When I first saw the bible verse on the wall of the Mixed Martial Arts
(MMA) gym I though “great these guys are believers”. The gym wall has in large black letters “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” Psalm 144:1.
I was overjoyed by the fact that these guys had so much respect for the Word of God that they put it on their wall as a reminder of the One who gives us the strength to live. A reminder that what is impossible to man on his own strength is possible with God and his strength.
Mt 19:25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
How disappointed was I when I realized that the verse was not on the wall to remind us that we need Christ in order to have eternal life, that he did it all for us, a free gift, not of works or to remind us that we should not rely on ourselves but should rely on our Lord.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Here I was thinking, life, salvation, submission to our Lord, King, Commander in Chief, while they were thinking “that sounds cool.” You see, just like the killer in the movie “Pulp Fiction” selectively misused the word of God to scare the people he was about to kill, our gym also misuses the word of God and places it out of context in order to inspire it’s fighters to prepare. (Disclaimer: I am not endorsing “Pulp Fiction”, I saw it a long time ago and in my humble opinion it is a movie that glorifies violence for the sake of entertainment).
The gym is great MMA gym, I have learned a lot about boxing, grappling, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, etc…, but as a spiritual training center, well it is lacking to say the least. You see, I naively assumed that because God’s word is prominently painted on the wall, the guys in the gym were Christians and would behave as such. I mean, why else would you put the word of God in your gym? Well, after innumerable F-bombs, curse words, improper conversations, locker room talk, etc... I was brought back to the reality that because someone says he is a Christian, wears a cross on his chest, has a Jesus bob-head on his dash, a cross tattooed on his chest, wears a Jesus didn’t tap shirt, selectively choose which verses to follow and which to dismiss, and goes to Church when convenient, i.e., when there is nothing better to do on Sunday morning, does not mean that he is a believer or a true follower of Christ.
The reality is that people use God and the word of God as a lucky charm, nothing less and nothing more. In the same manner you see people wear beautiful gold or silver crosses around their neck while blatantly and purposely sinning. Shameless, at least take the cross of your chest so you don’t stumble others. For example, here I am talking to my neighbor. He is recently divorced, living with a yet to be divorced younger girl, and no they are obviously not married. Now, I have nothing against my neighbor, I try to love him regardless of his lifestyle, as Jesus has commanded. But as we talked sports, all I could do is focus on the expensive designer gold and silver cross necklace prominently & proudly hanging from his neck. On the outside of his shirt of course, so all could see.
It made me cringe to think that he wears a symbol of Christ dying for his sins while blatantly & purposely living a sinful lifestyle. Did I mention the yet to be divorced live in girlfriend wears a fish necklace, you know the fishermen of men type. Pun not intended. By the way, don’t get me wrong I am a sinner, I mess up. But there is a difference between messing up and blatantly & purposefully living in sin while displacing your meaningless symbols of Christianity.
No wonder non-believers, atheists, agnostics, and followers of other religions, think Christians are all just a bunch of hypocrites. No wonder people question the veracity of the Word of God. How can an atheist or agnostic believe there is a real God when the people that allegedly follow him (you know the ones who wear the Cross on the outside of their t-shirts) don’t seem to believe it themselves. I mean, if they truly believed God’s word they would follow it, obey it, right? Am I crazy to think this? I mean, if you believe in something you would endorse it, follow it, and promote it. If you believe in a product, you would use the product as directed, right? Sure, even people who believe in false concepts follow them blindly, just ask Al Gore!
So why do “Christians” use God as a lucky charm. I mean, if they don’t truly believe in Him to the point of obeying his word, then why bother to wear a cross, why bother to have God’s word written on a wall.
It seems, that Christianity in America has reached the same level as Judaism did with the Pharisees. The Pharisees believe they were saved because they were descendants of Abraham. Americans seem to believe they are saved because they were, cue Bruce Springfield, “Born in the USA”. The Pharisees believed that God would accept them because of their religious actions, i.e., sacrifices, outward appearances, selective application of God’s Word, dress code, etc... Americans believe God will accept them because “God is good”, God is love, they go to church when they can or better yet are members of a church, they listen to Christian radio, wear a cross, are generous in a disaster, self sacrifice every once in a while, selectively apply God’s Word, and have a fish sticker in their car. Oh did I forget to mention sometimes wearing a Christian themed T-shirt? (Ok, I admit it, I got a few of those. Three words “Truth-Soul-Armor" look it up!)
God clearly wants obedience. Not the appearance of obedience, but actual obedience, devotion, straight from the heart.
