NO GREATER LOVE

 "Greater love hath no man than this,

 that a man lay down his life 

for his friends." 

 (John 15: 13)

  Perhaps we can agree that many, many people have the opinion that God is no more than a bad dude, sitting in heaven, with  no more to do with His time than to thump people on their heads and send them down to the pit.
  If that had been the agenda of God, however, He would have never sent His Son to die for the sins of the world.
  But we can also agree that not one man of the earth has ever laid down his life for a religion or philosophy, and neither has any sinful man of the earth ever laid down his life for the sins of people.
  For the leaders of philosophers and religions never lay down their lives for people because their only desire is for people to believe in them while they remain living.
  To be honest, it is impossible for people to believe in God until they believe in the word of God, which is the Holy Bible.
   The Bibles says,

   "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."  (Luke 16: 31)

   "But these things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name."  (John 20: 31)
 
   "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."  (Romans 15: 4)

   Even Jesus said,
      "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  (Matthew 4: 4)

   "So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  (Romans 10: 17)

   In conclusion, Jesus said,

   "I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.."  (Luke 15: 10)

PEOPLE, PLACES, AND EVENTS

   Over the past two thousand years, people have heard more stories about people, places, and events in the Bible than from any other book in world history.
   These are the stories:

   The Creation of the heavens and the earth
   Adam & Eve in the garden of Eden
   Cain & Abel and the world's first murder
   Noah & the Flood
   Nimrod & the Tower of Babel
   Abraham, the "friend of God"
   Moses & the Burning Bush
   Moses & the Exodus
   Moses & the Red Sea Crossing
   The Ark of the Covenant
   Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
   Samson & Delilah
   Ahab & Jezebel
   Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon
   Daniel in the Lions'Den
   Three Men in a Burning Furnace
   King Bel-shazzar & the Writing on the Wall
   David & Goliath
   King David & Bathsheba
   King Solomon's Wisdom
   Joseph & Mary
   The Birth of Jesus Christ
   John the Baptist
   King Herod
   Judas Iscariot
   Pontius Pilate
   The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
   The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
   Mary Magdalene
   Peter & Paul
   The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

   "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

(Romans 8: 38-39)

THE DEVIL'S TONGUE

   "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:  so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."  (James 3:  5, 6)

   When was the last time you heard an encouraging word from friends or family members in a time of need, or in a time of great sorrow?

   Would it be fair to say that most disagreements between friends and family members begins with angry words?

   Would it also be fair to say that man's greatest weapon under the sun is his own tongue?

      "For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind:  but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 
     "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing."             
                                                  (James 3: 7, 10)

      "Life and death are in the power of the tongue:  and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."  (Proverbs 18: 21)

   Whenever people use words of profanity, they are speaking the Devil's language.
   Whenever people surrender the authority of their own tongues to the authority of the Devil, they are enabling the Devil's wrath to come out of their mouths and torch other people.
   Some people spread rumors and gossip about people, and some people spread rumors and gossip about God.
   The power of the tongue is man's greatest weapon in physical and spiritual warfare.

   "But the tongue can no man tame;

it is an unruly evil,

full of deadly poison."

(James 3:  8)

FATHER'S DAY, 2018

This is a picture of my Dad, working in a barbershop when he was young.

Let me tell you about him.

   He had a quiet and gentle spirit.

   He never had any enemies.

   He never had an unkind word to say about others, and others never had an unkind word to say about him.

   He had an ear for music.

   His best friend was his Bible, taking it with him to church as well as to work.

   One of my favorite memories of him happened in the heat of summer each year when he would take a chair from the house and sit under the shade of the maple trees and quietly read his Bible, which confirmed his understanding of "Be still and know that I am God."  (Psalm 46: 10)

   His brothers and sisters called him Gar, an abbreviation for his middle name, Garfield, but most folks called him Preacher Pruitt.
   James Garfield Pruitt was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on September 14, 1904, and passed away at our home on Cool Springs Road on August 1, 1962, one month shy of his 58th birthday.  His parents were Hampton Pruitt and Samantha Blevins, and his father-in-law was the Rev. Calloway Blevins.  

   Many more memories I could tell you about him, but, most of all, I remember him as the greatest man I have ever known. 

"How beautiful are the feet of them

that preach the gospel of peace,

and bring glad tidings of great things." 

