Why I Can Cheerfully Say To You, "Merry Christmas"

Seems that every year, I hear the same diatribes. "Christmas is pagan", "God never commanded us to celebrate the birth of Christ". On and on.

It's frustrating because you really want to give these people the benefit of the doubt that they simply want to honor God. Maybe some of it is done out of a pride trip. Don't know. Not my business to judge motive.

Furthermore, I'm not one to get involved in debates. I used to but hung that tendency up a number of years ago when I discovered that such discussions rarely get anywhere.

So, in the interest of helping some of you who might a) appreciate some information on the various arguments and why they fail, or, b) wish to use such information to persuade someone, I provide the following excerpt and link to a good article I recently found:

"Let me be clear. I'm not angry with people who don't celebrate Christmas. Individuals and churches have the liberty to celebrate or not. What is troubling is to hear those of us within the Reformed church that do commemorate the incarnation of the Son of God at Christmas labeled as compromisers, crypto-Romanists, idolaters, second-commandment breakers, and worse. Beyond that, the anti-Christmas rhetoric is inflammatory, but the reasons offered are pitiful..."

And, oh... Merry Christmas, and Praise God for sending our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sez It All!

Yes! He Is!

هو الرب يسوع المسيح للجميع!

What I'm Listening To...

It's been a long year. Much going on. Some medical things, some not. Not working as much as I'd like but God is faithful.

Speaking of faithful, I'm reading of God's faithfulness in an area that I didn't see coming. Specifically, I'm studying a little about the faithfulness of God as it relates to Israel.

I'm a futurist. I always have been. Just reading the Scriptures leads me that way. I've never seen any reason, excuse or whatever to agree with replacement theology (the Church is the new Israel) and the more I hear people argue for it, the more convinced I am that I'll never be able to agree with it.

There are a couple sources that I'm looking at. The first one is John MacArthur's work on "Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist" I'm currently going through the audio files and it is helping to organize many things that I previously understood. The second one I've yet to receive but it is Barry Horner's book "Future Israel". I've heard this is a masterful work. When it gets here I'll do a book report on it right here!

Thanks for your continued interest in my blog. It's been a very slow year and there are a number of reasons for that.

May the Lord bless you all!

The Qur'an Attests to the Truth of Christianity

Good series!

Pt 1:


Pt 2:


Pt 3:


Pt 4:


Pt 5:


Pt 6:


Pt 7:

The Seeker-Sensitive Movement: Your Thoughts Al and R.C...

Gotta Love It!

Assault, Courtesy of Congressman Bob Etheridge

Yes, The Days Are Dark

I've enjoyed two days off. Unfortunately, it has been raining here in Galesburg for those two days...and it looks like it will continue to at least through Monday. Such days have a way of dampening your spirits and even depressing you. It's frustrating when things don't go as you would like them to. I had planned a couple days of working in the yard. Recently, I put up a new sign in our front yard. I operate a computer shop in my spare time and I wanted to landscape around the new sign in hopes of attracting more business. Oh well. For another day.

In a similar way, we face dark days in our country. It is almost cliche' but it is still very accurate to say we now live in "ObamaLand". Seems that no matter how low his numbers go and no matter how loud the opposition gets, he and our congress are devoted to destroying the country we love.

I've often privately compared Obama to the grassy knoll shooter. Only this time, the president is behind the fence and Uncle Sam is in the back of the Dallas limousine. Obama is here to deliver (to America) the coup de grâce.

And I see little to stop him, save the grace of God.

But as bad as I feel for what is going on government wise, I cannot but help feel even worse due to the infiltration of the gay agenda. I mean, as much as I loathe socialism, communism and Marxism...and love capitalism, the Scriptures do not dictate any particular type of government as Biblical save, of course, a Theocracy.

No, there are other things that bother me more. Things that the Scriptures speak of, to one degree or another, such as homosexuality and abortion.

Yes, homosexuality is still a sin. It is no less sinful than the things I was involved in before my conversion. 1 Corinthians 6:9,10 gives us the list:

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.


...and such were some of us!

The answer is as it always has been. The Gospel. And I don't mean the "ask Jesus into your heart because He'll give you joy" pseudo gospel. I mean the Biblical Gospel which includes the message of the law (to convict of sin, and humble the proud) and grace (for those humbled by the law).

Political activism is not the answer unless you want whitewashed tombs. The Gospel is the only real answer to the issue of sin.

Obama's Private Army, Courtesty of Obamacare.

Comfort in the Storm

Ok, so it's been quite a while since my last post. And much has happened since. So much turmoil over what is happening in America. Health care takeovers by the government, in spite of overwhelming opposition. And, no surprise because there is an apparent move to push immigration reform, which would result in a flood of new voters sympathetic to a nanny state.

But in the end, it doesn't matter. At all. One bit.

I'll admit -- it's gotten to me once in a while. The "we gotta stop it" frenzy. It's easy to fall into. But when I do it, it's because I've forgotten who's in control.

May we all have better memories.

Yes, I'm Still Here!

No, I've not been the most faithful blogger for the past month or more. No, I haven't died but the Lord has been letting me go through some things that have led to growth.

It started maybe 6 or 8 weeks ago. I'm not sure.

Since 2004, I've been convicted of the need to be more involved in personal evangelism. I came to this conviction through the ministry of Way of the Master. While I don't necessarily agree with everything they say, or those whom they affiliate with, I do agree with their method and appreciate them greatly. We need more who follow their example.

So what has been happening? Well, simple. See since 2004, I had become very frustrated in my efforts to find a partner to do evangelism with. Then came a Facebook friend. Out of nowhere.

We meet in Peoria and do street evangelism on Saturdays from 1pm to about 3 or so. And we talk to the homeless. We talk to those who have homes to go to. We talk to them at bus stops. We walk around and talk. We drive around to find others. We hand out good tracts and do one on ones with them. It's great!

I had noticed after the first week or two that my walk with the Lord seemed to have new life. Then, of course, as my doctor recently told me, if you do street evangelism you have put a large target on your back. We are invading enemy territory with the one thing they can't tolerate: Truth. The Gospel.

It's been an interesting time. It has been challenging but the Lord is faithful. Of course, He always is. But He has shown this to me in special ways over the past weeks. And I give Him praise for His faithfulness to me.

So, please understand why I am so quiet. I've not thrown in the towel. I've just kind of been refocusing. This used to be a "watchdog" blog of sorts. And of course, there is need to herald warnings about various errors which saturate Christendom of late. And of course, there is room for a political statement here and there.

But my focus has shifted. I'm primarily learning to love my wife more and myself a bit less. I'm learning about God's personal love for me, mainly in a recent incident that the Lord brought me safely through. I won't go into what happened here, but His fingerprints are all over it.

I have a new job. We have found an excellent church...56 miles from here but it is an excellent church of the Reformed Baptist persuasion. Expository preaching. Verse by verse. Book by book. Can't beat that.

This has been a tremendous time. No doubt. Please pray that the Lord will find me faithful.

Thanks and I'll be back!

Tim