Ps 51:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-These, O God, You will not despise.
Anything else is plain unacceptable.
Mt 15:7 "Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.9 And in vain they worship Me,…”
Let’s go back to what started my rant, the MMA gym. Ok, so having “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” in a gym where they train you to fight sounds cool (I admit it’s pretty cool), but that in and of itself does not make it right. You see misusing God’s Word minimizes its importance, its truth, it throws a blanket over the light.
The whole Psalm 144 reads:
[A Psalm of David.]
Blessed [be] the LORD my strength, which teaches my hands to war,[and] my fingers to fight:
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and [he] in whom I trust; who subdued my people under me.
LORD, what [is] man, that thou takes knowledge of him! [or] the son of man, that thou makes account of him!
Man is like to vanity: his days [are] as a shadow that passes away.
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand [is] a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery [and] an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
[It is he] that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand [is] a right hand of falsehood:
That our sons [may be] as plants grown up in their youth; [that] our daughters [may be] as corner stones, polished [after] the similitude of a palace:
[That] our garners [may be] full, affording all manner of store: [that] our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:
[That] our oxen [may be] strong to labour; [that there be] no breaking in, nor going out; that [there be] no complaining in our streets.
Happy [is that] people, that is in such a case: [yea], happy [is that] people, whose God [is] the LORD.
When the occasional fighter wannabe (by the way I classify myself as a wannabe) reads the first verse of Psalm 144 on the gym wall he probably thinks: “yeah, God (that would be the version of God that he conveniently invented; you know the one that lets you do whatever you want but still will let you into heaven because deep inside you really are a good person and after all God is love so he won’t judge you too harshly) will bless my hands, he will help me train and win fights, awesome.”
Yet Psalm 144 is not about us, but about GOD. How he is our goodness, our fortress, our high tower, our deliverer; our shield. The Psalm is about how even though we are nothing, worthless sinners, this Almighty Creator, this Holy God cares about us. About how he has given us a salvation we do not deserve, protects us, and provides for our needs when he should just let us die. The Psalm summarizes that joy comes from knowing the Lord and putting your trust in him. If the wannabe fighter actually understood what the Psalm is really about, he would not say “God is giving me the strength to fight and win”, instead he would go on his knees and bow before the one who gave him, life, health, salvation, and thank him for the ability to walk, let alone fight.
God is not a lucky charm, God’s word is not to be used as a pre-fight pep talk. David wrote Psalm 144 as a King who had fought wars for God. A warrior who acknowledged that God had given him the victories, not his training, nor his abilities. David’s actions were not for game or sport, but part of God’s plan. David’s actions were not all glorious as they carried burdens and consequences, i.e., he could not build the Temple because of all the blood he spilled. Yet we take David’s words of worship & devotion and like a meaningless cross on the chest of a faithless “Christian”, we turn it into a slogan for a gym.
Shameless.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
300 v. 300
Disclaimer: To understand this post, please refer to the TV Show “Deadliest Warrior”. If you never seen the show ask someone who has. Please now enjoy the script of the never aired episode: 300 versus 300.
WHO IS THE DEADLIEST WARRIOR:
King Leonidas’Spartans or Judge Gideon’s Hebrews.
Who would win in a battle between the 300 Spartans of King Leonidas or the 300 Hebrew Warriors of Judge Gideon. Lets see who is the Deadliest Warrior!
THE STATS:
SPARTAN WARRIOR
TIME: Bronze Age - 800-500 BC
LOCATION: Sparta Ancient Greece
SPARTAN TRAINING: A WARRIOR CULTURE
An Ancient Greek city-state whose main concern was war. Male citizens had one goal and duty in life, to fight and to die for Sparta. Women were basically used to breed more men, Spartan men who would become Spartan soldiers. Sparta had little literature, arts, architecture, exploration, or commerce. Their society and culture was focused on developing warriors. Sickly babies were left to die, while healthy boys started their physical and military training at age 7. The boys became a possession of the state. Their brutal training program developed physical strength, military prowess, discipline and obedience. The boys were starved and forced to steal to survive. If caught they would be severely punished, not for stealing but for getting caught. Even if married, soldiers lived together in barracks until age 30. Spartans believed in the military power of the unit, the group, not the individual.
SPARTAN WEAPONS:
Javelin, Spear, Xiphos (Short Sword), Shield
SPECIAL WEAPONS/ATTACKS:
The Phalanx. A rectangular mass formation of a tight line of soldiers sometimes eight deep. Designed to push forward until the enemy line was broken and maintain a solid front after opposing sides collided.
