God
Cincinnati home bible fellowship
by mistic on Nov.11, 2008, under God
I have started having a bible fellowship in my apartment on Mondays at 7pm. It’s bible-based and christian, but is not associated with any denomination. Everyone is welcome.
If you’re curious about it, or would like to come, get in touch with me.
Our Real Roots
by mistic on Jul.08, 2008, under God
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Our real roots…A history lesson that needs to be told….
Did you know that 52 of the 55 signers of The Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention.
It was the same congress that formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people of this nation.
Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, “Give me liberty, or give me death.” However, in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he said: “An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.”
These sentences have been erased from our textbooks.
Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his well-worn Bible: “I am a Christian, that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.”
Consider these words from George Washington, the Father of our Nation, in his farewell speech on September 19, 1796:
“It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion, and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Was George Washington a Christian? Consider these words from his personal prayer book: “Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thy son, Jesus Christ.”
Consider these words by John Adams, our second president, who also served as chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders he said, “We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
How about our first Court Justice, John Jay? He stated that when we select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our Nation, we must select Christians. “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was the sixth U.S. President. He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: “The congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.”
William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the “Schoolmaster of the Nation.”
Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: “The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible I make no apology.”
Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first. Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3).” For over 100 years, more than 50% of all Harvard graduates were pastors!
It is clear from history that the Bible and the Christian faith were foundational in our educational and judicial system. However, in 1947, there was a radical change of direction in the Supreme Court. Here is the prayer that was banished: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country. Amen.”
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school system. The court offered this justification: “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children.”
Bible reading was now unconstitutional, though the Bible was quoted 94 percent of the time by those who wrote our constitution and shaped our Nation and its system of education and justice and government.
In 1965, the Courts denied as unconstitutional the rights of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly for his food.
In 1980, Stone vs. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. The Supreme Court said this: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments were to have any effect at all, it would be to induce school children to read them and if they read them, meditated upon them, and perhaps venerated and observed them, this is not a permissible objective.”
Is it not a permissible objective to allow our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments?
James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
Today we are asking God to bless America. But, how can He bless a Nation that has departed so far from Him?
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read more at http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/forsakenroots.html
…and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemie
by mistic on Jun.11, 2008, under God, funny, myspace
I was reading Genesis this morning and I came across this verse:
Gensis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
And that last bit struck my interest because a) the idea of stealing someones front door and walking off with it amuses me, and b) I seemed to remember Sampson actually doing it. (Talk about a piratical joke. And people think God’s no fun…)
Judges 16:2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
So it turns out that he had a good reason. It was a preemptive strike, but they were going to kill him so hitting second wasn’t such a good option. I just wonder how he kept himself from snickering (or waking anyone up while he was ripping the gates out of the ground for that matter.)
What he actually stole was the gate from the wall around the city, and the posts that hold them in place. This is a bit more important than anyone’s front door, because it was what kept attacking armies outside. (And if you read how much Samson kicked these guys asses, you’ll realize that they needed any protection they could get.)
And in case you’re wondering, Samson is in Abraham’s blood line. He was of the tribe of the Danites. The 12 tribes of Israel were from the sons of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.
Also, if you havn’t seen it yet, The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses over on cracked.com is very amusing. (And just a bit dirty)
God’s pharmacy
by mistic on Jun.04, 2008, under God, myspace
Daniella sent this to me in an email and I thought it was pretty awesome:
It’s been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish… all before making a human. He made and provided what we’d need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We’re such slow learners…
God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!
God’s Pharmacy! Amazing!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye.. and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? it takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
Jesus vs. Devil – Computers
by mistic on Apr.02, 2008, under God, funny, myspace
Jesus and the devil were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.
Finally fed up, God said, “THAT’S IT! I have had enough.
I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job.”
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.
They moused.
They faxed.
They e-mailed.
They e-mailed with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did spreadsheets!
They wrote reports.
They created labels and cards.
They created charts and graphs.
They did some genealogy reports
They did every job known to man.
Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.
Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.
Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.
Jesus just sighed.
Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming:
“It’s gone! It’s all GONE! “I lost everything when the power went out!”
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.
Satan observed this and became irate.
“Wait!” he screamed. “That’s not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don’t have any?”
God just shrugged and said,
JESUS SAVES
Dios te bendiga!
by mistic on Mar.30, 2008, under God, cool, myspace, pic
We arrived at the airport late at night and more than a full day behind schedule. Were they at all upset with us for keeping them waiting? No – we were greeted with smiles and hugs and kind words. I had never met these people before in my life, I looked different, didn’t even speak their language, and yet they took me in like family!
This attitude was steady thought the entire week. I joked that it was a big game of charades, but the care and concern of the believers we met in Venezuela made doing my work not only possible, it made it enjoyable! (And I did have work to do – everybody worked!)
The Word of God that was taught was passionate and accurate! The theme verse was
I Corinthians 4:1
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
A verse from Corinthians was appropriate considering that one of the first things addressed in Corinthians was the division between the believers and the Rock was hosting believers from a good number of different churches.
