Thursday, December 09, 2004
Number Ten
To you my Beloved Number Ten child:
I am a multi-billionaire and You are my headstrong child. You and your 9 brothers/sisters have gone out and stolen the crown jewels from the queen mother, sold them and frittered away the money in various sinful ways. Subsequently you were all caught and the government of the United Kingdom worked a deal where they would not execute you if the sum of a Billion dollars in reparations were paid for each of you. You have been released on your own recognizance but have been made well aware of the fact that a judgement day is coming at some point in the future?My sacrifice was given At the New York Stock Exchange when I publicly set up 10 irrevocable trust accounts with a Billion dollars in each then laid out some simple rules for claiming the money:
You must acknowledge the FACT that I am your father and love me accordingly.
You must realize the FACT that what you?ve done was wrong and STRIVE to change for the better.
You must acknowledge and receive my sacrifice and be thankful for it.
The Money was a free gift already paid and not refundable yet statistically so far 90% of the money goes unclaimed for some very strange and convoluted reasons.
*Your first sibling denied the fact that I even existed despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Maybe the delusion was comforting up until the time they strapped him into the chair and pulled the switch.
*Your second sibling acknowledged I existed but thought she had come about by an accident with the Primordial Pool guy or an alien Mailman. This in and of itself did not disqualify her as long as she recognized my hand in raising her but it caused her to have terrible problems grasping rules 2 and 3. Seemed a shame to see her scream her way into the gas chamber because of misguided guesses and suspicions about her heritage.
*Your third sibling knew I was her father but Hated me for some wrong her siblings did and falsely claimed I put them up to. I loved her so and it was difficult to hear the gruesome details of her hanging.
*Your fourth sibling knew that I was his father and loved me greatly, but had rationalized his actions and could not see where he had done anything wrong. Those stuffy Brits never used those jewels anyhow and it is unfair how everyone was getting between him and the pleasure he deserved. The firing squad shot him as he extolled the unfairness of it all.
*Your fifth sibling accepted the offer willingly, paid the Billion dollars and, when judgement day arrived, he received a full pardon for his transgressions and came to live happily with me at my mansion. You probably find him extremely annoying because he tries to sell you on doing the same thing and sometimes makes you feel self-conscious because of his naiveté in Striving to change for the better clashes with your own lifestyle which is more mainstream.
*Your sixth sibling Found your fifth sibling utterly annoying because he knew five was not perfect and continued to make mistakes and seemed to be just plain "holier-than-thou". "Sure I drink my Liquor, lie, cheat and steal, but at least I don't condemn other people like that nasty hypocrite--I would rather die than live like that fake" .....He did.
*Your Seventh sibling was prideful, had a good job and decided he wouldn't accept this charity. He determined that he would work the off the debt himself. The $137,423 dollars he came up with was a bit short of the Billion required but he figured he might be able to cut some sort of deal. He rehashed his thinking as they were giving him the lethal injection, but it was too late.
*Sibling Eight acknowledged me as the father and loved me accordingly. Eight was a generally upstanding and moral citizen give or take the crown jewels thing and a little greed, pride and envy. He realized that what he did was wrong and had no problem with the "Strive to do better" concept. His only problem was that he doubted whether or not there was a billion dollars there. He doubted that the sacrifice had occurred, after all there were only a few thousand eyewitnesses there at the stock exchange at the time and since he was not there himself he could only rely on the secondhand and written accounts of the occurrence. There were even a lot of highly educated and intelligent people writing about how it was all a fake. Why would his father do this for him? Why should He waste his time attempting to claim this gift which to his mind probably did not exist. Once he actually pulled up outside the NY stock exchange but changed his mind at the last second. Would it not be totally embarrassing to walk down the aisle at the stock exchange with all those people watching? Number Five told him "Trust me it's there. I accepted it and it paid for my crimes and now I'm living happily without the burden of judgement hanging over me". The answer "Poor number Five, you are probably delusional. Haven't you read your science books? Psychologically speaking people just don't make sacrifices like that and I don't think there will be a final judgement anyhow. ". He mused that even if there were a judgement obeying the first two rules would probably keep the stiff necked Queen off his back. "I love my very rich father and I am being good now, sort of...well, at least better than number three and six!" he was heard to say. "Sorry, that may be so, but the debt is still unpaid for you refused to accept the gift" was heard as the axe fell on his neck.