FAMOUS BATTLE:
At the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans stood up against half a million Persians and, prepared to die, took on their enemies with a legendary ferocity that earned them the title of one of history's greatest warriors. Over a three-day battle, the Spartans killed nearly half of the Persian army.
LEADER: KING LEONIDAS
Leonidas was a 5th century B.C. Spartan military king who bravely led a small force of Greeks -- mostly Spartan (the famous 300), but also Thespians and Thebans -- against the much larger Persian army of Xerxes, at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. during the Persian Wars. According to Herodotus, Leonidas had been warned by the Delphic oracle that either Sparta would be destroyed or their king would lose his life. Leonidas chose the second alternative.
SPARTAN SUMMARY:
Spartans were the ultimate soldier; they trained since they were children and were trained in nothing but war. They were known throughout the ancient western world for their battle-hardened image and for winning battles against much larger armies, such as the case in the Battle of Thermopylae, the inspiration for the hit film 300. The training regimen of Spartans are the model for the United States Marines.
HEBREW WARRIOR
TIME: 1380 – 1050 B.C.
LOCATION: Israel, the time of the Judges.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
HEBREW TRAINING: NONE, LEARN AS YOU GO!
Judges 3:1 And these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least those who before knew nothing of it.
When told “[W]hoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.” Twenty-two thousand soldiers out of thirty-two thousand (32,000) left.
The out of the remaining ten thousand (10,000) only three hundred (300) were found to be fit for battle.
HEBREW WEAPONS:
Trumpets, empty pitchers, and torches.
SPECIAL WEAPONS/ATTACKS:
JEHOVAH, a.k.a. “Yahweh”, “The LORD”
Judges 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers-they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing-and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled ….
FAMOUS BATTLE:
Defeat of the Midianites at the valley near the hill of Moreh. Gideon and his 300 men defeat a much larger Midianite army (“as numerous as locusts”) with no weapons. See above.
LEADER: GIDEON, a.k.a., Jerub-baal (“let baal contend with him”).
The least son of Joash the Abiezrite of the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. Called by the Lord a “mighty man of valor!" while he was threshing wheat in a winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. Destroyed the altar of Baal at night, so as not to be seen because he was afraid. See Judges 6:27. Tested God several times and needed to be encouraged by God due to fear, lack of confidence.
Called a hero of faith in Hebrews 11:32.
Heb 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
HEBREW SUMMARY:
Untrained laymen, who have not fought in battle, led by an untrained fearful leader, who put all his faith and trust in the Lord.
THE BATTLE:
Close Range:
Spartan Warrior - Short Sword
Hebrew Warrior – Empty Pitcher
Advantage = Spartan
Mid-Range:
Spartan Warrior – Spear
Hebrew Warrior – Torch
Advantage = Spartan
Long Range:
Spartan Warrior – Javelin
Hebrew Warrior – Trumpet
Advantage = Spartan
Special Weapons:
Spartan Warrior – Shield/ The Phalanx
Hebrew Warrior – JEHOVAH-SABAOTH , “The LORD OF HOSTS”.
Advantage = Hebrew Warrior
WINNER: HEBREW WARRIOR
Spartan Wins in 1000 battles = 0
Hebrew Warrior Wins in 1000 battles = 1000
Despite the impressive combat training, physical abilities, military tactics, and superior weapons of the Spartan, the superiority of the ONE who created the Spartan cannot be overcome.
1 Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
CONCLUSION:
This simulated battle has been really fought many times before and is still being fought today. Man trying to take God away from his throne. Satan tried it and failed, miserably. How can man, a creation, be so bold (prideful) to think that he can rule over his creator. King David said it best when confronting Goliath:
1Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.47 "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."
When we go into battle every day, may we first bow our knees and confess his name for he is JEHOVAH-NISSI, “THE LORD IS MY BANNER”. The Warriors of Warriors, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
WHO IS THE DEADLIEST WARRIOR:
King Leonidas’Spartans or Judge Gideon’s Hebrews.
Who would win in a battle between the 300 Spartans of King Leonidas or the 300 Hebrew Warriors of Judge Gideon. Lets see who is the Deadliest Warrior!
