Topic for Debate

A Topic for Debate

This is a topic that will be debated in classrooms, by teachers and by parents, for decades to come.

Perhaps the reason it is met so favorably by some educators and so unfavorably by others is that not only to students have different learning styles but teachers also have different teaching styles.

If you are a teacher, my hope is that you work for administrators who allow you the latitude to apply your craft in the way that works best for you and for your students.

White As Snow

"Though your sins be scarlet, they shall be washed white as snow."

Do you need cleansing from sin?

If most of us were to answer that question honestly, we would reply that perfection may elude us, but we're just as good as and probably better than most people.

If we were to be perfectly honest, we might even admit that JESUS wouldn't have needed to die if everyone were as good as we are.

Does that sound rash?

Does that sound vain?

Does that sound implausible?

Does that sound foolish?

Does that sound anti-Biblical?

Perhaps it does, but we live in a world where we are bombarded daily with TV programs, movies, and books --not to mention the news-- that depict heinous crimes against humanity.

For each of us to settle upon an "I'm OK" attitude regarding ourselves is not as preposterous as it first sounds when compared to our daily fare.

It doesn't matter where we look (for even some churches water down the reality of and magnitude of sin) we see acts committed that far exceed our small indiscretions. Because we see little worthy of criticism in our own behavior, we truly believe we are in right standing with GOD.

Unless we are convinced of our own unworthiness when we are evaluated by ONE who is HOLY, we will see no need for opening our minds and hearts and spirits to the "unspeakable GIFT" of our SAVIOR.

May each of us come to the realization that human perception regarding sin is not the same as GODLY perception regarding sin. May each of us grasp the magnitude of the great gulf between us and GOD--that great gulf that is created totally by our proclivity to sin.

As we understand the impossibility of our bridging the gulf between ourselves and our LORD, may we begin to fully see the reality of our need for the merciful gift of our SAVIOR...and as we see our need, may we embrace the ONE who is the full supply to the only need we have that is eternal.                 

Today in History

Today in History
1916
Rasputin Is Murdered

Sometime over the course of the night and the early morning of December 29-30, 1916, Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, a self-proclaimed holy man, was murdered by Russian nobles eager to end his influence over the Russian royal family, the Romanovs.

Rasputin, a Siberian-born muzhik, or peasant, who underwent a religious conversion as a teenager and proclaimed himself a healer with the ability to predict the future, won the favor of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra through his ability to stop the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, Alexei, in 1908.

From then on, though he was widely criticized for his lechery and drunkenness, Rasputin exerted a powerful influence on the ruling family of Russia, infuriating nobles, church orthodoxy, and peasants alike. He particularly influenced the czarina, and was rumored to be her lover.

When Nicholas departed to lead Russian forces in World War I, Rasputin effectively ruled the country through Alexandra, contributing to the already-existing corruption and disorder of Romanov Russia.

Fearful of Rasputin’s growing power (among other things, it was believed by some that he was plotting to make a separate peace with the Germans), a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Youssupov, the husband of the czar’s niece, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Nicholas’s first cousin, lured Rasputin to Youssupov Palace on the night of December 29, 1916.

First, Rasputin’s would-be killers gave the monk food and wine laced with cyanide. When he failed to react to the poison, they shot him at close range, leaving him for dead.

A short time later, however, Rasputin revived and attempted to escape from the palace grounds, whereupon his assailants shot him again and beat him viciously.

Finally, they bound Rasputin, still miraculously alive, and tossed him into a freezing river. His body was discovered several days later and the two main conspirators, Youssupov and Pavlovich were exiled.

Not long after, the Bolshevik Revolution put an end to the imperial regime. Nicholas and Alexandra were murdered, and the long, dark reign of the Romanovs was over.

8 Degrees

It's 8 degrees outside this morning.

Cold Arctic air has wended its way southward and the Mid West and East Coast of the United States are experiencing a deep freeze.

Unless you are among the hardiest of souls, you will busy yourself indoors today.

Yet, apart from the drastically low temperatures across the nation, the warmth of the ONE whose birth we have celebrated stands in contrast to the reading on the thermometer.

When the icy cold fingers of disappointment or despair or discouragement or depression endeavor to wrap themselves around you, allow yourself to reach out to the warm hand of the Savior who comes to set you free from not only sin but also the debilitating consequences of sin.

When the frosty chill of anger or hatred engulf your emotions because of wrongs that have been done to you, allow the warmth of the love and forgiveness that flow from God's own heart to yours to rise up within you and melt the hardness of your own heart and overflow it with the freeing emotion that Jesus expressed on the cross, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do."

You need JESUS in all seasons of your life, but HIS warmth makes the most difference for your good and for the glory of GOD when HE comes at the times when you are cold.

Let HIS love warm you. Let HIS love melt your cold heart Let HIS love transform you into a warm reflection of HIMSELF.

Today, whether surrounded by family or curled up with hot cocoa, battling the ferocity of loneliness, Jesus wants to fill you with His love.