(Romans 10: 15)

A TWO-HEADED BEAST

   Nimrod was the leader of a religion, Caesar was the leader of a government, and both men were revered and adored as gods in their empires.
   Government is a system of laws, rules, and regulations, designed to control and dominate the lives of people, and religion is also a system of laws, rules, and regulations, designed to control and dominate the lives of people.  Therefore, both systems is one system with two heads, or a two-headed beast, which controls and dominates the lives of people.
   Not much has changed in the world of religion today than from the religion in the days of Nimrod, and neither has much changed in the world of government today than the government in the days of Caesar.
   Men today still seek to be the head of government, and men today still seek to be the head of religion.
   People today still give their tax to Caesar, and people today still give their tithes and financial gifts to religion.  Therefore, this two-headed beast is the money pit of the world as the two-headed beast controls all of the money systems throughout the world.
  People today still look to the leaders of governments to sustain them, to protect and defend them, and to give them a better and brighter future, just as people still look to religion to sustain them, to protect and defend them, and to give them a future in this life, but also to give them a place in that place we call heaven, or paradise, or utopia in their life after death.
  People willing give their money to things they believe; therefore, they willing pay their tax to Caesar in the belief that they will get something in return, just as they willing give their tithes and financial gifts to religion because of the belief that they will get something in return.
  The leaders of government and religion do not see the money pit the same way, for they value the money that people give as the wages for their labor, their leadership, their expertise in matters that the people are not qualified to perform.  And the people continue to believe in them, they continue to give them their money even though their lives today are about the same as the lives of people in days of Nimrod and in days of Caesar, for they do not know that they are prisoners of the same system.
   Judas Iscariot was rewarded with money to betray Christ, and the leaders of government and religion are rewarded with money to keep the Gospel of Christ hidden from the people as well as to keep the knowledge of God from becoming the knowledge of people.  For this reason, the leaders of religion and government also keep the Bible hidden from people.
   The Bible says,
       "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."  (2nd Corinthians 4: 3-4)

  Whom, then, is the "god of this world"?
  The god of this world is none other than Satan, and the leaders of government and religion are his agents doing his will while people believe that the two-headed beast is their friend.
  But as long as people continue to believe in the two-headed beast, they will not believe in God, they will not believe in the Bible, and they will not believe that Christ died for their sins; and when they die they will die with their hands still clinging to feet of men whom they had believed were gods, whom they had believed would not let their souls go down to the pit.

   "For there is one God,

       and one mediator between God and men,

       the man Christ Jesus."

(1st Timothy 2: 5)

   

GOD IS GOD

   God is God.
   God has always been God.
   God had no beginning, and God has no end.

   God is living, He has always been living, and it is impossible for God to die.

   God is love.  God has always been love, and it is impossible for God not to love because love is God's nature.

   If more people accepted the love of God, we would have more family reunions.

  The Bible has been telling us the stories of people for more than two thousand years---the good, the bad, and also the ugly.  We, on the other hand, prefer to talk about the good we have done---while omitting the bad and the ugly.

  The earth is the battleground of human wars.  Ever since Cain killed Abel east of the garden of Eden. humans have been in constant warfare with humans for approximately six thousand years; and if we could see all of the blood that is in the earth from human wars, it would be over our heads.

  The Bible is not a book about choosing a denomination, nor is it a book about choosing water baptism.  The Bible is about choosing Christ---and everything else is circumstantial evidence, which is not admissible at the judgment seat of God.

  If people will separate God from religion and religion from God, they will come to understand God.  But as long as people try to mix God with religion and religion with God, all they will get is a strange mixture for mass confusion.

   The Bible is not a smorgasbord where we can pick at what we like and spit out the rest.  But if we will swallow the Bible as it is, we will send a note to the kitchen:  "Compliments to the Chef!"

   The cross of Christ seals two testaments together.  The Old Testament is about the coming of Christ, and the New Testament IS  Christ.

  "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

         (John 1: 14)

 
   God is God, God is living, and God is love.

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: 

is there any thing too hard for me?"

(Jeremiah 32: 27)

TO BE LIKE US

   What would humans do if we didn't have humans to fight?
   We argue, we debate, we agitate, stir up mischief, seek to dominate and control, and spread rumors, gossip, and lies as if they are truth while doing it all with such natural ease that we are actually proud of our behaviors while deceiving children to follow our examples to be like us in this vicious war of humans fighting humans across the face of the earth, from generation to generation, as we purposely strive to be like us and to be proud of our path of destruction while teaching children to do likewise.

   "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
     He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:  he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
     He was taken from prison and from judgment:  and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:  for the transgression of my people was he striken.
     And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
     Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:  when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper his hand.  
    He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:  by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."   (Isaiah 53: 6-11)

   "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."  (1st John 3: 2)

   To be like us will cease to be when the children of God choose to be like Christ.