THE STATS:
SPARTAN WARRIOR
TIME: Bronze Age - 800-500 BC
LOCATION: Sparta Ancient Greece
SPARTAN TRAINING: A WARRIOR CULTURE
An Ancient Greek city-state whose main concern was war. Male citizens had one goal and duty in life, to fight and to die for Sparta. Women were basically used to breed more men, Spartan men who would become Spartan soldiers. Sparta had little literature, arts, architecture, exploration, or commerce. Their society and culture was focused on developing warriors. Sickly babies were left to die, while healthy boys started their physical and military training at age 7. The boys became a possession of the state. Their brutal training program developed physical strength, military prowess, discipline and obedience. The boys were starved and forced to steal to survive. If caught they would be severely punished, not for stealing but for getting caught. Even if married, soldiers lived together in barracks until age 30. Spartans believed in the military power of the unit, the group, not the individual.
SPARTAN WEAPONS:
Javelin, Spear, Xiphos (Short Sword), Shield
SPECIAL WEAPONS/ATTACKS:
The Phalanx. A rectangular mass formation of a tight line of soldiers sometimes eight deep. Designed to push forward until the enemy line was broken and maintain a solid front after opposing sides collided.
FAMOUS BATTLE:
At the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans stood up against half a million Persians and, prepared to die, took on their enemies with a legendary ferocity that earned them the title of one of history's greatest warriors. Over a three-day battle, the Spartans killed nearly half of the Persian army.
LEADER: KING LEONIDAS
Leonidas was a 5th century B.C. Spartan military king who bravely led a small force of Greeks -- mostly Spartan (the famous 300), but also Thespians and Thebans -- against the much larger Persian army of Xerxes, at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. during the Persian Wars. According to Herodotus, Leonidas had been warned by the Delphic oracle that either Sparta would be destroyed or their king would lose his life. Leonidas chose the second alternative.
SPARTAN SUMMARY:
Spartans were the ultimate soldier; they trained since they were children and were trained in nothing but war. They were known throughout the ancient western world for their battle-hardened image and for winning battles against much larger armies, such as the case in the Battle of Thermopylae, the inspiration for the hit film 300. The training regimen of Spartans are the model for the United States Marines.
HEBREW WARRIOR
TIME: 1380 – 1050 B.C.
LOCATION: Israel, the time of the Judges.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
HEBREW TRAINING: NONE, LEARN AS YOU GO!
Judges 3:1 And these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least those who before knew nothing of it.
When told “[W]hoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.” Twenty-two thousand soldiers out of thirty-two thousand (32,000) left.
The out of the remaining ten thousand (10,000) only three hundred (300) were found to be fit for battle.
HEBREW WEAPONS:
Trumpets, empty pitchers, and torches.
SPECIAL WEAPONS/ATTACKS:
JEHOVAH, a.k.a. “Yahweh”, “The LORD”
Judges 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers-they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing-and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled ….
FAMOUS BATTLE:
Defeat of the Midianites at the valley near the hill of Moreh. Gideon and his 300 men defeat a much larger Midianite army (“as numerous as locusts”) with no weapons. See above.
LEADER: GIDEON, a.k.a., Jerub-baal (“let baal contend with him”).
The least son of Joash the Abiezrite of the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. Called by the Lord a “mighty man of valor!" while he was threshing wheat in a winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. Destroyed the altar of Baal at night, so as not to be seen because he was afraid. See Judges 6:27. Tested God several times and needed to be encouraged by God due to fear, lack of confidence.
Called a hero of faith in Hebrews 11:32.
Heb 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
HEBREW SUMMARY:
Untrained laymen, who have not fought in battle, led by an untrained fearful leader, who put all his faith and trust in the Lord.
THE BATTLE:
Close Range:
Spartan Warrior - Short Sword
Hebrew Warrior – Empty Pitcher
Advantage = Spartan
Mid-Range:
Spartan Warrior – Spear
Hebrew Warrior – Torch
Advantage = Spartan
Long Range:
Spartan Warrior – Javelin
Hebrew Warrior – Trumpet
Advantage = Spartan
Special Weapons:
Spartan Warrior – Shield/ The Phalanx
Hebrew Warrior – JEHOVAH-SABAOTH , “The LORD OF HOSTS”.
Advantage = Hebrew Warrior
WINNER: HEBREW WARRIOR
Spartan Wins in 1000 battles = 0
Hebrew Warrior Wins in 1000 battles = 1000
Despite the impressive combat training, physical abilities, military tactics, and superior weapons of the Spartan, the superiority of the ONE who created the Spartan cannot be overcome.
1 Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
CONCLUSION:
This simulated battle has been really fought many times before and is still being fought today. Man trying to take God away from his throne. Satan tried it and failed, miserably. How can man, a creation, be so bold (prideful) to think that he can rule over his creator. King David said it best when confronting Goliath:
1Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.47 "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."