Finish Well

Finish Well  by Dr. D. James Kennedy

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”  Revelation 2:11

In Greek mythology, Orpheus, the golden voiced, loses his beautiful wife, Eurydice, and so with lyre in hand he makes his way down through the darkness of the infernal regions in quest of the lost Eurydice, singing his plaintive melodies.

As he goes forth and fills the chambers of that nether world with the rich sonorous tones of his plaintive cry, Tantalus stops his futile bending after the receding waters and listens for a while. Even the cheeks of the furies are wet with tears as they hear the poignant plea of Orpheus for his lost wife.

At last, Orpheus reaches Pluto, the god of this nether world, who finally condescends to allow him to take his wife back on one condition: that he will not set his eyes upon her until they fully reach the land of light above. They set off, Orpheus before, and his beautiful wife, Eurydice, behind.

They pass one obstacle and one danger after another. All hell holds its breath as they make their way tortuously upward, ever closer, until finally they can see the light. So elated is Orpheus, he turns to tell his wife that soon they will be there—and in that moment, all his labor is lost and Eurydice vanishes.

That ancient and familiar myth teaches us a great truth: that it is only he who perseveres until the end who shall be saved. It does not really matter how well we start. It is the finish that counts. As the Apostle Paul said: “You ran well. Who hindered you…” (Galatians 5:7).

Lord, give me the strength to finish well. If I have previously allowed obstacles to hinder my race, as happened to the Galatians, please forgive me and then give me the grace to get up again and continue with the race you have marked out for me.

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN MAKE IT OVER THE FINISH LINE.

LOVE

LOVE
I Corinthians 13:8

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body as a sacrifice to be burned but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind, love envies not, love vaunts not itself, is not proud.

Love rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Where there are prophecies, they shall fail; where there be tongues, they shall cease, where there be knowledge, it shall vanish away; for we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then shall that which is in part be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see as face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as I am known.

And now abides faith, hope, and love--these three--but the greatest of these is love.

WHAT LOVE IS AND WHY IT IS GREATER THAN ALL

What is love that it is considered to be greater than even faith, which the BIBLE tells us can move mountains, and hope, which the WORD informs us is the substance of all we hope for?

If LOVE is greater than these, why is it greater?

LOVE is the only emotion that gives more than it receives.
LOVE is the foundation of every good human relationship.
LOVE is the only power that is greater than hatred.
LOVE is the only human feeling that is rooted in GOD WHO IS LOVE.

If we truly desire to be like the HOLY ONE, we will love as HE loves, we will love who HE loves, we will love because HE loves.

Has someone hurt us? We will love him anyway.
Has love disappointed us? We will love anyway.

Just as JESUS hung on the cross and said, "FATHER, forgive them, they know not what they do," so will we love from the midst of our dilemma because our example is to love.

We will love because GOD first loved us.
We will love our enemies.
We will love because our LORD and SAVIOR is LOVE.

Come Forth As Gold

Come Forth As Gold

Thou man of Uz, thou just and good,
Thou blameless in GOD'S sight,
How blessed have been thy years of GOD,
In thee HE doth delight.

In thee the LORD hath made HIS boast
Before HIS angel dark.
The evil one doth then refute
The LORD'S high praise remark.

"Not without cause THY servant Job
Doth fast adhere to THEE--
THY hedge, the shelter of THY wing,
THY blessings full and free--

Cause him to bow before THY FACE
And bend unto THY WILL.
Draw back THY hand, let me assail,
See if he love THEE still!"

So GOD withdrew HIS hedge from round
Both Job and all his kin,
Allowed the waster to destroy
Where boundless wealth had been!

His children's death, his wife's despair,
The cup of blessing dry--
In anguish cried she out to Job,
"Why not curse GOD and die!"

Why not the final blow upon
This anguished living death?
Why not take all this poor man has,
Including life and breath?

Ah, Job, my heart goes out to thee--
I read thy tale and weep.
The wretched sores that scourge thy flesh,
Though only surface deep,

Probe far into thy heart and mind!
They rot not just thy flesh,
But gnaw away thy trust in GOD
And put thy faith to test!

Thy friends with counsel void of love
Come at thee with their rod--
Correction laid upon thy sores,
Purportedly from GOD!

They neither see nor understand
That GOD is by thy side,
That through thy very darkest hour,
HE yet with thee abide.

Their minds have failed to apprehend
How GOD man's faith doth try--
Like gold placed in refiner's fire
That it may purify!

Like thee, O, Job, so we today,
Afflicted, tempest-tossed,
At times feel stricken by GOD'S hand,
Cast off from HIM and lost!

But, we, too, need to stand the test,
To trust and never bend;
To know our LORD is by our side,
Our constant HELP and FRIEND.

To know that like Job long before,
In his trial's fiery blast,
We, too, shall come forth as pure gold
When this brief test is past.

And when from flesh our life depart,
Our earthly sojourn o'er,
Like Job in victory we'll stand,
More blessed than e'er before!