*Your Ninth sibling was politically connected and relied on some rich relatives to raise the money so he would not have to depend on me. Uncle Mohammed and Aunt Krishna Promised him the full amount and, although they had a lot more rules for claiming the money (which he followed religiously) on execution day they were determined to be bankrupt and were accordingly burned at the stake with sibling Nine.
**Where do you stand number ten.
I am indeed your father. I want to cleanse you of your wrongdoing and clothe you in righteousness.
I Love you and do not want to see you die.
I want you to acknowledge and accept this gift.
I want to give you life and love.
It breaks my heart what has happened to my other children and I want more for you.
The gift is free, No strings other than love attached.
Is loving so hard?
Will you reject me too on equally senseless grounds?
Please come to my mansion and into my compassionate arms!
YOU are LOVED number Ten
The Father
This is a modern day parable for the Plan of Salvation.
The Father is indeed GOD.
The Sacrifice-Infinetely more precious and harder to match than a Billion dollars is The Lord Jesus Christ who died painfully on a cross for Your sins.
The three simple rules remain the same.
The Mansion is Heaven.
The various methods of death represent an eternity in Hell.
The Love is real.
*Number one is an atheist who believes that the complexity of the universe was derived from the chaos of nothingness and people evolved from rocks in direct contravention to the second law of thermodynamics, mathematical probability and common sense in knowing that complex things do not come from simple things without outside intelligent influence.
*Number two believes that there is some higher being out there, but has become confused by societal beliefs in evolution, un-testable theories of origins and modern interpretations of miraculous phenomena. There are many in this world who make their best guess about what happened thousands, millions, or even billions of years ago and then present it as absolute fact. Combine this with the opposition of the Catholic (read organized/political/traditional religion) Church in the past to some known scientific facts (I.E. round world etc...) and you have created a skeptical hearer if they group all Christians or religions into one lump.
*Number three blames GOD for all the problems the sin nature of man creates (I.E. the Inquisition/IRA bombings etc...) and/or personal problems which all men face (financial difficulties, death of loved ones etc...). A perfect Just and Loving God has to allow men the free will to choose Between good and evil, otherwise we would be mere tools or robots incapable of Love, Programmed in all our actions. Unfortunately many men choose to do evil and disobey GOD. This choice of man to do evil is the cause of almost all human suffering. Death and sickness are a natural side effect of the original sin and everybody's health will eventually fail them. Most of our problems can be traced back to some failing on our part or to the failing of another human.
*Number four cannot see that he did anything wrong. He looks around at all the other sinful humans and finds somebody he can compare himself to favorably then pronounces himself as "A good person" who deserves more out of life. Rationalization can cover many different topics: "I may have killed two people in a barroom fight but at least I'm not a serial killer like that guy!", "I cheat a little on my income taxes but I am not an outright thief like him.", " I may tell little white lies but that guy is a pathological liar". All people are capable of finding something they are not as "bad" at when compared to another flawed human. The problem is GOD does not measure us against other humans, but by a GODLY standard. That is why he provided the gift of grace. Acceptance of the sacrifice of the sinless Jesus is the only thing that can bring you up to the standard.
*Number five is the basic believer. Not perfect but forgiven. Not Righteous but cleansed by the righteousness of GOD. Having been delivered from certain death there is a natural desire on their part to share the good news. Often we do not do it well and sometimes we offend. We cannot understand why any would reject this free gift. We have nothing personal to gain by your acceptance of it, we do not get part of your salvation or "billion" as the case may be. It should not be said that you have to give up drinking, smoking, extramarital sex, drugs and gambling to obtain the kingdom of heaven, You do not, although once delivered from a lost condition there are varying degrees of desire to do so. These are just outwardly visible sins that get the most attention from other people. Even believers continue to have inappropriate thoughts and actions, it is just that usually the outward sins are tended to first because of human nature and wanting to "appear" less sinful. The Drug addict male prostitute who has accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ will make it into heaven while the Bishop, Preacher or Pope who has not will find himself in Hell. You just follow the three simple steps provided:Love GODRepent of Your Sins. Strive for sinlessness. (notice I did not say you would be sinless)Appreciate and Believe in the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as payment for the sins YOU have committed and will commit. Receive him into your heart.