When we go into battle every day, may we first bow our knees and confess his name for he is JEHOVAH-NISSI, “THE LORD IS MY BANNER”. The Warriors of Warriors, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The new god.
Yesterday I received the new issue of Outside Magazine. This is a
magazine geared towards hiking, biking, skiing, camping, survival, health & fitness, and other “outside” adventures. The magazine usually contains well written articles regarding the lives of adventurers, athletes, and at times the conservation efforts of “save the earth” organizations.
I usually start reading the magazine by looking at the letters section. For some reason I enjoy reading the comments of other readers on articles I have read. In the latest magazine someone wrote complaining because an animal conservation association in a third world country chose to protect the life of a child, rather than the life of a pregnant snow leopard on the endangered animal list. To my disbelief, the person was actually trying to make the argument that the life of the endangered animal was more valuable than the life of the child. I read and re-read the letter hoping to find sarcasm, or whether the person was attempting to be humorous(a really bad attempt, if so). But sadly the letter was serious.
The letter goes like this:
“I was appalled that the Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist, Peter Kareiva, would choose a child over the last pregnant snow leopard. This is what’s wrong with conservation. If one human life is worth more that every animal’s, there is no reason to protect any land or species. We drive animals out of their habitat and then blame them for attacking humans. There are checks and balances that animals understand – we should learn from them instead of thinking humans have all the answers.” Dagny McKinley, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
To make matters worse, a second letter was printed that confirmed the sad viewpoint of the first. Unlike the first letter, the second letter did not attempt to argue that a child’s life is worth less than an animal, but it did demonstrate disappointment and anger that an animal conservation organization would take into consideration of the well-being of humans in its decision making.
All I could exclaim as I read this is “the world is going to hell in a hand-basket and it must be half way there”. We live in an age where many people are truly worshiping “nature”, “mother earth”, the “environment”, “ozone depletion”, “global warming”, and the “climate change” movement. They (and among they I include Al Gore, the Spiritual Guru of the movement) are actually now calling the movement “spiritual” or a “moral issue”.
Al Gore tells Newsweek magazine in a pre-publication interview, that he has been adapting his fact-based message - now put out by hundreds of volunteers - to appeal to those who believe there is a moral or religious duty to protect the planet. "I've done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It's probably my favorite version, but I don't use it very often because it can come off as proselytizing," Gore tells Newsweek.
Funny liberals, when the facts of “Climate Change” start to fall apart as unproven or just plain falsified, all of a sudden saving the planet stops being a scientific need and becomes a “moral & spiritual issue”. These funny liberals, they do not want prayer in our schools or the Ten Commandments in our Courts. They won’t even say Christmas in December, but “religion & spirituality” sure is convenient when it supports their agenda. (Sidenote: Obama did the same thing with his push for health care reform.) By the way, did you know that Al Gore has become a multi-millionaire out of this Climate Change racket.
Since he quit mainstream politics, Mr. Gore’s personal fortune has risen from £1.2 million to an estimated £60 million. He has made significant investments in environmentally friendly projects like carbon trading markets, solar power, biofuels, electric vehicles, sustainable fish farming and waterless lavatories. He has also invested in non-climate change related investments, including putting money into Google and Apple. “As much as Gore’s made now, it is going to be a piker league compared to what he is going to make in five years if all these new carbon trading mandates go through.” Telegraph.co.uk
So now according to Guru Gore (let’s call him “GG”), saving a tree, the climate, or an endangered animal is a moral & spiritual issue of the highest order. Funny liberals, saving a tree or animal is a “moral & spiritual obligation”, but saving the lives of children, born and unborn is not. See letter from Mr. McKinley above. Reminds me of the song by Casting Crown’s titled “While You Were Sleeping”: “As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children.” Child sacrifice, ahem, I mean abortion, has gotten so blatant in the USA that during a Planned Parenthood sponsored pro-abortion rally it was stated that “Abortion is a God given right.”
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- During the rally yesterday sponsored by the Planned Parenthood abortion business and other leading pro-abortion groups, Rev. Carlton Veazy told the small gathering of hardcore activists that abortion is a "God-given right." Veazy is the head of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Excuse me while I gag at this comment and vomit at the fact that there is a “Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice”. What god are they talking about???? What god does Rev. Carlton Veazy, Guru Gore, and the “religious & spiritual” liberals serve? (By “religious & spiritual” liberal, I mean the type of liberal who claim to be a Christian or pro-life until they are handed a nice payoff and all of a sudden their deep seated religious & moral convictions get thrown out the window). One thing I can tell for sure is that they do not serve the one true God. The God of the Bible, the God of Israel, Jacob, Abraham, Yahweh. Surely, they do not serve Jesus Christ, our Lord. They cannot even say his name. Use this test: Have you ever heard one of the “religious & spiritual” liberals say the name of Jesus other than as a historical figure, or to promote their agenda, or to get votes.
