Pick 3 my Lord

Dirty words, swearing, potty mouth, cussing, sailor talk, foul language, profanity—whatever you want to call it, it seems to be more and more acceptable in society today. Some say "Oh, I don't really mean it, it just slips out." Does it really matter what we say? Let's take a look… The 3rd commandment (Exodus 20:7) "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." It is obvious to many that this covers specific use of Lord, God and Jesus Christ in conversation. Something that we must understand is that Jesus died not only for those who accept Him, but also the entire world that does not believe. Now for me, whenever I hear some one speak so harshly, I cringe and it is like sticking a knife in my back. What's worse is that when ever I don't kindly tell someone the ramifications of their language usage, its like me sticking a knife in my saviors back. The second application of the 3rd commandment is in being obedient to God. Some would say that God is so loving and kind that He would never punish those who do not keep His commandments. John 14:15 " If you love me, you will keep My commandments." The point is not to be legalistic, but rather trusting. When you become a Christian, you leave behind the things of this world knowing that God will show you a better way to live. After all, there is only one way to salvation, but many ways to lose it. Here are some other texts to ponder Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." 1 Peter 3:10 "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:" James 3:9 "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way." I pray the holy spirit will guide you in your speech and the way you communicate to others. God Bless!

Who is Michael?

Rev 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels"

The archangel Michael that appears in the Bible has a very high position because he is called an archangel, arch meaning highest. In hebrew, Michael means "He who is like God". Angel means messenger in greek. Michael's position is very high indeed and seems very similar to some of the offices that Christ claims. Christ has many other names (The Bread, The Lamb, The Door,The Light, The Preist, The Water to name a few) and it is quite possible that Michael may indeed be another name for Christ. Now before someone accuses me of being in a cult that thinks Christ is only an angel, lets take a look at some scripture.

Judges 13:18 "And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?"

The scene here is right before the birth of Sampson. An angel has come to Manoah and his wife. The angel here says his name is wonderful (pil'iy in hebrew). Who else do we call wonderful?

Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

This is talking about Jesus, whom we call wonderful. (pele' in hebrew)

Judges 13:20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

Judges 13:22 "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

In these passages Manoah and his wife are worshiping the angel which seems odd, because we are only to worship God. Now we know that Manoah and his wife were righteous people in God's eyes because they did up having a child by miracle. Let's compare the angel in Judges with the angel Gabriel in Rev 19:10.

Rev 19:10"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

We also see Christ being portrayed with other characteristics of an angel in other parts of the Bible.

Thes. 4:16"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"

Paul knows that a multitude of angels will accompany Christ on his return, but he makes no mention of them, so it is safe to assume that Christ is the one doing the shouting. There is only one archangel and only Christ is mentioned in this passage.

Daniel 12:1 "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Michael is called the great prince. Either he is claiming to be the rightful prince of the world falsely (making him Satan), or he is doing so righteously because he is actually Christ.

My conclusion is that Christ holds the high office of archangel, being the chief messenger of the Lord. This in no way degrades the holiness or divinity of Christ. He still retains all of his other qualities. Knowing this actually increases my faith because I know that Christ is the captain of heavens armies.

Rev. 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His headare many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Passages are from the KJV

The trouble with words: "Race"

Recently I've been thinking about the new president (of course) and have been wondering about the usage of a certain word. Not a political race but rather in the realm of ethnicity. Obama's campaign has thrived because of his ethnic uniqueness, and of course we've all heard about how he is the first black president. I'm starting wonder about the word's usage and its forms. So, first I looked up the definition in apple's dictionary:

"race 2 reɪs reɪs nouneach of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics : people of all races, colors, and creeds.• a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group : we Scots were a bloodthirsty race then.• the fact or condition of belonging to such a division or group; the qualities or characteristics associated with this : people of mixed race.• a group or set of people or things with a common feature or features : some male firefighters still regarded women as a race apart.• Biology: a population within a species that is distinct in some way, esp. a subspecies : people have killed so many tigers that two races are probably extinct.• (in nontechnical use) each of the major divisions of living creatures : a member of the human race the race of birds.• poetic/literary a group of people descended from a common ancestor : a prince of the race of Solomon.• archaic ancestry : two coursers of ethereal race. Although ideas of race are centuries old, it was not until the 19th century that attempts to systematize racial divisions were made. Ideas of supposed racial superiority and social Darwinism reached their culmination in Nazi ideology of the 1930s and gave pseudoscientific justification to policies and attitudes of discrimination, exploitation, slavery, and extermination. Theories of race asserting a link between racial type and intelligence are now discredited. Scientifically it is accepted as obvious that there are subdivisions of the human species, but it is also clear that genetic variation between individuals of the same race can be as great as that between members of different races. ORIGIN early 16th cent. (denoting a group with common features): via French from Italian razza, of unknown ultimate origin. USAGE In recent years, the associations of race with the ideologies and theories that grew out of the work of 19th-century anthropologists and physiologists has led to the use of the word race itself becoming problematic. Although still used in general contexts (: race relations,: racial equality), it is now often replaced by other words that are less emotionally charged, such as people(s) or community."

Confusion of the word has compounded from the results of modern slavery and the introduction of the evolution theory. Where the Christian runs into usage problems is in the evolutionary sense. The word is meaningless because there is no such thing as the advancing of humanity, either as a part or as a whole. How about the word "racist"? Currently it means to dislike a certain ethnic group and their religious and political views with a certain amount of unfounded bias. Rather than vaguely use the word, we should develop our vocabulary and use words like bigot, xenophobe, chauvinist, supremacist, discriminatory and prejudice. I therefore propose a new meaning of the word racist, without any notion of the former. Racist: one who believes human features have resuled from evolution, or more plainly: someone who believes in evolution. My whole point in all of this is that I believe that there is no such thing as modern "race" and because of it, any political platform driven by it is pointless. It would be like saying, "He's the first president with blond hair". The Bible teaches all have done wrong, God created all men equal and salvation is available to all. The only reason there is a problem is because people still think there is a problem. Read the Bible and you will find that no human should ever have hate towards a specific group of people.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Resources: http://www.bible-truth.org/race.htm http://www.rapidresponsereport.com/briefingpapers/RACISM.pdf http://erlc.com/article/the-bible-speaks-on-race/ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?pagewanted=all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPby6-uf-s

Peace be with you.

Greetings friends and the like. I hope you will find this blog inspiring. Please use the resources and learn more sections to help strengthen your faith. God Bless.