*Number six has many of the same problems as number four. He has also mistakenly condemned and judged all Saved people as being hypocrites and fakes who are "judging him" while ignoring the hypocrisy required for him to make such a judgement. He operates under the delusional concept that all people who go to church are supposed to be, and claim to be, perfect and when they are not perfect he has proven all of Christianity to be fake. In reality the people that are born again believers are drawn from the community at large and as such are representative of that community with the same frailties and tendencies. In some way or another all people are hypocrites. The only difference is; The Saved ones recognized the fact that they were imperfect sinners and have been forgiven and tried to change. It has been said and I agree " I would rather be in Heaven with the Saved hypocrites than in hell with the rest of them". Double standard: A secular president has an affair and the atheist says "So, that's his personal life" but when an Evangelist has an affair they Scream "Lying Hypocrites, They don't practice what they preach" Despite the fact that they were both flawed human beings fighting the same temptations and sexual opportunities that fame causes. The truth is that Pride, greed, Drunkenness and Promiscuity and many other things are wrong and sinful and a Christian should identify them as such, but while we are to hate those sins in ourselves and others we are to love the sinner, since we all fall into that category. The hypocrisy defense is a form of deluded self preservation since it allows the sinner to go on sinning without feeling convicted about it because "The Perfect People" are sinning too. The problem is that just because other people are sinning (all do) it does not excuse the sin you do yourself...Only Jesus can excuse/cleanse that.
*Number seven - Pride has blinded him to the possibility of getting anything so easily. He is trying to work out his own way to heaven. He failed to realize the impossibility of the task. No matter how good he is he can never attain the goal on his own. GOD is a perfect and just GOD who has set down the rules and made them simple so that any person may attain them. GODS perfect justice demands that the price be paid in full and HE has already provided you with a means to pay it asking only love and trust in return. If he allowed any thing less than full payment he would no longer be a perfectly just God and would become a "depends upon the situation" situational ethics sub-god. There are many church going, godly seeming people who have not grasped the basic fact that you have to believe with your heart in all of these three easy steps or all the church functions and charitable giving in the world will not keep them out of Hell. GOD does not grade on a curve. Some have the mistaken impression that there is a large cosmic karma scale where you heap the good deeds on one side and the bad on the other and if the good outweighs the bad you go to Heaven. The problem is in this scenario is that a perfect GOD cannot allow any sin into his perfect Heaven and thus one bad deed would far outweigh a billion good ones. The only way to win in this situation is to have the blood of the sacrificed Christ scrub clean the bad side of the scale, once freed from the counterbalance of evil the good side will float with you on up to Heaven when judgement day comes. The only alternative is that you should consider those tiny un-scrubbed sins as the satanic Mafia's concrete shoes dragging you and your good deeds into the depths.
*Number Eight is pretty much your average citizen who has done a few bad things here and there. He Claims to be a Christian because it's a family tradition and he believes in God, Prays when in trouble and on the appropriate holidays and goes to church when the fancy strikes him. Eight sees the Bible as a good book, maybe a little flawed or mistranslated since it was written by men and figures Jesus must have been a pretty swell guy. On occasion he has felt convicted and almost committed his life to Christ but held back because he might get embarrassed or have to give something up or did not feel worthy or became confused by satans' many pseudoscientific and seemingly logical lies. Be very aware! This one short life you have is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades. Hell is not one degree cooler for the one who squeaks "I Almost didn't deny Christ's sacrifice". If you wait until you clean up your life or drop some bad habits first you'll never make it to heaven. Get saved first and Christ will clean up your life for you if you are willing. Over 50,000 eyewitnesses to the Miracles of Jesus were available by the time he allowed himself to be placed on the Cross. His greatest enemies, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, did not deny his miracles but instead tried to attribute them to the devil. Non Religious historians verify Christ's existence and miracles. Only in the last 300 years has a pervasive and growing secularist science made up of atheists started trying to belittle the facts doggedly and they rely on a gap of 1800-2000 years to blur the lines and make sure their guesses or lies seem credible. Trust your heart not the guesses of other fallible humans. Smart as they are their minds, like yours and mine, cannot grasp infinity of time nor space nor GOD. QUESTION: "Gee Who put all that material out there to blow up in the "Big Bang"? ANSWER: "Uhmn...It was just there" ...."Big Bang" of material that was "just there" makes rocks, rocks make amoebas, amoebas make man! Now that takes a real leap of faith to believe. Talk about a weird religion.