1Jo 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
It is unimaginable that the God described in Psalm 139, would truly believe that abortion is a right or that the life of an animal is worth more than a child.
Psalm 139:14-17. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts for me, O God! How great is the sum of them.
This new "spirituality" of nature worship is being pushed on our youth. Have you seen the movie “Avatar”? I have not, but I have read and been told that it is nothing more than a “climate change” propaganda film . A movie which shamelessly glorifies nature as a goddess to be worshiped. While demonizing those who use nature for mankind’s benefit. While I agree that we should not be out there bombing the rainforests, God did create animals, plants, and nature to serve man, not the other way around.
Ge 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 ¶ And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
This zealot like protection of nature and animals over humans needs is a form of nature worship. Animals were created to serve man, not the other way around. Have you heard the story of the cat and the dog? The dog says to his owner, you feed me, you provide shelter, you give me love, you must be god. The cat says you feed me, you provide shelter, you give me love, I must be god. Sadly, many humans have the cat’s perspective and worship nature as a god. God himself killed an animal in order to clothe Adam and Eve demonstrating that human life and their needs are above animals & nature.
Ge 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
We have been down this road before. The worship of nature and creation itself is nothing new. There just seems to be resurgence, in many ways thanks to the great high priest of Climate Change: Guru Gore. When Israel entered the promised land they encountered the worship of Baal & Moloch. Which in reality was the worship of nature. The worship of the creation instead of the Creator. Baal was a reference to many false gods such as: the god of rain, fertility, thunder, agriculture, moon, sun. Basically Baal worship is identical to nature-worship. The worship of Baal included ritual prostitution, burning of incense, violent & ecstatic exercises (cutting/self-mutilation) and child sacrifice. The worship of Baal included all that our society worships today. We live in a world were hedonism, pleasure and self-worship is promoted (juts turn your TV on or open a magazine), nature has become a “spiritual & moral” cause (see Climate Change, Copenhagen), and children are just a hindrance to our higher goals (abortion, stem cell research). Secular society has thereby incorporated this new “spirituality”, i.e., the worship of nature (through causes such as save the trees, climate change, etc…) and the sacrifice of children for humanistic, secular reasons (through abortion, stem cell research) into our “spiritual & moral values”.
Just like the Israelites incorporated the worship of Baal into the worship of the one true God. America is literally blending the worship of Baal (nature, humanism) into the worship of the one true God. That is why God called the Israelites adulterers. God is a jealous God; he does not accept the worship of any other gods or idols. Moreover, God hates human sacrifice.
Le 18:21 'And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
Jer 19:3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle "Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents 5 "(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),6 "therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
Yet, the United States, a nation originally founded on Judeo-Christian values, has adopted foreign gods and promotes their worship through nature, trees, endangered species, global warming, atheism, Darwinism, naturalism, secularism, humanism, hedonism, & diversity. It is so blatant that many of the people involved in these causes like to call themselves “spiritual”, i.e. Guru Gore. Even people who consider themselves “Christians” have started to sacrifice on the altar of Baal. For example, Guru Gore calls himself a Christian, Obama calls himself a Christian, Hillary Clinton calls herself a Christian, yet they all are rabid Climate Change, pro-choice, all religions lead to god advocates. Like the nation of Israel in the old testament, they claim to worship Yahweh, but in reality the worship Baal (nature, creation, secularism, mankind) and offer sacrifice to him through child sacrifices (the promotion of abortion).
Sadly being a “spiritual person” will not get you anywhere. The Bible warns us of this false spirituality at end of times.
2Ti 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Do the people described above sound familiar? From “such people turn away”, yep that includes Guru Gore. I agree that God’s creation should be respected and not be abused, but it should not to be worshiped. There is a difference, and climate change proponents go beyond having respect for creation. They glorify and worship it, and if their worship hurts some human beings (hunger due to rising costs of living, limiting third world country advancement, abortion as birth control & child birth limits to lower world population,etc…), well that is ok. Theses casualties just constitute the sacrifice necessary to appease their deity. God gave us nature to be used for our benefit and it should never be placed above or even be equal to its Creator. The worship of Baal is not to be blended with the worship of the one true God. Israel got judged for that, so will we. For the creator is to be worshiped, not the creation.