I learned so much last week! I completely filled my notebook on the front and I took a good chunk out of the back too. One of my favorite points was the word for “ministers” is also translated “servants” but it literally means “under-rowers” as in the guys in the bottom of a boat doing the work of rowing! This is how we’re supposed to be seen: under-rowers for Christ!
The scenery was stunningly gorgeous. In the morning, before we could see the sun, the whole area was already lit up. The sun was hidden behind a mountain, but the light bounced around through the valleys and got to us early. It was a beautiful sight.
The women down there were beautiful too, and Man can Latinos dance! I have this sneaking suspicion that youtube will have a video of some of them dancing, and more hilariously, me attempting to dance….
Oh, and I drank the water and it was great (of course, we were in the mountains, not in the cities.) I didn’t wear bug spray at all and I got maybe a couple of bites, and I didn’t wear sunscreen but twice.
The latin food, btw, was absolutely awesome! Especially all the juices – hand squeezed on site!
Anyways, I definately intend to go back next year, and probably every year after that. I made some friendships that I expect to last the rest of my life. And Francis and I have both started learning some Spanish :P
Love you all,
Dios te bendiga (God bless you!)
-n
P.S. Pictures!
Sarah and Saul
Two of previous Ambassadors:
The main point of The Rock of Ages is to welcome back the last years ambassadors and commission the next years bunch.
The ambassadors are folks who are sent out to a city somewhere with the sole purpose of moving Gods word. They’d start a home church just like the one I do (fellowship) and talk to everybody they come across about the word.
Some fire side music
We were divided up into “mini-churches” ( a lot like my home fellowship) and on the last day each church did a skit showcasing something that had been taught during the week. This was part of my church preforming in our skit.
This was my part in our skit (El diablo, comming to take away the mystery and generally tear the believers appart)
A couple of gangstas from a differnt skit
Our morning workout
Juan Cabrera, the man who organized and hosted the event.
I’m goin to Venezuela!
by mistic on Mar.24, 2008, under God, cool, myspace
If you’ve never heard of the Rock or Ages, it’s kind of a church get-to-gether. I used to go to ones in Ohio when I was a lot younger, but they quit doing those. We camp out and hear a lot of Gods word and generally have a good time :)
I’ll be popping on line at airports today, but I don’t know if I’ll have internet down in Venezuela. I’ll be flying back in the evening on Easter Sunday.
I’m expecting this to be an amazing trip, you’ll hear more about it when I get back!
Love you all (Especially Nikki)
-Nate
[UPDATE]
Ok, so because myspace completely blows, this blog was never copied over to my real blog or to facebook, instead they got a pair of “unable to read blog” lines.. Anyways, I’m back now. Expect to see a post with how awesome it was coming up soon.
Handy little God chart
by mistic on Nov.27, 2007, under God
HANDY LITTLE CHART-
God has a positive answer:
| YOU SAY | GOD SAYS | BIBLE VERSES |
| “It’s impossible” | All things are possible | Luke 18:27 |
| “I’m too tired” | I will give you rest | Matthew 11:28-30 |
| “Nobody really loves me” | I love you | John 3:16 & John 3:34 |
| “I can’t go on” | My grace is sufficient | II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15 |
| “I can’t figure things out” | I will direct your steps | Proverbs 3:5-6 |
| “I can’t do it” | You can do all things | Philippians 4:13 |
| “I’m not able” | I am able | II Corinthians 9:8 |
| “It’s not worth it” | It will be worth it | Roman 8:28 |
| “I can’t forgive myself” | I Forgive you | I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1 |
| “I can’t manage” | I will supply all your needs | Philippians 4:19 |
| “I’m afraid” | I have not given you a spirit of fear | II Timothy 1:7 |
| “I’m always worried and frustrated” | Cast all your cares on ME | I Peter 5:7 |
| “I’m not smart enough” | I give you wisdom | I Corinthians 1:30 |
| “I feel all alone” | I will never leave you or forsake you | Hebrews 13:5 |
Living Love
by mistic on Nov.08, 2007, under God
I got the best compliment I’ve ever received today:
Amanda K: you know, not a day has gone by that if I was having a bad one, you made it better?
I’ve gotten a few good compliments, but I don’t think I’ve ever been given one that got to my heart quite like that did.
I was at a weekend in the Word in Illinois last weekend. the theme was “Rooted and Grounded in Love” from Ephesians 3:17. That compliment is the most perfect end to that weekend that I can possibly imagine.
The general gist of what I got out of the weekend was that 1) My job is to love God and the people around us 2) Loving is giving, and 3) We have God and Jesus Christ as perfect examples of how to love/give.
My job is to love God and the people around me
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
That lays it out plain as day. (“Thy neighbor” refers to the people who your life touches.) Jesus Christ is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 for the first and Leviticus 19:18 for the second.
He says “On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets.” These two commandents, love God and love the people around you, are the foundation of all of the law and all of the prophets. That’s pretty important.
Now, ever since Christ fulfilled the law, it hasn’t applied to us, so all that love stuff goes out the window, right?