*Number Nine has fallen into the trap sprung by the religious tolerance in America. He believes that tolerance of other religions (which by the way is usually only allowed in predominantly Christian nations) means that they are just as viable as Christianity. They are all fine and dandy except for the fact that chanting on prayer rugs, humming mantras to crystals, wanting to come back as a sacred cow, and communing with trees have absolutely nothing to do with getting in to heaven and in fact distract you from the only true path. GOD is not the author of confusion and he would not make it something that only the well educated, super intelligent, highly focused or ultra dedicated could accomplish. Even a child is capable of understanding what the One true GOD has dictated to us. No special equipment is required. Salvation does not have to take place in a church or on your 13th birthday. You do not have to be circumcised or dunked or have a special bible. Anybody can be saved anywhere at anytime just by following the three steps above...Just by having the right heart condition. The best Part is that if you do it right the first time-It is permanent. No more candles to light, No messy cleanup, no salesmen will call and Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all of the days of your life. GOD Bless.
Where Do You stand Number Ten?
No matter where you stand, Remember:YOU are LOVED Number Ten!
Robert Todd Johnson
A.K.A. "Number five"
I am a multi-billionaire and You are my headstrong child. You and your 9 brothers/sisters have gone out and stolen the crown jewels from the queen mother, sold them and frittered away the money in various sinful ways. Subsequently you were all caught and the government of the United Kingdom worked a deal where they would not execute you if the sum of a Billion dollars in reparations were paid for each of you. You have been released on your own recognizance but have been made well aware of the fact that a judgement day is coming at some point in the future?My sacrifice was given At the New York Stock Exchange when I publicly set up 10 irrevocable trust accounts with a Billion dollars in each then laid out some simple rules for claiming the money:
You must acknowledge the FACT that I am your father and love me accordingly.
You must realize the FACT that what you?ve done was wrong and STRIVE to change for the better.
You must acknowledge and receive my sacrifice and be thankful for it.
The Money was a free gift already paid and not refundable yet statistically so far 90% of the money goes unclaimed for some very strange and convoluted reasons.
*Your first sibling denied the fact that I even existed despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Maybe the delusion was comforting up until the time they strapped him into the chair and pulled the switch.
*Your second sibling acknowledged I existed but thought she had come about by an accident with the Primordial Pool guy or an alien Mailman. This in and of itself did not disqualify her as long as she recognized my hand in raising her but it caused her to have terrible problems grasping rules 2 and 3. Seemed a shame to see her scream her way into the gas chamber because of misguided guesses and suspicions about her heritage.
*Your third sibling knew I was her father but Hated me for some wrong her siblings did and falsely claimed I put them up to. I loved her so and it was difficult to hear the gruesome details of her hanging.
*Your fourth sibling knew that I was his father and loved me greatly, but had rationalized his actions and could not see where he had done anything wrong. Those stuffy Brits never used those jewels anyhow and it is unfair how everyone was getting between him and the pleasure he deserved. The firing squad shot him as he extolled the unfairness of it all.
*Your fifth sibling accepted the offer willingly, paid the Billion dollars and, when judgement day arrived, he received a full pardon for his transgressions and came to live happily with me at my mansion. You probably find him extremely annoying because he tries to sell you on doing the same thing and sometimes makes you feel self-conscious because of his naiveté in Striving to change for the better clashes with your own lifestyle which is more mainstream.
*Your sixth sibling Found your fifth sibling utterly annoying because he knew five was not perfect and continued to make mistakes and seemed to be just plain "holier-than-thou". "Sure I drink my Liquor, lie, cheat and steal, but at least I don't condemn other people like that nasty hypocrite--I would rather die than live like that fake" .....He did.
*Your Seventh sibling was prideful, had a good job and decided he wouldn't accept this charity. He determined that he would work the off the debt himself. The $137,423 dollars he came up with was a bit short of the Billion required but he figured he might be able to cut some sort of deal. He rehashed his thinking as they were giving him the lethal injection, but it was too late.