Ro 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (nature worship).24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature (abortion/homosexuality).27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
magazine geared towards hiking, biking, skiing, camping, survival, health & fitness, and other “outside” adventures. The magazine usually contains well written articles regarding the lives of adventurers, athletes, and at times the conservation efforts of “save the earth” organizations.
I usually start reading the magazine by looking at the letters section. For some reason I enjoy reading the comments of other readers on articles I have read. In the latest magazine someone wrote complaining because an animal conservation association in a third world country chose to protect the life of a child, rather than the life of a pregnant snow leopard on the endangered animal list. To my disbelief, the person was actually trying to make the argument that the life of the endangered animal was more valuable than the life of the child. I read and re-read the letter hoping to find sarcasm, or whether the person was attempting to be humorous(a really bad attempt, if so). But sadly the letter was serious.
The letter goes like this:
“I was appalled that the Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist, Peter Kareiva, would choose a child over the last pregnant snow leopard. This is what’s wrong with conservation. If one human life is worth more that every animal’s, there is no reason to protect any land or species. We drive animals out of their habitat and then blame them for attacking humans. There are checks and balances that animals understand – we should learn from them instead of thinking humans have all the answers.” Dagny McKinley, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
To make matters worse, a second letter was printed that confirmed the sad viewpoint of the first. Unlike the first letter, the second letter did not attempt to argue that a child’s life is worth less than an animal, but it did demonstrate disappointment and anger that an animal conservation organization would take into consideration of the well-being of humans in its decision making.
All I could exclaim as I read this is “the world is going to hell in a hand-basket and it must be half way there”. We live in an age where many people are truly worshiping “nature”, “mother earth”, the “environment”, “ozone depletion”, “global warming”, and the “climate change” movement. They (and among they I include Al Gore, the Spiritual Guru of the movement) are actually now calling the movement “spiritual” or a “moral issue”.
Al Gore tells Newsweek magazine in a pre-publication interview, that he has been adapting his fact-based message - now put out by hundreds of volunteers - to appeal to those who believe there is a moral or religious duty to protect the planet. "I've done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It's probably my favorite version, but I don't use it very often because it can come off as proselytizing," Gore tells Newsweek.
Funny liberals, when the facts of “Climate Change” start to fall apart as unproven or just plain falsified, all of a sudden saving the planet stops being a scientific need and becomes a “moral & spiritual issue”. These funny liberals, they do not want prayer in our schools or the Ten Commandments in our Courts. They won’t even say Christmas in December, but “religion & spirituality” sure is convenient when it supports their agenda. (Sidenote: Obama did the same thing with his push for health care reform.) By the way, did you know that Al Gore has become a multi-millionaire out of this Climate Change racket.
Since he quit mainstream politics, Mr. Gore’s personal fortune has risen from £1.2 million to an estimated £60 million. He has made significant investments in environmentally friendly projects like carbon trading markets, solar power, biofuels, electric vehicles, sustainable fish farming and waterless lavatories. He has also invested in non-climate change related investments, including putting money into Google and Apple. “As much as Gore’s made now, it is going to be a piker league compared to what he is going to make in five years if all these new carbon trading mandates go through.” Telegraph.co.uk
So now according to Guru Gore (let’s call him “GG”), saving a tree, the climate, or an endangered animal is a moral & spiritual issue of the highest order. Funny liberals, saving a tree or animal is a “moral & spiritual obligation”, but saving the lives of children, born and unborn is not. See letter from Mr. McKinley above. Reminds me of the song by Casting Crown’s titled “While You Were Sleeping”: “As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children.” Child sacrifice, ahem, I mean abortion, has gotten so blatant in the USA that during a Planned Parenthood sponsored pro-abortion rally it was stated that “Abortion is a God given right.”
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- During the rally yesterday sponsored by the Planned Parenthood abortion business and other leading pro-abortion groups, Rev. Carlton Veazy told the small gathering of hardcore activists that abortion is a "God-given right." Veazy is the head of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Excuse me while I gag at this comment and vomit at the fact that there is a “Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice”. What god are they talking about???? What god does Rev. Carlton Veazy, Guru Gore, and the “religious & spiritual” liberals serve? (By “religious & spiritual” liberal, I mean the type of liberal who claim to be a Christian or pro-life until they are handed a nice payoff and all of a sudden their deep seated religious & moral convictions get thrown out the window). One thing I can tell for sure is that they do not serve the one true God. The God of the Bible, the God of Israel, Jacob, Abraham, Yahweh. Surely, they do not serve Jesus Christ, our Lord. They cannot even say his name. Use this test: Have you ever heard one of the “religious & spiritual” liberals say the name of Jesus other than as a historical figure, or to promote their agenda, or to get votes.
