, Nevada (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
Constitution Preamble (1864)
We, the people of the State of Nevada, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom establish this Constitution.
To read the introduction to and purpose of this series, CLICK HERE.
Filed under America, community, Culture Wars, Faith, God, politics, The Magnificent Fifty
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (Nebraska)
Lincoln, Nebraska (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
U.S. Supreme Court – Nebraska Legislature (1893) To invoke Divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not …an “establishment” of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger delivered Court’s opinion in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783
Filed under America, Apologetics, community, Culture Wars, The Magnificent Fifty
But the Church Prayed
It Happened In Acts
It may come as a shock to some of you, but, believe it or not, there’s a lot more to the book of Acts than chapter 2.
As a matter of fact, the book of Acts is full of exciting, foundation-rattling accounts of God moving through the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 12 is no exception.
In Acts 12 we read Luke’s account of how Herod Agrippa (the 1st) thought he’d found a way to demoralize and ultimately defeat the young Church. After seeing that killing the apostle James made the Jews happy, he then arrested Peter with the intent of doing the same. It seemed like a fool-proof plan…
“…but prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5).
That was the hinge on which the door swung…the church prayed.
Think of all the insurmountable obstacles we’ve encountered. How many times have we (as the Church or individuals) been faced with situations where there seemed to be no way out, no positive solution, no hope? What has been our usual response? Has it been fervent, unceasing, continual prayer? Not usually.
Imagine what would have happened to Peter had the story been more like: “Herod was going to kill Peter, but the church hired the best Gentile lawyer from Rome.” Or, maybe Acts 12:5 could have read like: “Herod was planning on killing Peter, but the church hatched a full-proof escape plan.”
No, the Bible says that the church in Jerusalem did what all of us should do – but we usually don’t – they prayed without ceasing.
If Acts is supposed to be an example of how the Holy Spirit can work through the Body of Christ (the Church), then I have a feeling we’ve lost a lot of battles by ignoring our most powerful weapon – PRAYER.
It’s Happing in Soddy Daisy
Well, my friends, I pastor a small church in Soddy Daisy, TN, that needs a few miracles. We need some locked doors opened…some chains to fall off…some manna from heaven…some pioneering workers for the field.
We need people who will work. We want to see souls saved. We want to make an impact on our community. We want to build the Kingdom. We want God to receive the glory for rescuing what many have deemed a lost cause.
So, we’re praying.
Every evening we are meeting to pour our hearts out in prayer. Every evening we are asking God to meet our needs. Every evening I am hoping others will join us, preferably in person. You are invited.
This past Sunday (May 6) I preached a sermon that laid out the context for Acts 12:1-5. I then called upon our congregation to join with me in serious, desperate, concentrated prayer for the rest of the month. You can listen to the sermon by clicking on the link below or the picture of our church sign.
Let us look forward to what God is going to do, but don’t be too surprised if He answers in a way that has never even crossed our minds.
“Now About This Time: The Church Prayed”
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (Vermont)
Montpelier, Vermont (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
Vermont Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 3
That all persons have a natural and unalienable right, to worship the Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own conscience and understandings.
Filed under America, Christianity, community, The Magnificent Fifty
Happy Earth Day 2018
Embracing Diversity
Let’s face it, I have a wide variety of people who follow this blog. They range from the ultra-right-wing conservative branches of the political and religious spectrum to the left-wing, tree-hugging, tofu-eating, god-hating leftist trolls who do nothing all day but listen for billy goats to cross their pitiful bridges. Obviously, I’m happy you’re here reading this, no matter who you are.
It may be strange to hear a conservative Christian say it, but I embrace this diversity! My arms are extended and waiting to offer hugs to anyone and everyone who would let me show love. I may not affirm how you choose to live, and I may disagree with what you believe, but at least I care about you.
That being said, I know someone is going to be offended by what I’m about to write. However, there’s always another day and another blog post that you can enjoy. As the climate fluctuates, so do the posts of this blog 😉
Another Earth Day
A lot of melted glacial water has floated to the ocean since the first days of Earth Day celebrations. Predictions have come and gone, and yet the world is still flowing right along. A little warmer, maybe, but still here.
Early predictions from the first Earth Day in 1970 guaranteed that we would not be around until the year 2000. Some predictions had the world ending by 1985. Yet, here we are in 2018 and nothing much has really changed.
Do I believe that the earth might be a little warmer than it was in 1970? I guess it could be. I mean, I haven’t really been checking the temperature every day since I was three years old. But what I do know, is that we still have four seasons every year. Just like it’s always been, seasons change, and so will the epochs of nature.
If global warming is truly a thing, do I believe that man is contributing to it? No, I don’t. It has been warmer, then it got colder (they called it the ice age). Then, for some reason, long before man used coal and gasoline-powered engines to industrialize the world, things got warmer! Man had nothing to do with it!
A Proper Perspective
What I do believe is that God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). He created both the earth and day, and night, and time, and matter, and us. This is His world, not ours; but we are to be good stewards of what He has given us to manage.
I do not believe it is the Christian thing to do to waste resources, t0 pollute the environment, to run crazy with all of our self-pleasing pursuits at the risk of damaging creation. God cares about his creation, which is why one day He will remove the curse that is upon it because of sin. However, because creation belongs to the Creator, it is not the creation that we should be worshiping; we should be celebrating the One who made it.
If kept in the proper perspective, World Earth Day could be a good thing. On the other hand, if all it is meant to be is an anti-capitalist, anti-God, celebration of a deified planet, one where humans are taught to be the scourge of the earth, rather than the epitome of creation, you can keep it!
In reality, I sort of feel like paraphrasing the apostle Paul when he was writing to the church at Corinth: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you” (1 Thessalonians 5:1).
Just take care of what God has given you, praise God for it, and leave the season changing to him (Daniel 2:21).
PS, here’s a great article for today by reporter John Stossel.
Filed under blogging, community, current events, General Observations, Global Warming, Weather, World View
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (Indiana)
Indianapolis, Indiana (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
Constitution Preamble (1851)
We, the people of the State of Indiana, grateful to the Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choose our own form of government, do ordain this Constitution.
Note, the Indianans of the 1850’s understood that the right to choose their own form of government was one given by God, not man. Yet, again, we have people from the FFRF (btw, they claim only 20k members) wanting to erase God from every vestige of public life. Where would our public life be without God at the foundation? The founding fathers of Indiana would tell you, “Nowhere.”
Filed under America, Apologetics, community, God, politics, The Magnificent Fifty
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (Colorado)
Denver, Colorado (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
Colorado State Motto (1861) and State Seal (1877)
Nil sine numine
“Nothing without the Deity”
Image credit: Wikipedia
To read the introduction to this post, CLICK HERE.
Filed under America, Apologetics, community, Culture Wars, Faith, God, politics, The Magnificent Fifty
The Magnificent Fifty: Foundation of Faith (California)
Sacramento, California (Artist: Susan Cassidy Wilhoit)
California Supreme Court (1980)
Freedom of Religion is so fundamental to American history that it must be preserved even at the expense of other rights which have become institutionalized by the Democratic process.
Devin Walker v. First Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 760-028.9
To read the “introduction” to this series, CLICK HERE.
Filed under America, community, Culture Wars, politics, The Magnificent Fifty
The Recovering Legalist 