*Sibling Eight acknowledged me as the father and loved me accordingly. Eight was a generally upstanding and moral citizen give or take the crown jewels thing and a little greed, pride and envy. He realized that what he did was wrong and had no problem with the "Strive to do better" concept. His only problem was that he doubted whether or not there was a billion dollars there. He doubted that the sacrifice had occurred, after all there were only a few thousand eyewitnesses there at the stock exchange at the time and since he was not there himself he could only rely on the secondhand and written accounts of the occurrence. There were even a lot of highly educated and intelligent people writing about how it was all a fake. Why would his father do this for him? Why should He waste his time attempting to claim this gift which to his mind probably did not exist. Once he actually pulled up outside the NY stock exchange but changed his mind at the last second. Would it not be totally embarrassing to walk down the aisle at the stock exchange with all those people watching? Number Five told him "Trust me it's there. I accepted it and it paid for my crimes and now I'm living happily without the burden of judgement hanging over me". The answer "Poor number Five, you are probably delusional. Haven't you read your science books? Psychologically speaking people just don't make sacrifices like that and I don't think there will be a final judgement anyhow. ". He mused that even if there were a judgement obeying the first two rules would probably keep the stiff necked Queen off his back. "I love my very rich father and I am being good now, sort of...well, at least better than number three and six!" he was heard to say. "Sorry, that may be so, but the debt is still unpaid for you refused to accept the gift" was heard as the axe fell on his neck.
*Your Ninth sibling was politically connected and relied on some rich relatives to raise the money so he would not have to depend on me. Uncle Mohammed and Aunt Krishna Promised him the full amount and, although they had a lot more rules for claiming the money (which he followed religiously) on execution day they were determined to be bankrupt and were accordingly burned at the stake with sibling Nine.
**Where do you stand number ten.
I am indeed your father. I want to cleanse you of your wrongdoing and clothe you in righteousness.
I Love you and do not want to see you die.
I want you to acknowledge and accept this gift.
I want to give you life and love.
It breaks my heart what has happened to my other children and I want more for you.
The gift is free, No strings other than love attached.
Is loving so hard?
Will you reject me too on equally senseless grounds?
Please come to my mansion and into my compassionate arms!
YOU are LOVED number Ten
The Father
This is a modern day parable for the Plan of Salvation.
The Father is indeed GOD.
The Sacrifice-Infinetely more precious and harder to match than a Billion dollars is The Lord Jesus Christ who died painfully on a cross for Your sins.
The three simple rules remain the same.
The Mansion is Heaven.
The various methods of death represent an eternity in Hell.
The Love is real.
*Number one is an atheist who believes that the complexity of the universe was derived from the chaos of nothingness and people evolved from rocks in direct contravention to the second law of thermodynamics, mathematical probability and common sense in knowing that complex things do not come from simple things without outside intelligent influence.
*Number two believes that there is some higher being out there, but has become confused by societal beliefs in evolution, un-testable theories of origins and modern interpretations of miraculous phenomena. There are many in this world who make their best guess about what happened thousands, millions, or even billions of years ago and then present it as absolute fact. Combine this with the opposition of the Catholic (read organized/political/traditional religion) Church in the past to some known scientific facts (I.E. round world etc...) and you have created a skeptical hearer if they group all Christians or religions into one lump.
*Number three blames GOD for all the problems the sin nature of man creates (I.E. the Inquisition/IRA bombings etc...) and/or personal problems which all men face (financial difficulties, death of loved ones etc...). A perfect Just and Loving God has to allow men the free will to choose Between good and evil, otherwise we would be mere tools or robots incapable of Love, Programmed in all our actions. Unfortunately many men choose to do evil and disobey GOD. This choice of man to do evil is the cause of almost all human suffering. Death and sickness are a natural side effect of the original sin and everybody's health will eventually fail them. Most of our problems can be traced back to some failing on our part or to the failing of another human.
*Number four cannot see that he did anything wrong. He looks around at all the other sinful humans and finds somebody he can compare himself to favorably then pronounces himself as "A good person" who deserves more out of life. Rationalization can cover many different topics: "I may have killed two people in a barroom fight but at least I'm not a serial killer like that guy!", "I cheat a little on my income taxes but I am not an outright thief like him.", " I may tell little white lies but that guy is a pathological liar". All people are capable of finding something they are not as "bad" at when compared to another flawed human. The problem is GOD does not measure us against other humans, but by a GODLY standard. That is why he provided the gift of grace. Acceptance of the sacrifice of the sinless Jesus is the only thing that can bring you up to the standard.