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Gotcha! This is the grace administration: we’re not under the law of the old testament, but we do still have one rule: love. (Ephesians 3 calls our time the dispensation of grace, basically an administration, or dispensation, is time period defined in Gods Word.)
I Corinthians, which does apply to us, tells us quite a bit about love in chapter 13. (The greek word translated “charity” is the same root word (agape) translated “love” in Jesus’s new commandment in John 13:34)
Love encompases and overrules all of the rules and commandments that were laid out before. So what, pray tell, is love?
Loving is giving
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Look at the first half of this verse: for God so loved that He gave. What a perfect example of loving.
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
This verse has a double meaning: there’s the one that everyone sees: dying for someone, then the other part that gets overlooked: living for someone. When you give a person your time, you just gave them part of your life. That’s loving.
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
A living sacrifice. Christ died for us so that we can Live for him. What a perfect example of loving!
We have God and Jesus Christ as perfect examples of how to love/give
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
How did Jesus love us? Is spent his entire *living* ministry taking care of people. Lookup Jesus and compassion some time.
And then, when the time came, Jesus gave up his life for us. It was not something he wanted to do. He prayed twice “let this cup pass from me”, yet he had enough love for God and for us that he did it.
look at John 3:16 again:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What’s the one thing that could possibly be harder to give than your own life? Ask any parent and they could tell you it’s their children’s lives. And that’s what God gave for us so that we could have everlasting life.
What does he ask in return? That we love him. Jesus said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (to avoid confusion, he also pointed out “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.”) So loving God is doing what he asks us to do.
I’ll leave it up to you and God to figure out the details
God bless you, I love you all,
-Nathan
Elijah and Elisha: a double portion of spirit
by mistic on Oct.29, 2007, under God, cool
I learned something last weekend that just blessed my socks off! (Well, I learned a lot of things last weekend that blessed me, but anyways.) We were learning about how God is true to his promises and the great power that we can operate (yes, you and I). Elijah and Elisha both operated this power. We’ll see just how much in a minute here.
Before we get started though, some people (me) sometimes confuse these two men of God. Elijah came first in the bible, then Elisha. You can remember this because “j” comes before “s” in the alphabet.
(We’ll get to the whole list of which miracles they each preformed in a second here, but one of Elijah’s miracles we had read about leading up to this was that he had God light his burnt offering. The fire burned up the offering and the wood. And the dust around it. And the water around it. And the *stones* around it. It was pretty hot. You can read the whole story in 1 Kings 18.)
So when Elijah was getting was getting tired of being the only prophet of God, so he asked God for some help. And God gave him someone: Elisha.
Elijah and Elisha worked together for a while, and near the end of the records of Elijah, he asked Elisha if there was anything he could do for him:
2 Kings 2:9
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
and then a few verses later it says
2 Kings 2:15
And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
Note, that it doesn’t say anything about a double portion though. So did he get it? You bet he did! The bible records 8 different miracles that Elisha preformed:
- Shutting heaven 1 Kings 17:1
- Oil multiplied 1 Kings 17:14
- Widow’s son raised 1 Kings 17:22-23
- Fire from heaven 1 Kings 18:38
- Rain 1 Kings 18:40
- Fire on 50 2 Kings 1:10
- Fire on 50 2 Kings 1:12
- Jordan 2 Kings 2:8
And care to guess how many miracles it records for Elisha?
- Jordan divided 2 Kings 2:14
- Waters healed 2 Kings 2:21
- Bears from wood 2 Kings 2:24
- Water for kings 2 Kings 3:20
- Oil for widow 2 Kings 4:1-6
- Gift of son 2 Kings 4:16-17
- Raising from dead 2 Kings 4:35
- Healing of pottage 2 Kings 4:41
- Bread multiplied 2 Kings 4:43
- Naaman healed 2 Kings 5:10
- Gehazi smitten 2 Kings 5:27
- Iron to swim 2 Kings 6:6
- Sight to blind 2 Kings 6:17
- Smiting blindness 2 Kings 6:18
- Restoring sight 2 Kings 6:20
- One after death 2 Kings 13:21
From 8 to 16: a double portion. That very last miracle that Elisha preformed is pretty amazing too, because Elisha died about a year before it happened!
2 Kings 13:21
And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
They were burying a guy and they put him in the same sepulchre (tomb) as Elisha. And as soon as the dead man touched Elisha’s bones, he came back to life! How amazing is that!
Just look at how thorough God is to keep his promises. Even after the man died, God still kept his word! And God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), he is willing to do that for each and every one of his believers!
I might in a future post touch on how we are not limited to any number of miracles. That spirit that was “upon” them; that spirit is “in” us! The differenced is pretty big, but the punchline is that I don’t worry about “wasting one” when I fix my shower by speaking to it in the name of Jesus Christ! (Which I did this weekend – that was cool :)
(Major kudos to my Companion Bible – I had half a mind to go and look up all of those different miracles, but E.W. Bullinger had already done it for me! It was in the margin notes, laid out plain as day! :)