1Jo 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
It is unimaginable that the God described in Psalm 139, would truly believe that abortion is a right or that the life of an animal is worth more than a child.
Psalm 139:14-17. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts for me, O God! How great is the sum of them.
This new "spirituality" of nature worship is being pushed on our youth. Have you seen the movie “Avatar”? I have not, but I have read and been told that it is nothing more than a “climate change” propaganda film . A movie which shamelessly glorifies nature as a goddess to be worshiped. While demonizing those who use nature for mankind’s benefit. While I agree that we should not be out there bombing the rainforests, God did create animals, plants, and nature to serve man, not the other way around.
Ge 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 ¶ And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
This zealot like protection of nature and animals over humans needs is a form of nature worship. Animals were created to serve man, not the other way around. Have you heard the story of the cat and the dog? The dog says to his owner, you feed me, you provide shelter, you give me love, you must be god. The cat says you feed me, you provide shelter, you give me love, I must be god. Sadly, many humans have the cat’s perspective and worship nature as a god. God himself killed an animal in order to clothe Adam and Eve demonstrating that human life and their needs are above animals & nature.
Ge 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
We have been down this road before. The worship of nature and creation itself is nothing new. There just seems to be resurgence, in many ways thanks to the great high priest of Climate Change: Guru Gore. When Israel entered the promised land they encountered the worship of Baal & Moloch. Which in reality was the worship of nature. The worship of the creation instead of the Creator. Baal was a reference to many false gods such as: the god of rain, fertility, thunder, agriculture, moon, sun. Basically Baal worship is identical to nature-worship. The worship of Baal included ritual prostitution, burning of incense, violent & ecstatic exercises (cutting/self-mutilation) and child sacrifice. The worship of Baal included all that our society worships today. We live in a world were hedonism, pleasure and self-worship is promoted (juts turn your TV on or open a magazine), nature has become a “spiritual & moral” cause (see Climate Change, Copenhagen), and children are just a hindrance to our higher goals (abortion, stem cell research). Secular society has thereby incorporated this new “spirituality”, i.e., the worship of nature (through causes such as save the trees, climate change, etc…) and the sacrifice of children for humanistic, secular reasons (through abortion, stem cell research) into our “spiritual & moral values”.
Just like the Israelites incorporated the worship of Baal into the worship of the one true God. America is literally blending the worship of Baal (nature, humanism) into the worship of the one true God. That is why God called the Israelites adulterers. God is a jealous God; he does not accept the worship of any other gods or idols. Moreover, God hates human sacrifice.
Le 18:21 'And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
Jer 19:3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle "Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents 5 "(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),6 "therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
Yet, the United States, a nation originally founded on Judeo-Christian values, has adopted foreign gods and promotes their worship through nature, trees, endangered species, global warming, atheism, Darwinism, naturalism, secularism, humanism, hedonism, & diversity. It is so blatant that many of the people involved in these causes like to call themselves “spiritual”, i.e. Guru Gore. Even people who consider themselves “Christians” have started to sacrifice on the altar of Baal. For example, Guru Gore calls himself a Christian, Obama calls himself a Christian, Hillary Clinton calls herself a Christian, yet they all are rabid Climate Change, pro-choice, all religions lead to god advocates. Like the nation of Israel in the old testament, they claim to worship Yahweh, but in reality the worship Baal (nature, creation, secularism, mankind) and offer sacrifice to him through child sacrifices (the promotion of abortion).
Sadly being a “spiritual person” will not get you anywhere. The Bible warns us of this false spirituality at end of times.
2Ti 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Do the people described above sound familiar? From “such people turn away”, yep that includes Guru Gore. I agree that God’s creation should be respected and not be abused, but it should not to be worshiped. There is a difference, and climate change proponents go beyond having respect for creation. They glorify and worship it, and if their worship hurts some human beings (hunger due to rising costs of living, limiting third world country advancement, abortion as birth control & child birth limits to lower world population,etc…), well that is ok. Theses casualties just constitute the sacrifice necessary to appease their deity. God gave us nature to be used for our benefit and it should never be placed above or even be equal to its Creator. The worship of Baal is not to be blended with the worship of the one true God. Israel got judged for that, so will we. For the creator is to be worshiped, not the creation.
Ro 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (nature worship).24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature (abortion/homosexuality).27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
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