*Number five is the basic believer. Not perfect but forgiven. Not Righteous but cleansed by the righteousness of GOD. Having been delivered from certain death there is a natural desire on their part to share the good news. Often we do not do it well and sometimes we offend. We cannot understand why any would reject this free gift. We have nothing personal to gain by your acceptance of it, we do not get part of your salvation or "billion" as the case may be. It should not be said that you have to give up drinking, smoking, extramarital sex, drugs and gambling to obtain the kingdom of heaven, You do not, although once delivered from a lost condition there are varying degrees of desire to do so. These are just outwardly visible sins that get the most attention from other people. Even believers continue to have inappropriate thoughts and actions, it is just that usually the outward sins are tended to first because of human nature and wanting to "appear" less sinful. The Drug addict male prostitute who has accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ will make it into heaven while the Bishop, Preacher or Pope who has not will find himself in Hell. You just follow the three simple steps provided:Love GODRepent of Your Sins. Strive for sinlessness. (notice I did not say you would be sinless)Appreciate and Believe in the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as payment for the sins YOU have committed and will commit. Receive him into your heart.
*Number six has many of the same problems as number four. He has also mistakenly condemned and judged all Saved people as being hypocrites and fakes who are "judging him" while ignoring the hypocrisy required for him to make such a judgement. He operates under the delusional concept that all people who go to church are supposed to be, and claim to be, perfect and when they are not perfect he has proven all of Christianity to be fake. In reality the people that are born again believers are drawn from the community at large and as such are representative of that community with the same frailties and tendencies. In some way or another all people are hypocrites. The only difference is; The Saved ones recognized the fact that they were imperfect sinners and have been forgiven and tried to change. It has been said and I agree " I would rather be in Heaven with the Saved hypocrites than in hell with the rest of them". Double standard: A secular president has an affair and the atheist says "So, that's his personal life" but when an Evangelist has an affair they Scream "Lying Hypocrites, They don't practice what they preach" Despite the fact that they were both flawed human beings fighting the same temptations and sexual opportunities that fame causes. The truth is that Pride, greed, Drunkenness and Promiscuity and many other things are wrong and sinful and a Christian should identify them as such, but while we are to hate those sins in ourselves and others we are to love the sinner, since we all fall into that category. The hypocrisy defense is a form of deluded self preservation since it allows the sinner to go on sinning without feeling convicted about it because "The Perfect People" are sinning too. The problem is that just because other people are sinning (all do) it does not excuse the sin you do yourself...Only Jesus can excuse/cleanse that.
*Number seven - Pride has blinded him to the possibility of getting anything so easily. He is trying to work out his own way to heaven. He failed to realize the impossibility of the task. No matter how good he is he can never attain the goal on his own. GOD is a perfect and just GOD who has set down the rules and made them simple so that any person may attain them. GODS perfect justice demands that the price be paid in full and HE has already provided you with a means to pay it asking only love and trust in return. If he allowed any thing less than full payment he would no longer be a perfectly just God and would become a "depends upon the situation" situational ethics sub-god. There are many church going, godly seeming people who have not grasped the basic fact that you have to believe with your heart in all of these three easy steps or all the church functions and charitable giving in the world will not keep them out of Hell. GOD does not grade on a curve. Some have the mistaken impression that there is a large cosmic karma scale where you heap the good deeds on one side and the bad on the other and if the good outweighs the bad you go to Heaven. The problem is in this scenario is that a perfect GOD cannot allow any sin into his perfect Heaven and thus one bad deed would far outweigh a billion good ones. The only way to win in this situation is to have the blood of the sacrificed Christ scrub clean the bad side of the scale, once freed from the counterbalance of evil the good side will float with you on up to Heaven when judgement day comes. The only alternative is that you should consider those tiny un-scrubbed sins as the satanic Mafia's concrete shoes dragging you and your good deeds into the depths.
*Number Eight is pretty much your average citizen who has done a few bad things here and there. He Claims to be a Christian because it's a family tradition and he believes in God, Prays when in trouble and on the appropriate holidays and goes to church when the fancy strikes him. Eight sees the Bible as a good book, maybe a little flawed or mistranslated since it was written by men and figures Jesus must have been a pretty swell guy. On occasion he has felt convicted and almost committed his life to Christ but held back because he might get embarrassed or have to give something up or did not feel worthy or became confused by satans' many pseudoscientific and seemingly logical lies. Be very aware! This one short life you have is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades. Hell is not one degree cooler for the one who squeaks "I Almost didn't deny Christ's sacrifice". If you wait until you clean up your life or drop some bad habits first you'll never make it to heaven. Get saved first and Christ will clean up your life for you if you are willing. Over 50,000 eyewitnesses to the Miracles of Jesus were available by the time he allowed himself to be placed on the Cross. His greatest enemies, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, did not deny his miracles but instead tried to attribute them to the devil. Non Religious historians verify Christ's existence and miracles. Only in the last 300 years has a pervasive and growing secularist science made up of atheists started trying to belittle the facts doggedly and they rely on a gap of 1800-2000 years to blur the lines and make sure their guesses or lies seem credible. Trust your heart not the guesses of other fallible humans. Smart as they are their minds, like yours and mine, cannot grasp infinity of time nor space nor GOD. QUESTION: "Gee Who put all that material out there to blow up in the "Big Bang"? ANSWER: "Uhmn...It was just there" ...."Big Bang" of material that was "just there" makes rocks, rocks make amoebas, amoebas make man! Now that takes a real leap of faith to believe. Talk about a weird religion.
*Number Nine has fallen into the trap sprung by the religious tolerance in America. He believes that tolerance of other religions (which by the way is usually only allowed in predominantly Christian nations) means that they are just as viable as Christianity. They are all fine and dandy except for the fact that chanting on prayer rugs, humming mantras to crystals, wanting to come back as a sacred cow, and communing with trees have absolutely nothing to do with getting in to heaven and in fact distract you from the only true path. GOD is not the author of confusion and he would not make it something that only the well educated, super intelligent, highly focused or ultra dedicated could accomplish. Even a child is capable of understanding what the One true GOD has dictated to us. No special equipment is required. Salvation does not have to take place in a church or on your 13th birthday. You do not have to be circumcised or dunked or have a special bible. Anybody can be saved anywhere at anytime just by following the three steps above...Just by having the right heart condition. The best Part is that if you do it right the first time-It is permanent. No more candles to light, No messy cleanup, no salesmen will call and Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all of the days of your life. GOD Bless.
Where Do You stand Number Ten?
No matter where you stand, Remember:YOU are LOVED Number Ten!
Robert Todd Johnson
A.K.A. "Number five"
# posted by SGT USMC 1ea @ 12/09/2004 04:08:00 PM 
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SGT, Was that you that did a 'test' post on the new SF the other day? If so, or not, PLEASE come back! I miss your words of wisdom. Hope all is well with you and yours!
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No circumcision? Count me in!
Mornin' SGT USMC. This reminds me of a joke. Hope you don't think it sacriligious.
A Protestant pastor, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi made a bet that based on how they were each so accomplished at converting people (even though we know it's God that truly converts the sinner) to their faith, that each one believe they could successfully convert a bear.
A day later the pastor and the priest met at their local coffee shop and shared their experiences. The pastor said he shared the Gospel with such passion and conviction, that the bear he witnessed to converted and swore he'd never eat another person, especially Christians.
The Catholic priest said he so skillfully plied his sacraments and delivered the Catholic liturgy in Latin, that the bear promised to come to confession every week.
Soon the rabbi came limping in, his body swathed in wraps and bandages. "What happened to you?" queried the pastor and the priest. Well, I went into the woods and found a bear and asked if he wanted to become a Jew. After what I took to be a humble acquiescence on his part I next began to circumsize him ...
Mornin' SGT USMC. This reminds me of a joke. Hope you don't think it sacriligious.
A Protestant pastor, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi made a bet that based on how they were each so accomplished at converting people (even though we know it's God that truly converts the sinner) to their faith, that each one believe they could successfully convert a bear.
A day later the pastor and the priest met at their local coffee shop and shared their experiences. The pastor said he shared the Gospel with such passion and conviction, that the bear he witnessed to converted and swore he'd never eat another person, especially Christians.
The Catholic priest said he so skillfully plied his sacraments and delivered the Catholic liturgy in Latin, that the bear promised to come to confession every week.
Soon the rabbi came limping in, his body swathed in wraps and bandages. "What happened to you?" queried the pastor and the priest. Well, I went into the woods and found a bear and asked if he wanted to become a Jew. After what I took to be a humble acquiescence on his part I next began to circumsize him ...
BTW, I really did like our parable. Is it a more detailed extrapolation of the seed/good soil/bad soil parable?
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